Best plants for winter gardening

Winter is stepping away and gardeners are already expecting the warmer days to come. We all miss our work in a garden (at least I really do). But as long as the snow is still on the ground it is hard to find something beautiful outside. Nothing to dig..., nothing to care about.. :-). If you need inspiration and all seems to be dull and colorless here is my list of 5 winter flowering plants which may bring you joy in March.

1. Sorcococca. Sorcococca is also called a Christmas box, or sweet box and it is an evergreen plant. I do not have it myself and may be that is why I want it. In Ukraine I have never seen it anywhere at all. I looked for it in the net and found that it seems to be not very popular. May be someone can tell me why? It seems to be a good idea to have a plant which not only stays green all winter, but opens flowers in January and blossoms till middle of March!

2.Cameliia. Absolutely gorgeous flowers! I have Camellia for 4 years. Last three winters it brings me much joy by opening dark-pink flowers in February- March. Unlike Sorcococca, camellia is a whimsy plant and it took some time to understand that a main secret of it is in a proper soil. I combined 50 % of peat + in equal shares perlite, vermiculite, fallen pine needles and some slightly acid soil. All this is necessary to get a well drained soil. This plant likes 40-50 degrees by Fahrenheit. If the temperature rises higher it will not blossom. I have it in a container. This year it brought me just a couple of flowers but last year I had more than two dozens of flower buds.

3. Hellebore or Christmas rose. This is a dream of a gardener. It tolerates snow and frost up to 21 F. In 2005 it was named a perennial plant of the year by the Perennial Plant Association. Hellebore is a very attractive plant and it is considered to be a longest-blooming shade perennial you can grow. This plant needs just several days with a temperature over 32 F and it blooms. If the temperature goes down and the first flowers are frozen, they will be substituted by new ones.

4. Snowdrops. It is much more a flower of forests but more and more people plant it in gardens as well. To grow this winter flowering plant one should bear in mind that it likes a humid soil. Better of all it grows among shrubs. Last year my family specially went to forest to see snowdrops in natural surrounding. Snowdrops are very inspiring and spring seems to be not fare away when you watch them.

5. Dogwood trees. If you do not have any of the plants above, you can plant this picturesque bush. Its beauty is in vivid stem colour. It stays red all year around. In summer it flowers 3-4 times from June till September.