You can now enjoy true year-round interest with vibrant flower colour, brightly coloured berries and stems, tactile bark and wonderfully fragrant flowers - simply brilliant value for money compared to expensive, potted garden centre shrubs. These 12 tried-and-tested garden winners will fill any gaps you might have in your existing beds and borders or allow you to plant a new one from scratch, with each individual shrub having the potential to fill about 1m sq. (3-4ft sq.). Once planted they will rapidly grow and look tremendous from this year onwards, giving a stunning visual display and a degree of privacy and security for you, as well as a natural safe haven for a wide variety of wildlife. The berries will provide much-needed winter food for wild birds and the shrubby structure will offer cover and protection for them too. Varieties Include: Symphoricarpos albus: Known as the 'Common Snowberry' for obvious reasons! The berries provide much-needed winter food for wildlife. Grows to 90-120cm (3-4ft).Syringa vulgaris: The common Lilac produces fragrant, lavender-coloured blooms each May. Hardy and deciduous and great for hedging, it grows to 300-450cm (10-15ft) tall.Cornus alba: The 'Red-Barked Dogwood' provides fantastic autumn colour with its bright red vertical branches. In summer it leafs up and has soft pink flowers in mid-summer. Grows to 90-120cm (3-4ft). Potentilla Yellow: A tall, upright shrub with rich green foliage, smothered in beautiful yellow flowers from late spring to the first frosts. Robust and drought tolerant even in exposed conditions, it likes a sunny spot. Deadhead to keep the flowers coming and trim in autumn. Grows to 120-150m (4-5ft).Tamarix tetandra: Commonly known as the 'Tamarisk' or 'Salt Cedar', this upright, deciduous shrub or small tree has gracefully arching dark branches and needle-like foliage. A superb focal point, it produces masses of feathery plumes of tiny pink blossom from April to May. Holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit. Grows to 300cm (9ft).Spirea douglasii: Part of the rose family, it is often know as the 'Rose Spirea'. Easy to grow with masses of pretty pink flowers in early summer. Perfect for small spaces. Grows to 90cm (3ft).Forsythia intermedia 'Spectabilis': Literally one of the most spectacular early season shrubs because of its bright yellow bloom. Perfect for hedges and really easy to grow. Grows to 120-150cm (4-5 ft), although can be trimmed into a tidy hedge. Hypericum Hidcote: With masses of saucer-shaped, buttery yellow flowers from early to late autumn contrasted against lush, semi-evergreen foliage, it is compact and bushy and great for feature hedging. Holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit. Grows to 100-150cm (3-5ft). Deutzia scabra: Also known as the 'Fuzzy Deutzia', this native of Japan and China grows to about 250cm (8ft) tall and smothers itself in pure white fragrant flowers in June. Berberis thunbergii 'Atropurpurea': A great hedging plant because of its spiky branches, but also a beautiful garden plant. The yellow flowers appear in late spring and the purple foliage provides lovely autumn colour. Grows to 90-120cm (3-4ft). Philadelphus coronarius: Commonly known as the 'Mock Orange', it will be clothed in a profusion of creamy white, fabulously fragrant flowers through June and July. Grows to 150-180cm (5-6ft).Weigela rosea: A lovely garden shrub, with fabulous pink flower colour in May, June and July. Grows to 90-120cm (3-4ft). Please note: these plants are supplied dormant and without leaves, looking more like dried twigs, and will establish in the ground over winter. They will not show signs of growth until the weather warms in spring, when they will burst into leaf.
If you are looking for a simple to grow, low maintenance collection to brighten up those dull mid Winter days after Chrostmas, look no further than this fabulous Winter flowering shrub collection - where all the flowers are fragrant too for extra enjoyment. Each colelction incldues one plant each of: Sarcococca (Christmas Box) - a lovely little evergreen shrub with sweet smelling white to cream firework explosion flowers from December to March. Reaches 1.5M tall x 1M spread, Viburnum bodnantense 'Chales Lamont' - very scented pale rose pink flowers emerge on bare stems from November to March on this larger easy shrub. Reaches 2M tall x 2M spread. Chimonanthus praecox (Wintersweet) - beautiful sulphur yellow flowers, with central burgundy detailing, borne on bare stems Jnauary to March on established plants - reaches 2.5M tall x 2.5M spread. All are very tough and hardy, and easy care, perfect for sunny bright mixed shrub borders. or grow them in larger pots, so you can bring them close to the house in Winter flower, so you can enjoy their delightful fragrance to the max.
Treat your winter garden to a fabulous new addition to our range of Christmas Box and be one of the first to be able to delight in its glorious perfume. We all know winter can be a dull and dreary time in the garden, but fortunately it needn't be! The commonly named 'Christmas Box' or 'Sweet Box' is one of those plants that just lifts your spirits when you pass it by. The glossy evergreen leaves of 'Winter Gem' produce glorious little flowers, resembling little fireworks, which emit the most sensational and sweet vanilla fragrance you can imagine, especially on sunny days. The white flowers emerge from pinkish-red buds and are followed by glossy, round red berries that ripen to black adding interest to your garden for even longer. Easy to grow, in pots or borders, or sun or shade, plant it where you can enjoy those amazing winter scent every day - tough and tolerant of most conditions, 'Winter Gem' is especially valuable for shadier areas. Supplied as an established plant in a 15cm pot, ready for immediate planting out.
A super little scented winter treasure 'Wintersweet', as it is commonly called, produces stunning buttery yellow flowers in clusters, each with a lovely burgundy centre and veining detail. Producing a lovely sweet scent on bare stems, they are a joy to behold on cold winter days. An easy and fairly quick grower, it thrives in mixed shrubberies and borders, or larger pots, in sun or light shade, where you can bring them close to the house for maximum fragrance enjoyment. They also make a lovely long-lasting cut stem for the vase also. Supplied as an established plant in a 17cm pot to plant out all year - approx 20cm tall.
Phenomenal by name, phenomenal by nature! This outstanding performing lavender has all you could ever need from the much-loved perennial. Suitable for all garden conditions, positions and temperatures, it is drought-tolerant, winter hardy and evergreen for year-long interest. Not only is lavender 'Phenomenal' a real performer in UK gardens, but it has the most spectacular notably larger lilac-purple flowers than other varieties that stand on strong upright stems that bear the most wonderful sweet scent. This combination of showy flowers and fragrance is an absolute magnet for bees, butterflies and other beneficial garden insects, making it a fabulous choice for pollinating the garden. A real multi-purpose lavender, it's ideal for hedging, dividing and lining pathways and edges, but is also a great choice for herb gardens, with its heightened fragrance and cut flower gardens where it makes a beautiful addition to cut flower displays and bouquets. 'Phenomenal' can also be planted into patio pots and containers where the perfume can really be appreciated. Flowering throughout the summer, 'Phenomenal' may even give a second flush of flowers into the autumn if the first are cut back once faded. So if you want to grow lavender in your garden but aren't sure of which one to grow, 'Phenomenal' really has got it all... Supplied as an established plant in a 2L pot, ready for planting straight out.
Also known as the Bloody dogwood or bloodtwig on account of its glowing winter colour, Cornus 'Anny's Winter Orange', is one of the best for colour, being much prized for its vibrant, orange-flushed red stems. Widely grown as ornamental plants, dogwoods are a subtle, underestimated garden staple which come into their own when their leaves change colour in a glorious display in autumn, falling to reveal the flame-coloured branches so popular with gardeners. Fully winter hardy, dogwoods are a popular shrub for any garden or even a large container as they are unfussy and are both easy to grow and low maintenance, with a long season of interest - all year round! In spring, dogwoods bust into bloom with heads of dainty white flowers that are a magnet to butterflies and bees. These are followed in late summer by black berries that will attract all manner of birds into your garden. Fully deserving its coveted RHS Award of Garden Merit, you can be sure that this is a proven garden performer, guaranteed to be suitable for UK gardeners at every level of experience. You can therefore plant this in the garden with confidence, for stunning displays for many years to come. Grow in sun or partial shade but be aware that dogwood produces the best stem colour when grown in full sun.
Better known as Witch Hazel, hamamelis is a winter-flowering shrub that brings something rather special to your garden with its stunning autumn colour and lightly scented blooms at a time when it needs it most. A slow-growing, deciduous shrub with oval green leaves that turn yellow and orange tinted with red in autumn in a fiery display of colour. 'Ruby Glow' is a popular variety of witch hazel and produces deep red ribbon-like blooms that erupt like sparklers in winter with a fragrance likened to a mix of spice and citrus - perfect for adding amazing winter interest to your garden when most of its other residents are lying dormant. Perfect as a specimen plant for a sunny or lightly shaded area, flowers look amazing when festooning the bare branched in late autumn and winter once the colourful leaves have fallen. Slow growing 'Ruby Glow' is a very easy shrub to grow, forming a neatly compact bush that's great in containers and pots on the patio if you don't have much room - so everyone has a change to grow it whatever the size of their garden. Supplied as an established plant in a 2L pot ready for immediate planting.
Forsythia intermedia 'Minigold' has the same spectacular yellow flower displays in early spring as other varieties, but in a naturally compact, low-maintenance form. Reaching only 120cm in height and width when mature, this stunning ornamental shrub is perfect for patio pots and smaller garden beds and borders in a sunny or semi-shaded spot, and produces a burst of lightly scented, yellow star-shaped flowers in March and April, before many other garden plants wake up. After flowering, its branches will become covered in mid-green leaves. This hardy shrub is easy to grow and needs little pruning, so is ideal for anyone who wants maximum impact with minimum effort. It is one of the easiest and most rewarding shrubs to grow. Supplied as an established plant in a 3L pot ready for planting in a pot or in your garden.
Forsythia intermedia 'Spectabilis' is one of the most spectacular of early season shrubs for its intensely yellow blooms that appear when little else in the garden is in flower. From March to April, the bare branches become smothered in an abundance of fragrant, deep yellow, bell-shaped blooms before the mid-green, small oval leaves appear, producing dense foliage that then provides great structure and contrast in the garden through to late autumn, before the leaves fall for winter. A truly reliable and low-maintenance variety, 'Spectabilis' makes a magnificent specimen when planted towards the middle or back of a border and is also a superb choice for spring-flowering hedging. Equally good in a large pot or container for your patio, this versatile shrub will thrive in sun or partial shade, in fertile, moist but well-drained soil. For best flowering results and to maintain size and shape, cut branches hard back to a pair of strong buds immediately after flowering. Hardy to -15°C, these hard-working deciduous shrubs are deliciously fragrant when in flower so will attract bees and other wildlife to your garden. Supplied as an established plant in a 3-litre pot, ready to be potted on or planted out.
Stocks are very well loved garden flowers and a cottage garden favourite. 'Vintage Mixed' is a fabulous hardy annual that will produce gloriously fragrant flowers as early as May and until late summer. They are naturally sturdy, bushy and free flowering, with long, greyish-green leaves and multiple flowers stems densely packed with blooms, over half of which will be double, in a range of shades from white and pale yellow, through pink and mauve and deep purple. They carry an intense, clove-like, sweet fragrance that will smell wonderful as it drifts through your garden, and of course, these are superb cut flowers, and the scent will easily fill a room. The flowers are edible and have a delicately perfumed flavour. Picked fresh, they make a great salad garnish, or they can be used as a topping for ice cream. They can also be candied, allowing them to be stored and used in cakes. Grow them in full sun, in borders and or pots, where the nectar-rich flowers will attract bees and butterflies and you can enjoy the fabulous fragrance. Supplied as 20 garden ready plants, ready to plant in your garden and growing to a height and spread of 40 cm (16 in).
If you want to add dramatic effect to your garden, then you can't go wrong with this popular shrub. One of the first ornamental plants to bloom in the year, Forsythia is also known as the Easter tree as it is often in flower through that calendar period. A robust and easy to care for shrub that is perfect for use as a cut flower the branches of Forsythia are smothered along their length with brilliant yellow blooms and they look simply stunning when displayed in a vase at Easter time.A recent addition to our range of flowering forsythias, 'Mikador' has the same spectacular yellow flower displays in early spring as its relatives, but on a smaller, low maintenance form. A naturally compact variety, Mikador grows to just H100cm (30in) x W100cm (in) wide and is perfect for patio pots and smaller garden borders where it will display all the flower power, but in a fraction of the space! After flowering, 'Mikador' gets smothered in mid-green leaves which turn to orange and gold in autumn giving a delightful display and extending its season of interest. Easy to grow, and perfect if you're short of time or new to gardening, grow Mikador in sunny or lightly shade spots in any soils - from acidic to heavy clays, it's a very easy and very hardy and tolerant shrub - a 'good doer' as we like to call it! Supplied as an established plant in a 17cm pot, ready to plant out.
'Midwinter Fire', is stunning with its vibrant flame-coloured stems. It's great for bees and butterflies too, which are attracted to the dainty white flowers. Widely grown as ornamental plants, dogwoods are a subtle, underestimated garden staple which come into their own when their leaves change colour in a glorious display in autumn, falling to reveal the glowing branches so prized by gardeners. Fully winter hardy, dogwoods are a popular shrub for any garden or even a large container as they are fairly unfussy and are both easy to grow and low maintenance, with a long season of interest - all year round! Supplied as 3 x established plants in 9cm pots, ready to plant out. Growing to a height and spread of 2m (6ft), flowering white May - June