Even if you live in a mild-winter area, winter tends to get a bit dreary. Native plants aren't blooming yet and most garden plants are resting. Pick up your spirits by adding some flowers that bloom during the cool, moist winter months into spring. Get instant color with transplants that are already blooming. Put them in containers or scatter them in borders or edgings where bulbs are winter-dormant or in front of deciduous perennials. You can regard them as expendable winter-into-spring annuals or keep some of them on into summer.
Intersperse the white flower clusters of candytuft (Iberis semperviresn) with the cheerful faces of johnny-jump-up (Viola tricolor) or pansies (Viola x wittrockiana). Candytuft is a 6- to 12-inch-tall perennial that blooms again if sheared back after the first flowering. Use it as an edging or a filler between more colorful plants. It grows in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 8. Johnny-jump-up comes in the traditional yellow and purple flowers and also in blue, deep purple, yellow and orange cultivars. It is 7 to 10 inches tall and reseeds. Deadhead the flowers for longer bloom. Pansies are garden hybrids that come in many colors and combinations of colors. Pick them frequently for mini-bouquets instead of deadheading after the flower fades. They need four to five hours of full sun. Be prepared to water them in the absence of winter rains. Johnny-jump-ups and pansies are winter annuals in USDA zones 8 through 11.
Crinkly petaled Iceland poppies (Papaver nudicaule) carry their large flowers 1 to 2 feet tall on wiry leafless stems. Bright pink, cream, yellow, orange, salmon or white flowers glow in full sun and are useful in flower arrangements. Although usually treated as annuals, Iceland poppy is a short-lived perennial in USDA zones 2 through 7. Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus) provide striking spires of colorful flowers and come in many cultivars. There are the traditional jawed flowers plus open bells, double flowers and butterfly-flowered varieties in all colors but blue and black. They are suitable for backdrops for shorter plants or as accent plants, especially in containers for the vertical element since they grow 1 to 3 feet tall. Snapdragons can be short-lived perennials in USDA zones 9 through 11, but are usually treated as annuals.
Daisy Family Plants
For sunshiny color, grow calendulas (Calendula officinalis), also called pot marigolds. Flowers come in single or double form with mostly yellows and oranges. Some cultivars have bicolored petals, pastel colors or darker center eyes. Plants grow to 1 or 2 feet tall, and flowers can be 3 to 4 inches wide. Calendulas don't tolerate hot weather once summer arrives. Either cut back these annual plants for fall bloom or discard them. White to pink blooms of English daisy (Bellis perennis) prefer winters reminiscent of their native cool English springs. Single-flowered cultivars have white, single yellow-eyed daisies. Semi-double and double-flowered forms also come in pink, red or salmon. This low-growing perennial grows in USDA zones 4 through 8. Thin 3- to 6-inch tall stems hold flowers above green 8-inch-wide leafy basal rosettes. English daisy is useful in containers and as a massed bedding plant.
Sit on the patio at twilight and breathe in the spicy fragrance of stock (Matthiola incana). Single or double flowers come in white, pink, yellow, red, purple and lavender. Annual plants grow from 1 to 3 feet tall depending on the cultivar. Mass them for effect in borders or use taller varieties as background plants. They grow best in full sun and with regular watering, especially in containers. The white or purple flower clusters of sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) complement larger, brighter-colored winter-blooming flowers. Sweet alyssum grows 8 to 12 inches high with abundant fragrant flowers. Plant it in quantity to enjoy the fragrance. Hardy in USDA zones 9 through 10, it blooms year-round in frost-free climates with cool summers. Sweet alyssum is useful for spilling over container edges or garden walls.
- Missouri Botanical Garden: Iberis Sempervirens
- Texas A&M Horticulture: Johnny-Jump-Up
- Times Free Press: 5 Tips: It's Time to Plant Pansies
- Fine Gardening: Papaver Nudicaule (Iceland Poppy)
- Sunset: 17 Best Plants for Cool-Season Color: Snapdragon
- Missouri Botanical Garden: Calendula Officinalis
- Fine Gardening: Bellis Perennis (English Daisy)
- Sunset: 17 Best Plants for Cool-Season Color: Stock
- Texas A&M Horticulture: Sweet Alyssum
- Sunset: 17 Best Plants for Cool-Season Color: English Daisy (Bellis Perennis)
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