Plants that flower during the winter?

.... And back to the original question?!!

I find that violas are more likely to keep flowering in a cold spell, and quicker to restart after a freeze, than pansies. Or maybe they just look less miserable when hit by a hard frost? I like to plant early flowering bulbs - snowdrops, crocuses, iris reticulata, as these will flower despite snow and frost. I try to put them in relatively sheltered spots (so not buried by snow), and also where they are visible from indoors!!

I think going for coloured stems, evergreen leaves, and berries gives you a good framework. Leaving the spent flower and seed spikes from some plants also gives winter interest. Eg lavender flower stems, some ornamental grasses. You then get the sculptural impact of the frost... (Also helps lavenders through a severe winter).

 

My winter fix will be in the greenhouse I'm afraid. But plants spring bulbs carefully and you'll get an earlier display - so put them in the best spot even if it is hidden from the living room, not in spot "x" simply so that they can be seen. Iris "Katherine Hodgkin" was in bloom at the end of January last year.....................

 

Sorry, longk, I didn't make myself clear. Indeed, by choosing sheltered places, you get earlier flowers. Choosing spots visible from indoors gives you winter cheer. Doing both, ie some in sheltered places to be discovered, some visible from say the kitchen window, gives you an extended flowering period for each bulb...

 

Sarcococca Confusa flowers from December to March and smells lush