What's looking good in your garden this month?

[TheSweetestHalleluja]

Our front garden is looking a bit bleak at the moment. It should look lovely come Spring, but decidedly gloomy now, and I feel like planting something out there to cheer up these cold, dark days.

I have some hellebores planted out there but they aren't flowering yet.

And come Spring, my bulbs should be flowering.

I'm after a pop of colour, maybe something with berries for the birds and for the colour, but not bedding type plants ideally would prefer a shrub type thing that gives a bit of impact.

Any ideas welcome :)

Cyclamen Coum. I’d show you a picture but they’re all covered with snow at the moment.

Abelia 'Francis Mason', Lorapetalum chinense, sarcococca, variegated osmanthus, variegated hebe, olearia - I love evergreen shrubs in winter, particularly if they're variegated / burgundy / have flowers

My hebe is in full bloom

Oh wow I love the Loropetalum Chinense, I've never seen one of those before and it says it flowers February and March which would be ideal.

Do you know the variety of hebe you have @AlwaysOnAbloodyDiet
I've got some summer flowering ones out the back which do quite well, so a winter flowering one would be good.

I’ve got a hebe flowering too.

Large shrub, dark purple’y leaves, short stubby purple flowers.

My rabbit- everything else is naff

Haha @tomnjerrylover

I'll do a bit of googling on winter hebes as could do with a few different plants I think to brighten it up.

Hellebores are the real stars - loads in flower with loads to come! A couple of roses are still gamely going for it, a viburnum looking nice and a couple of penstemon which give a bit of shape to one of my borders and have basically been flowering since May although only a few flowers now.

I have some primroses in a bed outside the boundary which look quite pretty now they're starting to clump up.

Roll on spring!

2 hellebores which I bought recently when already in flower. A bit of nice dogwood, though some of it seems to have died/disappeared! Some funky tassels on my garrya, and the dead heads of the sedum looked quite pretty earlier when it had snow on it (melted now). Also the variegated holly my dad gave me years ago, but which has been very slow-growing so far, is finally starting to get a bit bigger and stands out nicely when it's a bit gloomy outside.

Sarcococca here too, it’s covered in flowers that are just about to burst with their wonderful scent and it’s evergreen so looks good all year. One of my favourite plants!

Dogwoods are great and low maintentence - yellow/orange red Midwinter Fire variety of cornus is looking against dark evergreen foliage at the moment - red variety great too (sibericus)

Like this

Definitely roll on spring @NotMaryWhitehouse

Glad your holly is doing well @ahagwearsapointybonnet they do seem to be slow growing but are so pretty and worth the wait.

Its been so long since I've been to a garden centre due to all the lockdowns etc so no idea what they have available this time of year. Used to be nice to go and browse and get some inspiration and a and of course

A yes the rabbit loves hebe- all our plants have to been fenced in to protect them from him.

I'd love to have hebe but it's like chocolate to rabbit !

Flowering at the moment:

Euryops Pectinatus (love this, it puts out all year round )
Hebe Addenda Donna Nikka
Cyclamen
Pansy - Tango Magic
Trailing Pansy - Cool Wave Frost
Trailing Pansy - Cool Wave Pastel Mix

I've got winter flowering heather and a dogwood (but to have to trim it back every spring to keep the coloured shoots).

I planted witch hazel in a large pot last year but not flowering yet.

My lovely Christmas rose bloomed on Christmas Day.... the heather is flowering and a few other winter shrubs

My camellia is just about to bloom too

My garden I quite green at the moment.... I think we have a mini micro climate going on

Prunus subhirtella Autumnalis - winter flowering cherry
Viburnum bodnantense - heavily scented pinky white flowers on bare stems
Cyclamen coum - they've self seeded all over the terrace so are giving a good display
Pernettya mucronata - you need a male as well as your females, but I have one plant weighed down by red berries and another similar with white - clusters of berries about 4inches long and over an inch thick (the cluster that is, not the berries). Skimmia reevesii - red berries and will soon have scented white flowers again.
Sedges - like grasses, but more tolerant of shade and tend to be smaller - the silver and bronze ones are really good at this time of the year.
Viburnum tinus - I'm not fond of it, but it's and evergreen, and mine currently has both blue/black berries and bunches of white flowers
About to come out - Prunus mas and Hamamelis mollis - both have clusters of yellow flowers on bare stems. Mahonia - racemes of yellow flowers against holly-like leaves.

Other good bark colours - Betula 'jaquemontii' - really white stems, snake bark maples - trunks have green bark with white stripes, paper bark maples, with warm brown papery bark peeling off rather like a birch, willows - which can have yellow or dark young stems and can be pruned like dogwoods, and there's a beautiful maple with coral red stems (which I managed to kill by putting it in too draughty a spot).

I love the virburnum bodnantense but planted one years ago that died for no apparent reason. Do I risk it and try again?

Lots of ideas here to think about.

Cyclamen in pots have been absolute stars this winter. Bought a punnet of them from supermarket for about £6 which I potted in a tub and another preplanted pot with a few green plants in it too. They've just kept on going and going, fab.

My fuchsia Lady Boothby is still flowering and is likely to continue to do so until around March-April. It doesn’t really freeze where I am though, which no doubt makes a difference!

My camelia’s are about to flower too.

Coprosma 'rainbow' is looking great in my garden at the moment. I have 4 different kinds of pulmonaria which are just starting to produce buds, I love the foliage which looks lovely this time of year. Cornus, and witch hazels are adding colour and interest too.

Are those your dogwoods Icelandic? They look amazing

I love sarcococca too and got one (now divided into two) in the hope of getting the fabulous scent, but mine are...a bit rubbish! They look fairly scruffy and blah, and although they have a few of the little flowers on I never really seem to get much scent from them. Any tips for boosting them a bit?

I really want some cyclamen too but not managed to get any yet!

Nandina, also known as Heavenly Bamboo looks amazing in the winter, lovely red berries and pretty foliage. That’s the only thing looking decent in my garden atm.

Mexican fleabane, oddly. A patch of it nearly a metre wide.