Advice on winter plants and general help please!

[Knivesandforks]

I wondering if you wise people could help please. We're due to move house next week. The new garden is big but so bare- not a single plant growing and the front has a hydrangea and nothing else!
I would love some winter flowering plant ideas please and also any general advise for the back garden- I don't want a border all the way round as that's too much but do want shrubs, plants etc.

I'm open to pots or planting which is best?

I'd like snow drops abd daffodils somewhere just to cheer the place up at the end of winter!

Snowdrops from Feb, most daffs from March. The absolute earliest bulb is Cyclamen coum, in flower Dec-April.

Winter flowers: winter flowering cherry Prunus subhirtella v autumnalis, Viburnum bodnantense, winter jasmine Jasminium nudiflorum, winter flowering bush honeysuckle Lonicera fragrantissima - all of these will flower december onwards,if not earlier.

From about February Hellebores, Witch Hazel Hammamelis, Cornus mas.

Dont forget coloured stems and bark, eg Cornus “Midwinter Fire” and Rubus cockburniensis.

Skimmia var reevesiana has sweet smelling flowers in spring and red berries lasting all winter (other Skimmias don’t have berries unless you also have a male plant for pollination). Pernettya also has long lasting berries in white, pink or pinky purple, but agin you need a male plant.

Planting better than pots so you don’t have to water daily in summer

I wouldn't rush into planting too many permanent plants until you've got to know the plot better. For the first year, I would just go crazy on the bulbs to cheer you up.