5 Evergreen Shrubs for Your Winter Garden

5 evergreen shrubs for your winter garden to give you textural and colourful interest to complement the green evergreens you already have. And in case you don’t have any green evergreens, I do suggest a couple as an extra at the end!

Evergreen shrubs are frequently suggested as being the solution to an interesting winter garden. Or indeed as a solution to an easy maintenance garden, especially for communal gardens where the maintenance budget may be small.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not against using evergreen shrubs in this way. I’ve used them as part of a planting design for this very reason. However, and it’s a big however, they should be used for the benefits they bring to a garden and a planting scheme. Not because they’re the ‘easy option’. That way lies the dreaded unchanging scenario of dark green foliage all year round.

Nevertheless, any evergreen shrubs, can be boring for a large part of the year unless chosen carefully. But make them part of a mixed planting scheme, where herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses also feature. Then you have changing interest through the seasons against a constant background. This can provide an easy maintenance solution that is far from boring when done well.

Aren’t evergreens boring?

But what about evergreen shrubs for foliage interest as the be all and end all of a planting design? Isn’t that just boring?

To which I would respond that it can be an interesting scheme. For example, some shrubs have –

differently coloured juvenile, or young, foliage
variegated foliage
textured foliage
foliage which isn’t green
coloured stems
spring flowers
summer flowers
scented flowers
autumn berries
winter berries

And in your winter garden, evergreen shrubs give you a framework that looks wonderfully magical when dusted with frost and snow.

I’ve suggested five shrubs below that I’ve used in gardens and planting designs. Some you’ll know, some may be new to you.

5 Evergreen Shrubs for Your Winter Garden – Texture

Leucothoe ‘Curly Red’
Mahonia ‘Soft Caress’
Osmanthus heterophyllus Goshiki

Leucothoe ‘Curly Red’

Also known as Leucothoe axillaris ‘Red Curl’ the giveaway is again in the name. The attractively curled leaves are reddish in the spring, green in summer and red in autumn and winter. A low growing shrubs, its especially good on more acidic soils and prefers not to be in full sun.

Mahonia ‘Soft Caress’

Mahonia eurybrachteata ‘Soft Caress’, the Oregon grape, is an upright, evergreen, compact shrub, growing to about 1.2 metres tall. Unlike many Mahonia this one has leaflets that are spineless – hence ‘Soft Caress’! The yellow, honey-scented flowers in late summer and autumn are good for pollinating insects. They’re followed by attractive blue-black berries carried over winter.

5 Evergreen Shrubs for Your Winter Garden – Scent

Elaeagnus pungens maculata
Mahonia ‘Soft Caress’
Osmanthus heterophyllus Goshiki
Skimmia japonica ‘Magic Marlot’

Elaeagnus pungens maculata

You’re walking along a suburban road in autumn where there are evergreen shrubs in the front gardens. Suddenly there’s a waft of vanilla fragrance but you can’t see any flowers. An Elaeagnus could be the source. You’ll notice evergreen leaves and if you get too close, possibly the spiny stems, but the flowers are almost hidden where the leaves join the stem.

An although the flowers are strictly speaking an autumn pleasure, they often linger through to December when the weather is mild.

Skimmia japonica ‘Magic Marlot’

Skimmia offer us both aromatic foliage and fragrant flowers as well as evergreen foliage – what’s not to like?

Well, in this instance you need to know that to have shiny red berries following the flowers, you’ll need both female and male plants. If you only have room for one evergreen shrub, this may not be the one for you. although the foliage is attractive…

eleagnus pungens maculata, variegated evergreen shrub, scented flowers

5 Evergreen Shrubs for Your Winter Garden – Colourful Foliage

Should we call the foliage colourful or variegated?

Hebe ‘rhubarb & custard’
Euonymus ‘White Spire’
Osmanthus heterophyllus ‘Goshiki’
Photinia pink marble

Osmanthus heterophyllus ‘Goshiki’

Also known as the holly olive and Osmanthus heterophyllus ‘tricolour’, Goshiki is probably my favourite Osmanthus. It’s tolerant of most soils and locations and slow growing, so I do use it quite often in planting designs. Fragrant flowers, blue-black berries, purple stems and speckled foliage make it a winner in al seasons. And not only that, but according to feedback, my clients have been known to feel smug when correcting a visitor: “ No, it’s not holly, it’s Osmanthus”.

5 Evergreen Shrubs for Your Winter Garden – for when you want green evergreens

Bay Laurel, Laurus nobilis
Camellia
Choisya ‘white dazzler’ , Mexican orange blossom
Rosemary, Salvia rosmarinus
Sarcococca, Christmas Box

Sarcococca

Well, not only does Christmas Box have glossy green foliage but the fragrance from those winter flowers is totally wonderful! Depending on the size of your space, there’s a Sarcococca to fit.

And finally…

Okay, I admit, you’ll notice that whilst I’ve only gone into detail on 5 evergreen shrubs for your winter garden, there are more than five listed in total! What I wanted to show with the short lists, is how many of the shrubs offer interest in your garden for more than one reason and more than one season.

For other shrub and winter garden blogs, check out Plews Potting Shed list below. And if you’d like some help in putting together a planting design for your difficult border, please get in touch! We can offer planting designs ‘at a distance’ as well as in person.

For those of you who like Christmas – why not download our eBook “Christmas and Yule in Your Garden“?

We’re always adding to our freebie gardening printables for you to download too. These include plant lists to inspire you, planners to help with your gardening tasks.

Or if you’re looking for a Christmas gift with a difference, why not ask about Plews’ bespoke Gardening Lessons, where your classroom is actually your own garden? I can help you with both gardening basics and more ‘expert tasks’, carry out worm and other experiments and for example, also show you how to plan a wildlife friendly ornamental border.

For further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the winter gardening tips and ideas selection below and our monthly Tipsheet – You could come and find us on Instagram Pinterest and Facebook too.

Planting Ideas

Evergreen Shrubs for Foliage Interest

Scented Shrubs for Christmas Morning

10 Winter Flowering Shrubs – Planting Ideas for your Garden

Chimonanthus praecox – Wintersweet

Cornus – Dogwood – Colourful Winter Stems

Gardening Tips

9 Winter Vegetable Garden Tasks to be Doing Now

Winter Gardening Tips for Plants

Making your Greenhouse ready for Winter

Winter Pruning in Your Garden

Wildlife Gardening