Typically East Texas has mild winters, so we can plant a variety of things to provide winter color.
Pansies are among the most striking and beautiful plants that will thrive even in the coldest part of the year. Pansies are from the Violaceae family and come in a myriad of colors. They can be a single color or a color with a black line radiating from the center of the bloom. The most popular color is yellow.
They tolerate sun to semi shade and like a well-drained soil and like water when the topsoil gets dry. Daytime temperatures of 40 to 60 at night are ideal for pansies but they will tolerate temps even lower. Periodic feedings of a 15-10-10 will keep them blooming all season.
Plant in October or November when the soil begins to cool off. Plant approximately 6 inches apart in a bed with staggered rows for a mass of color. Pansies are also lovely in pots by your front door. The blooms are edible for humans and deer love them too.
Ornamental Kale and Cabbage, while they are not flowers, can add a lot of color and texture to your garden and work well in a variety of landscapes. They come in colors from green to blue to magenta and are edible, but they do have an unpleasant bitter taste.
Lenten Rose or Winter Rose is from the Helleborus hybrid genus. It is an outstanding plant that belongs to the buttercup family. It likes shade to part sun with an evenly moist soil. They are quite lovely under a nice stand of trees. The blooms are 2-3 inches across with white, purple, pink or green blooms that appear on a thick stem. Some blooms are spotted or double blooms. Lenten Rose or Winter Rose bloom in late winter, January or February and last through the Lenten season, hence the name.
Winter Honeysuckle, Lonicera, grows as a bushy shrub or can be trained into a multitrunked tree that may get 6-10 feet tall. It has a striking showcase of creamy white flowers with a lemon scented-like fragrance and comes to life during the chilly months. Plant one close to your patio or deck so you can enjoy the fragrance. Bloom time is December through March.
Our winter gardens can give us a lot of color during these cold weather months. So, head out and check out your local garden center and get ready to plant some new things this year. You’ll be glad you did.