Winter Blooming Plants (11 Plants That Bloom In Winter)

Winter is a time of rest for both gardener and garden. But while most perennials have gone dormant, and most gardeners have traded trowels for seed catalogs, there are still a few bulbs, shrubs, and houseplants that bloom during the coldest months.

However, it’s important to remember that winter-blooming means different things for different zones. For places with frigid winters, winter-blooming usually means late winter ephemerals that herald the coming of spring (and feed early pollinators) or houseplants that bloom when the days are short. For places with warmer winters, winter-blooming means plants that bloom in the cooler weather that feed pollinators that may not have a lot of other sources.

This list is divided up into three sections – late winter ephemerals (flowers that pop up at the end of winter and before spring comes), ever-blooming shrubs (one of which blooms even through snowy winters!), and houseplants – to help you find the right match for your garden needs.

(Also check out this list of 11 fall-blooming flowers to bring flair to your fall garden, including a few options that keep their flowers through the winter).

Ready? Let’s begin.

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Winter Blooming Plants

Late Winter Ephemerals

#1 Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis)

Type: Perennial Bulb
Geographic Origin: Europe
USDA Zone: 3 to 7
Light Requirement: Full Sun to Part Shade
Water Requirement: Medium
Maintenance: LowMature Size: 9 inches

When thinking of winter-blooming flowers, Snowdrop may come first to mind. This bulb harbingers the coming of spring by poking up while there’s still snow. The name refers to the flower petals resembling drops of snow.

While originally from Europe, it has escaped and naturalized in parts of eastern North America, meaning it’s well-suited to these areas.

Snowdrops are beloved by enthusiasts called ‘galanthophiles’, who, according to Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, will spend as much as £350 for a bulb. But don’t worry – most Snowdrop bulbs won’t cost nearly as much.

Snowdrops are pretty easy to care for if you have medium moist, well-draining soil. They grow best when they can get full sun in late winter and early spring, but part shade later in the season, like if they’re planted under deciduous trees.

In the right conditions, they’ll naturalize and spread. They’re best planted in masses along woodland margins or under deciduous trees, or in groupings in rock gardens and border fronts.

#2 Snow Crocus (Crocus chrysanthus)

Type: Perennial Bulb
Geographic Origin: Southeastern Europe, Turkey
USDA Zone: 3 to 8
Light Requirement: Full Sun To Part Shade
Water Requirement: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Mature Size: 3 to 6 inches

Also known as Golden Crocus, Snow Crocus is one of the earliest crocuses to bloom, popping up through the snow in the late winter at around the same time as Snowdrops, and well before any Dutch hybrid crocuses. This crocus has yellow-orange or white cup-like blooms that smell mildly like honey.

Another early crocus is Crocus tommasinianus, also known as Snow Crocus, Early Crocus, or Woodland Crocus. This crocus has pale lavender leaves.

Both Snow Crocuses grow best in sandy or gritty well-draining soil and suffer in heavy clay soil. Plant the corms in the fall and leave them in place until after they go dormant about 6 weeks after they bloom.

They can self-seed and form large drifts over time. You can grow them in your lawn (don’t mow until they go dormant), under trees, or in sunny woodland areas. They look best when grown in masses.

#3 Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa forbesii)

Type: Perennial Bulb
Geographic Origin: Western Turkey
USDA Zone: 3 to 8
Light Requirement: Full Sun to Part Shade
Water Requirement: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Mature Size: 6 to 12 inches

Glory of the Snow is another perennial bulb that pops up in the early spring with violet-blue blooms shaped like stars.

They require very little care, so long as they’re planted in well-draining soils. Like all the other early bulbs on this list, they will self-seed and offset to form spreading carpets of blooms.

They’re best used in masses for rock gardens, sunny woodland areas, slopes, and lawns, and you can plant them with other early bulbs or spring blooms.

#4 Hellebore (Helleborus niger)

Type: Herbaceous Perennial
Geographic Origin: Europe
USDA Zone: 3 to 8
Light Requirement: Part Shade to Full Shade
Water Requirement: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Mature Size: 9 to 12 inches

Hellebore is also called Christmas Rose because it blooms around Christmas time with white or blush flowers in its warmer range. But if you live in the colder part of its range, it will still bloom outdoors in February or March, which is a rare feat. Their leaves will stay green through the winter so long as the temperatures don’t drop below 0F.

Avoid this plant if you’ve got children or pets who may put parts of it in its mouth, as all parts are poisonous.

Hellebore grows best in organically rich, neutral to alkaline, well-draining soil in part to full shade. Plant them in a place where they’re sheltered from cold winter winds, as frigid temperatures can tatter the leaves.

Flowers can bloom through the snow and survive frost. They’re harder to grow than the later-blooming Helleborus orientalis.

#5 Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)

Type: Bulb
Geographic Origin: Southern France to Bulgaria
USDA Zone: 3 to 7
Light Requirement: Full Sun to Part Shade
Water Requirement: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Mature Size: 3 to 6 inches

If Late Winter gives you the blues and you just need a pop of color heralding the coming of spring, check out Winter Aconite. Winter Aconite pops up before the Snow Crocus through the snow with bright yellow, buttercup-like flowers.

But like with Hellebore, avoid it if you have small children or pets (anyone likely to stick a part of the plant into their mouth), as the entire plant is very poisonous.

Like Snowdrops, Winter Aconite does best when it gets Full Sun during the early spring but more shade as time passes and the weather warms up.

Soak the tubers overnight before planting them 2 to 3 inches deep and 3 inches apart in the late summer or early fall. Once planted, Winter Aconite is best left undisturbed.

Winter Aconite is best used for border fronts, rock gardens, along paths, or amassed outside a window where you can appreciate them in the late winter when winter seems to drag on. You can plant them in containers.

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#6 Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

Type: Herbaceous Perennial
Geographic Origin: Eastern and Central North America
USDA Zone: 3 to 8
Light Requirement: Part to Full Shade
Water Requirement: Medium, Drought Tolerant
Maintenance: Medium
Mature Size: 6 to 9 inches

Bloodroot is a native flower that sometimes pushes up through the snow with white daisy-like blooms, although is more often seen in that brief period between winter and spring. It gets its name from the reddish-orange sap it exudes when it’s been cut.

The flowers only last a day or two, but the leaves will continue growing and providing green cover until mid-summer, when they go dormant until next spring. Bloodroot is truly an ephemeral flower that you can anticipate every year.

While Bloodroot grows best in rich, moist soil, it will grow in just about everything so long as it’s not soggy or very dry. They prefer dappled sun, like they’d naturally get through deciduous tree cover.

While the original Bloodroot is amazing in its own right, you can also plant the spectacular Double-Flowered Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis ‘Multiplex’). This sterile hybrid looks like a water lily and its blooms last longer than its parent plant.

Winter Blooming Shrubs

#7 Witch Hazel (Hamamelis spp.)

Type: Deciduous Shrub
Geographic Origin: Asia, North America
USDA Zone: 5 to 8 (Asian origin), 3 to 8 (North American origin)
Light Requirement: Full Sun to Part Shade
Water Requirement: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Mature Size: 3 to 20 feet (depending on species and cultivar)

Witch Hazel is a very underrated shrub for cold, snowy regions. While other winter blooming plants tend to either keep their flowers through the snow or pop up at the first signs of spring, Witch Hazel starts to flower through late October and November, and keeps flowering through the cold to early spring.

Their flowers have a long, crinkled shape rather than a classic flower shape, but they provide bright bursts of yellow, orange, or red throughout the winter. Their flowers have a sweet and spicy fragrance. Enjoy them on a sunny winter day in your yard, or bring a branch inside your house.

You have many species and cultivars to choose from. Hamamelis × intermedia are hybrid crosses between Japanese Witch Hazel (H. japonica) and Chinese Witch Hazel (H. mollis). Hamamelis virginiana, also called Common Witch Hazel, is native to Eastern North America. Hamamelis vernalis, also called Ozark Witch Hazel, is native to the Southern and Central United States.

If you’re looking for inspiration, check out the Morris Arboretum’s collection at the University of Pennsylvania.

Witch Hazel prefers moist, acidic soil high in organic matter. During periods of drought, the leaves will scorch unless watered, but it can survive. Remove root suckers from a grafted rootstock.

While Common Witch Hazel has few pest and disease problems, other species may have more problems. They make great screens, hedges, or shrub borders.

#8 Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)

Type: Deciduous Shrub
Geographic Origin: Central and Eastern United States
USDA Zone: 4 to 9
Light Requirement: Part Shade to Shade
Water Requirement: Medium, Drought Tolerant
Maintenance: Low
Mature Size: 6 to 12 feet

A native understory shrub, Spicebush gets its name from the spicy fragrance that its leaves, bark, and flowers give off. In the fall, they feature intense yellow foliage, and in late winter or early spring, their yellow-green flowers pop up before the foliage.

They’re also a very useful pollinator plant, as they may be the only thing blooming. If you have both a female and male plant, the female plant will produce bright red drupes that mature in fall for birds.

Spicebush is best grown in shaded areas, along streams or ponds, and at the low spots in rain gardens. The less sun it gets, the more spreading its growth habit.

#9 Manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.)

Type: Evergreen Shrub
Geographic Origin: Western North America
USDA Zone: Depends on cultivar
Light Requirement: Full Sun, Full Sun to Part Shade (depends on cultivar)
Water Requirement: Low, Drought Tolerant
Maintenance: Low
Mature Size: 2 inches to 20 feet

If you live on the West Coast and you don’t have a Manzanita in your garden, you are missing out. Native to the Western United States, there are over forty different species native to parts of California and Oregon (and that’s not including all the cultivars and hybrids).

Some grow as short as two inches, while others grow as tall as trees. Many are extremely easy to grow. They explode with bell-like white or pink flowers that last all winter long, providing food for hummingbirds and bees.

Manzanitas are adapted for hot summer droughts, and hate to be watered or fertilized. Find a cultivar adapted to your specific conditions, especially if you live in a desert, adobe, or beach area. They make a great replacement for non-native plants like Honeysuckle and Lantana.

Winter Blooming Houseplants

#10 Cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum)

Type: Bulb
Geographic Origin: Northern Africa, Greece, Turkey to Jordan
USDA Zone: 9 to 11
Light Requirement: Part Shade
Water Requirement: Medium
Maintenance: Medium
Mature Size: 6 to 12 inches

Early-blooming outdoor plants and shrubs aren’t the only way to enjoy flowers during the winter. Cyclamen is mainly sold as a houseplant. For up to 3 months during the winter months, Cyclamen produces colorful pink, red, violet, lavender, or white flowers shaped like butterflies in flight.

If you’re in Zones 9 to 11, you can also grow it outside. There, it’s better treated as a winter annual rather than as a perennial. Likewise, while it’s easy to grow as a houseplant, it is more difficult to get it to bloom the next winter, so many people treat it as a temporary, annual houseplant as well.

Cyclamen likes bright, indirect light. Hybrids have greater winter hardiness and can be grown further north as long as they’re in a protected location and mulched.

#11 Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera × buckleyi)

Type: Epiphyte (Perennial)
Geographic Origin:
USDA Zone: 10 to 12
Light Requirement: Part Shade
Water Requirement: Dry to Medium
Maintenance: Medium
Mature Size: 12 to 24 inches

Another winter blooming houseplant is Christmas Cactus. It has flat, jointed stem segments that sprawl over the container edge. From December to February, it produces showy, magenta flowers at each stem end.

Christmas Cactus grows from March/April to September. To encourage blooming, start exposing it in mid-September for 6 to 8 weeks to bright daytime light and 13 hours of darkness each night, with night-time temperatures between 55 to 65F. You can cover the plants with black cloth or place them in a dark room.

Missouri Botanical Garden recommends a mix of 1 part potting soil, 2 parts peat moss, and 1 part sharp sand or perlite. Keep the soil consistently but moderately moist – it’s better if it’s slightly under watered than overwatered, but don’t let the soil dry out.

Conclusion

Winter blooming plants are an easy, often low maintenance way to bring joy during or at the end of a long winter, as well as to feed early pollinators when there’s nothing else around.

You can also learn about cold weather plants for landscaping here.

Looking for more inspiration? Check these out:

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