Colour for winter?

fro9etb8j5qsl2

I've recently moved into a new house with a large back garden It's the first place I've lived in that has a proper garden so I'm all excited and eager to get plants in the ground What can I plant this time of year that will flower through winter and add a bit of colour? I have some cyclamen but I'd like some variety Also, what bulbs can I plant now for spring? Thanks

pwurple

Well congratulations!
For winter, I tent to place more weight on form and structure than on colour... it's so dark a lot of the time, that strong shapes tend to have more impact than strong colour. Pillars of yew, well shaped hedges, that kind of thing.

That being said, some of my favourite shrubs do flower during winter.

Mahonia... fantistic spikey shaped leaves, dramatic spikes of bright yellow flowers. Scented.
Daphne... I love daphnes, the most delicious fragrance you will ever inhale. Beautiful. Little bit frost tender though, depending on the variety. Pink / white flowers.
Witch Hazel... another scented beauty. Winter plants attract a lot of their polinators with scent rather than colour. These come in shades of pale yellow, strong yellow, firey orange up to almost red. A slow grower though, so large plants will be pricey enough

rje66

Viburnum xbodnantense 'dawn'
Coloured stems of dogwoods and some willows.
Hollies-berries and variegated leaves.
Bulbs plant now. Crocus in lawn areas same with daffs.
Tulips in pots or through beds.
Aconites
Also conifers with golden foilage(not all conifers are big fast growing monsters)
Birch jacquemontii

So in that list there is colour in flowers,leaves,foilage,berries and bark