February and March see the days beginning to lengthen, temperatures increasing, and the sap rising. There is a feeling of anticipation for the new season ahead and the garden coming to life again. Shrubs provide the ideal backbone for mixed borders and can also create an eye-catching focal point. By planting shrubs that flower at different times, you can add interest to the garden throughout the year, including a few early-flowering shrubs to kickstart the year. Pair them with hellebores, aconites, snowdrops, early flowering crocuses and daffodils to brighten even the dreariest of February days.

Chaenomeles
Few spring flowers can match the flaming orange blooms of the Japanese quince that adorn the branches from March to May. While the flowers look elegant and delicate, this is a robust and easy-to-grow shrub. The bare twigs of Chaenomeles x superba ‘Crimson and Gold’ are smothered in bright red flowers with yellow centres in early spring, followed by yellow fruits. Stunning trained against a wall and invaluable where space is limited.  

Winter Jasmine
Jasmine is known for its perfume, but this fascinating group of plants has so much more to offer the winter garden. Jasminum nudiflorum’s mid-yellow flowers are not overtly scented but will bloom from November to March.

It grows to around three metres in height and spread and looks wonderful trained over a porch or allowed to ramble over a wall. As its flowering peak is towards the end of winter, in China, it  is called Yingchun, which means ‘the flower that welcomes spring’.

Winter Honeysuckle
Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’ is one of the best winter flowering shrubs, featuring intensely fragrant creamy flowers that open from early December and then keep coming until April. Unlike other varieties, it blooms well, even on young plants. If you’re short on space, try training them against cool north or east-facing walls. Deciduous shrubby fragrant types like ‘Winter Beauty’ are best pruned immediately after flowering. Cut back the shoots that have flowered to within 2-4 inches (5-10 cm) of the older wood.

Daphne
Daphnes are one of the best-scented shrubs available, and they’re easy to grow. ‘Evergreen or deciduous, daphnes are generally neat and well-behaved. Daphne × transatlantica ‘Eternal Fragrance’ has a long succession of highly scented white flowers. Plant it near an entrance or pathway where you can enjoy its scent to the full.

Hamamelis
These large winter flowering shrubs or small trees with red, orange and yellow flowers are probably better known to many by their common name, witch hazel. Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’ has beautiful clusters of spidery, sweetly scented, sulphur-yellow flowers which adorn the bare branches of this deciduous shrub. Leaves turn spectacular shades in autumn. You can cut a flowering twig to perfume a room.

Viburnum
This hardy shrub bursts into life during winter, producing masses of richly perfumed blooms on bare, woody stems. Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’ has glossy evergreen leaves with pink and white flowers bursting from pink buds over a long period in winter and spring. A tough shrub which will grow in most gardens in either sun or shade.