17 Best Flowers for Winter Color

Brighten gray, drizzly days with these lovely cool-season flowers.


Calendula (Calendula officinalis)
Daisy-like calendula provides easy color from late fall through spring in mild-winter climates, and are long lasting in a vase. Choose classic orange and bright yellow, or opt for subtler shades of apricot, cream, and soft yellow.
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Cyclamen
Few blooms say winter like cyclamen. Pretty flowers in shades of white, pink, rose, and red are carried atop an attractive clump of leaves. Flowers resemble shooting stars or butterflies. Large-flowered florists' cyclamen (pictured) is most often seen as a container-grown gift plant though they also make great bedding plants.
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English daisy (Bellis perennis)
Plump, perky English daises make great edging plants. Or slip a few into your lawn for unexpected bursts of color.
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Hellebores
Plant hellebores for distinctive flowers in winter and spring. Flowers are usually shaped like cups or bells, either outward facing or drooping. They range in color from white and green through pink and red to deep purple ('Party Dress' is pictured here). Flowers persist beyond bloom periods, gradually turning green.
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Iceland poppy (Papaver nudicaule)
With their tall, leafless stems that dance in the breeze, Iceland poppies are graceful companions to many cool-season plants.
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Nemesia
Nemesia grows to 2 feet tall and 1 foot wide, with small bright green leaves and upright stems. All nemesia need well-drained soil, full sun, and regular water. Some nemesia have intensely fragrant blossoms; others are unscented.
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Ornamental kale
Giant rosettes of frilly leaves in lavender, rose, white, and creamy yellow make ornamental kales favorite additions to the winter garden. Because these showy cabbage relatives tolerate cold weather and can hold their brilliant color all the way into spring, they're ideal for display on porches, patios, or beside entryways, or for massing in garden beds.
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Pansy
These low-growing plants (6 to 10 inches tall) with five-petaled flowers are top sellers year after year for good reason. They deliver lots of blooms over a long period, come in a huge range of colors ― both solids and bicolors ― and bloom through winter in much of the West. ('Dynamite Blotch' is pictured here.)
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Snapdragon
Snapdragons are among the best flowers for borders and cuttings, and they'll bloom all winter in mild-winter climates. (In cold climates, plant in spring.) Flowers come in many colors and are divided into upper and lower "jaws." Some have double flowers, some are bell-shaped, and some blooms look like azaleas.
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Stock
Plant this old-fashioned favorite for its narrow gray-green leaves and profuse spikes of spicy-sweet smelling flowers. Take your pick of white, pink, red, purple, lavender, blue, yellow, and cream.
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SEE ALL FAVORITE WINTER FLOWERS