These Are the Best Winter Bloomers to Plant If You Want to Enjoy Your Garden All Year Long

If you're an avid gardener, winter can be a difficult season to get through—after all, the majority of your florals hibernate during the colder months. But the season doesn't have to be a bare, barren one, marked by snow-covered rose bushes and lifeless garden beds: Winter bloomers are a great way to add color to your yard come the end of the year.

From easy annuals you can plant right in the ground and flowers that thrive in window boxes (and can withstand the temperature drop) to shrubs that begin as bulbs in the fall and surprise you in early spring, these flower types run the gamut. Beyond the grounded varieties, we've also included blooms like cyclamen that you can place right into your planters, bringing a festive touch of color to your porch. Looking for a climbing vine for your cold-weather trellis? Bookmark winter jasmine, which will cover the structure with sunny yellow blooms come February or March.

It is important to note, however, that giving your winter bloomers the best possible chance to flourish often requires some re-planting—and always involves extra planning before the weather turns cold. Winter- or spring-blooming trees need to hit the ground long before the last few weeks of the growing season, for example. This work heralds a major payoff: Seeing these plants' glimmers of color, when nearly everything else is brown or gray, will make your efforts to revive your outdoor space worthwhile. Ahead, the best winter bloomers to withstand the season's bitterest frosts and heaviest snowfalls.

These saucer-shaped flowers, which come in white, pink, yellow, and maroon colorways, emerge in winter and remain on the plant for several months. Well-loved for their deer resistance and mostly evergreen nature, hellebores burst into color as the rest of your garden goes to sleep.

Bright additions to both your cold-weather planters or garden beds, these petite buds feature statement flowers atop heart-shaped leaves. They look particularly beautiful mass planted under trees.

Though not technically a floral, a cabbage's rosette-shaped, frilly leaves help it mask as one come winter (these are cousins of the edible varieties).

Camellias aren't a quick annual to pop into the ground just before the weather turns—you need to plan ahead to incorporate these shrubs or small trees into your home's landscape. These florals come in shades of pink, red, or white.

This large deciduous shrub goes from dormant to lively in winter, blooming with lush yellow flowers—the buds are quite a sight in a sea of bare branches. Before you plant these, however, make sure you have the room: Witch hazel can grow 30 feet tall and 15 feet wide.

Just as you'd expect from their name, these are among the first to bloom in your winter garden. Grown from bulbs, these early bloomers will eventually form clumps—and then spread over time.

If you plant these by the bulb in the fall, you can expect periwinkle blooms to emerge in early spring—sometimes straight through the snow.

Looking for a vine that blooms during the colder months? Consider winter jasmine, which erupts in yellow flowers in February or March.

One of the best-smelling flowers to plant in your garden, daphne blooms just after winter. We're including it on our list, however, since its perfume is unparalleled—and signals the changing of the seasons and the waking of the rest of the garden. When they bloom, tiny tubular flowers appear on the small mounding shrubs.