When the winter months hit, our grass turns yellow and some of our trees lose their leaves. It’s only natural to want pops of color in your yard to brighten things up. Thankfully, there are still pretty, colorful flowers you can use in your garden through the winter to bring a smile to your face.
You never really know what Texas weather will be like during the winter. Some years, we can end up with a mild winter where it never freezes and every few years, we experience a holiday season with a few days below freezing. If we end up with a severe winter, your yard can suffer during the winter months, although there are extra steps you can take to prevent frost damage to these winter flowers, such as watering your plants early in the morning. If you know severe weather is coming, you can cover your plants to help them retain some heat. Keep the tarps off the plants to prevent them from being crushed by using stakes. If you are really concerned about winter weather, you can also put your more delicate flowers in containers so you can bring them inside on those few nights where a freeze is predicted.
Here are some flowers you can consider adding to your yard during our unpredictable Texas winters:
PANSIES
Pansies are a beautiful, low-growing annual that comes in a variety of colors to suit anyone’s tastes. You can pick your favorite, choose them all to give a more “wild” look or choose several and plant them in blocks to bring patches of color to your lawn. These plants need some sun to grow and are even edible, used by some to treat a variety of ailments.
SNAPDRAGONS
These winter flowers will also give you a wide variety of color. With their stalks, snapdragons can give your garden height (from 12 to 36 inches) as well. These flowers also come in a variety of colors, but not a true blue like pansies. Snapdragons need full sun to partial shade, but once it starts heating up, they stop blooming.
ENGLISH MARIGOLDS
A staple in British cottage gardens, these yellow and orange flowers will also add a pop of sunshine to your landscape. They’ve been known to do well through the winter and can also withstand hot summers. Marigolds like full sun and can survive several nights when the temperature drops below freezing. These medicinal flowers can also be used to treat a variety of conditions, such as conjunctivitis, eczema and sunburns.
SWEET ALYSSUM
These tiny flowers grow in little clusters, resembling flowering bushes. Sweet Alyssum comes in a variety of colors, including white, which can be pretty in the winter. In our hardiness zones, these flowers can grow year round. Sweet Alyssum grows in full sun or partial shade, but may stop flowering in the heat. Alyssum also does well in a container, but needs more care when it comes to watering and fertilizing.
PETUNIAS
These perky flowers come in shades of violet and pink, as well as white and yellow. Petunias also have multi-colored varieties and make a great addition to your garden or as a container flower. You can also choose a special trailing petunia variety which can add some interesting structure to your garden or fence. Petunias like full sun to partial shade, but don’t do well in the extreme heat of summer.
ORNAMENTAL KALE AND CABBAGE
These pretty, edible plants cover a good amount of space, so they give you plenty of bang for your buck. With a pretty purple or pink rose-like center surrounded by pretty green leaves, ornamental kale and cabbage need full sun to grow and also require fertilizer.