If they could, they would. Have flowers through the winter, of course, and clearly most do not suspect the range of flowers that are possible through the dark and cold winter months. There is nothing magical about it, and certainly no skill or wisdom is required to have flowers every day through the winter in this northwestern Virginia garden. 

No, the gardener does not want a garden chock full of yellow flowered mahonias (Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’, above), and only so many witch hazels (Hamamelis vernalis, below) can be fit into a garden of moderate size. These are wonderful plants, mildly to highly fragrant, and in cool winter temperatures they will often flower for a month or longer. 

Snowdrops (Galanthus, below) are a possibility. Even thousands require little space, and by planting a handful of varieties there might be flowers from January (perhaps even December) into March. What does it matter that one is hardly different from another?

They’re flowers, in winter, and for the gardener growing more anxious by the week as winter drags on, these are no small solace. Of course, there are more winter flowers, but the gardener will at first be overjoyed by only a few flowers in January, then will be encouraged to add more. Soon enough, there will be flowers every day through the winter.