Best winter shrubs

Any colour in the depths of winter is doubly valuable. But with scented flowers and jewel-like berries to enjoy too, you'll want to spend as much time outside during the colder months of the year as you do in summer.

We've picked five of the best shrubs to plant in your winter garden from the range in our garden centre.

Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn': Clusters of sweetly-scented pink-tinged flowers open from early winter to early spring. Grows to about 2m.

Daphne mezereum: Incredibly sweet-scented reddish-pink flowers are borne in small clusters along bare stems in late winter, followed by sumptuous shiny red berries. Height 1.2m.

Winter-flowering honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima): The powerfully fragrant creamy-yellow blooms of this loose-growing shrub fill the air with perfume through winter. Reaches about 2m tall.

Christmas box (Sarcococca confusa): The creamy flowers of shiny evergreen Christmas box are tiny, but they pack a huge punch in the perfume department in midwinter. Grows to 1m tall.

Mahonia x media 'Charity': Sculptural evergreen leaves like giant holly are topped with sweetly-fragrant yellow flower spikes, at their best in late autumn to winter. Grows to around 3m.

Please ask the staff in our garden centre in Hemlington and Middlesbrough for more information and advice about choosing shrubs which look good in winter.