Annual Winter Plants

• Pansies brighten up the dismal winter landscape. Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

  Winter annuals spruce up the landscape with striking forms and attractive colors during the coldest months of the year, when spring and summer bloomers go dormant or die back to the ground. These hardy, cold-tolerant plants dress up the container or garden bed with their presence despite extreme temperatures, cold winds and snow. These plants appear in a variety of shapes, sizes and forms, offering the gardener different choices during selection.

Winter Pansy

• Suitable for hanging baskets, planters, pots and as bedding flowers, winter pansies, or Viola x wittrockiana, are hardy annuals that dress up a spot during the winter months. The low-growing, clump-like plants produce blooms in shades of yellow, white, blue and purple, with yellow markings in the center. Each plant grows 8 to 10 inches tall and 5 to 6 inches wide. Also called ice pansies, the plants attract butterflies to the winter garden. Although delicate in appearance, these cold-tolerant plants thrive in all U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones in partial sun to shade and well-draining soil. Deadhead spent blooms to prolong flowering.

Sweet Alyssum

• Sweet alyssum, or Lobularia maritima, is a hardy annual native to southern Europe. It features dense clusters of delicate white blooms that fill the air with their fragrance. Each bloom comprises four petals arranged in a box-like square pattern. The easy-to-grow annual grows from 5 to 10 inches tall and requires little care once established. Sweet alyssum forms a striking border or bedding plant when grown in masses. These plants prefer full sun to partial shade and well-draining soil. Pinching back spent blooms prolongs flowering.

Calendula

• Calendula (Calendula officinalis) or pot marigolds are popular winter annuals in temperate and sub-tropical zones that decorate the landscape until mid winter. The daisy-like blooms appear in single or double rows of orange or pale yellow petals around a disc-like center. Native to southern Europe, this easy-to-grow annual plant prefers full sunlight to partial shade in USDA hardiness zones 6 to 10. The ornamental plant is also prized for its medicinal properties, which include healing chapped skin or soothing sprained muscles.

Dianthus

• Available in different varieties, the low-growing annual variety of dianthus, called "pinks," blooms through the winter months to add the much needed color to the grey landscape. Pinks grow 10 to 12 inches tall, forming suitable plants for the front of a winter garden bed. The plants feature single blooms in shades of pink, ranging from creamy-pink or deep magenta, that emit a clove-like scent. The self-seeding plants prefer full sunlight to partial shade.