14 Beautiful Shrubs That Will Add Tons of Colorful Winter Interest to Your Landscape

Bright red berries make winterberry or deciduous holly a stunner, especially in a snowy landscape. Unlike the evergreen holly that keeps its glossy green foliage year-round, winterberry sheds its leaves each autumn. Look for a female cultivar such as 'Sparkleberry' or 'Winter Red', and you'll also need to plant a male pollinator nearby, such as 'Apollo' or 'Southern Gentleman'.

Name: Ilex verticillata

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and moist, acidic soil

Size: To 12 feet tall

Zones: 3–9

Buy It: Southern Gentleman Winterberry ($19, The Home Depot)

Add some color to your winter garden with firethorn's bright orange-red berries. This evergreen to semi-evergreen shrub can be planted as a hedge or espaliered against a wall or on a trellis. Just watch out for its thorns! Look for hardy cultivars to buy such as ‘Lalandei’, ‘Mohave’, and Yukon Belle.

Name: Pyracantha coccinea

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and well-drained soil

Size: Up to 10 feet tall

Zones: 6–9

Buy It: Scarlet Firethorn Seeds ($12, Amazon)

Pump up the winter garden's vertical structure with 'Sky Pencil' holly. This Japanese holly has a tall, narrow form that easily fits into small spaces. Unlike most hollies, its leaves don’t have sharp points, so it works well near walkways or other areas where you might brush up against it. It also makes for an easy-care hedge. Make sure you buy a male and female plant so the female plant can be pollinated and produce black rounded fruit in the fall.

Name: Ilex crenata

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 10 feet tall

Zones: 6–8

Buy It: Holly Sky Pencil Shrub ($69, The Home Depot)

The strong fragrance of paperbush evokes springtime in the depths of winter. This deciduous, multibranched shrub drops its leaves in mid-December to reveal a bare silhouette of beautiful bark and flower buds. The white and yellow clusters bloom late winter to early spring. Look for 'Snow Cream', 'Gold Rush', and 'John Bryant' varieties.

Name: Edgeworthia chrysantha

Growing Conditions: Part shade in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 6 feet tall

Zones: 7–10

Buy It: Paperbush Edgeworthia ($60, Amazon)

The lovely fragrance of witch hazel is a pleasant surprise in the depths of cold weather. This deciduous shrub accents winter with its delicate, threadlike petals that bloom from late fall to early spring. Its flowers, which curl up at night but unfurl on a sunny day, range from yellow to red, depending on the cultivar.

Name: Hamamelis virginiana

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 20 feet tall

Zones: 3–8

Buy It: Hamamelis X int. 'Arnold Promise' Shrub ($58, Amazon)

The stunning appearance and sweet fragrance of winter Daphne can snap you out of the winter doldrums. This rounded evergreen shrub with variegated leaves blooms in late winter to early spring. Plant it close to an entry or patio so you can enjoy the rosy pinkish purple flower buds that open to light pink or white star-shape blooms.

Name: Daphne odora

Growing Conditions: Part shade in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 4 feet tall

Zones: 7–9

Buy It: Variegated Pink Winter Daphne ($50, Wilson Bros Gardens)

You’ll do a double take when you see the stunning white or pink blooms of camellia in the winter. It's a beloved plant in the South, but plant breeders have created hardier varieties that extend the areas where this shrub can be grown. Look for 'Polar Ice', 'Snow Flurry', 'Winter's Hope', 'Winter's Rose', 'Winter's Star', and 'Winter's Charm' if you live in a colder region.

Name: Camellia japonica

Growing Conditions: Part shade in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 12 feet

Zones: 7–9

Buy It: Snow Flurry Camellia ($67, Lots of Plants)

It's hard to miss the red stems of red twig dogwood in the winter landscape. Native to much of North America, this deciduous shrub’s bright green bark and leaves of spring and summer turn to a deep red to burgundy in fall. To display the best stem color, prune in early spring to stimulate new growth. Some cultivars such as ‘Flaviramea’ or ‘White Gold’ are available that boast yellow stems instead of red and are sometimes called golden-twig dogwood.

Name: Cornus sericea

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade

Size: Up to 9 feet tall

Zones: 3–7

Buy It: Red Twig Dogwood Shrub ($31, The Home Depot)

While the twisting, spiraling, corkscrew branches provide year-round interest, Harry Lauder’s walking stick is best known for the visual interest it provides when it sheds its leaves to fully reveal its contorted branches. Make sure to place this treelike, deciduous shrub where you can enjoy its distinctive architectural form all winter. In late winter, be sure to look for its showy yellow catkins that hang from its branches.

Name: Corylusavellana 'Contorta'

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in well drained soil

Size: Up to 10 feet tall

Zones: 4–8

Buy It: Harry Lauder's Walking Stick ($146, Buck Jones Nursery)

Sometimes referred to as Meserve holly, blue holly one of the hardier hollies that will do well in northern climates. This evergreen hybrid has glossy, spiny, blue-green foliage and dark red berries that attract birds in winter. Look for female cultivars such as ‘China Girl’ (shown here), ‘Blue Girl’, and ‘Blue Princess’. To produce berries, they'll need a male pollinator nearby such as ‘Blue Prince’ or ‘Blue Boy’.

Name: Ilex x meserveae

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in well drained soil

Size: Up to 15 feet tall

Zones: 4–7

Buy It: Castle Spire Blue Holly Shrub ($37, The Home Depot)

Among the toughest hollies for winter conditions is inkberry holly. Named for its abundance of black berries during the winter, this evergreen shrub stays compact with deep green, glossy foliage. This smaller type of holly makes a dense hedge and doesn't require a lot of pruning. Cultivars to consider are 'Shamrock' and 'Compact'.

Name: Ilex glabra

Growing conditions: Full sun to part shade

Size: Up to 8 feet tall

Zones: 4–9

Buy It: Holly Inkberry Shamrock Shrub ($34, The Home Depot)

An evergreen shrub with a fine, soft needle or threadlike appearance, 'Golden Mop' is a false cypress cultivar that adds a bright golden green color to the landscape. It forms a ground-hugging mound and is actually shaggy or moplike in appearance. Make sure to plant 'Golden Mop' or one of the dwarf cultivars such as 'Dwarf Gold Thread' (shown here) or you could end up with a towering tree.

Name: Chamaecyparis pisifera

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 70 feet high

Zones: 4–8

Buy It: Gold Mop False Cypress Shrub ($20, The Home Depot)

A small to medium evergreen, dwarf arborvitae provides winter interest when used as foundation planting or as a hedge. Dwarf varieties work well in small gardens, containers, and window boxes. Gold foliage options are 'Filip's Magic Moment', which grows to about 6-8 feet in an upright, conical shape. 'Teddy', shown here, is a cute little ball of a plant with soft, feathery foliage that grows up to 2 feet tall over 10 years.

Name: Thuja occidentalis

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 7 feet

Zones: 3–7

Buy It: Golden Globe Dwarf Arborvitae ($32, Amazon)

Native to eastern North America, snowberry always delivers a winter show with its berries. Its clusters of attractive fruit start out pale green, then ripen to pure white by late summer to early fall. Its fruits remain on bare branches throughout the winter. Snowberry's vigorous roots make it a good choice for stabilizing soil on slopes.

Name: Symphoricarpos albus

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and well-drained soil

Size: To 6 feet tall

Zones: 3-7

Buy It: Snowberry ($28, Amazon)