Personally I love plants that stir up more than more sense, winter flowering shrubs are some of the best at this, not only do they bring a much needed spark of colour to the garden but they also have amazing scents. A waft of scent as you wander up the garden path or poke your head out on a cold winter’s morning, allowing the perfume to be inhaled long before drawing level with the plant.

Witch hazels are some of the best at drawing you towards them and make a great feature plant (ideally where it can be seen out of a window or in a prominent position at this time of year but has other plants in front of it that come into their own in spring and summer as the flowers die back), Hammamelis x intermedia is one of the strongest scented species, ‘Arnold Promise’ with its bright yellow spidery flowers or the coppery colour of ‘Orange Peel’.

Winter scented shrubs: Hammamelis, skimmia and Edgeworthia

For a pink colour palette Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ (grows up to four metres high) or in smaller spaces Daphne odora (grows up to 1.5 metres), both are strongly scented with delicate pale pink flowers, flowering from January to February and sometimes into March (although best grown in sheltered spots as they may need protection from frosts). Daphne odora works well planted in partially shaded areas, the edge of a woodland or near overhanging trees. The evergreen Viburnum tinus has tiny pink flowers and makes a great backdrop with its deep green leaves to colourful perennials the rest of the year, ‘Lisarose’ has deep pink-red buds opening to pale pink or the pale pink of ‘Eve Price’. Or where you want the flowers to be the star attraction Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ has highly scented deep pink fading to pale pink flowers on bare branches.

Winter scented shrubs: Daphne, Sarcococca, Skimmia and Lonicera.

Sarcococca (Christmas Box) not only has tiny white flowers at this time of year but also has an amazing scent and is ideal in smaller spaces (I had a carful these on their way to a client’s garden and would have happily left them in there for week or two). These are well worth planting near a path or in pots to make the most of the scent, whether choosing Sarcococca confusa or to add in plum colours the purple stemed Sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna ‘Purple Stem’ or the smaller ‘Winter Gem’. The winter honeysuckle (Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’) also has a fantastic scent to its white bell-shaped flowers or in smaller spaces they work well trained against a wall. I have two of them trained against a fence just behind a bench, so when the weather allows I can sit and enjoy them and when the weather doesn’t, cutting off a small branch or two to bring indoors will fill a room with scent.

For smaller mound forming plants, Skimmia x confusa ‘Kew Green’ has scented leaves with green buds opening to white flowers. Ideally planted with a female skimmia to enjoy the berries, Skimmia x confusa ‘Kew White’ for white or Skimmia japonica ‘Nymans’ for red berries. Whatever size of garden or balcony there will be something that suits the space.