Hellebores add colour from January, but you are asking what can't be grown. The garden tends to be resting now so contrast is often given by shrubs and then the bulbs come up in Spring. You could put some Winter pansies in pots for added colour.
I am sorry but I don't understand why your clay soil can't be damp as it holds the moisture well. You could dig in some compost and manure to loosen it up a little for next year.
Clay soil is fertile but, because it is made from very fine particles can be cold and claggy and retain moisture too well. If you can, fork in a generous amount of well-rooted garden compost or manure and even just some cheap multi-purpose compost and some pea sized grit to open up the soil. Then mulch annually around your plants in autumn so the worms work it in and gradually improve your soil's texture and usability.
Then there is a huge range of plants that will flower in winter and some give perfume too. Shrubs such as sarcococca, hamamelis, mahonia Charity, lots of rhododendrons and camellias (but not for an east facing border), pieris, daphne, viburnum Bodnantense Dawn and then flowering perennials such as hellebore, primulas, violas (small and large flowered pansies), cyclamen coum and cyclamen hederifolia but not the larger indoor varieties which would freeze to death. Snowdrops and crocuses and early daffodils too but these are bulbs that really need to be in the ground already to be ready for late winter flowering so think about getting some to plant next autumn.
You can look these plants up on the RHS website to find out more about sizes, shapes, colours.
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I think the OP has been struck with a spellchecker typo, changing can to can't. Polyanthus, pansies and violas spring to mind for brightly coloured winter bedding plants.
Thank you all for your comments, I'm reading through them all now. My garden gets the sun most of the day as I have a south facing garden. And yes I meant can be damp, that was a typing error. Sorry. Im in the north of Scotland so it can get cold here.
I would just like to add the ground is not great, I moved into a new build and the top soil is full of stones also.. is it best to remove them or keep them for drainage, I have no idea? I'm guessing I just have to work in some compost to improve the soil.
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I am sorry but I don't understand why your clay soil can't be damp as it holds the moisture well. You could dig in some compost and manure to loosen it up a little for next year.
Then there is a huge range of plants that will flower in winter and some give perfume too. Shrubs such as sarcococca, hamamelis, mahonia Charity, lots of rhododendrons and camellias (but not for an east facing border), pieris, daphne, viburnum Bodnantense Dawn and then flowering perennials such as hellebore, primulas, violas (small and large flowered pansies), cyclamen coum and cyclamen hederifolia but not the larger indoor varieties which would freeze to death. Snowdrops and crocuses and early daffodils too but these are bulbs that really need to be in the ground already to be ready for late winter flowering so think about getting some to plant next autumn.
You can look these plants up on the RHS website to find out more about sizes, shapes, colours.
Polyanthus, pansies and violas spring to mind for brightly coloured winter bedding plants.
And yes I meant can be damp, that was a typing error. Sorry.
Im in the north of Scotland so it can get cold here.
Also can i plant now or is it just too cold?