Now that the nights are drawing in and its warm inside its very tempting not to go out in the garden but on a clear crisp winter morning there can be nothing better than stepping out into the garden and surveying the borders. I love the fact that my perennial borders are cleared and tidy and it helps me visualise what I should do in next year's growing season. I can mulch the ground easily and watch for the first signs of winter bulbs. But it's also important to have some plants that are specifically for the winter.
In the winter the real underlying structure of the garden becomes apparent. Now everything is revealed and it's a chance to create some spectacular displays with very simple elements. The most obvious plants for this time of year are the evergreens. Hedges in Yew and Box can look striking, giving strong sculptural structure but deciduous hedges such as Beech will hold onto their leaves long enough to give the same impact.
A good hard frost really makes a winter garden. Hedges will look even better but other foliage plants such as grasses improve even more. Even plants that are best in the summer can make good winter specimens. Amongst the grasses I love Miscanthus Silver Feather' and Deschampsia Bronzeschleier' and even the much-maligned Pampas grass Cortaderia selloana works brilliantly in a large garden.
Also remember that seedheads can look great so don't go cutting back plants such Sedum spectabile Autumn Joy', a real garden centre winner, until the Spring. Soft mounds of dying perennials often make a great contrast to the spiky leaves of grasses and varieties of Phormium. I always manage to leave tidying at least part of the garden until the spring to watch as the cold works its magic on the leaves.
Don't forget that there are flowers to be seen at this time of year. I have always thought that the hardest time to get flowers is in early Autumn but once December comes there are lots of new flowers from plants such as the Christmas Box Sarcococca confusa with fragrant creamy white flowers followed by deep black fruit. Try also Sarcococca humilis for slightly later pinky white flowers.
My other favourites for this time of year are the Lenten rose Helleborus orientalis and the Christmas Rose Helleborus niger. They are easy to grow in shady, cool spots and particularly in well-drained soil so they are ideal for the our gardens. The latter is evergreen so has even more to favour it. And I love the shape and spidery flowers of Witch Hazels like Hamamellis x intermedia Diane' with fragrant deep red flowers on bare branches and the advantage of great autumn foliage colour.
It amazes me how much scent you can get in a cold winter garden. Daphne mezereum and Daphne odora Aureo-marginata' are great examples of plants worth the effort to establish them for they produce the most amazing fragrance. Plant them in a front garden where you are sure to get full advantage everything you leave the house. And finally plant a Viburnum x bodnantense Dawn' and you'll have flowers and scent for a good three months from Christmas.
It's still not too late to be planting some early bulbs for the winter. In my garden I have double snowdrops that poke their heads through the heart shaped variegated foliage of Epimedium x versicolor Sulphureum' which has sulphur yellow flowers to follow on in March. Late leafing trees such as the Persian Ironwood Parrotia persica benefit from an underplanting of bulbs and I use both early Narcissus such as February Gold' and later varieties and species such as Pheasants Eye' that give daffodils from as early as January and as late as May.
So don't use the cold weather as an excuse to stay indoors. Look at your garden and see what you can achieve with a few well-placed plants. Leave some of the tidying to the spring to take advantage of the frost and get some early bulbs and shrubs in to make the New Year start with a burst of colour and fragrance.
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