Winter Wonderland

Above: Snowdrops, always a welcome addition to any garden

Winter may not officially begin until the shortest day of the year, 21 December, but by the festive season it always feels as if we have been in the grip of winter for some weeks and the prospect of months of wet and wind to come leaves little incentive to venture out to work in the garden.

Now that there are so few precious daylight hours to savour the garden, I relish every moment spent outdoors, and I have to say I love the process of sorting out the borders, splitting plants and planning new projects. Milder winters mean that such tasks, traditionally performed in autumn, can now stretch throughout the season.

The prospect of spending all year working in the garden offers an incentive to create an area that looks especially good in the coldest months. The plants you choose may well have features that are interesting at other times of the year, too. Many pulmonarias, known as lungwort or ‘Soldiers and Sailors’, have delightful spotted foliage that looks its best at this time of year. In spring the clustered flowers in pink, white, blue or red are some of the earliest to appear. There is a huge range to choose from. P. ‘Margery Fish’ has well-silvered leaves that are somewhat resistant to mildew, which can be a problem later in the season.

Another plant grown for highly decorative foliage is the Arum italicum subsp. Italicum ‘Marmoratum’. This humble plant with such a grand name is a form of the cuckoo pint (or lords and ladies) with familiar red berries in late summer. It has wonderful marbling on its dark green leaves. It is summer-dormant with deep rhizomes, so it can be easily combined with other plants including summer annuals and bulbs.

Several ferns are semi-evergreen, holding their foliage well into spring when they are cut back. Polystichums are good, with many different forms attaining varying heights. Any of the soft shield ferns, Polystichum setiferum, will do well for you. Dryopteris affinis, the male ferns, will tolerate dry shade once established and also have many different forms.

Nothing cheers more than scent in a winter border. Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’ will produce spicy-pink flowers from October until March. It can appear rather ungainly in the summer so is a perfect choice as a host for a clematis such as ‘Prince Charles’, which has stunning blue flowers all summer long. If space is at a premium, plant a Sarcococca confusa, a delightful compact shrub with shiny, dark green evergreen leaves, glossy black berries and sweetly scented starry flowers from late December, hence its common name – Christmas box.

For flower power the prize must go to hellebores. They will generally start just after Christmas and can look good for around four months. Helleborus x hybridus come in many different colours and forms, including doubles. It pays to buy them in flower; there is no need these days to end up with just muddy pinks. The actual Christmas rose, Helleborus Niger, so named for the black root, has glistening white flowers. It is not the easiest to grow, however.

The final touch will be bulbs. Too late to plant now, of course, but you can cheat and buy pots of early-flowering daffodils and crocus. Snowdrops and winter aconites are always best purchased ‘in the green’ as they finish flowering; so pop these in at the end of the season.

So there it is, the perfect Christmas recipe for a mouthwatering winter garden.

Diana Guy is a horticultural speaker and lecturer, and garden designer. Contact her on (01258 840894).