Our winters are changing in a way that the old gardening books never anticipated – in this area of the country we do not tend to get the hard frosts that we used to so we are able to do much more in the garden all year round and also plant many more tender things. But beware, the frost can bite so have some horticultural fleece ready to throw over the pots by the front door so that any emerging flower buds or new shoot tips are not spoiled – and make sure they are sufficiently watered in dry weather.

Winter is a good time to carry out any tree and shrub pruning. Whilst the leaves are off the plants, you will be able to see the shape properly and determine which branches are diseased, damaged or wayward. Prune in that order and make sure your pruning tools are kept scrupulously clean so that any disease is not passed from plant to plant. Prunings can be shredded and added to the compost heap, bigger branches can be logged and stacked for a year before being used on the wood-burner and make sure you do not compost any diseased material.

The best thing you can do for your garden over winter is to tip a few barrow loads of well rotted manure, home-made compost, shop bought multi-purpose compost or old growing bags on top of your borders. The worms will do all the work for you and your soil will be greatly improved for the coming spring. Make sure the material does not sit around the stems of woody plants as the bark may rot, however it is perfectly OK to cover over the crowns of most herbaceous perennials if you have already cut them back.

My top plants for winter interest, including shape, form, colour and scent are:
• Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’
• Clematis cirrhosa balearica
• Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’
• Sarcococca confusa
• Betula utilis jacquemontii
• Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’
• Cornus alba ‘Spaethii’
• Thuja occidentalis ‘Rheingold’
• Galanthus nivalis
• Helleborus niger

Armchair gardening is a good pastime at this time of year and once things stop growing we have time to take stock of the garden and assess how it performed. A good design is the basis of a trouble free garden and if you found that you were a slave to yours this year, it may be time to give us a call and think about changing it.

Sharon