People often think of winter as dull, dreary months in the garden, but with careful thought and planning this need not be so.  There are ways to create colour and interest throughout the year.

This is when permanent structural interest is necessary to form the backbone of the garden and different berries, dried seed heads, stem colour and textured bark come into play.

Surprisingly, there are many heady scented plants in flower at this time of year such as scented Witch Hazels (Hamamelis), different varieties of Daphne, Sarcococca and the winter flowering Honeysuckle, Lonicera nitida, to name but a few.

An exciting garden to visit is the newly designed and laid out “Winter Garden” at Kew’s Wakehurst Garden, West Sussex.  An excellent example of how winter interest can be achieved.  Architectural evergreens and groves of trees such as Betula utilis var jacquemontii, with interesting textured bark have been used to form the backbone of the garden, clothed with bold mass-plantings of Cornus spp (Cornus sanguineum “Midwinter Fire” and Cornus ‘Buds Yellow’) with contrasting coloured stems and swathes of winter flowering heather, Erica carnea “Springwood White” and Erica x darlyensis “Mediterranean Pink”, softened with drifts of skeletal parchment toned grasses.

This garden is on a grand scale, but this is where I could help you plan a garden to create visual interest throughout the season applicable to your own situate.