Gardens aren't just to be enjoyed from Spring to Autumn. The Winter garden can have a charm and delight all of its own, as well as being valuable for wildlife. A well designed garden and planting scheme should provide year round interest whatever its size.
When thinking about a new planting scheme a designer will give careful consideration to structure, form, texture and season of interest. A well thought out scheme will include plants that will have more than one season of interest - what we call "good doers". Take a tree - in Spring it might offer blossom, Summer foliage, Autumn fruit and it Winter when a deciduous tree is stripped of its leaves it reveals its form and can be appreciated for its sculptural beauty.
Another option for the Winter garden is a carefully sited planter filled with plants that will bring colour, scent and flowers throughout the colder months.
Plants that provide added interest through winter include those with berries and seeds and have the additional benefit of being especially valuable for wildlife.
Increasingly we leave our gardens in Autumn allowing them to degrade slowly over the winter months. The move away from frantically tidying, clipping back and preparing the garden for winter has given over to a more relaxed approach allowing plants to decay naturally until late winter when preparation for spring begins.
Planting schemes which contain certain grasses and perennials can stand well throughout winter and when combined with carefully selected evergreens, will add structure and provide interest from Spring through to late Winter.
We have some spectacular Winter gardens in the UK which will provide fantastic inspiration and are well worth visiting. Some of my favourites are: NT Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire; Painswick Rococo Garden, Gloucestershire; Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire: Cambridge Botanic Garden: NT Bodnant Garden, Wales.
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