A Garden Winter Wonderland

With the lights of the festive season fading away and still long winter months ahead, the garden can feel a little uninviting. But a garden is not just for summer. With the right design and planting, it can bring joy all year round.

There are a multitude of plants that make the winter garden shine, starting with trees and shrubs. They are the main structural elements of your garden and, when selected and positioned carefully, lead your eye on a journey through your space. They have varied features:

• Coloured stems or bark: Himalayan birches (Betula utilis) for their peeling white bark, Tibetan cherries (Prunus serrula) for their mahogany bark, or dogwoods (Cornus sanguinea / alba / sericea) for their brightly coloured young stems.

Peeling coppery bark of Betula 'Fascination'

Mahogany bark of Prunus serrula

A colourful snake bark maple

• Striking structure: multi-stem trees showcase their intricate network of branches best in their winter nakedness and are well suited to small gardens; weeping trees or shrubs with oddly-shaped branches, such as corkscrew hazel (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’), are nothing but eye-catchers.

• Evergreen foliage: trees and shrubs that keep their leaves in winter are very useful dotted throughout the garden, creating a rhythm amongst the planting. Evergreen plants can suit both a formal garden (think topiary or tightly clipped hedge) and a more naturalistic setting, for instance a weather-beaten pine in a Japanese garden.

• Flowers: Many trees and shrubs flower in winter, supporting pollinators and filling the garden with a wonderful scent. Favourites include witch hazels (Hamamelis), daphnes (Daphne bholua / odora) and winter-flowering cherry (Prunus × subhirtella).

Hamamelis × intermedia 'Orange Beauty' in bloom

• Fruits or berries: like jewels hanging from bare branches, fruits and berries are also a source of food for birds in the winter months. Planting rowans (Sorbus aucuparia), crab apples with persistent fruitlets such as Malus ‘Admiration’ or ‘Evereste’, or leaving hips on roses are all good options for winter interest.

Ornamental grasses are another category of hard-working plants for the winter garden. They add movement and dynamism to a space and look stunning in the low light of winter days or covered by a touch of frost. There is a grass suited to every condition, wet or dry soil, sunny or shady location, and I couldn’t design a garden without them! Feather reed grass (Calamagrostis) and Eulalia (Miscanthus) are two very architectural groups of grasses that retain their shape in the harshest winter weather. Sedges (Carex) are also a useful group of grass-like plants that provide evergreen ground cover and a lovely foil for trees and shrubs. Looking for a wilder look? Grasses also combine beautifully with the seedheads of flowering plants. These not only add drama to the garden but also provide food and shelter for birds and insects alike.

A winter carpet of Stipa tenuissima

With some of the vegetation dying back to the ground in winter, the hard landscaping, i.e. the backbone of the garden, is fully on show. The layout of the garden, level changes, paving details, material textures etc., all take centre stage. Two ingredients are necessary to make this recipe a success: clever design and quality craftmanship. This is where the expertise of a garden designer can turn your outdoor space into a winter wonderland.

Christmas in the garden... but by the fire!

Ready to create your perfect garden? Get in touch with NaniKo Garden Design.