I sit to type on the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, just a few days before Christmas. It has been a busy month trying to get gardens ready for the winter rest. In smaller urban gardens, the maintenance is much reduced at least until February, when we get busy again in preparation for Spring. 

In my own Wimbledon garden’s microclimate, there is one point where I say ‘Well, now it is winter!’ and that’s when the Pyrus Calleryana ‘Chanticleer’ loses its butter yellow leaves all in one go. This year it  happened during Storm Darragh, a bit earlier this month. 

I cannot praise this tree enough, as it is the first to flower in spring and the last to drop the leaves in December and thus making it ideal to hide a neighbour's  window for most of the year.  Also, its deciduous canopy favours underplanting, offering enough light for it to develop earlier in the season and then some relieving shade during high summer. This is something to consider when preparing a planting design for clay soils, like we have here in SW London. 

That’s the thing with midwinter in London, it isn't an idyllic snow scenery, but milder and unsettled. Nonetheless, it reminds us that the worst of the cold may still be to come, whilst filling our gardener’s heart with hope as soon as the minutes of daylight start to increase.

This hope is further infused by the blooms that start to populate our gardens and parks at this time of the year. In addition to berries from the Pyracantha and beautiful crab apples, such as Malus x robusta 'Red Sentinel', thee small yellow flowers of Jasmine nudiflorum certainly strike a punch on a grey day. Whereas the Hamamelis spp. can have either yellow or orange flowers on bare stems. 

The Helleborus x niger, also known as Christmas Rose, may also make an appearance around Christmas, but in my garden from the second year they’ve been more reliable January onwards together with other cultivars. 

The wonderful sweet scent of the Sarcococca spp. and the little pink flowers from the Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ and Daphne bholua makes them ideal shrubs to be planted near a path or the house entrance where we can experience their scent closely. 

In my local park the Viburnum mentioned above forms the perfect combo with the silvery tassles of the Garrya elliptica 'James Roof'

Nothing is more invigorating that wandering into a garden on a winter morning to inspect the frost layer on the evergreen leaves, branches and cobwebs. 

Horticultural masteries displaying a fantastic array of this sensorial experiences can be seen at RHS Gardens, such as RHS Wisley and RHS Hyde Hall, but how can we have it in our own gardens? 

In residential gardens, we will be thinking about the structure of the garden in all seasons. Seasonal change is embraced and when the autumn leaves have fallen and the berries have been savoured by the birds, our focus shifts to architectural evergreen plants, seedheads and colourful stems. 

When choosing trees and shrubs, we may consider adding extra interest in form of beautiful colour or texture in the bark like the Acer 'Sango-Kaku' (red) or Acer  griseum (peeling copper colour) or textural interest in the evergreen leaves of Mahonia spp., evergreen ferns or evergreen leaves that change as the temperature drops, like those of the Nandina domestica. 

Grasses which look great in summer months and herbaceous seedheads offer structure which will last until late winter and play a vital part in offering shelter and food for wildlife. Considered low maintenance, all they need is to be chopped down in late February.

The early spring bulbs, such a snowdrop (Galanthus spp.) and crocuses and daffodils (Narcissus spp.) already started to pop up around the garden and will peak just around the time the grasses are cut down.

With all this happening, how could one ever think the winter garden is boring and unappealing? 

Take a minute during the holiday season to appreciate it and be rewarded with beauty!

Happy Holidays & See you in 2025!