Winter Beauty in the Garden

Winter Beauty in the Garden

Winter frosts can create a stunning display in the garden glistening on the long blades of ornamental grasses and highlighting the seed-heads of plants. Large grasses are unmissable and well worth growing for the spectacle they create in the winter freeze catching the light even where there is no frost to highlight them.

Large alliums have sensational globes of slender radiating seed heads while the poppy embellishes the border with pepper pot seed pods. Cone flower forms of Echinacea are widely celebrated for their seed heads, after the flower petals fall the cone remains creating structural interest and food for the birds.

Even just one piece of evergreen topiary will add interest to a pot or bed and hold an area together in winter. Formal shapes such as balls, pyramids and cubes work well, but if you like a more relaxed style, then the trend for looser ‘cloud-pruned’ and organic topiary shapes may suit you. Box and Yew are traditional plant choices, but other small-leaved evergreens, such as Eunonymus, Ilex crenata, Phillyrea, Lonicera nitida and privet, clip well.