Reasons to be cheerful !

After a bit of a break – yes, even I don’t do a whole lot in the garden in January – I decided it was time to have a good look at what’s happening in the garden this month. This is the ideal time to take stock of your garden and see where there are large gaps that could do with a bit of winter interest. It doesn’t take a lot to transform your garden from ‘winter wasteland’ to ‘winter wonderland’. Well, maybe not wonderland but certainly there is a wide choice of plants that will add some much needed colour and interest at this time of year.

Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ looking elegant in midwinter

I was really pleased to see that several of the plants I put in to jazz up the garden are doing well. This has definitely inspired me to add some more tall grasses to my borders because they really do look fantastic all year round but particularly now when the pale seedheads are blowing in the wind.

Take at look at the pictures and see if you can get inspired to add a few choice plants to your garden. And let me know if you have any special favourites in your own garden that you would recommend (visit my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Makethemostofyourgarden if you want to see what other people are suggesting).

Best wishes

Michael

Helleborus niger with loads of lovely flowers starting to open in midwinter

Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ with hundreds of fragrant flowers on bare branches throughout winter