A little more death and decay, please…

If you are designing a garden for all four seasons, and you consider your options for Winter, there are plenty of plants that will add that necessary spark of life, colour and scent - but allow for some plants to die, gently decaying and giving up their bones. These hydrangea heads have been left uncut…

More fragrance in the winter garden…

Sarcocca confusa These small tassel-like flowers, on a glossily evergreen shrub, pump out a sweet perfume - over-rich when planted in quantity and to be used sparingly if brought into the home - an undemanding plant for a shady corner, in most soils (including the more difficult drier spots) and prepare to be caught by surprise…

Winter sweet – Chimonanthus praecox ‘Grandiflorus’

Scent in the winter garden - Chimonathus praecox 'Grandiflorus' Several fine specimens by the lake edge at Kew, near to the Plant Centre... I'm bewitched by scented plants and I do seem to have stumbled upon some quite spectacular examples in the few short hours I spent at Kew and Wisley earlier this week. I'll…

Daphne in the woodland gardens at RHS Wisley

(above) Daphne bholua   (above) Daphne bholua Peter Smithers (more reliably evergreen than some, for example the more commonly available Jacqueline Postil which can drop many of its leaves after flowering) (above) Daphne odora Mae-Jima - with more gold than green (above) Daphne x hybrida Battleston Hill, a woodland garden of winding paths was rich…