There is no doubt that most gardens don’t look their best in December and January, but “not at their best” doesn’t mean that gardens can’t still look good through the winter. Vibrantly coloured stems, evergreen trees and shrubs, statuesque silhouettes, frost-rimed seed heads and winter blossom can all contribute to a winter aesthetic that offers drama and interest.  We can’t all have a statuesque tree like the one in the photo below, but there are lots of practical options for small gardens.

A classic silhouette

In our very small front garden a heavily pruned crab apple forms a centrepiece that will give a lovely silhouette later in the year, but right now is covered in berries.

Crab Apple

Also full of berries, but also evergreen is this Cotoneaster.

Cotoneaster

For any readers who are looking out of their windows at a largely brown garden and wondering how to start introducing some winter interest our initial advice is to plan some trips and go and have a look at other gardens. Any garden that is open to visitors over the winter will have areas that are specifically designed for this time of year, so there will be plenty of ideas to inspire you. Take photos, record plant names and make notes (especially about plant sizes) and then have a look at your own plot to see what plants might work best in your space. A bit of further research will soon show you what plants look like in the rest of the year, so that you can be sure that any new additions will work in other seasons as well.

Leaving seed heads can have an unexpected bonus of colour, like the goldfinches feeding on this verbena.

Goldfinches on Verbena

The amount of planting in larger gardens can be intimidating for those of us with smaller spaces, but lots of ideas are scalable. For example, although Wisley may have a whole border planted for winter stem colour, a couple of specimen plants can brighten up a much smaller space in the winter, while retreating into the background over the summer.