As I write, we have just woken to our first frost of the year and the garden is pale and sparkling in the winter sun.
Thyme leaves are individually outlined with a halo of frost and large felty leaves of Phlomis russelliana are softly dusted white, in stark contrast with their spires of dark, sculptural seed-heads that I will leave un-cut now until spring.
There is plenty to celebrate in the pared down winter garden. Leafy rosettes of foxgloves are burgeoning, Helleborus niger is in bud and Viburnum tinus, so unremarkable in summer, has come to centre stage, its dark green leaves the perfect foil for delicate pale pink flower-heads.
Melianthus major is cutting a dash in the hot border and I am enjoying the drama of its sharp-toothed glaucous leaves now that herbaceous plants around it have died back...plenty to celebrate indeed!
More plant info: Beth Chatto Gardens. |
