gardens in winter - mine's an ugly, bare, muddy mess!

[inconceivableme]

I hate looking outside right now! Apart from a big laurel bush at one corner of the bottom of the garden, and a ceoanthus, everything else is dead and bare and the lawn is so patchy and muddy.
How's your garden now?
Any quick fixes to make mine look better until spring?!

[mausmaus]

don't look at it? :o

same situation here.
what you can do now is:
pruning (roses, shrubs, fruit trees)
mulching
looking through seed catalogues

[TooMuchRain]

Mine is the same - I've been looking at other people's when out walking and the only ones that seem to have interest at the moment have trees/shrubs with lovely berries.

[annabanana19]

primroses in pots & window boxes. Brightened mine up no doubt!

[Ferguson]

You should have planned ahead, so you got something good still, or at least coming up. (Sorry - I usually get told I'm 'smug' when I reply like that.)

We have several 2m tall grasses and black bamboo to look at. The snowdrops are in bud and will be out when the sun comes out (when!). Black hellebore buds are showing and will soon be up. Also various pulmonaria are coming, including a lovely silver one:

www.esveld.nl/htmldiaen/p/pumaje.php

and darling little Charlotte Bishop has a few flowers already - one of the very earliest bulbs to appear:

www.plantdelights.com/Ipheion-uniflorum-Charlotte-Bishop-for-sale/Buy-Charlotte-Bishop-Starflower/

[NotAnotherNewNappy]

Lots of cyclamen will brighten up your mud patches will come back year after year.

My viburnum tinus is looking lovely. I really want some dog wood, the cornus with the bright red stems to brighten up my winter garden.

[RubySparks]

Mine was the same, really boring in autumn / winter so I looked for plants and shrubs to give colour and interest specifically for this time of year. I have a cornus with red stems, another shrub with white stems, mahonia which is evergreen and flowering now, christmas box (scented and small flowers), cyclamen that still have some flowers. Early bulbs such as crocus and snowdrop and aconites that will also be in flower early.

The other thing that looks good through winter are leaving some flower stems from summer like phlomis.

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

I never cut back until the spring so I have some interesting seed heads. The fennel is particularly gorgeous in the frost.

[funnyperson]

Winter gardens are bare. Its a good time to look at catalogues, plan, tidy, prune fruit trees, plant roses.

Structure helps: eg some topiary, architectural evergreen foliage. Something vertical. Something round like box balls. Something in a quirky animal shape. Keep the lawn nice by aerating and feeding it in the autumn.

Some swear by grasses: I remain unimpressed as it doesnt get frosty enough frequently enough round here so miscanthus just looks dank and dull but some of the variegated varieties are good

Next year (or this year from the garden centre) plant lonicera purpusii , mahonia, garrya elliptica james roof, autumn flowering camellia sasanqua, hellebores, winter jasmine, snowdrops, sarcococca, cyclamen, and winter flowering clematis jingle bells and wisley cream. All these will flower in the winter /very early spring and bring cheer. In pots plant violas and primroses and spring bulbs for a bit later on.

[funnyperson]

Ferguson what colour flowers does your pulmonaria have?

[funnyperson]

edgeworthia chrysanthia is also looking good at Wisley atm

[funnyperson]

btw all that stuff I mentioned doesnt always flower for me except the hellebores, snowdrops and winter jasmine and the structure. 100% reliable.

[funnyperson]

the guardian has lots of choice if feeling wealthy.

[Rhubarbgarden]

Witch Hazel flowers in January and is stunning.

[Ferguson]

funnyperson - just the usual blue/pink I think, but more useful for its foliage. We also have a pure white one, and Blue Ensign is a good strong blue, with dark green foliage; but the 'bog-standard' ones self seed and take over if not controlled .

We always promised ourselves witch hazel (Hamamelis) but never got round to it; comes in orange and rust, as well as yellow.

[inconceivableme]

I will be more organised next year! Loving all the plant tips, thanks!

[funnyperson]

I had the common yellow type of witch hazel in a previous garden and it was always cheery but straggly and did nothing the rest of the year. So I havent planted witch hazel. Nowadays there are a variety of orange/yellow cultivars with rather larger flowers but I think for it to be useful in anything other than a wild garden it has to be pruned into a good shape. Hilliers nursery two years ago has masses of them.