Fragrant plants are also essential in a winter garden. These could include Hamamelis mollis (Chinese witch hazel), Lonicera fragrantissima, Sarcococca confusa and Mahonia x media ‘Charity’, all having beautifully scented flowers. It’s important to have a good backbone of evergreen shrubs as well as the scented stuff, as there is little as disappointing as finding your garden has suddenly disappeared once winter has set in. Try to select some evergreen plants, both shrubs and herbaceous, that have either winter colour or scent as well, allowing you to kill two birds with one stone. Why not try Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’, Skimmia x confusa ‘Kew Green’ or Erica carnea ‘Springwood White’.

A great little find that falls into the evergreen and colour category is Nandina domestica ‘Firepower’ or heavenly bamboo. It grows all over the Far East, where its heavenly properties are supposed to dispel bad dreams. With star- shaped white flowers in mid-summer among bamboo-like leaves, autumn sees those leaves turn fiery red and copper and the flowers are followed by shiny, round scarlet fruits.

Colourful stemmed trees like Acer griseum, with excellent autumn colour and shrubs  with beautiful stems come into their own at this time. If you have a white barked Birch   such as Betula utilis ‘Jacquemontii’, why not look for planting companions such as Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ with its red stems or Cornus sanguinea ‘Mid-winter’ with its fiery orange and yellow ones. This is a truly sparkling combination and nestling at the foot of these could be Ophiopogon planiscapus’ Nigrencens’, a member of the Lily family, although it looks like black grass! Plant some snowdrops in amongst the Ophiopogon and you’ll find you have a heartwarming combination.

If you feel you’ve missed the boat this year, don’t despair. Make a note now, of where the gaps are or areas that just seemed to have disappeared. Start planning which plants you would like to fill these areas come the spring. In the meantime, pat yourself on the back for all the things you have got right with your garden this year and enjoy the thought of those colourful and sweet smelling plant suggestions which should help provide you with a warmer garden next winter.

Betula albo-sinensis var.septentrionalis

Birches are for me the ultimate tree for winter. Stripped of their leaves they can display their beautiful papery bark that is irresistable to touch. I photographed this pink and grey birch recently at The Cambridge Botanic Gardens. It’s a Chinese Paper Birch (Betula albosinensis var. septentrionalis) and planted in the full winter sun it’s warm colours shone.

If you have space for just one tree in your garden however, the Himalayan birch is hard to beat. Betula utilis var. jacquemontii has the whitest of barks and looks architectural either planted as a specimen or in a group.

Betula utilis jacquemontii

As a garden designer I like to keep the planting schemes simple around them. By using evergreen groundcovering plants or low-growing shrubs such as Viburnum davidii you can accentuate their beautiful trunks even more.