Tips on getting your garden ready for winter

Along with four other landscape designers, Marian contributed to an article in House & Garden magazine on getting your garden ready for the colder months.

She advised:

“Winter is the perfect time to understand the structure of our gardens,” says Marian Boswall. “What in summer is floriferous and verdant can feel empty and barren, but so much is still going on above and below ground, and without the summer noise it’s a great time to plan and edit. I like to make sure there is structure, scent and food for birds, small mammals and pollinators in all months, whether an architectural mahonia by the gate or winter flowering honeysuckle on a warm wall. Arbutus and hellebores also help lift my spirits and feed the bees. Berries and crab apples really come into their own when they are mobbed by hungry birds in the snow.

Looking out from a warm window I’m grateful for my favourite views framed by trees or tall grasses. Adding structure with a timber frame, pergola or seat can also lead the eye through the view and invite us out to look a little closer!”