Encourage customers to wrap-up warm and get outside this month to enjoy the winter garden.

Hardy plants can naturally withstand a touch of frost, so choose a few to add winter interest to your displays.

Remind people of winter jobs to tempt them outside, including clearing away the remains of last summer’s bedding and crops, sweeping-up the final fallen leaves of autumn, and improving soil by forking in generous quantities of compost. Don’t forget the birds either, regularly cleaning and topping-up feeders and birdbaths.

Put on gardening events and get people out to enjoy inspiring talks, meet other gardeners, and exchange ideas for the new gardening season ahead.

Did you know?

Gardening during winter brings us outside into the daylight to exercise, which is vital for our health and wellbeing. This can help reduce symptoms from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), also known as ‘winter depression’ or the winter blues that often begin when days get shorter.

PLANTS OF THE MOMENT: WINTER COLOUR

Hardy shrubs for winter flower include:

• Wintersweet – Chimonanthus praecox
• Winter Honeysuckle  Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’ AGM
• Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’
• Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ AGM
• Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’
• Witch Hazel (Hamamelis)
• Sweet Box (Sarcococca)
• Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum AGM)
• Garrya elliptica ‘James Roof’ AGM
• Winter Heathers (Erica carnea varieties)

Trees and shrubs for fruits and berries include:

• Holly (Ilex varieties)
• Firethorn (Pyracantha varieties)
• Rowan (Sorbus)
• Beauty Berry (Callicarpa ‘Profusion’ AGM)
• Snowberry (Symphoricarpos)
• Prickly Heath (Gaultheria mucronata)