My cottage garden in January
Here are some photos of my cottage garden in January and some thoughts about how to feel ok about your garden when there’s not much to see.
In places there’s not a lot going on above ground. There’s loads of bare earth showing.
Few hundred tulips and daffodils under the ground. Not much on top.
One way to avoid that would be winter carpet bedding like this in Regent’s Park, London
Grasses, skimmia, heuchera carpet bedding in the park
This shows it is possible to have something looking fresh and healthy through the winter.
I prefer to have some permanent shrubs that still give colour, scent or structure all the year around rather than have special plants just for the winter. I wrote about winter colour in How to have colour in the winter cottage garden.
Waiting for Spring
Andrew Timothy O’Brien recently wrote a lovely post about not wishing time away waiting for Spring.
You can read his post here
He writes about how we needn’t feel envy of others’ perfect gardens or shame at the state of our own; that having a garden is not a race or a competition. We can just relax and wait patiently for the light to return.
It’s all happening underground and bare earth in winter is nothing to worry about
And above ground?
There’s last year’s growth above ground, most of it brown and soggy and I’ll be cutting it off before Spring to make way for this year’s new growth. At least it’s something to look at through the winter rather than nothing. That’s why I don’t cut anything back in the autumn.
This grass (miscanthus?) which looked stunning all autumn now looks a bit dry and sad. I’ll cut it down to the ground in a few weeks time.
Cottage garden plants in January
Fresh new shoots coming from the base of old hellebore leaves. Something’s happening.
Winter flowering shrubs
Winter flowering honeysuckle, great scent all winter and at least something to show
Hakonechloa Japanese grass looks a soft gold through winter although rather scruffy
My Japanese grasses in pots still look quite good I think in a scruffy sort of way. When I shear those dead leaves off at the base in February new shoots will be up within a week.
January – there could be more winter weather to come
Tempting to look out at bare earth and think ‘Where have all those mail order plants gone?” or more to the point “Where has all that money gone?” By the end of February there should be lots of new growth pushing up – it’s nice to wait.
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Happy New Year to all.
Julie
Thank you for the encouragement! I love your grasses – such great interest in winter.
Thankyou Anna. Just yesterday I cut some of them back to the base but not all of them. There might still be a good dose of cold weather to come. Thanks for your comment and happy gardening to you.
Lovely. Hard to be patient sometimes, but even plants need to rest!
So nice to know you read my blog Gill, xx
Hi Julie! I like your idea of looking at your garden in winter and imagining what’s happening underground. The gardening “activity” I enjoy in winter is the planning – looking through my seed packets to see what I still have, deciding which projects I’ll start, browsing through magazines and catalongs (and your blog) to get new ideas. Anticipation makes the spring sweeter!
Thanks for your comment Lisa, yes having projects is such a big part of a new gardening year isn’t it. I love sitting with a mag or catalogue too. Those colourful photos are so enticing. Happy gardening to you and thank you for reading my blog.
Being happy with your own garden is essential! Nonetheless, we will always strive to make it “better”. Happy Gardening!
Yes Paddy it’s good to be content with whatever happens otherwise we’d be unhappy all the time. At the same time every new year brings hope and excitement of how it’s going to look and feel THIS year. Always different. Thankyou for your comment. Best wishes and good gardening.
Interesting to see your lovely tidy garden. I am still doing the Autumn tidy up. But there are a few signs that Spring is just around the corner. Good to hear from you and would you to come and pass your eye round my wilderness and I would love to come and see you and your garden but haven’t been to London for so long.
The garden has been a wonderful distraction during especially during lockdown
Keep in touch
Much love
Kit
I enjoyed reading this.