Plant this
Witch hazel’s spidery blooms may be small, but their scent wakes up your nose when you venture outside in winter. This deciduous shrub needs neutral or acid soil, in full sun or partial shade: it reaches 4m x 4m in height and spread, but if space is tight, train it against a wall or put it in a container plant in ericaceous compost. Choice cultivars include orange-flowered Hamamelis ‘Jelena’, yellow H. ‘Pallida’, red H. ‘Diane’, or pale yellow H. ‘Arnold Promise’.
Try this
If you shelled out on a real Christmas tree, get your money’s worth after taking off the decorations and put it to work outside. Prop it up somewhere and festoon with fat balls to give birds a treat. Or shred or chop the branches, and use as a mulch on paths and around acid-loving shrubs such as blueberries (branches also help keep cats off bare ground). And put the trunk to good use as an insect-friendly woodpile.
Visit this
Landscape designer John Brookes changed the way we think about our gardens: find out more about his life and work from a new exhibition, The Man Who Made The Modern Garden, at the Garden Museum in London until 25 March.
