Alfreton Garden Maintenance

Alfreton Gardener — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 16:52:01 +0000

Garden Maintenance Services in Alfreton

These services are available throughout the year…

Lawn Care
- Feed & Nutrition
- Strimming & Mowing
- Scarification
- Weed Control
- Over-seeding
- Moss Removal
Garden Maintenance
Garden Design
Planting Schemes
Property Maintenance
Soft Landscaping
Hedge Cutting
Topiary & Pruning
Pressure Washing

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Design for Winter first!

Alfreton Gardener — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 10:47:23 +0000

Design for Winter first

In the depths of Winter, when it’s dark, grey, cold, gloomy, and wet, you’ll want to look out upon your garden and enjoy the fact that it still has lots of structure, focal points, form, colour, shape and shrubs of different sizes, habits and interest.

Starting to design a planting scheme begins with envisaging how it’s going to look in that “bleak mid-winter”. If you get that right, what to do with the remaining seasons is child’s play.

Winter planting takes precedence over all other planting considerations.

Winter Shrubs Collection

My Winter Shrubs Collection will help lift your garden and make it feel alive again, even after other summer and autumn favourites start to fade away – these plants will help fight off those winter blues!

This collection features “substantial” (medium to large) Evergreen, winter flowering or semi-evergreen shrubs ideal for ensuring your garden has structure, shape, colour and interest during the Winter months and carry that through to early Spring.

Additionally, I’ve added some deciduous shrubs, that have exceptional qualities for winter form and display, early spring flowering and special interest too.

Winter Planting

When planting a garden from scratch, these winter gems would be the first items to be planned in terms of their position, focal points and then marked out and timetabled appropriately for planting.

Once planted, you will have a good idea, how full your garden will look during the winter months when everything else has died back. If you already have lots of planting in place, wait until November and look to identify gaps that you could fill using any of the shrubs listed below.

Please re-visit this list as I will be adding to it as I discover new shrubs that deserve to be featured in this wintertime collection.

For more detailed information, simply copy the full name of a shrub you like and use the RHS website’s search facility.

Wintertime Shrubs Collection

{Images shown are copyright of their respective owners and are used for illustration purposes only.}

Pieris ~ ‘Forest Flame’

Plant in a prominent position, partial or full sun.

Semi-Evergreen – good colour and upright structure, spring flowering, bright coloured foliage through the year, clusters of small white, drooping flowerheads. Can grow to 2 to 3m high.

Choisya ternata ~ Sundance

Adds volume of bright lime green and yellow foilage – works well alongside burgundy foilage.

Semi-Evergreen – excellent colour foliage (lime green, yellow through to dark green – dependant on age of leaf) – Spring flowering – white stars. Usually 1.5 to 2m high – wide spreading.

Ceanothus ~ ‘Skylark’

Wonderful grown as either a bush or trained as a tree. Makes an eye catching focal point in May when it flowers.

Semi-Evergreen – Spring flowering – stunning, metalic blue flowers.

Mahonia × media ~ ‘Winter Sun’

Plant in a sheltered position away from wind

Semi-Evergreen – Early Spring flowering – typically vivid yellow – upright habit will grow to 2m – Plant 2 or 3 together. Upto 2m high.

Viburnum tinus ~ ‘French White’

The dark green foliage is a great backdrop the clustering flowerheads.

Evergreen, bushy to 3m – radiant clusters of tiny white flowers.

Skimmia japonica ~ ‘Rubella’

Relatively slow growing – give lots of space

Semi-Evergreen

Spring flowering, interesting shaped flowerhead that changes colour as it ages.

Leycesteria formosa ~ ‘Purple Rain’

Find a sheltered spot that is accessible to birds.

Highly recommended!

Deciduous – but keeps it’s tall, elegant structure. Stunning cascades of flowerheads followed by berries in summer / autumn – great for attracting birds – 2m high.

Hebe ~ ‘High Voltage’

Prune lightly – mainly deadhead old blossoms

Semi-Evergreen – stunning summer / autumn flower heads.

Cornus sanguinea ~ ‘Anny’s Winter Orange’ or Cornus sanguinea ~ ‘Winter Beauty’

Place in front of a wall or fence for great effect.

Deciduous – but keeps it’s structure – bright coloured bark. Any Dogwood is a good choice – when they drop their leaves the stems are a beam of colour in the winter.

Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’ Honeysuckle

Deciduous with Winter and Spring flowering, 2.5m high and can be climbing.

Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla

Place next to something lime green and you’ll create a focal point using 2 plants – the combination is stunning.

Deciduous – but keeps it’s structure. Lacey pinkish white umbrells and an elegant fine fingered burgundy leaf – can grow 3m plus.

Camellia ~ ‘Sparkling Burgundy’

Evergreen, winter flowering – Blousy pink flowers, shelter and shade – H4.

Clematis anshunensis

Evergreen winter flowering climber – superb white clusters of flower heads.

Corylus avellana ~ ‘Contorta’

Great as a focal point

Deciduous – but keeps it’s structure – wonderful corkscrew stems and branches and catkins too!

Prunus × subhirtella ~ ‘Autumnalis’

Needs somewhere warm in the garden, shielded from the cold

Winter flowering Cherry – H3 – sheltered – stunning blossom.

Camellia × vernalis ~ ‘Yuletide’

Needs shelter & shade

Evergreen, winter flowering – bright lipstick red clusters.

Sarcococca confusa

Evergreen – elegant winter flowers.

Camellia sasanqua ~ ‘Winter’s Snowman’

Evergreen, winter flowering – stunning white blooms, can be full sun – H4.

Jasminum nudiflorum – Winter Jasmine

Ideal for clambering and climbing vertical structures

Deciduous with bright green stems, winter to Spring flowering – yellow stars.

Drimys winteri – Winter’s bark

Cery slow to mature – will take 20 to 50yrs!

Evergreen, Summer flowering – grows to 12m high and 8m wide – H4.

Photinia × fraseri ‘Red Robin’

Relatively fast growing in the right conditions

Evergreen – flowers in spring, bushy habit, good growth, can be trained to size.

Euonymus fortunei ~ ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold‘

Prune regular to keep it bushy

Semi-Evergreen, variegated yellow and green foliage.

Hydrangea anomala subsp. anomala ‘Winter Glow’

Aerial roots – ideal for fences or walls.

Semi-Evergreen / Evergreen, Spring flowering, woody, vigorous climbing hydrangea.

Salvia rosmarinus – Rosemary

Semi-Evergreen, can be trained to different shapes and features lilac flowers in Spring.

Hamamelis mollis

Great as a focal point in winter

Chinese witch hazel features bright yellow flowers in early winter, following on from a changing dynamic display of coloured foliage in autumn.

Ilex aquifolium ~ ‘Handsworth New Silver’

Ideal bottom of garden specimen

Evergreen Holly featuring purple stems, white flowers in winter and on female plants – bright red berries. 4m to 8m high.

Hedera colchica ~ ‘Sulphur Heart’

Aerial roots – ideal for fences or walls.

Evergreen, controllable climbing Ivy with large variegated leaves. Yellow green flowers followed by black berries.

Pinus mugo ‘Winter Gold’

Dwarf mountain pine – Evergreen dwarf to 1.5m high – golden foliage in winter, can be 2m wide and shrubby.

Heather Winter Flowering Collection (Erica)

Best block planted using several colours to create a stunning focal point.

Hardy ground cover Evergreen – a classic for a winter display of varied coloured small flowers.

Springtime additions

Cotinus coggygria ~ ‘Golden Spirit’

A good focal point to brighten up an area from spring to Autumn.

Deciduous – fascinating array of colours through the year, 5m tall, bright lime / yellow leaves –

Malus ~ ‘Winter Gold’

Deciduous – very attractive white flowers in Spring – autumn gold apples.

Forsythia

Deciduous – but keeps it’s structure – vivid yellow blossom in early / mid spring.

Ribes sanguineum

A must have shrub in red and white

Deciduous – but keeps it’s structure – red or white blossom in early / mid spring.

Corylopsis sinensis

Deciduous – but keeps it’s structure – yellow blossom in early spring, 4m high, bushy.

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