“Our garden comes alive in winter”
Bark, stems and berries form the mainstay of winter interest in this stylish garden. Owners Caroline and Henry Gibson show us around
Bark, stems and berries form the mainstay of winter interest in this stylish garden
When the growing season is short and winters are long, it’s important that a garden has plenty of year-round interest. “Winter can last a good six months here,” says Caroline Gibson, who owns this stylish Scottish garden with her husband Henry. “So, if you don’t have plants that look good during the bleakest months, you’re staring out at a bare garden for half the year.” Caroline and Henry moved to their 200-year-old farmhouse 25 years ago. “It’s called Frostineb – a Scottish term for cold nose,” she says. “When we came here it was mainly a bit of garden around the house – just grass and a few flowerbeds, a fruit cage and a couple of paddocks.”
The garden is 750ft above sea level. “We’re just below the brow of a hill, but fortunately a shelter belt of conifers protects us from the prevailing westerlies,” says Caroline. The layout has developed steadily over the years. “First we tackled the main part of the
garden, closest to the house,” says Caroline. “Looking out from our bedroom window I decided that the long, straight flowerbeds needed to be deeper and more curvy. And I wanted to add lots of ornamental trees and shrubs offering winter interest – attractive bark such as Acer griseum and Prunus serrula, plus colourful stems and berries.” Today, informal grass paths wind through the garden, leading from the herbaceous borders to a greenhouse, orchard and pond. “The small paddock used to get very boggy after rain so we decided to turn part of it into a large pond,” says Caroline. “Then, six years ago, we turned the large paddock into an orchard where we planted more than 40 different fruit trees. I chose hardy cultivars with a Scottish provenance, such as apple SEASONAL STRUCTURE (clockwise from above) Paths wind between cotoneaster and rusty-leaved hazel; the pond, with Cyperus longus and Phragmites communis ‘Variegatus’ by the greenhouse; Euonymus europaeus; more than 40 different Scottish fruit trees are planted in the orchard; a bird sculpture nestles in the honeysuckle, now bare ‘Dog’s Snout’ and ‘Bloody Ploughman’. Last year we harvested more than 400lb of apples, so we took them to a friend with a press, who turned them into cider.” In autumn and winter the veg patch doubles as a nursery bed for small seedlings of grasses and perennials before they’re moved to their new homes elsewhere in the garden, or given away to friends. Where once Caroline would ‘put the garden to bed’ for winter, now she lets the seedheads stand. “I used to cut plants back in November, but more and more I leave the herbaceous perennials and grasses, such as Molinia caerulea ‘Karl Foerster’ and Stipa gigantea, to stand as long as possible.
Position plants where they can catch low-angled morning or afternoon light
Now, I wait until they turn really tatty before I chop them back. Not only do they offer wildlife somewhere to shelter over winter, but also they look so good in the low light at this time of year – especially veronicastrum, whose dried stems and curving seedheads look fabulous dusted with frost. “Positioning plants is key to creating drama in winter,” says Caroline. “The sun is much lower in the sky, so it’s best to place them where they can catch that low-angled morning or afternoon light as it filters through the plants’ leaves and branches. A cornus shrub, for instance, would look fine planted anywhere, but position it where the sun lights up its vibrant stems and it’ll seem to glow. It’s also a good idea to plant your winter beauties where you can see them from the house because, when the weather is horrible and you don’t feel like going out, you can still enjoy these shining garden plants.” Trees play an important winter role at Frostineb. “Silver birches are one of my favourites,” says Caroline. “I brought them here from a friend’s garden as 6in-high saplings and now they’re 30ft tall. They have lovely peeling, pinky-white bark and once a year I go out and wash the trunks to remove any moss, so the bark gleams.” A couple of sorbus trees have branches laden with clusters of glistening berries. “The birds seem to go for the white Sorbus cashmiriana berries first,” notes Caroline. “They leave the pink Sorbus hupehensis berries, which seem to last forever. We also have a magnificent cotoneaster ‘Cornubia’, which is as big as a tree and has sculptural dark stems covered in glowing red berries. Underneath the trees and shrubs we’ve planted swathes of early-flowering bulbs such as winter aconites and snowdrops waiting to emerge.”
Undulating hedges of Lonicera nitida and contorted hazels provide additional winter structure. “I love the tracery of their bare branches,” says Caroline. “But my real go-to winter plant has to be cornus. Plants with berries or colourful leaves lose them as winter arrives, but cornus looks good right through until spring, and they come in such a great range of colours.”
Caroline and Henry maintain the gardens without any professional help. “It’s hard work, but winter is a good time to reflect,” she says. “I tend to spend this part of the year planning new planting schemes and projects, and I’ve already spotted a couple of trees that have outgrown their space. Removing them will open up some lovely new planting opportunities!”