Back to a different story!

We’ve returned from our autumn trip abroad to a very changed garden than the one we left in October. Then there were dahlias, roses and fuchsias still in bloom, but now it’s a different story! I didn’t have time for gardening during the run-up to Christmas, but John braved the elements to do a bit of tidying.

He has also been doing work on the fruit cage, increasing the height by about 60cm (2ft). When he was picking fruit last year he found he was constantly hitting his head on the top.

The only vegetables we’re picking at the moment are Brussels sprouts as they’re doing really well.

We haven’t been plagued by snow here on the south coast, but we’ve had a few hard frosts and a lot of rain. On our clay soil that means a soggy lawn and pools of water in some places.

Amazingly, we still have roses blooming, and we’ve enough evergreens to brighten everything up. A recent visitor to the house, who lives most of the year in Venice and the rest in central London, was delighted and surprised to see so much colour in the middle of winter!

There are also some very early signs of stirring growth – catkins on the corkscrew hazel, big buds on the hydrangea, daffodils springing from the ground and new red leaves on the photinia are all good to see.

Like most gardeners, we’re busy planning for the rest of the year – roll on spring!

We have some real winter structure with trees, bushes and good landscaping

These robust roses are fighting off the weather! Right, bright cornus and clipped evergreens

We rely on our shrubs to give the garden colour and form

A pretty garden on the Hampshire coast with a vegetable patch, stream and woodland.