I’m taking time to think about the year ahead Stephen Matthews
A modern take on a cottagestyle garden, with deep herbaceous borders, trees, shrubs and a pond in Little Clacton, Essex.
Now we’re into 2024, I'm starting to think about and plan what I want to do in the coming year. I find the best way to do this is to look back at last year and see what did and didn’t work. Gazania ‘Tiger Stripes’ is a definite favourite and one I’ll be planting again this year, along with begonia ‘Apricot Shades’. Last year I tried busy Lizzies again and they did really well. I particularly like the white ones which really stand out in the evening light. Plants looking good right now include the dwarf winter iris ‘Katharine Hodgkin’. I have several pots of them; they come back year after year and are one of the first bulbs to flower. The winter aconites and snowdrops, of which I have several varieties in the garden, are also starting to flower. The dogwood Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’, with its blood-red stems, is happily doing its thing and Fatsia japonica ‘Spider’s Web’ looks very much at home in its shady corner. The plants that come in for the winter are also all doing well. My scented pelargoniums
My lovely little aconites
Spotted laurel is a great ‘utility’ shrub; its glossy, tough leaves endure even the hardest of frosts. I enjoy looking at other people’s gardens when I’m out walking. It’s good to see which plants work well. Viburnum bodnantense is a particular favourite with its wonderful clove-like scent. Magnolia down-covered buds are waiting to burst into flower, while catkins gracefully droop from bare branches.
Some years ago, we got a bareroot Christmas tree, which we potted up outside. Astonishingly it’s still thriving. During very dry weather it can look as if it has given up, but then bright green shoots emerge. I’m so pleased we kept it. It just shows that a Christmas tree is not just for Christmas!