Even in the depths of midwinter we gardeners are a very fortunate bunch with a surprisingly broad and seemingly increasing range of plants readily available to us. This choice, combined as it so often is these days with mild winter weather, effectively means you can banish all thoughts of ‘putting the garden to bed’; winter gardens have never been more popular. But as with people, some plants make better impressions than others – so here are some of January’s most welcome guests.
Clematis for winter beauty
What better climber to ring in the New Year than charming? Its appropriately bell-shaped flowers reveals eight cultivars are available, yet the one we always see is var. ‘Freckles’, so named because its off-white flowers are spotted liberally inside with red-maroon. It’s certainly an easy, dependable plant and usefully free-flowering in winter, but to me those so-called freckles look more like a nasty rash; I prefer the purity of cleaner-looking flowers.
