Looking around the gardens in our neighbourhood, it is easy to see that time and experience are the keys to a verdant winter garden. To create a pleasing backdrop to the bareness of a cool climate garden, with so many deciduous trees, the surrounding gardens feature a range of conifers, evergreen shrubs, and other winter hardy foliage plants.
Although only new, our garden on the other hand, is pretty much all deciduous. So far this season winter has brought snow, ice, and very thick frost at times, so, many of the perennials I had envisioned as frost-tolerant and safe have been damaged. So, as Rosemary Verey says in the title quote above – ‘winter is a test of a true gardener’.
A test of resilience to watch plants turn black with frost damage, limp and bedraggled. And a test of whether one can garden at all through the low temperature days?
“We gardeners are healthy, joyous, natural creatures.
Carol Deppe
We are practical, patient, optimistic.
We declare our optimism every year, every season,
with every act of planting.”
How I approach winter gardening is, I tell myself to ‘ do one thing in the garden every day.’ More often than not, this leads to gardening for several hours, but one small task is still enough. Staking plants, watering with eco-seaweed, repotting, or observing closely and fixing problems at the source all help even if only for twenty minutes.
The images today were taken in the hotel garden of Le Pigonnet, a hotel in Aix-en-Provence where we stayed in 2018. The original house was a place where the artist Paul Cezanne is said to have spent time painting the different views of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. To know more about the hotel please read here
The Le Pigonett garden is an inspiring heavily foliaged area surrounding the hotel where guests are able to relax and enjoy the ambience of different garden rooms. The foliage is stunning and I’m just a little bit jealous of all those Buxus plants.
All pictures painted inside in the studio will never be as good as the things done outside.
Paul Cezanne
Our new garden will remain essentially bare until later in winter when the Magnolias and the first bulbs will be out But, when I look closely at other gardens nearby they are less baren because of the range of evergreen shrubs, a must it seems in a cool-climate garden.
Rosa Soul Sister refuses to stop flowering whilst being surrounded by bare plants and trees. It has six or so more buds about to open and the colouring has deepened from the usual soft coffee-latte, mauve to a rich apricot with coral tones. It is very bold and impressive.
How lovely, the silence of growing things
Evan Dicken
Glorious weather today and a chance to get started in cutting the perennials back to the ground in readiness for Spring. It is such satisfying work that makes a dramatic change to the landscape which is now open and full of new possibilities.
The garden is perhaps not as desolate as my critical eye observes . Walkers passing by are still stopping to comment positively on the garden, which gives me hope that I’m heading in the right direction.
“Just remember, during the winter, far beneath the bitter snow,
Bette Midler
that there’s a seed that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes a rose.”
New season roses have arrived today and are now soaking in water until planting over the weekend. The order is from Treloar Roses – My list was based on adding a few favourites I had to leave behind from our rural garden, and several roses with exceptional fragrance.
Finding room to plant them is another challenge, but here they are-
Standards
- Pomponella-pink pom-pom flower heads
- Lady of Shallot- all time favourite but never grown as a standard before
- Earth Angel- fragrance and exceptional peony-shaped blooms
- Peter Frankenfeld- magenta, another favourite I’ve missed in the garden
Hybrid Teas
- Cubana- shade tolerant and very long lasting rose blooms- soft apricot
- Granada– pink, red, yellow blend
- Courtneys Rose – new release for 2025, almost thornless, soft yellow tinged with pink
- Summer of Love– spectacular favourite with unique colouring that changes with the weather
- Grand Amore- every garden should have a red rose
Floribundas
- Creamy Parfuma- new release Kordes rose Parfuma collection
- Ice Princess- white for a new border, bee friendly
- Fire Opal- to add to my hedge
Modern Shrub
- Caramella– amber colouring Kordes rose
- Herkules– nostalgic shape, fragrant mauve pink Kordes rose
- Versigny– ruffled blooms and strong fragrance
“It will never rain roses. When we want to have more roses, we must plant more.”
George Elliot
There is a great deal of hype at the moment in garden writing about the moral implications of what we plant in our gardens. Winter is a great time to reflect and refine what you love about having a garden. Whether you garden on a balcony filled with potted plants, a potager vegetable garden, a suburban garden, a country estate or a rewilded garden, what is most important is to plant what you love. The choice is yours to make.
“I confess to being unattracted to the concept of gardening with a moral implication.
Christopher Lloyd
It puts a dampener on going all out to garden full-bloodedly
in whatever way appeals to you most.”
Winter is also a great time to enjoy a pause from the frenetic nature of gardening in other seasons and simply be at peace with the plants. A good time to ponder, watch the birds, and plant bulbs, while waiting, in our case, to prune the roses.
To garden, you open your personal space to admit a few,
Tom Clothier
a great many, or thousands of plants which exude charm,
pleasure, beauty, oxygen, conversation, friendship,
confidence, and other rewards should you succeed in meeting their basic needs
Living in a cool climate, timing the pruning of roses is always a tricky choice. I have been advised recently to wait until later in August before pruning any roses in the hope that the new shoots will not be damaged by possible late severe frosts. Previously, I had always waited until later, but while out walking, I’ve observed many gardens here where pruning has already been completed. Predicting the last frost is a challenging task.
“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.”
Janet Phillips
Patience is a necessary trait needed to be successful in the garden especially in the depths of winter. This beautiful, functional garden pictured today is inviting but also encouraging. Spring will return in time but, there is no hurrying within the plant world, and better to enjoy the best of each season. I’m enjoying the slow pace of winter and getting the new roses into pots and the garden this week whilst hoping the frost keeps off.
Content Di Baker July 2025
Images Di Baker, France 2018
