'Putting the garden to bed' is a pet peeve of mine and since peeves rarely make good pets I’d rather this catchphrase were expunged from horticultural lingo. It trips off the tongue from professional gardeners, and homeowners with gardens too - why? Because of the belief that over winter months the garden is dormouse dormant.
Gardens are quieter over the colder months, true, but far from a place of total hibernation. The energy of spring is softened, colours are washed out, and birdlife is muted. This pause is as important to the ecology of a garden habitat as the bees which pollinate our apple trees in summer. During this time of rest roots are slowly growing and strengthening under the soil surface, birds which don’t migrate forage for berries and insects disturbed from hibernation need a source of food or nectar.
As it gets colder assumed best practice is to remove vegetation and drastically edit in preparation for winter. And whilst there are some plants that dieback each year to resurface in the spring - perennials - others have different survival strategies which support insect, birdlife and small mammals in the leaner months. For example, hellebores are a nectar source for pollinators over the darkest months and the native holly provides berries for foraging birds.
Through well-intentioned acts of cutting everything back to bare soil or ignoring the potential of winter-flowering plants we miss the quiet grace of a winter garden and the support it can provide for wildlife.
Flowering in January:
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