Yesterday, as you’ll no doubt have noticed, was the winter solstice. The year turns once again and, ever so tentatively at first, we begin to leave the darkness behind…

Calocephalus, or cushion bush, or Leucophyta brownii, is a strange and enchanting plant…

By all that’s good and right and holy, December in this part of the world should be cold and crisp and clear…

I’m a bit of a sucker for a furry plant. I’m also a fan of scented-leaved pelargoniums…

For all the work there is yet to do outside, it really does feel as though in early December the garden decides to reward itself with a few weeks off…

There are two or three varieties of the European, or bloodtwig dogwood Cornus sanguinea that pack a considerable punch…

Thank heaven for creeping woodsorrel (Oxalis corniculata). Not really for any intrinsic value the plant possesses…

That’s the thing about self-seeding plants – you can’t rely on them to self-seed themselves where you want them to…

It’s as well I serviced my secateurs recently (the little black rubber bumper that acts as a shock absorber had gone AWOL)…

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being given a second chance…

There’s a magic about mistletoe (Viscum album), one that’s not entirely comfortable…

The leaves of stinking iris Iris foetidissima certainly have a characteristic smell…

Winter strips away distractions and, while the skies might seem more vast and the landscape more open…

Under the leaf litter, the growing goes on – unconcerned with Christmas and tax returns…

December dashes on, and the berries are out on the ivy. You find them held just proud of the foliage…

A walk through the London streets in the run up to Christmas, yielding me perhaps the most unlovely garden detail…

Last one standing, tall stems of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) keep me company in the soggy December veg garden…

I think it might be a good year for holly berries. Not the best, but better than the last…

I’m not entirely sure anyone knows the exact age of the espaliered pear tree in the Blue Garden at Great Dixter…