The days might be cold and grey but your outside space can still bring you joy – there are sturdy, vigorous plants that will fill it with beauty and heart-lifting colour…

Adding a magical element to any garden on a frosty winter’s day, topiary offers interest all year round, as well as the chance to demonstrate some creative clipping, says Jen Harbrow, senior gardener at the National Trust’s Hinton Ampner in Hampshire

York Gate, a one-acre garden near Leeds, was donated by the Spencer family in 1994 to Perennial, the charity that helps people working in horticulture and their families. While the garden was develope

John and Jenny Brett have created an all-year garden design at St Mary’s, combining formal plant structures with colourful insect-friendly perennials, but in winter, when dusted with white and dancing with shadows, the garden shimmers

Discover the varieties that shine in every season and learn how to give them the best start

The quiet beauty of winter sets the stage in this garden, where topiary shapes and the borrowed landscape are the main performers