Romantic planting with a sleek modern style creates a striking mix in this Hertfordshire garden

A good time to visit The Old Rectory in Doynton is as dusk falls on a frosty December evening. Driving in through the gate, you’ll be cheered by the sight of two illuminated Portuguese laurel cylinder

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

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

Amy McCormack, senior gardener at the National Trust’s Anglesey Abbey, on planting for winter colour and scent and protecting perennials from frost

In winter, when the art school here at Benton End closed for the year and the garden fell quiet, Cedric Morris would head to warmer climes to escape the chill of his 16th-century house, but also to pa