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 1993 Sarah and Chris Vermont moved from Brixton, London, to Hungerdowns in Essex, an old farmhouse dating back to 1600 with a Georgian front added in 1757. In the garden there were existing hedges,

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

The garden in winter can often seem like something to be endured rather than enjoyed for gardeners who dash to garden centres at Easter, departing with cars brimful of petunias and bags of compost. Bu

REAL readers' gardens! Putting the garden to bed ...