Create a focal point in the mid-winter garden with a decked seating area warmed by a wood-burning brazier. From here, enjoy the elegant forms of neatly clipped topiary, ornamental ponds and splashes of pale mauve flowers with touches of white and silver. The timber flooring extends from inside the pavilion where, under cover, a scented camellia in a pot enjoys the shelter and blooms especially early.

Preparation and planting
1. The timber deck can be laid before or after the planting. The topiary border should be dug and prepared and the buxus and yews planted in autumn. Plant the strawberry tree in autumn or winter.
2. The Brachyglottis will take only a year to grow quite large. Keep clipped and remove summer flowers if you want the silver foliage to look its best. The Salix should be planted in autumn and cut back hard each spring to get black catkins in winter. Plant the Iris reticulata and I. histrioides bulbs in autumn and the winter-flowering violas in late autumn.
3. Leucojum vernum can be planted as bulbs in autumn or as container-grown plants at any time. The Iris foetidissima has yellow flowers and evergreen leaves. Its seed capsules splitin autumn to reveal red berries.

Winter plant list
1. Arbutus unedo (strawberry tree)
2. Helleborus foetidus
3. Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata' (yew)
4. Buxus (box), clipped as balls, standards and various shapes
5. Brachyglottis Dunedin Group 'Sunshine', in clipped mounds
6. Salix gracilistyla 'Melanostachys' (willow)
7. Leucojum vernum
8. Iris reticulata
9. Iris histrioides for foliage
10. Winter-flowering Viola in pale mauve
11. Clematis cirrhosa var. balearica
12. Iris foetidissima, for foliage
13. Camellia sasanqua 'Narumigata', in pot

APRIL 2005
ORIGINAL IDEA JANE NEWDICK
ILLUSTRATOR SOPHIE BLACKALL