Once the December festivities are over and the Christmas decorations are packed away in the loft for another year, I always think January feels rather bleak, particularly when the ground is frozen solid and the sun barely seems to peek over the horizon. The landscape looks particularly stark and bare at this time of year with the cold, wet weather and the general greyness January brings.

Fragrant plants are a great way to bring a different dimension into a modern garden design, and now is a great time for planting shrubs and hedges (as long as the ground isn’t fully frozen). Options like Prunus Padas (bird cherry), Acacia Dealbata (blue wattle) and Magnolia Salicifolia (willow-leaved magnolia) all bring beautiful colours and scents in Spring. It can be a good idea to position fragrant plants in sheltered positions for optimum scent.

For a splash of colour, Pyracantha Firethorn is a lovely option for growing along walls or fences and can make excellent hedging in a traditional garden. Not only does it provide vibrant orange berries throughout the autumn and winter (a fantastic food source for the garden wildlife) but it also bursts forth in a frothy explosion of tiny white flowers in late spring/early summer – great for attracting bees and other nectar gatherers! Birds often choose to nest in a Pyracantha as the long thorns offer protection against predators. That said, this boundary hedge also offers protection from other intruders – no one wants to attempt to scale a fully grown pyracantha!

Cyclamen is available in a variety of colours (white, red, pinks and purples) and can brighten up even the dreariest of gardens. Cyclamen love cold temperatures and if taken care of properly can flower all the way through to the spring. Ensure the plant is kept in well-drained soil and avoid watering the leaves and stem as this can cause them to rot.

To brighten up beds and borders, Cornus provides a blaze of red, orange and yellow stems once their bright autumn leaves have faded. These species are ideal for injections of vibrant colour between a mass of bare branches. Sibirica/Midwinter Fire are the most striking, particularly against a backdrop of snow or frost on a misty morning.

And finally, topiary can help to add structure and definition in the garden when everything else is looking a bit wilted and flat! Some well-pruned shapes can create interest in an otherwise plain landscape, for example the addition of box balls in a square garden, or rectangular low hedging around a curved lawn can draw the eye and make great focal points, even in smaller spaces.

Many clients think about overhauling their gardens in January – it is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year for garden companies in terms of people wanting to book slots for the coming season. With this in mind, give us a call sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment – we operate on a first-come, first-served basis, like most landscape contractors, and our slots are filling up fast!