My garden is very much a spring garden, that’s when most of the plants are in out flower and there’s the most interest. Other gardens are winter gardens, where they look their best in, well, winter.

That doesn’t mean that they’re just full of dull conifers and evergreens with no flowers. The winter garden has strong architectural elements, bold colours, interesting foliage and striking plant combinations and it is hard to do because you can’t just rely on everything flowering at similar times for visual appeal as you can in other seasons.

To get an idea of what I’m trying to say, you should visit one, in winter. There are several winter Gardens dotted around the country and one that was featured on Gardeners’ World last winter was the winter Garden at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire (a National Trust property). The winter Garden there is a long winding walk, enclosed on either side with planting with an impressive stand of white Himalayan birch at the end (Betula Utilis var Jacquemontii, Greyswood Ghost – I think the full name is).

We recently visited and so here are some pictures of it just coming into its element as autumn gives way to winter.