winter gardening

A Lesson in Winter Gardening

Winter is often a neglected time in the gardening year but a tour of John Massey’s garden at Ashwood Nurseries shows just how good it can be.

Gardening books are all very well but you learn so much more when you see the theory put into practice on a garden visit. Add the skill of a master grower to the mix and it can be truly inspirational.

Early bulbs, coloured stems, structure, all are familiar to anyone who reads up on how to keep a garden looking good during winter but seeing them in ‘John’s Garden’ showed how effective they can be.

winter gardening
Naturally, there were lots of hellebores.

I was on a Garden Media Guild trip to Ashwood Nurseries, designed primarily to see the hellebores for which this traditional nursery is known. However, an added bonus of the day was a tour by owner John Massey of his private garden, three acres set behind the nursery in South Staffordshire.

winter gardening

Set alongside the Staffordshire-Worcestershire Canal, most of it’s been created over the past 20 years with planting to cover every season. Plants are chosen for their toughness with nothing given winter protection.

winter gardening
Cyclamen are another Ashwoods speciality.

“I would rather grow things that are hardy in this area,” John explained.

Naturally, hellebores and cyclamen, two of Ashwoods’ specialities, feature strongly but there were numerous other early bloomers, along with interesting shrubs, evergreens and trees. It really is a densely-planted garden and so I will pick out just some of the things that caught my eye.

winter gardening
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Sunburst’

The tour started with a severe case of ‘hamamelis envy’. My sandy soil isn’t really suitable for growing witch hazels but, having seen how effective their strangely spiky flowers are on a cold February day, I’m tempted to have a go.

Lemon yellow, golden yellow, burnt orange and rusty red – all colours that add warmth to winter gardening – while their slender limbs still allowed views through the borders.

winter gardening
Cornus officinalis

Other winter-flowering shrubs included the acid yellow of Cornus officinalis and pale pink daphne.

winter gardening
Daphne bholua var. ‘Glacialis Gurkha’.

Moss-covered boulders and stems added more structure and texture to this area.

winter gardening

winter gardening

Colour didn’t come just from flowers and stems were also used with great effect. The pale trunks of silver birch were repeated throughout the garden, set against the brown of grasses or teamed with snowdrops.

winter gardening
Just some of the garden’s snowdrops.

I’ve often heard other gardeners being a bit ‘sniffy’ about Cornus sanguinea, believing the common dogwood to be too reminiscent of supermarket car parks. But give it the right companions and keep it carefully pollarded to get the best colour, and it can be an important part of winter gardening.

How about this for an interesting mix.

winter gardening
Cornus, carex and snowdrops made an eye-catching combination.

I particularly liked the way the Cornus sanguinea ‘Magic Flame’ contrasted with these window sculptures by Neil Lossock.

winter gardening
Cornus sanguinea ‘Magic Flame’ is used throughout the garden.

His work appears in several places in the garden.

winter gardening
The New Stump Garden.

This is known as ‘The New Stump Garden’ and has been created with oak stumps from Ragley Saw Mill. Originally, there were just three of Neil’s rust-coloured fern panels behind the bed. John decided the nearby gate looked wrong so put a panel on it and then, because he likes odd numbers, a fifth panel was added.

“It’s how the garden evolves,” he told us.

There were some good container ideas – either used to bring small plants up to eye-level or as a seasonal display that could be changed as things faded.

One table had a collection of dainty iris carefully placed so they could be seen from the house; colour that can be enjoyed from indoors is an important part of winter gardening.

winter gardening
Iris reticulata were grouped on a table.

I rather liked this yellow ‘Katherine’s Gold’.

winter gardening

This was a clever idea for allowing a close-up view of snowdrops.

winter gardening
Snowdrops brought up to eye-level.
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Another raised display.

This floating display of hepatica flowers was one of the most photographed parts of the garden.

winter gardening

Elsewhere, the grass border was looking particularly good.

winter gardening

Even the old flowers on hydrangea added to the display.

winter gardening

You are never far from water in the garden. Either the canal.

winter gardening

Or the pool and its nearby rock garden

winter gardening

There are long views through

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And tantalising glimpses

winter gardening
A wire owl glimpsed through the cloud pruned holly hedge.

John is always coming up with something new. As he said: “If a garden is not evolving, it’s going backwards.”

John’s Garden is open to the public from 10am to 4pm on March 17, 2018, and on several other dates until September in aid of this year’s chosen charity, Wombourne Special Needs Support Group. For details, visit the Ashwood Nurseries’ website. Entry is £5. The garden is open for the National Gardens Scheme on Sunday, April 22.

You can read about our guided tour of the hellebores and heptaticas at Ashwood Nurseries here.

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16 Comments

  1. What a beautiful garden , a shame it is open so rarely (although I quite understand why). I particularly love the snowdrop wall planter idea – one I may try next year.

    1. I thought the snowdrop idea was really clever – saves all that grovelling on the floor to see the flowers.

  2. This is a garden and nursery I’ve long wanted to visit. Just seeing your photos & reading your text, I’ve already gained more ideas for my own garden. Great post.

    1. Thanks. 🙂 It was a really inspirational garden. The nursery had been on my ‘bucket list’ for a while; visiting the garden was an added bonus.

    1. Only the sort of thing you can do if you’ve got a glasshouse full of them! They were quite stunning.

  3. This is a lovely blog – lucky you visiting in the winter. It looks wonderful and I remember John being on TV last year and how passionate and modest he was. Even though I have a small garden I’ve got some ideas from your article and am investigating when to visit one of his open days. A great post – Thankyou.

    1. I was just so glad it wasn’t last week! It really is an inspirational garden – well worth the journey to visit and plenty to buy at the nursery as well 🙂

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