A winter's tale

Val explains why winter is a magical time in the garden

- Val Bourne

WINTER has arrived in the wonderfully named village of Cold Aston in Gloucestershire and it’s a season I always look forward to. The leaves are off the trees, so the low sunlight backlights the garden from morning to dusk. Much of the froth of summer has either died back, or been sheared back by me, so I can appreciate the structure of the whole garden. The texture of the stone paths, the warmth of the evergreens and the filigree seedheads are all prominent now. And the view over the low stone walls seems to stretch on forever.

My best winter eye-catcher is a variegated form of a South American pampas grass called Cortaderia selloana. The plumes appear here by late September and form exclamation marks above the fine arching foliage. On wet days the plumes darken and look limp. However, as soon as the sun shines, they fluff up into pale feathery dusters. This magnificent grass is planted on the lower corner of my autumn border and, since I planted it 12 or so years ago, it’s spread to cover 2 square metres (20 square feet) or more. Pampas grass (and this is one of the smallest) needs a bit of space!