Top ten plants for January

First up is a pretty, undemanding evergreen shrub that brightens up the garden during a time when not much else is doing its thing. Not only does it have pretty yellow flowers, but they’re scented too! Grown in a sheltered spot and given the right type of soil, it should do well for many years.

Once you’ve bought one Christmas rose, the chances are you’ll want more because their flower colour ranges from pure white to deepest darkest purple. Some flowers can be found with freckled markings, others with double petals so there’s always plenty of choice.

Next is a charming evergreen shrub with graceful arching branches and silver-white backed leaves. At this time of year, the plant is covered in long lasting orange berries. It’s also fast growing and easy to keep in check by pruning and can easily be clipped into neat, rounded shapes.

Also, it’s a great shrub for wildlife; bees adore its small flowers and birds love the berries. A lovely addition to any garden whatever the time of year.

How can you resist such dainty looking but tough flowering bulbs? On the face of it they all look the same. However, once you start looking carefully you can find many subtle differences in flower markings and those differences can work out to be very expensive. For example, there have been single bulbs of the more unusual varieties selling for £50 or more and, in an extreme case, £725 was paid for just one bulb!

Fortunately, the humble snowdrop can be bought in bulk for a fraction of those prices. Either ’in the green’ which means in full leaf around March/April time, or as bulbs during the summer months. These will delight you for years to come as they naturalise and increase from year to year.

This medium size tree is a gardeners’ winter delight. The coppery, cinnamon coloured bark peels naturally but remains hanging off the trunk in a delightful fashion. As well as an airy branch structure and stunning fiery red autumn leaf colour.

It also has a remarkable tolerance to growing in a wide range of soil types. Without a doubt it’s a great one to consider for the winter garden.

This is an undemanding, evergreen, tufted perennial plant that looks like a grass. It has winter and summer interest because its new growth leaves are vivid green tinted brilliant bright orange.

From autumn onwards, these turn to a darker burnt orange. Brown flower spikes are produced during the summer months and its compact growth makes it an ideal plant for any garden.

This hardy shrub is not at all showy but the scent that comes from it during winter months is utterly wonderful. Place it at the back of a border and grow a medium size clematis through it for interest at other times of the year.

Ferns are undemanding beautiful plants that are great for softening edges of partly shaded walkways and plant borders. Evergreen and semi-evergreen are particularly useful as they have a year-round presence and are generally easy to maintain. This fern turns an attractive orange-bronze colour in autumn and winter.

Evergreen shrubs really help keep the winter garden looking interesting. Silver leaf ones like this hardy Brachyglottis really lighten up the space on those dullest of dark days. It has a loose habit and jolly yellow flowers in the summer months.

This is another versatile evergreen shrub that can fit into almost any part of the garden. It has gold speckled leaves and grows well in most soil types and it can be pruned as a hedge or left to grow as a specimen shrub.