The December garden needn’t be as gloomy as the weather, and the Palace gardens are full of vibrant colours and structure. Whether it’s frosted herbaceous plants such as sedums, agapanthus heads and grasses, bold topiary like yew and euonymus, colourful winter borders, or key December shrubs like chimonanthus with its delicious scent, there is plenty to enjoy. Many of the plants that bring joy to the December garden can be grown easily and on a much smaller scale than here.

Last December I made a note of the most exciting and interesting plants in the Palace gardens. Many small trees provide colour, and few more so than crab apples such as ‘Golden Hornet’ with its bright golden fruits and ‘Red Sentinel’ with its ruby red fruit. Our ducks gorge themselves on the fruit of these trees in December. There are many beautiful crab apple trees to discover. Hawthorns also offer bright red colour alongside our more traditional holly trees.

Shrubs like edgeworthia produce clusters of silky, silver grey buds, while black, green and red dogwoods intensify in colour as the month progresses. Hellebore flowers begin to appear, as do many of our witch hazels, especially ‘Pallida’ with its bright sulphur yellow blooms. Conifers are also worth considering, whether the more understated Juniperus virginiana ‘Grey Owl’ or the showy, dome shaped Colorado blue spruce.

Our main tasks will be finishing the leaf clearing and then starting to tidy the borders, beginning with the winter borders. We tend to leave some of the herbaceous borders for their structure until later in the winter. We will also be able to begin pruning some of the shrubs and roses.

James Cross

Head Gardener, The Bishop’s Palace and Gardens