With gardens still sweltering in the summer heat it seems too early to plan for cold winters but better safe than sorry.

Cold Garden Locations
A survey of gardens which had the lowest temperatures that most frequently dipped below freezing point include Norfolk and Suffolk, Lanarkshire and Highlands and surprisingly Letchworth, Watford and Royston in Hertfordshire. Perhaps it is not a surprise to those who live there.

The mildest gardens were in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Bath – no surprise there. More surprisingly St Andrews, South Uist in the Hebrides and Newcastle would not have featured in my list of mild gardens. The mildest only had three weeks when temperatures fell below freezing.

Winter Tints – Top Five

1. Not all evergreens actually stay green through winter but they do tend to keep the leaves like Mahonia japonica which has coppery tints and early white blossom.
2. Many heathers produce fresh colours in winter to complement the flowers. The lime tolerant Erica carnea Anne Sparkes turns golden and Erica Westwood Yellow will produce masses of ground cover in a sunny spot. Calluna Wickwar Flame turns red in winter and you could try similar varieties of heather.
3. Bergenia has those large leathery leaves often called elephant ears and they turn rust red and show up frost on the edges to great effect. They also combine with pink heather but I find they need to be kept under control.
4. The heart shaped leaves of Epimedium x perralchicum turn bronze red in winter but my favourite is probably Euonymus fortunei Emerald ‘n Gold which turns an old gold colour with red blotches and edges.
5. The colder the winter the more colour change you can see with Chamaecyparis pisifera. ‘Boulevard’ which has grey-blue summer foliage that turns deep turquoise with pink undertones in winter. In harsh conditions the colour deepens to purple-red.

Sources
Which Gardening
Royal Horticultural Society RHS ‘Gardening for All’
National Council for Conservation of Plants and Gardens ‘Conservation through Cultivation.’
Garden Organic National Charity for Organic Gardening.
BBC Gardening