To banish the grey, plant Winter sun

IT can be hard to keep your spirits up in the bleak depths of winter, but ensuring the garden shines with cheering yellows will certainly help. Luminous under a grey sky, the sunny flowers of winter-blooming plants such as mahonia cannot fail to raise a smile.

Yellow draws the eye and dominates all other colours, so it can be tricky to make it work in a summer border. But in winter, it comes into its own. In the midst of a barren garden, pools of blazing yellow aconites seem like a miracle and the canary leaves of ‘Emerald ’n’ Gold’ brighten the