Do Snowdrops look best close up or planted on mass?

Hard to say looking at the images but a good day out in February is to take a snow drop walk.

Close up Snow drops are delicate and beautifully marked.

On mass, the image shows a great combination of snowdrops on mass with the white barked Himalayan Birch which has very white stark bark which looks great with the Snowdrops; this image was taken at Dunham Massey in Cheshire

If you fancy a snowdrop walk the National trust web site has suggestions for  the best snow drop walks all over the country.

Helleborus look lovely in the snow and carry on flowering whatever the weather throws at them. Different varieties of Helleborus flower from December to March and once established they form clumps which self seed freely, but not so much as to be invasive. Helleborus are easy to grow flowering in many colours from pure white, cream, pinks, reds burgundy and even green. Helleborus mainly take care of themselves and are ideal in a shady spot: advice and tips on growing Helleborus.

Not much gardening to do at this time of year when the ground is frosty, hard and sometimes covered in snow. Inexplicably, snow always seems to transform the landscape and it looks beautiful. Heavy snow can damage a garden;  it is easy to be fooled given how attractive snow looks the damages to shrubs and bushes can be surprising even to the extent of snapping branches on some types of shrubs;  click here for tips to prevent winter damage.

In the winter when plants are frosted their leaves take on another perspective and look fantastic edged in frost.  I love to go out with the camera to photograph the winter garden.

These two images  show plant leaves frosted, revealing details in their leaves. Grasses are great winter plants and look fanstastic in the frost. For this reason I never cut grasses down until the Spring.

The garden looks lovely to us during these spells of frosty weather and snow, but for the birds it is a struggle to get enough to eat and drink. 

The garden is home for the birds and growing some shrubs with autumn and winter berries can make a big difference. Just a few berry shrubs will help the birds and increase the number and types of birds visiting the garden. The image below is all that is left of a branch of Cotoneaster horizontalis, a few weeks ago it was a mass of berries. Over the course of the last month or so the birds have gradually removed all the berries; a clear reminder that these shrubby plants with berries are so important to our native birds.

The more berries, the more birds.

Today in the garden at 14 degrees it was and felt unseasonably warm; where is winter? This is one of the longest Autumns throughout which it has remained mild during September, October and remarkably November. For the first time in a long time, because of the continuing warm temperatures, all the tomatoes ripened in the greenhous there was no need to cut back the vines and bring them indoors.

Plants are still blooming as in the image left, a nasturtium in flower on 22.11.2014 and up until mid November I was still picking sweet peas, which I simply have  never done before in any gardening season. 

The perennials are showing growth, as in the image and the weeds are equally vigorous. Cutting back the perennials and removing what's left of the herbaceous plants has highlighted the weeds, although I don't expect to weed in shirt sleeves at this time of year. The air and borders were full of flies, clouds of them swirling around as I disturbed the undergrowth, so unpleasant.

This long mild spell is about to come to an end as a frost is forecast for Sunday night. At last seasonal weather and a good frost should help to kill of bugs and flies. We definately need it.