Garden Answers

Garden Answers is a vibrant and inspiring gardening magazine filled with ingenious design ideas and exciting plant combinations guaranteed to make your garden beautiful.

Welcome

Celebrate FANTASTIC FOLIAGE • A mix of exotic, formal, evergreen and faded deciduous leaves can make your garden glamorous when frost bites

Be inspired by... • Plants, books, events & buys for the month ahead

12 ideas for A JOYFUL YULE • Pick and choose from these fun and inspiring ideas to give your 12 days of Christmas a real festive shine!

DRESS YOUR GARDEN IN WINTER style • A little discernment in plant choices will see your outside decked out in fabulous fashion

FESTIVE GIFT GUIDE • Gorgeous gifts, stylish tools and fun accessories for every gardener’s Christmas list

Shiny NEW KIT

Stocking FILLERS

Decorations for CHRISTMAS

Curl up with a GOOD BOOK

Wildlife FRIENDLY

For houseplant LOVERS

In defence of Ivy • Overlooked, ignored, consciously shunned… ivy has a bad rap. Unfairly so, says Sue Fisher – and here’s why

December • This month, it’s time to protect existing plants from frost and damp as well as plant new ones. There’s also seasonal maintenance work to do – and don’t forget the wildlife!

PLANT SHRUBS FOR WINTER FRAGRANCE • Choose shapely shrubs with fragrant blooms for the best winter flower power!

It’s time to start WINTER SOWING • Sow winter salad crops and broad beans in batches under cover to keep the harvests coming

CREATE A WINTER WONDERLAND • Say goodbye to barren borders – the coldest months can still be packed with fabulous interest and gorgeous colours

THE MAKING OF A GARDEN • Since 2015, Adrian Thomas has been turning an acre of abandoned suburban garden into a wildlife-rich paradise. Every year, we check in on progress – so, how has it gone in 2023?

JOBS THIS MONTH

“A real journey of discovery” • A slow-burning love has transformed this beautiful garden into a wonderful oasis founded on years of development

“Gardens can be delightful twelve months of the year” • This haven in Essex is full of examples of how a garden has so much to offer through the winter and for owner Fiona Edmond, it’s her favourite time of year to be in the garden

SO LUSH & LOVELY • On a chilly December day, what could be more inviting than to be enveloped in the warmth and greenery of Sefton Park’s eight-sided Palm House? It’s a magical, living world of botanical history

Garden TOUR

Life on the VEG PATCH

Make tasty ROSEMARY SALT • A simple jar of herb flavoured salt makes a great festive gift, fresh from the garden or windowbox!

Your questions answered

Design Solutions • Use winter-flowering plants, colourful stems and textural bark to bring colour and interest to your garden late in the year, says Sara Edwards

Notebook

Over to you! • WRITE TO US AT Garden Answers, Bauer Media, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA EMAIL gardenanswers@bauermedia.co.uk TEL 01733 395076 WEBSITE gardenanswersmagazine.co.uk

Garden answers

Late-summer favourites • Here’s this month’s round-up of your top garden performers... thanks for sharing! 

BEST EVER HYBRID TEA COLLECTION

Add a little CHRISTMAS ROMANCE • These living decorations for festive displays make lovely gifts too!

Win these gardening goodies • Enter this month’s crossword and you could win one of six pairs of EVA Cloggies worth £9.99 each! Entry form is overleaf

“Who has time for patience?” • Dan Masoliver explains why he finds December such an uplifting time to be a gardener