CELEBRATE
EASY WINTER STYLE
Patio project
Create a beautiful contrast in containers by pairing a variegated skimmia such as ‘Magic Marlot’ with plain, dark green-leaved ‘Rubella’. These winter and spring interest shrubs, along with dependable variegated ivy, can be relied upon to keep the patio stylish through winter. Group your containers together and infill any gaps with pops of colour from bedding cyclamen, and ornamental cabbages. Empty clay pots topped with decorative mulch help make a fulsome scene.
30-minute makes
This simple rose hip wreath makes an elegant decoration for hanging on doors or as a table centrepiece. If you’ve got just one old rambling rose in your garden you should have enough hips in one year to make a wreath like this. Leave this year’s new growth unpruned to ensure you get flowers and more hips next year.
1 Bend willow or hazel stems and tie together to make a circular frame.
2 Snip off old flowered shoots from rambling roses, leaving at least 10cm of stem intact.
3 Secure the cut stems to the frame using jute string.
4 Space the stems along the wreath so there are no gaps but an even covering of hips all the way around.
5 Loop a ribbon around the top of the wreath then tie it to the place you want to hang it from.
