Peter Dowdall: 'Gardens let us remember those gone before us'

As we get older, Christmas can become bittersweet for everyone but nature offers healing powers on all levels

Christmas is a special time everywhere and for everyone but I really do think that it is a most special time outdoors in the garden. There’s a stillness to the end of the year, many of the plants seemingly deep in their subterranean slumber.

These herbaceous specimens will emerge again in the spring to delight once more next summer and for now, the garden is kept “alive” with some winter-flowering beauties and of course, berried plants, showing off their seasonal garb, attracting birds and other wildlife, making the garden a true living, space.