Wishing for A Winter Wonderland?

Our Tadley Garden Centre has all you need to make your wish a reality.

Gardening oracle Alan Titchmarsh wrote an article for the Express newspaper a while ago about turning your garden in to a winter wonderland. He noted that,

“Medieval gardens featured a range of arbours, banqueting houses, mounts and rustic tunnels for out-of-season gravitas.”

And, “In Elizabethan times knot gardens consisted of intricate patterns created from coloured sands and gravels with plant edgings…”

 

So, what happened in the centuries that followed?

The team at Rivar Sand and Gravel’s Tadley Garden Centre appreciates that humans took to their firesides and refused to accept that an exterior space was and is intended to be loved and used 365 days of the year. It’s time to stop perceiving the exterior as a summer space, for barbeques and dining in the albeit intermittent sunshine.

We should take our cue from history.

Think about winter wonderland transformations which are characterful, cheering, with warming features and yes, twinkling lights if you wish. Reconnect with your inner child. Creativity, whatever the budget and size of area from courtyard to urban garden to an expansive plot, is always far more enjoyable than forsaking the space for half the year. Add a little magic and you may even want to spend time outdoors.

 

Take advice from your local landscaping suppliers

We’re here to help you achieve your visions from mountains to tunnels, treehouses to winter lairs.

Consider your garden as an outdoor room and incorporate a covered patio or terrace, a garden house or have the conservatory styled to match the exterior; there are several landscaping materials available from our Tadley Garden Centre that aid continuity.

 

White is synonymous with winter so use it liberally! From paving to gravel, our landscaping materials will serve the winter garden as much as the colour packed summer garden.

Use the Elizabethan idea of various coloured gravels and you can create an image, pattern or landing strip for Santa.

Red berries, robin redbreast, good old Santa’s suit. Red represents heat on the colour wheel and it’s perfect for inviting guests and family in to the space. Reddish paving, Indian sandstone for example, gravels like Cheshire Pink or FSC landscaping bark with its red brown to rich brown tones will reward you aesthetically and functionally.

Landscaping bark is ideal for a trail which children can follow, make a fairy-tale weaving path, add tunnels, mounds, treasure hunt clues and a reward and your children might give you a moment’s rest this season!

For real, rather than suggested warmth, it doesn’t take long to install a fire pit, and this helps with day to day usage and winter entertaining. A fire pit is much more welcoming than a row of patio heaters. Ask us about safe solutions for children oriented gardens.

Please contact us, your local landscaping supplier, and we’ll help you with landscaping materials and advice that allow you to enjoy winter charm, elegance and playfulness.

Unless you prefer to feel mildly depressed every time you look outside? We thought not!