
Every month this year I’ll be chatting about my garden and what we are up to here in Normandy. Gardeners love to share, and I’m no exception. I’m hoping that you’ll jump into the comments, and let us know what is going on in your garden, in your corner of the world. Here today is a round up of my January garden.
January, oh boy! January here in Normandy is a grey affair. Heavy frosts and muddy ground. It is the moment in the year that is made for dreaming and planning about the shape of the garden during the months ahead.

My daffodils are showing the tips of their leaves as they pierce the lawn. The hellebore are all in bud, with one or two first timid flowers opening. The ivy growing up our walls is still heavy with big black berries, and there are dried annabelle hydrangea heads, that won’t be cut back until March or April. I also have some purple kale in the potager that we forgot to pull up, and plenty of helichrysum, rosemary and sage.
These cold January garden days are the moment to order seeds, and to read favorite gardening books. To pore over gardening magazines, looking for new plant combinations and for sketching planting plans.

It is also the time to move dormant plants that could be better located, and of course there is still time to plant trees and bushes.
Funnily enough, this is actually a great time to visit gardens that are open to the public. My mum used to live near Sissinghurst in England, which stays open all year round. One of our great shared pleasures whenever I went up to the UK to visit her, was to jump into the car and visit a garden or two. Seeing wonderful properties like Sissinghurst, Great Dixter or Pashley Manor at this time of year was an absolute lesson in garden structure. No foliage or billowing stems to blur the view, the almost bare ground revealed the exact planting patterns, and the distances between plants.
Pickings in the January garden are scarce but not impossible. Bouquets at this time of year will be more about layers of greens and greys than any kind of floral colour.
Here are some of the plants that I could pick from in January, and a small arrangement that I made for my kitchen.

Lastly, on Instagram, I find garden inspiration on many accounts. At the moment I’m watching Niff Barnes whose amazing rose pruning and training is quite breathtaking. Take a look here.

Please let me know what is happening in your garden in January, whether you are in the Southern Hemisphere and enjoying a late summer, or still shivering in the cold, I’d love to know.

27 comments
Here in Ireland snowdrops are popping up everywhere and snowdrop mania is in full swing with Snowdrop Galas and many gardens open to the public for the month of February. Hellebores early daffodils, some yellow crocus and iris are adding to the colour in the garden. The witch hazels and daphnes have been flowering for the last few weeks and will be joined soon by other spring flowering shrubs which all seem to have delicious scents. Late winter/early spring is a beautiful season in the garden if only the weather would oblige.
HI Mary, I love snowdrops!! Mine are growing fast, but none in flower yet, we usually have to wait until February 🙂
Here in southeastern Vermont, USA the garden is still sleeping under a few inches of snow. I started my new garden 3 years ago, so it’s still very much in the works, but the transformation in my front yard has been wonderful…except when those pesky deer decide to have a nibble! The temps have been cold with lows below zero to highs of mid 30 degrees….brrr! Thankfully, not much wind chill. I can see the deer tracks going through my yard as they travel through the night. This past Autumn I planted a lot of Tulips, Allium, Scilla siberica and daffodils with Dahlias arriving in warmer weather to welcome Spring when it arrives!
Hi Roxane, sounds like you have been busy planting!! I’m lucky to have a garden where the deer can’t get in, I know they can be very destructive and greedy! We get very little snow here, but we always fear a late frost in April.
Thank you for reading me for so many years, your name is so familiar to me 🙂
x
I love your winter bouquet! The colors play so well off each other and are winter dreamy! The same goes for your frost bitten garden…winter dreamy!
Thank you Linda! I love the frosty garden too 🙂
Here in N Florida we had freezing temps for about 6 hours night before last. I have azaleas and camellias that are in bloom. I brought in some of the camellia flowers to enjoy.
Wow, you already have camelias in flower! We won’t see those for a couple of months yet 🙂
Here in the state of Washington, USA… Our weather has been the best across the country… The best here in the Northwest also. Cold but otherwise GREAT.
Our NZ garden is in full summer bloom & production. Currently lots of tomatoes, salad veg, sweet corn, plums & still strawberries etc, plus my flower garden is full of limelight hydrangea, dahlias, lisianthus etc for indoor vases.
Hello Sharon, I loved your arrangement, it is inspiring. Here in the Adelaide Hills, in South Australia we are enduring our hot summer. So in my garden the green and grey structured hedges, lavenders, herbs, bay topiary and grey and green trees tend to rule. The spring and early summer opulence having receded to be replaced by calming, cool foliage and leaf. I must admit to being inspired by garden’s I saw in monasteries and convents through out my travels in Mediterranean countries. I have pots of late flowering white petunias and cosmos to punctuate spaces and add a little embellishment. I have just placed an order for spring bulbs and have finally tracked down some seeds for lime flowering tobacco plant which I love to use in bouquets. The photograph of the frost in your garden is beautiful. Thank you for your gardening passion.
Here in the sunny southern Arizona USA Sonoran desert we are in a drought that has even the cactus drooping . Frosts many mornings mean no tender plants outside in pots yet.
Here in Tasmania my vegetable garden is almost at peak production, although I am still waiting for the tomatoes to ripen. My husband is in the home strait with building a 2 metre high brick wall that will provide protection for our garden on 3 sides; almost a hortus conclusus. We get savage frosts in winter, so this will give me some frost-free zones and extend my growing season. We are also incorporating a green house in the build, so I should be enjoying RIPE tomatoes this time next year! All the best, Kathy
On the few dry days we’ve had here in Nottinghamshire UK I’ve managed to edge my lawns and tidied up three of my borders. Very therapeutic for January.
I’m in Washington State and January has been cold and sunny. I have loads of primroses in bloom and lots of dark pink buds hanging on the pieris japonicas and beautiful glossy Camelia leaves. Our huge old cottoneaster has hundreds of bright orange berry clusters which are currently the hot ticket for several varieties of small birds, many of which provide lovely melodies in the morning. We have fluffy brown bunnies that make tiny tracks through the morning frost. There’s still much to enjoy and do!
Living in Adelaide, South Australia where this year summer rain has been very scarce, my garden is struggling and water bill is high. We luckily have a very old golden elm tree that gives lots of shade which protects my hydrangeas and pear trees that protect my hedges but my Japanese maple has really struggled even though covered daily by an umbrella .My pots of petunias have come to the end as have my tomatoes. When the tomatoes started to change colour they were eaten by the birds quicker than I could pick them. In the end birds won!!
The quince trees are covered with nets and have a good crop this year.
After re-reading this email I’ve come to the conclusion that the garden on the whole has survived the summer so far.
Problem is I don’t really like the heat and long for the Autumn. Then I will probably complain about the leaves!!!!
PS. Your garden is stunning Sharon. What a joy .
Agree Here in Adelaide very hot, struggling to keep water up to Roses, vincas , petunias, but how blessed are we to have gardens we can nurture and love.
Here in southern Canada, we still have snow on the ground and temperatures below 0C so not much happening in the garden. One of the plans for this year is a new and slightly larger shed for the back. Maybe a flag stone walkway. A girl can only dream.
Hi from Fairhope, Al. USA We usually have beautiful camellias, gardenias & magnolias blooming this time of year. But this year we had a historical snow storm with 8 inches of snow! Not good for my Sago palms! We normally get snow every ten years or so. Looking forward to Spring!
Here in Cue, outback Western Australia the summer temperatures in the high 40’s (Celcius) and only down to 30 at night so keeping water up to the plants just to keep them alive is a challenge and expensive. My last water bill was over $4500 but I had guests in my BnB who were using the hose as therapy when they had a couple of cold beers after work! I have had to roll my tubbed pomegranates under cover and if it wasn’t for a couple of huge gum trees, a lone fiddlewood tree – which gets confused and flowers 2 -3 times a year, my tough vincas, frangipani and creepers, I would have a yellowed, crispy desert! What is it about us gardeners? We just don’t give up, do we?
Two years ago a local nursery delivered and spread organic mulch in all my flower beds. I believe the mulch may have been contaminated as all my roses became infected and died of unstoppable black spot. My poor peonies, hardy old things as they once were, did not do well this last season but seemed to survive just not as happy as they were seasons past. Time for a condo living and leave the garden upkeep to the staff.
Hello! It’s been cold here in East Texas but finally warming up. My camellia bush is loaded with buds that should be blooming soon. Mid February the daffodils will start their spring show (check out Mrs. Lee’s Garden for an amazing daffodil garden, acres of them!) and I have a few crocus that come up. My aunt graciously gave me a gift certificate for my birthday for a local garden center-Blue Moon Gardens. I can’t wait to pick out some new plants for our garden. We now have a buck and four doe that have decided to greet us each morning, which is great except for their love of our pear and apple trees! Any suggestions on how to enjoy the deer without losing everything? The raccoons are fat and sassy from our fruit, also. I am so ready for spring!
P.S. thank you for reminding me of something normal and happy in this stressful, chaotic time in our country. Your home and gardens are so beautiful!
We have about 5″ of snow. We moved from Pennsylvania to north of Baltimore, Maryland a little over a year ago to our property (1 1/2 acres) that backs up to state-protected land. There is plenty of deer, raccoons, snakes, etc to deal with. Instead of my suburban garden full of hydrangeas and other “deer loving” plants I will be planting “deer resistant” plants along with herbs (rue, sage, oregano – highly scented herbs) throughout the flower beds. I learned some years ago that deer don’t like smelly plants so I intend to take advantage of that and also lots of hellebores that they tend to not like. The lay of the land is lovely – I have a formal garden area near the back door with a massive 60+ year old beech tree and crepe myrtles and then down the knoll is an open area where I plan to have a small veggie garden as veggies are probably going to be more expensive this coming year. I want to be less reliant on buying my food in grocery stores. I’m hoping my veggies will be fresher and better quality although I have never had a veggie garden before so I’m hopeful and getting good advice. Sharon – I so enjoy the pictures of your garden on your blog and magazine, they’re inspiring!
Je vis en Drôme provençale,dans le sud de la France . Mon jardin tient une grande place dans ma vie. Malheureusement il a été laissé a l’abandon durant cinq ans .Alors je replante ,des dizaines de rosiers ,en particulier ceux de David Austin ,des vivaces innombrables .Tout dort encore sous le paillis que j’ai répandu en début d’automne .Nous avons eu quelques jours de gelees importantes et quelques arbustes ont bien souffert,en particulier les plumbagos du Cap et le bougainvillier.
Mon problème est un terrain argileux par endroits,très caillouteux à d’autres !!Très pauvre et sec partout ! J’apporte beaucoup d’humus et je paille pour que le sol ne se dessèche pas complètement,
Merci de nous parler de votre jardin normand qui m’inspire toujours.
Hello from Nevada where the ground is frozen solid!! I’m satisfying my garden lust with potted freesias and large happy daisy hand cut bouquets from the grocery store!! Although it’s hard to go thru winter without my gorgeous garden, it’s important for the garden to rest, as well as the gardener!! Thank you for the beautiful pictures of your French garden!!
Longtime lurker here, couldn’t resist the garden chat! We’re still frozen in Chicago-land, although there’s an oddly early warmup happening this week – the cardinals are already staking out their territory, so it may be a rather early spring. There are lots of seedheads & leftover minicrabapples to attract birds, but the very-destructive bunnies are firmly excluded by a six foot fence, My house is stuffed with potted garden refugees to keep some green around while we wait, and the citrus are blooming!
Hello Sharon, Your garden picture is exquisite and the winter floral pictures. I love to enhance the winter season by paying attention to its own unique beauty. I was wondering if we could post a picture of our gardens too. I have one this year with a very light snow covering that is so pretty.