By Debby Looney, gardening expert 

Is your garden looking a little woebegone at the moment? There is absolutely no reason for it! The best gardens, in my opinion, are those planted over a period of years.

A mistake which many of us make is buying and planting our entire garden in one weekend. It then happens that it looks fantastic for one month of the year, and if you want colour later you are stuck with bedding plants. Be patient, and plant with the seasons!

I would recommend conifers and heathers at this time of year. There are so many dwarf conifers available at the moment; Thuja Golden Tuffet and Juniperus Blue Star are two that immediately spring to mind. There are some lovely podocarpus varieties too, ‘box of chocolates' is a lovely auburn colour. If you interplant with colourful heathers, or evergreen grasses such as Festuca Glauca (blue) or Carex Red Rooster (red), you will have a beautiful display all year round.

Smaller gardens

There are also beautiful tall conifers available which are suitable for a relatively small garden as they remain narrow. For example, Juniperus scopulorum ‘Blue Arrow’ or Juniperus ‘Sky Rocket’ are both types of juniper which remain skinny, they are also a beautiful blue colour. Cupressus sempervirens - the Italian cypress, or Pencil cypress is also an excellent choice when space is an issue. These are also beautiful as structural plants, a cluster of three or five in a corner with rocks/groundcover/ferns underneath can look striking. Also they are useful in corners, or to draw the eye in a particular direction. Remember the neighbours when planting though as it's a tree which will grow tall!

Catkins cannot and should not be forgotten about at this time of year; the black stemmed willow, Salix nigricans, has silver catkins which shimmer in the sunshine, and Salix Mount Aso which has very large fluffy pink catkins. Hazels or Corylus have long yellow tassels which bring cheer even on the darkest day!