Heavenly bamboo is a well-behaved compact evergreen.

Then cut back your deciduous grasses and check out the new winter garden at Wakehurst

Plant this If you like the look of bamboo but don’t fancy it taking over your garden, try heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica), which isn’t a bamboo at all, but a well-behaved compact evergreen shrub for full sun. Its foliage emerges purple-red in spring, turns green in summer then reverts to red in autumn, and there are small white flowers and red berries to enjoy, too. Height and spread: 1m x 1m.

Cut this One of the most satisfying jobs this month is cutting back tall deciduous grasses such as alamagrostis and deschampsia. It’s important to do this before the plants start producing new growth, but don’t let the trimmings go to waste: chop them up and spread as a weed-suppressing mulch.

Visit this The new winter garden at Kew’s West Sussex outpost, Wakehurst, features 33,000 plants all woven together to provide colour, texture and scent on even the most miserable February day.