The Frosted Border (gouache style)

Teasel, ornamental grasses and sedum are three of the plants most often left uncut for winter. Wild teasel is a native biennial: a rosette of leaves in its first year, then tall, prickly stems topped with egg-shaped heads in the second. Border sedums, now classed by botanists as Hylotelephium, have flat flower heads that dry to a deep brown. Grasses such as miscanthus hold their plumes for months, and all three keep their shape well into the new year.

Leaving seed heads standing through autumn gives finches food, while hollow stems and the dense base of grasses shelter overwintering insects such as ladybirds. Wait until late winter, around February or March, before cutting back, and do it before fresh shoots appear. Deciduous grasses can then be cut close to the ground; evergreen ones only need dead leaves combing out. Sedum stems snap off easily at the base once new growth shows. Teasels self-seed freely, so pull out unwanted seedlings in spring.

In this picture the whole border is silvered with frost. Teasels, grasses and sedum stand stiff and pale, and long blue shadows stretch across the lawn, the mark of a low winter sun on a clear, cold day. It's a moment that doesn't last, gone as soon as the frost melts, and it shows exactly why the border was left standing.