The evergreen appeal of winter tree planting

In the stripped-back, leafless January landscape — the sort that might inspire a snow-flecked Ravilious wood engraving — things normally overlooked come into sharp focus. Nothing enhances a bare skyline more than trees, their branches silhouetted by the rising sun or showing black against a leaden sky; oaks with their improbably heavy limbs; the twiggy ash pocked with rooks’ nests and, in the growing dusk, the figures of blasted trunks bent under the weight of their ivy greatcoats.

Capability Brown knew a trick or two when it came to manipulating landscapes. He planted simple groups of trees to draw attention to a view. He also cut down woodland to create clearings and so transformed a rural muddle into pleasing artifice. This he did with such grace, thoughtfulness and foresight that the trees he planted more than 200 years ago still give great pleasure. As taste moved towards the Picturesque, with its preference for a wilder, more rugged Nature, Humphry Repton showed exactly how one could hide an eyesore behind a clump of trees or finesse a view merely by cutting off a wayward branch, often detailing his ideas in the Red Books he created to impress his clients.

Throughout, no tree produced a more graceful effect than the magnificent cedar of Lebanon, introduced in 1639 by Edward Pocock, chaplain to the Turkey Company at Aleppo in Syria. Walk through the landscaped grounds of many a country house today and there will be a venerable specimen, often placed so that its spreading evergreen branches are reflected in the water of a Brownian lake. Making the right choice about what to plant and where lies at the heart of good gardening, always with a mind to years and decades to come. How antithetical that idea is to this rapidly moving modern world, where split-second decisions can make or lose millions on the markets.

No decision matters more in a garden than where to plant a tree and winter is the season for mulling and pondering by a warm fire. Flushed with enthusiasm — and a new project — the temptation is to point a finger at the chosen spot for the new tree, to dig its hole, backfilling with soil, and then to stand back to admire the handiwork. Not so fast, however. First, you must ask yourself a number of questions: which way does the prevailing wind blow, is there a frost pocket, what is the soil type and who will take responsibility for watering this tree in future, ensuring that it does not dry out at any point over the next several years? Most importantly, have you allowed enough space for the tree to reach its full potential? Get any of these answers wrong and you will be spending a lot more time trying to fix the problem than the fireside planning would have taken.

This feature originally appeared in the January 21, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.