Your garden: Winter warmers

SUMMER might be lingering around longer but the British weather can still spring some unpleasant surprises, so make sure your plants are ready to cope with autumn winds and even early frosts.

Silver-leaved plants such as lavender that come from | drier Mediterranean climates will cope better with the driving rain and frosts of winter if you spread a layer of gravel around the crowns.

Woolly or hairy-leaved alpine plants may need the additional protection of a cloche or sheet of polycarbonate suspended above the plant with wire pegs.

Mulching with sharp grit is a good way of deterring slugs which continue to be active through the winter.

The tubers of agapanthus, dahlias and cannas should be dug up and stored in a frost-free area - but it's easy to overlook plants such as alstroemeria,osteospermums and penstemons, especially when they disappear underground after their leaves drop off.

And these plants don't always escape scot-free, especially if they're growing in heavy soil. So lift and bring them indoors or take a few cuttings as insurance.

Better still cosset their crowns with a covering of chipped bark or dry leaves, held in place with netting and pegs.

And always have a blanket of horticultural fleece to hand to put over beds when temperatures falls way below zero to keep plants snug.

Larger plants and shrubs such as pittospermum and fuchsias should be covered with dry straw or similar insulating material held in place by a wigwam of canes.

Wrap a couple of layers of horticultural fleece around the outside of the wigwam for extra protection in cold areas.

Cordylines, tree ferns and yuccas often die because their centres fill with water and become frozen.

You can give them some protection by loosely tying the leaves up together with soft string and wrapping the sheath of leaves with fleece or sacking.

It's essential to remove damp covering as soon as the danger of frost has passed, otherwise new shoots that emerge may start to rot.

Plants in pots can be moved to sheltered positions, but their roots are more likely to freeze than those growing in the ground.

To prevent it happening wrap pots with bubble wrap. It will also prevent terracotta pots from cracking in a frost.

Finally don't forget that the leaves of hedges, especially evergreens and conifers that have been recently planted, can brown if they are burnt by biting winds.

To protect them erect a windbreak on the windward side.

A netting screen can also be used to protect specimen plants in borders or to protect wall shrubs such as camellias.

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