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At this time of year the garden can seem a damp and dreary place. Why not create a winter corner where you can enjoy a coffee in the sun.

Surround y0urself with some of the lovely plants that are at their best at this time of year. There are so many plants that will flower in the winter and many are fragrant. Grouping them together means that you can enjoy them more.

Find a Warm Corner
Identify a corner in your garden, sheltered from the prevailing wind, that catches the sun at some time of the day. Move a bench (or it's a great excuse to acquire a new one) there, and site it for the sun and the best outlook. Check the view - if it is the back of the neighbour's woodshed, then see if you can angle the seat and the view, or consider planting a small tree or climber to screen the ugly shed!

For dry feet you need paving, bricks or gravel directly in front of the seat. Small bulbs and creeping plants that demand sharp drainage can be planted in gravel within the gravel and soften the edges.

Choosing the Plants
Then the plants. Chose plants for fragrance and colour. One or two large plants will give structure and scale. Shrubs, border plants and tiny treasures come next.

You can plant a hedge to back your corner- the reliable old hedger Viburnum tinus 'Eve Price' will provide lovely pink-blushed white blooms throughout the winter. A native pittosporum with pretty foliage is another, bird friendly option. Trim them into a formal or informal hedge as you will.

Fragrance First
The scent of the wintersweet, Chimonathus praecox, is wonderful and will waft on the air for quite a distance, C. praecox 'Luteus' has a darker, prettier flower. As the winter sweet is remarkably ordinary when in leaf, place it at the back of the grouping.

The witch hazels (Hamamelis)are graceful small trees. Their golden, yellow or red tassel-like flowers carry a pungent, spicy scent. A few sprigs of witch hazel or wintersweet will scent a room. The witch hazel has the bonus of lovely foliage as a summer background for your other plantings and brilliant autumn colour.

The winter flowering cherry Prunus subhirtalla autumnalis 'Rosea' will carry delicate palest pink blooms whenever there is a warmish day. Not spectacular, it is an unexpected delight in winter.

Angular and tall Viburnum farreri (syn. V. fragrans) and V. bodantense 'Dawn' carry pretty pink and fragrant blooms on bare branches. V. burkwoodii 'Somerset' is an evergreen (or partially evergreen if you live in a truly cold climate) viburnum that will start to carry flowers in late winter.

The wonderful winter-flowering clematis C. cirrhosa 'Freckles' or 'Wisley Cream' can scramble through these shrubs, your hedge, a trellis or even an obelisk in your view. The variegated ivy, Hedera 'Goldheart' will also brighten a wall or fence. Although less vigorous than many ivies, planting in a pot can reduce more rampant tendencies.

At Your Feet
The winter aconite, Eranthis hyemalis will create pools of bright yellow if you enjoy the sharp, cold winter they demand. Soon the snowdrops (Galanthus) will appear, pushing their grey-green leaves and white bells through the soil.

The lovely iris, Iris danfordiae, I. reticulata and I. histrioides will contrast with the snowdrops (if your climate is warm plant them in a pot and then remove them to a more suitable position for the rest of the year).

At your feet you must include some of the hellebores. These are superb under deciduous trees and shrubs. Choose from the bright white Helleborus niger hybrids or the many lovely rosy through to deepest purple-black forms of H. x hybridus (H. orientalis hybrids). The green hellebores H. foetidus and H. argutifolius are also lovely when you can inspect their hanging bells close up.

Plants for the North
In the north, where these bulbs may not thrive in the more humid and warmer climate, you can plant the early narcissi to create equally lovely colour in your winter corner. N. 'Soleil d'Or' ( brilliant yellow) and N. 'Erlicheer' (thick cream) are both wonderfully fragrant. Plant some of the deeply scented hyacinths to emerge in late winter and bring more colour and fragrance to you corner.

Or you can go for a tropical look, introducing a bed of bright bromeliads backed by vireya rhododendrons. Try the cardinal purple of Tibouchina. There is a winter planting for every region.

Quick Fixes For Instant Effect
Polyanthus will bloom throughout the winter and a massing of one colour is often more telling than mixing colours. A pool of deepest blue, deep maroon-reds, or lovely creams and you begin to realise how pretty you can make your corner.

Using potted bulbs, mid-sized shrubs from your local plant nursery and a grouping of hellebores, polyanthus and, in the north, bromeliads. It's not too late to create that corner now.