IN winter many people allow their gardens to lie dormant.

They look out of their windows on to the lifeless, brown remains of vibrant summer borders, and wait until spring to revive it. To them, colour is associated with the months from April to August, for which they plan and plant.

But, with carefully selected planting and design, winter gardens can be equally interesting. Flowers, coloured leaves and stems, berries, scents and dramatic evergreen foliage can bring a garden alive on the coldest winter days.

Garden designer Helen Taylor brings life to gardens throughout the seasons.

Based in Burley-in-Wharfedale, she has seen an increase in the number of people looking for year-round interest in their outside spaces. “While they might not be outside in their garden as much in the winter, people still want an attractive view to enjoy from the house.”

Silvery foliage is particularly effective in winter, she says. “Silvery, variegated, light-coloured and red foliage adds a lift to the garden especially in contrast to darker evergreens.”

The mother-of-two, who combines her work with bringing up a young family, cites examples of silvery shrubs as pittosporum silver queen - a delicate shrub with light green leaves edged in white; variegated holly such as Ilex aquifolium argenta marginata, with glossy leaves edged in white; and garrya elliptica - the silk tassel bush – known for its pendulous silvery catkins.

Silvery perennials and grasses can make a dramatic impact, she adds. “Euphorbia silver swan has striking foliage which is sculptural in form, with whorls of leaves,” says Helen, “And the bright variegated evergreen grass carex oshimensis Everest is also effective.”

Last autumn Helen designed a new area for a client for winter interest and screening. In the extensive lawn she formed three separate linear island beds to form drifts of dogwood - using a block of bright red (cornus alba sibirica), dark purple (cornus alba kesselringii) and orange/yellow stems (cornus sanguine midwinter fire).

As an evergreen screen behind and to provide a backdrop to the dogwood, hollies were used and the red berried shrub cotoneaster cornubia. Silver birch was planted to contrast with the dark background.

For red leaves, Helen, who works mainly in the Ilkley, Harrogate and York areas, recommends leucothoe scarletta, with red evergreen leaves, and the glossy-leaved evergreen shrub photinia red robin.

“The mass planting of dogwood, especially where it catches the winter sun, can introduce a block of warm colour and can be very cheering. I recommend cornus midwinter fire, which has a branching form with the stems coloured yellow at the base, fiery orange and red towards the tip.”

Creating a winter garden offers challenges. “You need to be aware of the gaps where perennials have died down,” says Helen. “I try to plant prominent edges and path corners with an evergreen or semi-evergreen edging plant or define it with a small box hedge. Flowers will be more subtle at this time of year - the interest needs to come from the form, texture and colour of the plants.”

The yellow winter shrubs mahonia and Arnold’s promise add colour and scent. “Fragrance is very welcome at this time of year,” says Helen, “And don’t overlook winter jasmine, with its cheering yellow flowers.”

Helen specialises in private gardens of all sizes, from small front gardens to country estates. She recently completed a garden for a client who wanted a formal English garden.

It features a symmetrical parterre with low box hedges and lawn dissected by handmade brick paths. The garden includes rose beds edged in lavender, a large perennial border backed with yew hedging and a shady border punctuated by a grotto and pond where most of the plants for winter interest are planted.

A geography graduate, Helen was attracted to landscape architecture. “It seemed to combine all my interests and artistic leanings, with potential to work in the environment and with plants,” she says.

She enrolled on a two-year MA course in landscape architecture at Sheffield University where she met her husband Ian, also a landscape architect. After graduating she worked for ten years in Glasgow as a landscape architect in private practice, collaborating with architects and engineers on projects as diverse as motorways, public squares, housing regeneration and parks, and historic landscapes.

With a broad cross-section of work, Helen realised that she was more suited to smaller-scale projects. “I like the detail,” she says, “So I began taking on private garden commissions.”

Her reputation in this area was boosted after winning a competition through a national newspaper for a walled garden design at Formakin Estate near Glasgow. She later returned to Yorkshire to be closer to family and set up her own garden design practice.

She has received many accolades for her work. Her Garden of Creation at Burley-in-Wharfedale Methodist Church was selected for the Society of Garden Designers review of the year in 2010.

Helen retains her initial passion for the art, allowing her to draw on many interests. “I enjoy the creative side of the job but also the problem solving,” she says, “I like working closely with my clients and the collaborative process of developing the design. I still get a thrill seeing the plan come to life, “The planting side is a very welcome change from the desk work - I enjoy visiting nurseries, seeing the range of plants available to make final selections, the handling and planting side, and getting my hands dirty.”

Early worries that the career may not be sufficiently challenging or varied did not materialise.

“At any one time I have a number of jobs at different stages with some in the early design stages, to projects on-site to oversee and plant,” she said.

helentaylorgardendesign.co.uk; (01943) 862537.