It’s the perfect weekend for some romantic snowdrop spotting: the countryside is carpeted in small, elegant, Giselle white snowdrops which are the first signs the season is turning and spring will come. Whether you seek the expansive and breathtaking or the rare and ravishing, now is the moment to hunt down snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) in the wild or the glorious gardens of galanthophiles to enjoy their sheer beauty and fragility.

Adding paint colour in your garden can smarten and brighten your space, create unity, add atmosphere and inject playfulness. Now's the time to colour scheme and get your paintbrush out when spring arrives.

As 25 December looms, here are some Christmas present ideas for garden lovers and would be garden lovers. All ideas tested, spotted or touched by me. None have been “gifted”, so you can be 100% sure these are heart-warming recommendations you can trust, one friend to another.

So often we concentrate on flowers to light up our gardens with colour, forgetting a display of mellow fruitfulness prolongs a garden’s interest and provides the bonus of essential food for birds and wildlife.