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-forgiving whiteness has gone and left behind it … well, a lot of soggy, mucky chaos. Hedges are staggering slightly after supporting all that weight and my flower borders look about as attractive as roadside ditches. I tend to leave my herbaceous plants standing

white and clean and beautiful and the garden has no visible imperfections. On the other hand it can be jolly inconvenient and I think I'm just a little bit bored of being snowed in: I wonder how long until we get cabin fever and start hallucinating

a very pretty white flower. However, all this is about to change as, my friend Cleve West will be forgoing his Christmas dinner, in order that his parsnips are flowering in time to be included in the Chelsea Flower Show garden he is designing

If only our gardens could really look like those at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Plunge pools and outdoor kitchen areas aside, I don't think I have a hope of achieving the 'Chelsea look'. My garden is far too scruffy, most of my plants have been

. The problem with bindweed is that it gets into flower borders, where its thick white roots mingle with those of perennials and shrubs, making it very, very hard to dig out. I've tried to remove bindweed, but even the tiniest piece of root left in the soil can

. I adore its natural-looking, delicate flowers. They appear to dance and flutter in the breeze like little white butterflies. The half-hardy perennials from the Fast Flowers collection, including nicotiana, clarkia and antirrhinum, all appreciate a

Chrysanthemum 'Bright Eyes', boasting golden discs with a black centre, perfect for cut flowers. I love cosmos, and Johnsons's new 'Peppermint Rock' produces white flowers with pink picotee edges on tall stems. Glorious.That beautiful striped squash in Dobies

strong, powerful, fragrance that fills the surrounding air. It's also nice having pure white flowers at this time of year to ring the changes from an abundance of yellow.Standing by my choisya and savouring its scent I'm struck by how much I'm enjoying it

available.2. Snowdrops: The first sign of life. Best not planted as bulbs, though. They should be planted in about March ‘in the green’. This means that they are dug up after flowering and planted then.3. Iris reticulata: really, really special. A gorgeous

: it is about 3m high and has gloriously scented tubular white flowers in Autumn, lush Autumn colour and bright red berries. Or Gentiana farreri, a trailing evergreen delight with flowers like sky blue fanfares? These are just two of the plants that Reginald