It's time to put down those left-over mince pies, don your walking boots and take a bracing walk through a winter garden bursting with vibrant stem colour, interesting barks, blossoming bulbs and wafts of winter scent.

Some walks should provide plenty of inspiration to gardeners. RHS curators Colin Crosbie, from RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey, and Paul Cook, from RHS Garden Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire, offer their own favourite winter gardens to explore...

Paul Cook recommends:

:: RHS Garden Harlow Carr, North Yorkshire (www.rhs.org.uk)

"This year at Harlow Carr we've extended our existing winter walk, which runs east to west to catch the best of the morning and late afternoon sun which lights up the fiery stems and outlines the sculptural shapes of the bare trees. Clipped yew and a backbone of conifers and berrying shrubs lend a formal tone to the vibrant cornus and salix stems, Iris reticulata and daphnes under-planted with heathers. The walk becomes less formal as it leads into the beautiful mature woodlands, where giant trees are outlined against the wintry sky and snowdrops, winter aconite cluster below and around boulders cloaked in moss and lichens."

:: Dunham Massey, Cheshire (www.nationaltrust.org.uk)

"It would be hard to come up with a list of great winter gardens without mentioning Dunham Massey which has Britain's largest at seven acres. It provides a much-needed burst of scent and colour to walkers and garden lovers alike in the coldest months. Glowing-stemmed silver birches, acers and dogwoods are set off by shrubs and evergreens and, after Christmas, a mass of snowdrops, iris and cyclamen carpet the ground. Ornamental Japanese trees mingle with witch hazels and scents waft about the garden."

:: Cambo Gardens, Scotland (www.camboestate.com)

"Plenty of winter gardens are known for their snowdrops, but at Cambo in Scotland, they do things a little differently. A beautiful walled garden where the herbaceous plantings and grasses are left standing, delicate seedheads and stems outlined in frost, is a great start. It's the 70 acres of beautiful deciduous woodland full of snowdrops that is the real star attraction though. Meandering through them in late winter and early spring along the woodland stream is a pleasure not to be missed. Cambo even holds a snowdrop festival and a series of illuminated walks that light up the woodlands after dark."

Colin Crosbie recommends:

RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey (www.rhs.org.uk)

"Our new winter walk runs through the most accessible part of Wisley, providing 10 points of interest for visitors to amble along and discover. The path winds around the lake, which is very still and reflects the trees and colourful stems. On clear days, the blaze of flame coloured cornus, salix and white-stemmed brambles are mirrored back in the water - doubling the effect. Winter is a real spectacle of glowing berries and flowers, with beautiful sweet scents, glossy peeling barks, sculptural trees and bulb circles."

Bodnant Garden, North Wales (www.nationaltrust.org.uk)

"Bodnant is another new winter garden and is well worth a visit. Its setting looking over the River Conwy and towards the Snowdonia range is hard to top and provides a glorious backdrop to the botanical collection. The new winter garden is set in a slight hollow so that it keeps the fragrant scents of daphnes and lonicera cupped within it and the low winter sunlight catches the vibrant stems of cornus and rubus. It also has a huge collection of snowdrops with more than 20,000 bulbs. "

Colesbourne Park, Gloucestershire (opens January 31) (www.colesbournegardens.co.uk):

"The snowdrop collection at Colesbourne Park is probably the finest in England. But this garden has more than just snowdrops. Its well laid-out beds are also full of primulas, hellebores, cyclamen, crocus, snowflakes and aconites to add winter interest. It is ringed with woodland full of beech, Norway spruce, sycamores and maples - thinned out to make walking pleasant and a small - and famously blue - lake makes for pretty viewing. Don't miss the magnificent drift of Galanthus 'S. Arnott' that makes Colesbourne famous."

BEST OF THE BUNCH - Dogwood

The bright stems of the dogwood, or cornus, light up the winter garden with shades of yellow, orange and red, providing a flaming bonfire of winter colour. Some are particularly vibrant, including C. sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire', whose bare stems are bright yellow at the base and red at the tip. In summer, the foliage is green and the plant bears fragrant white flowers followed by blue-black berries, and the leaves change to yellow and orange in autumn. Dogwoods grow well in open situations in many conditions and will flourish in damp soil, where other shrubs might fail. Shrubby cornus grown for their winter stems should be cut back hard every one to three years in February or March.

GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT - Protecting herbs

Waterlogging actually kills more herbs over the winter than cold, so if you have pots of container grown herbs including oregano, thyme, sage and rosemary, move them to a sheltered position against a wall or the side of the house or garage, which will reduce the amount of rainfall hitting the pot by around 25 per cent.

There are some herbs you just can't grow outdoors in winter, such as basil, but the perennials will be fine although they may not put on sufficient growth for you to use during the cooler months. If you want new growth to keep coming on hardy herbs, keep pots in a cold frame so that they put on at least some new growth during the winter months. Trim evergreen herbs back into the shape of a dome, to protect them from windrock and stop branches breaking under the weight of snow, but don't cut them back too far or deep cuts may not heal. Cover container-grown olives and bay trees with horticultural fleece or bubble wrap to protect them from hard frost.

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK

:: Recycle your Christmas tree by shredding it for mulch.

:: Inspect stored tubers of dahlia, begonia and canna for rots or drying out. Remove any diseased or dried-out bulbs.

:: Plan vegetable crop rotations for the following season.

:: Cut off old leaves of hellebores that produce flowers from ground level to expose the flowers.

:: Collect leaves that have blown over alpine beds as these plants are easily smothered. Bare patches can be covered with gritty compost.

:: Watch out for downy mildew and black spot on winter pansies. Remove any infected leaves and destroy badly affected plants.

:: If there is snow in your area, then you may need to brush it off the branches of conifers, climbers and light-limbed shrubs and trees. Heavy snowfall can splay branches, break limbs and spoil the shape of the tree.

:: Ornamental vines, ivy, Virginia creeper and Boston ivy can be cut back now - it's a good idea to keep them away from windows, doors, gutters and roof tiles.

:: Put rabbit guards around newly planted trees and shrubs to protect the bark from rabbit damage.

:: Mole activity will increase in January and February due to mating and nest (fortress) building. Remove the largest hills and re-firm before overseeding in spring.