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, with regular deadheading, keep going until the autumn. Propagation is also quite simple: take cuttings from the non-flowering shoots in the summer.I haven't even started on alpine and annual varieties but must mention D. carthusianorum - a really good perennial

At this time of year hedgerows bristle with elderflowers. Elder (Sambucus nigra) is a native tree with white flowers in midsummer and bunches of small black berries in autumn. It is a bit of a weed but, like many weeds, it has both a purpose

I'm sitting on a train as I write this, something I do more frequently than I used to, in an effort to cut back on the number of miles I drive each year. One of the best things about taking the train is being able to gaze, semi-comatose, through

in the way of a lot of large people wearing clumpy boots. The same has happened to an entire bed that should look like this but instead looks like this.This weekend I shall cut everything down and consign it to the compost heap. So what to do? Depressingly

and kept below their normal height. They're not much good if you're looking for flowers, but for sheer well-cut elegance you can't really go wrong. You know the sort of thing: yew hedges with razor edges, parasols of pleached lime and frost-dusted box

and they're looking a bit scraggy round the edges. Usually I have no objections to a bit of scrag, but if they are cut back, the geraniums will put on some lush new growth and the salvias will flower again later in the summer. The allium seed heads look

next door to a wood. At this time of year, my younger son and I venture forth with loppers and bow saw to coppice some hazel. Coppicing is an ancient form of woodland management where cutting particular trees down leads to regrowth from the stump. Where

sheltered area, then there are a couple of exotic trees that are truly spectacular. The silk tree (Albizia julibrissin f. rosea) has large pinnate leaves and flowers like pink starbursts.Also, Weinmannia trichosperma, which is a Chilean evergreen with fern

is so extremely laid back and relaxed.In this garden there isn't much really urgent work that needs to be done. Many plants have done their bit and are just hanging around waiting for the winter; those that are still flowering do so with an admirable air