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at RHS Garden Rosemoor, growing on the edge of a pond. It is well worth a trip to these lovely gardens in Devon to see it (and at this time of year there is the bonus of watching the apple harvest there.)I first saw Gunnera manicata when I was a small boy

February is a blessedly short month. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you this, but 28 days of cold wet yukkiness is hardly conducive to horticultural excitement. However, we have to get through it in order to edge our way closer to spring, so

to Podocarpus macrophyllus (or Japanese Yew).Acer palmatum 'Atropurpureum' is a maple with dark red, lacy-edged leaves. It will stay within the height limit, although it is susceptible to middle aged spread and will cover a largish area. It can also be grown

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

of damage and a decent helping of pain. However, a bramble scrambling through hedgerows or the edges of woodland, where it's doing no harm is loved by everybody. The bramble is extraordinarily vigorous. It uses its thorns as grappling hooks to pull it across

an excellent hedge, a good screen and fine topiary. In this case it is on the edge of garden and countryside so I think it will do the trick nicely. All we have to do now is wait for it to get big enough.

been quite formal.I initially laid it out about ten years ago, based on a pattern I found in a picture of some pierced stonework in a palace in India. It formed a lattice of little paths around a central brick pond and fountain. But the timber edgings

socked hard round both ears with a large salami. A plant which sets my teeth on edge and sucks the joys of spring right out of my soul.I have confessed to this before and have tried to work on this character defect, but to no avail. I think that forsythia

a metal spring rake - except raking dead thatch out of evergreen grasses, like Stipa gigantea.5. A Rice Sickle, which has a really vicious cutting edge that's ideal for cutting back tall grasses. Mind your fingers.And the least useful?An ancient

vegetables and shrubs involve much less work than annual vegetables.The rough principle is this: imagine that you live in a clearing in a forest: on the edges of that forest there is enough light and sunshine to grow all sorts of edible plants. There should