Search - Articles

Evergreen trees and shrubs are tricky. They are a very important part of our gardens at this time of year, but they need to be used with great care and a light touch.I'm thinking about this at the moment because I'm planting a new woodland for a

is so unexpected and so swift that you're only able to take six plants from your existing garden.So which six plants will you choose? Will you go for something big - a favourite cherry or a noble oak? Maybe an evergreen to liven up your winter? A rose

and perfect. The frost, however, tends to accentuate every line; the branches of trees and shrubs are sprinkled with shards of ice that glint like tiny blades; things you never noticed before suddenly stand out.Wandering through the garden as the sun rises

out there that punch way, way above their weight when it comes to fragrance.As an example Sarcococca hookeriana, a sparky little evergreen shrub with deep maroony leaf stems and tiny white flowers like the tassels on a stripper. Last year I had one

for the 75 different species of plant named after him, including an entire genus, the banksias. These are evergreen shrubs, found mostly in Australia, with wonderful conical flowerheads. Banks is also commemorated by Rosa banksiae  (named after his wife

to describe the effect. So box and yew are definitely off the menu as are laurels and pretty much every evergreen shrub apart from some conifers.Hmm, further thought is called for but, in the meantime, I don’t want to hear any of you complaining about snow

A few weeks ago I wrote about trees for small gardens. Among the comments (well, to be honest, 33% of the comments) was a request from Daphne for very, very small trees - "very small being up to three metres".Tricky. Three metres is barely a shrub