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're not flowering - they prefer rainwater to tap water. Give them a regular boost with ericaceous plant food.Some azaleas are deciduous and lose their leaves in autumn, so make sure you choose an evergreen variety for year-round interest.More acid-loving plant

A birch tree makes an ideal focal point and can be grown in a large container. Its silver-white bark and delicate foliage combine with the handsome, soft shield fern and evergreen heuchera leaves for a wonderful woodland combination

be sheltering slugs and snailsAround the gardenCollect seed from allium and sow straight awayPlant evergreen shrubs and conifer hedgesCarefully dig up gladioli corms FlowersKeep harvesting root veg such as beetroot and carrotsOrder fruit trees and bushes

stride and fill my lungs with fresh air.One of the great things about visiting arboreta is seeing plants that would never fit into an average domestic garden. Winkworth has a magnificent collection of more than 1,000 mature trees and shrubs, including

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

of gutters, windows, and so on, it's a valuable evergreen plant. Research now shows that in addition to its aesthetic and wildlife value, ivy and plants trained against buildings help screen and insulate them from the cooling effect of cold wind.Shrubs

fragrance must be essential to the survival of these plants, attracting pollinating insects, for instance.One of most fragrant garden plants is the evergreen shrub, choisya, the Mexican orange blossom. Choisya 'Aztec Pearl' is one of my favourites, with a

Reliable, trouble-free plants are what we're all after, and Clematis 'Arabella' certainly fits the bill. I planted mine at the base of another really reliable plant, the evergreen Teucrium fruticans, placing it on the shaded north side so its roots

are 'creative, colourful and convenient'. In other words, they'd like us all to buy and plant more of these valuable evergreen shrubs.I find it surprising that while most of us love seasonal colour in our gardens, and invest a great deal of time and money in pot