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Shaping topiary is a fun and inexpensive way to create year-round interest in the garden. These plant sculptures contrast dramatically with flowers in summer, and bring structure, style and form to winter gardens.If you haven't tried topiary before

-trained plum. It forms quite a thicket, with stems growing 3-4m long by the end of summer, so it does need a bit of space. Tiny white flowers will form on the stems that developed into fat green pods. Picked small I throw the whole pod into stir fries, but when

was loading cans of paint and three new plants into my boot! Each plant had produced numerous short, branched stems topped by a characteristic cluster of violet/purple flowers. They've made their home in a large terracotta pot, planted simply as a group

vegetables also make good additions to the border - asparagus has gorgeous ferny foliage and artichoke flowers are bee magnets(Jerusalem artichokes are, however, excluded due to the possibility of indelicate post-prandial thunderings).Less obvious

. This is the second volume - I am hoping to get the first for Christmas (hint, hint). A series of essays on a whole raft of fascinating subjects ranging from worms and guano to the Chelsea Flower Show and garden machinery (via plant hunters in China and Sir Walter

I've just enjoyed a relaxing hour, cup of tea in one hand, binoculars in the other, gazing out of the window at my garden. Yes, some plants are showing signs of growth, there's still bloom on my winter-flowering viburnum, and the squirrels are still

if not ingenious and I've seen delphinium flowers supported by bedsprings and clematis growing through old window frames. I'm sure there are other examples out there.It is really, really important to get any necessary staking done early, before plants have grown

's a stroll above the Avenue Daumesnil. I say above, because the park is the Promenade Plantée, a disused railway viaduct converted to an elevated walkway awash with trees and bushes, and planters full of flowers.It's very busy with promenaders

completely different foodplants. Butterflies in the spring emergence lay their eggs on holly and their caterpillars feed on the developing buds. When these insects reach adulthood in late-summer they lay their eggs on ivy flower buds. At least

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