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For many years now I've enjoyed watching a Canary Island date palm grow and flourish in a garden by the traffic lights near the end of my road. Stopping at the red light, I've been able to watch this Mediterranean palm grow taller and bushier.As we

What's the difference between wildflowers and weeds? They're at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to acceptability in the garden, but are they really so different? A weed is a essentially just a plant growing in the wrong place. But what

the compost surface with small pebbles for a decorative finish.AdamDeadhead the pansies regularly to keep the flowers going through the winter.More winter colour inspirationAdding winter colour with dogwood, fern and skimmia.Creating a winter pot display

, and has cement instead of lime mortar. But growing out from a few cracks near the top run of the brickwork is a wonderful crop of maidenhair spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes), and hart's-tongue fern (Phyllitis scolopendrium).Hart's-tongue is fairly common

).All these aspects considered, if I was only allowed to grow one hosta then I would have to choose Hosta sieboldiana 'Elegans'. It has big glaucous blue leaves and a chandelier of white flowers, looks magnificent in a pot and wonderful in a damp corner amongst ferns

to be admired, and I'd grow it for its leaves alone. But at this time of year it adds a new dimension by producing erupting clouds of dainty forget-me-not blue flowers. Gorgeous! My brunnera grows alongside ferns and foxgloves, and my oriental hellebore

by the glasshouses at Edinburgh. I’m not much good at exotica so it was fabulous to be surrounded by lots of plants of which I’d never heard and which I’m unlikely to ever grow - unless I’m swept away by a desire to emigrate to the rainforest in my latter years. I

are never just out of reach. Be warned however, that tiny trees do not produce a lot of fruit. Rootstock M27 will support a tree that will grow no bigger than about ten feet. For more information try the Brogdale Horticultural Trust.If you're in a very

is the fiddlehead - these are the emerging fronds of ferns such as Osmunda regalis or Matteucia struthiopteris. Popular in America, slightly toxic if undercooked and, according to my wife (whose taste I trust absolutely), absolutely disgusting.The mange tout gets a

(Hydrocotyle ranunculoides) parrot's feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum), New Zealand pigmyweed or Australian swamp stonecrop (Crassula helmsii), water primrose (Ludwigia grandiflora) and water fern, (Azolla filiculoides). If left unchecked, these non