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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

flowering times:10 best varietiesIf planted in a sheltered, south-facing spot, 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' will be in flower by Christmas. While most daffodils in bloom at this time of year are usually small, this variety has large, windmill-style flowers

about it, as usual. This year osteospermums have been something I've found especially hard to resist - who wouldn't, with those large, silken petal daisy flowers? I saw a wonderful variety recently - it was a sort of terracotta colour with cream

In an idle moment this week (while sitting waiting for a temporary traffic light on the A5, if you really want to know) I found myself thinking about wheelbarrows: I own four: one that works, one with a puncture, one with a large hole in the bottom

Despite temperatures in my greenhouse dropping to zero at night but soaring by day, I've just got to get on with more seed sowing. Chillies and sweet peppers are top of my list. Last summer I had an outdoor electric socket installed for the garden

they love, so I spaced the plants more widely.Soon, the large bare areas between them started niggling me, and I planted a few compact courgettes in the spaces, along with some Tagetes 'Lemon Gem' to attract beneficial insects such as hoverflies. The adults

, usually with shoots emerging. Then there are delightful acidanthera, bright but short-lived tigridia, climbing glory lily (gloriosa), and weird arisaema. Good garden centres may stock popular bulb ranges, but for something more unusual you really do need

, scented, white-flowered daffs with dark red, jagged centres. I planted them in a large terracotta pot, next to a few pots of 'Minnow' - a dwarf, creamy-flowered variety with contrasting yellow centres.Both varieties are quite late flowering in April

was incredible, with 95 comments to date.But, as I tentatively start sowing seeds for my new garden, it strikes me that it would be nice to balance all that hatred with something that inspires us for the coming growing season. It's nearly Valentine's Day, after

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Europe’s smallest bird. I would have expected such an occasion to take place in a pine forest or a large rural garden, but this chance encounter occurred on a scrubby piece of park just behind the Hackney Road