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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

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

it with 10 parts water, to use as a fertiliser.AdamAdd fruit and vegetable peelings, cooked veg (except potatoes), shredded paper, cardboard and newspaper, crushed egg shells, tea leaves and coffee, but avoid meat and dairy products, lawn clippings, citrus

, letting plants use up moisture until the compost has dried up and they die down. Then I leave the dormant tubers in their dry compost over winter, which I hope insulates them from cold.Memo to myself: Remember to start the gloriosa tubers into growth

.So, what's left? Thankfully, I was tempted to buy a couple of hardy evergreen ferns from Fernatix while at Gardeners' World Live a few years ago and now, planted in tall terracotta pots, they take pride of place on my patio during winter.Ferns have rotten

These cold, dark winter evenings are costing me a small fortune. Not in heating costs for my greenhouse, or for electricity to light up the front of the house with decorations bright enough to be seen from the International Space Station.No, it

at this time of year. Ever wondered why it appears so early and what it is for? If you have no wish to know, or are easily offended by descriptions of sexual congress between plants, then this would be a good point to stop reading and mosey off somewhere else

Last summer I discovered a twining, tender climber called Lophospermum, or lofos. I bought two varieties, 'Burgundy Falls' and 'Summer Cream' (both pictured left), as plug plants from a mail-order seed company. I grew my lofos under cover, in 7.5-10

. capillipes and A. grosseri.Cornus florida: a dogwood, but a long way from the red- and green-stemmed varieties we plant for a splash of winter colour. This one is a stunning plant that has green flowers surrounded by white bracts. These look like petals

last week). It is a good moment to look back on the triumphs and disasters in our gardens and to make notes, so that we do not make the same mistakes again.Allow me to share a few of my best mess-ups of 2010.My first is a mistake I did make last year