Posts by janet

Mid winter can bring icy cold or drab wet days so you will want something cheerful to look at. Last month I covered some evergreen planting ideas and here are some more for a space maybe 2m in length by 1m depth. Yellow and red are cheerful colours in an evergreen shrub. Yellow foliage and scented white flowers in spring can be provided by Choisya ternata Sundance. This is sometimes known as Mexican Orange Blossom. Grow in a sunny...

As Christmas approaches and the year draws to a close it is time to enjoy the evergreens in the garden. I always suggest that you concentrate a collection of plants with winter interest, either somewhere that you can see as you arrive at your home or in a view that you see on a daily basis from a window. I like plants that have good shape and colourful foliage. Chameacyparis pisifera Filifera Aurea is a golden foliage conifer with...

October is a month when the garden still sports some colour and foliage before the leaves fall in autumn. It is also the month when the harvest of fruit and summer vegetables comes to a close leaving just those robust vegetables for winter. Squashes and pumpkins come in a multitude of shapes and colours as can be seen from the photo below. They should be cut off the parent plant and left in the sun away from wet, to ripen. When you...

In early autumn the colours change from pastels to hot colours and if you plan your garden scheme you can have a concentrated area filled with autumn colour. Autumn flowering shrubs that are reliable and flowers for weeks are the varieties of Hibiscus syriacus. These shrubs will grow on most soil provided they retain moisture. They take a year or two to start to grow and also come into leaf later in spring than most shrubs. However,...

August is a month where perennials come to the fore with stunning colours and a plant for every type of soil. Daisy style flowers are always popular and one of the best for a sunny garden with soil that does not dry out are Heleniums. They grow to about 80cms tall and have yellow, orange or red flowers that last for a few weeks if you keep then dead headed. If you plant them in front of the potentially tall, light yellow daisy flowers...