Every garden should have a few shrubs for winter colour.

The following offer colour from flowers, foliage or bark. Try combining each of these features to create an attractive mixed group.

• Cornelian cherry (Corn us mas) Masses of small yellow flowers appear on the bare branches of this excellent shrub. 3-3.6m/10-12ft. Likes a good fertile soil and plenty of sun.

• Dogwood (Corpus alba `Sibirica’) Deciduous shrub producing thickets of brilliant red stems. Cut down almost to the ground each year in early spring. Likes a moist soil, and sun or partial shade. Height of annual stems about 1.8m/6ft. Read the rest of this entry »

Some types are so distinctive that they are best planted in isolation. When planting in a lawn, leave a 45cm/18in radius of bare soil around each one, as grass right up to the stems or trunks retards growth.

• Birch(Raula pendula `Youngii’) A weeping form, with a white trunk and a mushroom-shaped head of branches which eventually reach the ground. Deciduous 4.5-6m/15-20ft. Any ,. soil. Sun or partial shade. Read the rest of this entry »