A successful landscape needs a garden style which appeals to you, and this is often linked to the house design. It can also be influenced by the kind of plants you like, or by your garden site and its climate.

Garden styles

There is a variety of garden styles, from formal to cottage garden, each with its own atmosphere and character. A predominantly natural or wild garden might look best in the country, or, alternatively, it could turn a town garden into a green oasis and bird sanctuary. A Mediterranean courtyard style would suit a small garden or echo Spanish-style architecture. You may like a formal garden for its symmetry, or an oriental garden for its serenity. Read the rest of this entry »

Raising your own plants is much cheaper than buying from a nursery or garden centre. Although a greenhouse is helpful if you want to raise tender plants, a cold frame also has plenty of possibilities for propagating plants.

Six propagating aids

Apart from a greenhouse and cold frame, there are various other tools and materials which you will find useful for the successful propagation of plants.

• Cutting compost Used for rooting cuttings. Made at home by mixing equal parts by bulk of moist sphagnum moss peat and coarse horticultural sand. Alternatively use equal parts peat or coco fibre and perlite. Read the rest of this entry »

Virtually all shrubs can be propagated in this way. The following respond particularly well.

• Azalea Peg down shoots into a peaty soil. Roots form slowly, taking about 12 months.
• Camellia Best rooted in peaty soil. Takes about 12 months.
• Lilac (Syringa) Roots in about 6 months in sandy soil.
• Magnolia Takes 12 months to root. Peg into peaty soil and keep moist.
• Rhododendron Best rooted in peaty soil. Roots form slowly, taking at least 12 months. Read the rest of this entry »

Two types of turf

When buying turf, always go to a specialist supplier:then you will have a choice of proper lawn grasses and the turf will be (or should be!) free from weeds and cut to a uniform depth.

Field-grown turf This is the most popular. Usually sold in 90cm/3ft by 30cm/1ft ft pieces, each rolled up for delivery. The pieces will be of uniform thickness.

Seedling turf This comes in large lightweight rolls and is well-rooted and of uniform thickness. It’s raised on special nurseries. You can order exactly the kind of grass you want for particular uses, soil conditions or aspects (eg for chalky soil, shady conditions, etc). Read the rest of this entry »

Birds usually create the biggest problem, but you should look out too for mites and weevils.

• Apple blossom weevil The small white grubs of this tiny brown beetle eat the central parts of apple flowers. Infested blossoms fail to open. Spray with permethrin as the buds are forming or fenitrothion as the buds burst open.
• Big bud mites Tiny mites that live in large numbers inside the buds of blackcurrants. Infected buds are swollen and round, and usually fail to come into growth. Pick off and burn; spray with benomyl fungicide in spring and early summer. Read the rest of this entry »

Yellows and creams

Yellow means warmth and sunshine, light and brightness. Golden yellow is not commonly used on large areas in interiors but toned down with white or cream the softer shades of sand and butter yellow are very popular. As in nature large patches of bright yellow need the contrast of plenty of green to cool them down. Imagine a bed ofdaffodils in strong sunlight then imagine the same flowers planted in grass. The first is overpowering, the second is calmer and much more pleasing. Yellow and green is one of the freshest combinations you can use. To make it sparkle even more add lots of white too. Creamy-yellow rooms need a highlight or two of brighter yellow and there are plenty of flowering houseplants which come in all shades of yellow from pale primrose to chrysanthemum gold to fill the bill. Read the rest of this entry »

It is fashionable to reel in horror at the thought of gnomes in the garden but it has to be said that children usually love them. They also fall for cement ducks and frogs, for plastic toadstools and windmills and wells, complete with bucket and chain. Disparity of size or materials doesn’t seem to bother children either, so a window sill garden of small shrubs and large gnomes or large shrubs and small gnomes would probably delight its young owner.

It goes without saying that only children who can be trusted to lean out of the window or who are carefully supervised should be allowed a gnome garden box. Your local garden centre will probably reveal a rich source of possible subjects. As with all collections, it is best to have a theme so if the first choice is a jolly gnome with a fishing rod you should give him something to fish in. An old china dish might do, or even a plastic fridge container, as long as the edges can be concealed with small stones or rocks. The bottom could be decorated with gravel, which will support a few marginal plantsfrom the water section in the garden centre or even from a local supplier of tropical fish. These can be rooted in the gravel and, barring accidents, should last a season before succumbing to frost, although some cold-water plants will survive. Read the rest of this entry »

Commonly cultivated for its huge, showy flower-heads and its usefulness in the shadier parts of gardens. Hydrangeas are deciduous in cold areas, evergreen in warmer parts of the

country.

Large shrub to 3 m high. Flowers blue, white or pink, in large inflorescence balls. Individual flowers in most cultivated hybrids are sterile, with the calyx large and colourful and the rest of the flower reduced to a minute ball in the centre.

Leaves and buds of Hydrangea are poisonous and humans and livestock have been poisoned, with symptoms of gastro-enteritis.

Hydrangea contains hydrangin, a cyanogenic glycoside.