How to choose and grow Pyracanthas Pyracanthas, also known as firethorns, are attractive shrubs with profuse sprays of small, white flowers, alive with bees in spring, and brilliant berries, good winter feed for birds.  Their dense, glossy leaves and thorny growth make a good nesting site. It’s also useful; as it’s so thorny, it’s a burglar and stock deterrent. It can be grown as a shrub, as hedging or trained against a wall. They can even be espaliered. Pyracanthas are adaptable plants. They tolerate exposure, and can be grown in any moderately fertile, well drained soil, tolerating dry ..read more

Late perennials and warm-season grasses will make a garden beautiful from July until the frosts, and sometimes afterwards, even into winter. Subshrubs like lavender and perovskia are also part of the late summer garden. Fashionable grasses have a long season of interest. What is so lovely about grasses is the way they move in the breeze, giving movement and a pleasant rustling sound to the garden. Some, like Miscanthus cultivars with their lovely arching habit and beautiful late-summer plumes that persist into winter, can be used structurally, placed evenly along a border. Miscanthus and othe ..read more

Some people feel that hydrangeas are rather old-fashioned, having encountered them in their grandparents’ gardens, but think again! Hydrangeas are wonderfully generous plants, leafing out early in the year and suppressing weeds with their handsome leaves; they flower for months, usually from midsummer, often changing colour as they age. The leaves of these deciduous shrubs often colour well in autumn. The climbing varieties are self-clinging, so there is no need for supports. Macrophylla hydrangeas tolerate coastal exposure, too. Hydrangea flowers are good for cutting, and also for drying for ..read more

Hardy geraniums, also known as cranesbills for their long beak-like seed-pods, are brilliant plants for the garden. They are different from, though distantly related to, pelargoniums, commonly, but wrongly, called geraniums – lovely plants, but tender, so are used for summer bedding, window boxes and pots. Hardy geraniums are very obliging plants, reliable and easy to grow. They are herbaceous perennials, dying back in winter but putting out fresh new growth quite early in spring. Their deeply cut leaves are very attractive, many colouring well in autumn, and some, like Geranium renardii, are ..read more

Primulas are a joy in the spring garden, and some will continue through the summer and into early autumn. They are herbaceous perennials, much more refined than the bedding polyanthuses, and when in the conditions they like will come back for many years. Native primulas are very easy-going, and lovely in wild gardens, woodlands and meadows. The Asiatic primulas are fussier, liking reliably damp, acid to neutral soil; they are good in bog gardens, or on stream or pond banks, and are brilliant for bringing rich colour to a shady area. There are other lovely primulas, too, good in borders, and a ..read more

Magnolias are beautiful, glamorous plants, with their tulip-shaped, goblet-shaped or strap-petalled flowers. They are also very ancient; one of the first flowering plants on earth, they pre-date bees and their open flowers are pollinated by beetles. Some are deciduous; these are mainly spring-flowering, usually on the shapely, open, bare branches, a glorious sight to behold in the spring garden. Evergreen magnolias usually flower in summer, including the beautiful, cream-flowered bull-bay, M. grandiflora, best trained on a warm wall. There are several myths about magnolias. One is that they g ..read more

 There are only three nuts we can grow in our climate – walnuts, sweet chestnuts and hazelnuts – and the last is the only one which can be grown in a less than large garden. Hazelnuts are very nutritious, containing good fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) folate, minerals, fibre and Vitamins B6 and E. Home-grown ones are really delicious, eaten fresh or toasted, for cooking and baking, or making a brilliant salad oil or your own Nutella. And they are very, very good for wildlife. Cultivars developed from our native hazel, Corylus avellana, have round nuts with short husks, and are ..read more

Site and aspect The ideal situation for raspberries is a sheltered, sunny site with fertile, humus-rich, free-draining soil, preferably slightly acid to neutral. They will tolerate partial shade, although the fruit won’t be as sweet.  What they won’t tolerate is poor drainage, heavy soils or thin chalky soils. Space the plants around 45-60cm (18in–2ft) apart if planting in rows. Rows should be at least 1.5m (5ft) apart. Once established, raspberries like to spread, so it’s a good idea to choose a site surrounded by grass, so you can mow off any unwanted suckers.  Soil pre ..read more

Hedges have been planted & tended for a long time in Ireland. It is likely that man was deliberately planting trees as long ago as the Bronze Age. The origins of the first 'plant nursery' are lost in the depths of time. Was it when a man, or woman, pulled up a little plant and moved it to where they wanted it ? or broke off a piece of willow and pushed it in the ground near their living quarters to make basket making easier ? Undoubtedly some of the earliest fences were made from willow and hazel rods stuck into the ground and woven and often the willow would have taken root. Later the nee ..read more

Gardens can look very bare in the winter months, but there are some wonderful winter-flowering plants, and hellebores are some of the best. They are very long-flowering, and look wonderful with snowdrops and evergreen ferns, which enjoy the same conditions, and it’s really worth setting aside a partially shaded corner for them, even in small gardens, to brighten this dismal time of year. If you have room for a winter-flowering deciduous shrub or small tree, many hellebores, ferns and some bulbs do really well planted underneath them. Plant hellebores within view of the house, go out to look at ..read more