Amateur Gardening – 10 July 2019

10 AMATEUR GARDENING 6 JULY 2019

Shrubs for easy gardening

A

FEW shrubs that form the

background plantings around

the perimeters of my modest-

sized suburban garden

become star performers in their

seasons. Just now, it’s Hypericum

x hidcoteense ‘Hidcote’, a

semi-globe of rich yellow,

set off by a background of

bold, light-green foliage

on a seedling tree peony

and dark-red Japanese

maple leaves.

Beyond this line-up is a

taller lilac, Syringa vulgaris

‘Charles Joly’, with bold

flower heads filling the air with

fragrance. Branches of opening

flowers were cut last month and taken

to elderly residents in a local care home,

and they loved them. If you have a

few extra cut flowers from the garden,

please do consider making a visit to a

local residential home, as a bunch of

flowers can make someone’s day.

Peter Seabrook champions some stand-out performers

“These shrubs

strut their stuff

for many years”

Cutting lilac for open flowers also

does a good pruning job and saves

doing it in the accepted way when

the blooms fade. The new growth this

promotes will yield bold flower heads

next summer, and holds the shrub

down to a reasonable size.

The fragrance of the

shrubs provides a fourth

dimension. Mock orange

(Philadelphus ‘Virginal’)

follows the lilac and then

buddleja, the butterfly

bush, scents the air.

While traditional buddlejas

get quite large, a number

of recently introduced hybrids,

including the Buzz Series, are

more compact and suit smaller plots.

Blueberries should be included in any

year-round shrubby ornamentation, with

pretty flowers in spring, followed by

delicious purple fruits and colourful

foliage in autumn. Evergreen aucuba, in

variegated forms, provides a splash of

year-round yellow. Chinese sweet box

(Sarcococca orientalis) is better than box

(Buxus sempervirens), with evergreen

leaves forming a natural globe in pots and

producing fragrant flowers in late winter.

Once planted and established, these

shrubs strut their stuff for many years

with little attention, and they deserve

greater recognition.

Peter’s top tips

All photography Peter Seabrook / TI Media, unless otherwise credited

with Peter Seabrook, AG’s classic gardening expert

Listen to

Peter’s free

podcast every

Thursday. Search for

‘This Week In The

Garden with Peter

Seabrook’ on

iTunes

1

Control weeds by planting shrubs

through a weed-suppressing sheet,

spread over some well-cultivated soil.

Coarse bark holds this sheet in place

and gives a decorative finish.

Shrubs for easy gardening

The contrasting foliage provides an extra

attraction and the hypericum foreground

will soon be a globe of yellow

Wikicommons

Mock orange fi lls the air with

perfume on warm summer days

Hypericum

Syringa vulgaris

flower heads filling the air with

fragrance. Branches of opening

next summer, and holds the shrub

down to a reasonable size.

The fragrance of the

shrubs provides a fourth

dimension. Mock orange

(Philadelphus

follows the lilac and then

buddleja, the butterfly

bush, scents the air.

While traditional buddlejas

get quite large, a number

of recently introduced hybrids,

including the Buzz Series, are

Evergreen spotted

laurel provides

year-round colour

4

When planting container-grown

shrubs in summer, fill holes with

water several times to get plenty of

moisture deep down, then water

them in to encourage good root

establishment.

2

Do not forget to feed woody

plants – some rose fertiliser

each spring and after pruning is

a good investment.

3

Plant holly and ivy to attract

pretty holly blue butterflies.