Amateur Gardening – 20 July 2019

26 AMATEUR GARDENING 20 JULY 2019

Do your shrubs strut their stuff between late spring and early autumn? If they don’t,

Martyn Cox has some ideas for summer-flowering shrubs to suit small gardens

W

HEN I moved into my

current house, I inherited

a small garden full

of mature summer-

flowering shrubs. Rubbing shoulders in

the borders that ran down each side of

my rectangular space were ceanothus,

philadelphus, several bush roses and a

cotoneaster that had been strapped to

a wall to prevent it toppling over.

Overshadowing them all was a

Buddleja davidii ‘Black Knight’. Planted

close to my kitchen door, it had clearly

not seen a pair of secateurs for some

time. The vast butterfly bush was 10ft

(4½m) wide and at least 8ft (2½m) tall,

with its purple blooms carried at the very

ends, making them hard to appreciate.

All these shrubs, including the

gargantuan buddleja, would have been

fine in a bigger garden, where they could

be allowed to flourish without restricting

the available space. However, at just

35x20ft (10x6m), my new garden felt

cramped and, without intention, it

looked even smaller. There was work

to do in the house, so I lived with the

garden for a while, before giving it a

complete overhaul. All the sizeable

shrubs were sent packing to the garden-

waste skip at the local dump and were

replaced by specimens that were more

suited to the scale of my plot.

Hard pruning

A host of my favourites were ruled out

on the grounds that they billow out too

much or would grow so tall they would

cast unwanted shade. Instead, I tried to

find those that formed a tight silhouette,

and had a mature height of 6ft (1.8m) or

under. I would only waiver from this rule

if they could tolerate hard pruning.

Equally important was the fact that

the majority of any flowering shrubs strut

their stuff between late spring and early

autumn. My garden is used a lot over

summer, making it sensible to choose

plants that are at their best at this time,

rather than taking up valuable space with

those that flower in early spring or winter.

Among those that passed muster

were Weigela middendorffiana ‘Mango’,

Nandina domestica ‘Fire Power’ and

Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla ‘Eva’,

an ornamental elder with dissected

black leaves. This cultivar has a habit of

getting a bit bulky, but is easy to keep

within bounds with judicious pruning.

There are plenty of other shrubs are

good for smaller gardens. Potentillas,

fuchsias and spiraeas are all good

choices, while there are many well-

behaved hebes, such as Garden

Beauty Blue (‘Cliv’) and ‘Nicola’s Blush’.

Lavenders provide excellent colour

and fragrance in a sunny spot.

As a rule, owners of small gardens

tend to avoid some shrubs as they

have a reputation for needing a lot of

room. Among these are hydrangeas,

philadelphus and lavateras. Don’t

overlook these groups completely,

though, as all have members that buck

the trend, growing to a fraction of the

height or width of their larger relatives.

Modern breeding has led to a glut of

compact buddlejas. Introduced as the

world’s first patio buddleja, ‘Blue Chip’

forms a 2ft (60cm) mound covered with

small, bluish-purple flowers, while the

The buddleja Buzz Series grow to

4ft (1.2m) tall and are available in

seven colours, including ‘Magenta’

All photography Alamy, unless otherwise credited

Summer-flowering

with Martyn Cox

shrubs