Garrya elliptica is without doubt the most maligned shrub in my garden. With serene good nature it presents a well-clothed aspect of grey- green to hide the nakedness of a very exposed west wall. In February come the silver catkins 5 in. long to delight everyone who sees it, except me. Despite every effort on my part the garrya and I have not yet reached a rapprochement. Cuttings taken of young wood in July-August root readily. One I took 16 years ago is now 8 ft. high by about 6 ft. across.

There is an old elm nearby clothed in ivy which confirms my regard for this climber. It makes a perfect sanctuary for nesting birds in summer, a column of polished green to lighten the dark days of winter. Some older buildings would be stark ruins without a softening mantle of ivy. No matter that the soil is dry to the point of aridity, or dark with the shade of forest trees, the ivy grows to mask the nakedness of inhospitable earth with quiet efficiency.

I just let the alpina and montana hybrids grow where space permits, then cut them back to within two or three buds of the old wood in early March. Where space is limited I train them out to make a framework of branches to fill the available wall space.

First Barbara Jackman (Patens) which I grow on a north-west wall, the petunia-pink flowers are better in partial shade. Comtesse de Bouchaud (Jackmanii) is profligate with her pink flowers from July to October. Ernest Markham (Viticella) is rather spoilt for me as I first saw the dark red velvety flowers against new brick; the gardener was at fault not the clematis. In vigour and length of flowering season, July to October, it cannot be faulted.

As I stand each spring under a 30-ft. high hawthorn through which has intertwined a Clematis montana Elizabeth I would be the last to disagree. The white of the hawthorn and pink of the clematis intermingle to make the complete floral curtain. Tradition has it that clematis produce their best efforts when the roots are shaded but the flowers are allowed to reach up into the sun. However, I believe a well-drained soil to be more important, otherwise losses in winter are liable to be heavy. A mulch of peat mixed with a handful of bone- meal is all the feed necessary.

Orchids are shade-loving plants, and while they are growing they need the equivalent of the dappled sunlight they would receive growing in the tree canopy of their natural home. Too much light during the summer will harm the plants by turning the foliage a light green-yellow.

In more severe cases, direct sun will burn the leaves, causing black areas where the sun’s rays have destroyed the leaf cells.

Insufficient light, on the other hand, will create dark green leaves that can become over-extended and limp. The aim should be to give your orchids just enough light to produce a good mid-green, healthy foliage and pseudo bulbs that will develop flower spikes at the right time.

After flowering and before the new growth starts, Calanthe pseudobulbs can be taken out of their pot and left to dry until the new growth is seen.

Thunias are among the very few orchids that produce an autumn display when their leaves change colour before being shed. The leafless canes remain dormant for the winter.

Ceratostigma willmottianum takes the very sensible precaution of becoming herbaceous in severe winters. The first time this happened I assumed the worst, and was just about to plant a very expensive replacement in the same position when I noticed bright scarlet buds poking through the soil, which on investigation proved to be the timorous ceratostigma.

The blue flowers with a warmth which reminds me of Gentiana verna, open in July, while the foliage turns a good deep red in autumn. My bushes are never much more than 3 ft. in height making just the right companion for the glaucous-leaved rue.

Cercis siliquastrum always looks in need of a thorough spring clean to me. Even when the branches are clothed during June in lilac-purple flowers I still take a somewhat jaundiced view of a tree most gardeners revere. The best specimens I have ever seen grew on a lime soil over gravel and were especially attractive, so the proud.

Halimiocistus ingwersenii, a bi-generic hybrid discovered by an observant gardener in Portugal, is a shrub which is deserving of wider acclaim. Planted in a rather arid soil in full sun it will continue flowering for three or four months during the summer. The oldest plant in this garden has made a neat grey-foliaged mound 18 in. high by 24 in. across after 10 years. First year cuttings can be relied on to make a creditable crop of pure white flowers. Cuttings of semi-ripe shoots taken in summer root easily enough.

The best known, because at one time it was widely planted to make thickets as shelter for pheasants, is G. shallon. The white flowers are inconspicuous, as are the black fruits, but the green undertone they can provide beneath deciduous trees is effective in winter. Propagation is purely a matter of removing the self-layering branches as required.

Callicarpa giraldiana is enjoyinga sudden burst of respect now that it has been discovered by the flower arrangers. I have grown it for 14 years in a secluded corner where it has made a modest bush 3 ft. high. In the summer it goes unnoticed but as the leaveiturn soft rose pink and the bright lilac, seemingly artificial berries appear, the charm becomes more assertive. Good drainage and an extra ration of potash as well as the fish fertiliser all my shrubs expect each year, are small frecompense for the rather unusual contribution this shrub makes to the panoply of autumn.

Buddleia alternifolia from China makes a tall shrub with long arching branches, covered in July with lilac-purple, delicately fragrant flowers. A little judicious thinning of the branches improves the shape of the bush enormously. Cuttings taken in July or August root readily in a sandy compost.

Dress the soil liberally with peat or well-rotted organic matter, then plant deeply, to the extent of leaving only the tips of the shoots showing.

The ornamental vines have for a long time been favourites of mine. Their leaves turn the most thought-provoking colours in the autumn from rose to deep wine purple. All leaves have a characteristic fragrance; those of the vine are positively alcoholic.

All need deep fertile soil to develop the largest possible leaves. The tendril climbing species are suitable for retaining walls, pergolas or terraces whereas the self-clinging species will cover a sun- warmed wall very quickly. I keep the roots fenced in, for a vine runs riot unless restricted. Vitis coignetiae is the one I know better than any other having grown it for twenty odd years. The leaves are large, 10 in. across in some I measured, and they turn to orange and dull crimson in late September.

That beautiful plant V. inconstans must now because of a botanical whim be Parthenocissus tricuspidata veitchii. Vitis pulchra colours a warm red with the onset of winter and it is not unlike V. coignetiae.

Etude is one of the most satisfactory climbers to come into my garden in recent years. It is perpetually in bloom with flat-topped blossoms which are a beautiful silver pink and last well in winter when cut. Golden Showers on a pillar or rustic trellis makes a brilliant show over several weeks.

Cotoneaster microphyllus thymifolius is hard, ground hugging and rather like wire netting with leaves on. Planted in the rock garden it will follow and emphasise every rock and contour in a splendidly affectionate way.

One of the earliest to flower in April is C. x praecox, a lovely ghost of a plant when covered in pale cream flowers and excellent in association with the hybrid heaths. Cytisus purpureus atropurpureus is a fine prostrate dark purple broom for covering slopes in a rock garden. It is lovely on the sloping bank by a rock garden as is also the creamy-white C. x kewensis which flowers in May.

The Common or Scots Broom, C. scoparius, which makes a golden glory of the sheltered valleys in Teesdale has given rise to many hybrids. Cornish Cream grows up to 8 ft. tall with pale yellow flowers in July and together with Darley Dale in crimson and yellow, Firefly in crimson bronze, and Red Sentinel in deep red, it is worth a place in any garden. Cuttings of semi-ripened shoots taken in July – August, 3 to 4 in. long with a heel of old wood, root readily in sharp sand. Make certain the soft pith is not exposed or an imperfect callous forms.

I grow amelanchiers from seed because not even in a mist unit will they condescend to root from cuttings with any degree of certainty. Amelanchier canadensis, the Shad Bush, comes very high on my list of indispensable shrubs. Even in winter the graceful form of the plant is obvious.

Autumn, though in glorious beauty my favourite season, is but a fleeting moment in time, so I prefer in a limited space to grow A. palmatum atropurpureum, with finely divided, bronze-purple leaves which delight me from bud burst until leaf fall. The acme of maple perfection is, undoubtedly, the finely divided leaves of A. palmaturn disseetumatro purpureum which I grow surrounded by ferns and meconopsis. The setting sun will shine through the tree to turn the purple leaves to rich wine red.

Amelanchier x grandiflora is a hybrid with canadensis as one parent. I prefer the pink- flowered form listed by some nurseries as rubescens, by others as rosea. Pink candyfloss would be an exact description of this bush in full bloom, the autumn colour of the leaves being a rich deep red.

The Chilean Fire Bush, Embothrium coccineum, was a lunatic piece of extravagance which succeeded beyond my expectations. The first bush planted 17 years ago on what was then an exposed hillside is now a small tree 15 ft. high. The label reads Embothrium coccineum Norquinco Valley.

More Erica flower varieties includes E. cinerea, the Bell Heather, which likes its feet in cool moist soil and head in full sup. ,GoO’d varieties include C. D. Eason, deep pink; Darley Dale, red; and Eden Valley, soft lilac.