What does it mean to fertilise the soil? There is usually an implied understanding that chemical nutrients are to be added, in order to feed plants better. As a result, one ends up focusing on the nutrient needs of particular plants. An alternative approach is to consider soil as a living organism that has the ability, when well fed itself, to provide conditions of fertility. All plants can then thrive, as long as climate and pH are also correct. This approach benefits from knowledge of soil biology and the factors that can promote extra life in the soil. I suggest that soils with an abundance of fungi, bacteria, nematodes, worms, beetles and so forth have the ability to nourish plants with all they need, and to do so in a healthier way than when synthetic nutrients are supplied. In this article I offer a few thoughts on what makes soil fertile, in the biological sense, leading to healthier growth and less need for synthetic chemicals in the garden.

What is soil?

Instead of seeing soil as a ‘nutrient store’ or ‘bank balance’ of plant food, we might imagine it as a living organism which is respiring and full of life – the skin of our Earth. The next step is to consider how to enhance the lives of all those soil organisms that have the ability both to give a healthy structure to soil, and to make nutrients available to plant roots. Two simple ways of doing this are by keeping a mulch of organic matter on the surface, and by avoiding any unnecessary cultivation. Scientists such as Dr Elaine Ingham have revealed much about soils’ food chain, with invisible bacteria at the bottom and frogs, mice, birds and so on at the top (see below and also www.soilfoodweb.com). At the top of this chain is mankind, which has the ability to either destroy or encourage all the inhabitants underneath.

Maintaining soil health

A first step is to avoid regular use of synthetic chemicals that irritate or even destroy many soil inhabitants. And be extremely careful in their use – for instance, it’s better to use just two or three slug pellets under something like a piece of wood, then retrieve and bin the poisoned slugs. A second step is to avoid cultivating soil as far as possible. Thirdly, most positively, we can increase soil life by adding organic matter to the surface, keeping the most finely decomposed compost for plots where vegetables are grown. Adopting all three of these practices together is self-reinforcing. Not digging soil, for example, will lead to a more healthy soil population and more vibrant plants. Your plants then require less chemical assistance to keep disease at bay, especially when they are well adapted to your type of soil, location and climate.

Buying compost and manure

Home-made compost can be supplemented with bought-in compost or manure. Black and crumbly green waste compost and mushroom compost are often available at reasonable prices, say £20 a tonne, but are not rich in nutrients. Animal manure can often be had for the cost of delivery alone and contains a lot of goodness, but is often lumpy and harder to spread evenly. Horse manure is better for heavy soils and cow manure for lighter soils. Many gardens in the past grew fine plants in soil improved with horse manure.

The soil food chain

There’s an incredible dynamism and interlinkage to the working parts of our soil. Impairment of any one group of organisms has bad effects on the others. We need them all.

1. Bacteria are vital to the planet’s health.
   There may be half a million in a teaspoon of healthy soil, mostly helping to decompose organic matter. When bacteria die, the nutrients they recycle become available to plants.
2. Fungi, unlike bacteria, can travel by increasing in length, helping to aerate soil and move nutrients around. Plant roots use mycorrhizal fungi to fetch and unlock minerals, especially phosphorus.
3. Protozoa include amoebae, ciliates and flagellates, which work with and, mostly, live off bacteria. Protozoa may supply as much as three quarters of plants’ nitrogen requirements.
4. Nematodes, or roundworms, are prolific and mostly beneficial, consuming everything below them in the chain, and some above, such as slugs. Above all, nematodes help to mineralise nitrogen.
5. Arthropods include mites, spiders, beetles, springtails (‘soil fleas’) and millipedes, whose main role is to shred organic matter such as leaves, speeding their decomposition.
6. Earthworms make casts up to 50 per cent higher in organic matter than surrounding soil. Their digestive enzymes make nutrients more available to plants. They can open up compacted soils and increase soils’ water-holding capacity.
7. Gastropods are slugs and snails, who play a vital role despite occasionally devastating our plants. Most gastropods live below the surface and convert organic waste to a more decomposed form. Their excretions help bind soil particles together.

Further reading
Teaming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis, revised edition, Timber Press, 2010.

Here we’ve rounded up a selection of the best climbing plants, perfect for your garden. We’ve divided the list into climbers for walls, borders and vigorous examples.

Climbing plants, including favourites such as honeysuckle and jasmine, all share the successful strategy of relying on the support of other plants or objects to reach the sunlight. This obviates the need to invest much in producing supportive tissue, such as the wood in trees, and means climbing plants aren’t subject to the usual restraints on growth.

Here are the best climbing plants

How to choose a climbing plant

A climbing plant can be a wonderful addition to your garden planting, and there are plenty more out there to choose from than just the regular honeysuckle or clematis or passion flower. The way to choose your climbing plant depends a lot on the space you have and what you want your plant to be used for. Here are some tips on how to choose the best climbing plant:

• What do you want it to grow up? If you’re using your climbing plant as a screen, then you will want a vigorous climber that provides good, evergreen coverage, with hopefully flowering bonuses at some point too. If it’s something you’ll be looking out onto, make sure you pick a climber you love. They tend to dominate wherever they are.

• Do you have the right supports? A climber needs the right support, so make sure you invest in the correct plant support, or your wall, trellis or even tree is suitable for the particular climber.
• Do you have time to look after it? Lots of climbers are fussy and lots of climbers need work to prune it at the right point in the year. If you’re looking for something that you can chop once a year and then leave to do it’s own thing, consider a Clematis ‘francis rivis’ or Hedera algeriensis ‘Gloire de Marengo’.

Luxuriant growth brings its own problems – vigour must be matched carefully to the appropriate space, and abundance restrained where necessary. If you need some climbing supports, we have rounded up our favourites,  and don’t miss our guide to pruning climbing plants like wisteria.

The best climbing plants for your garden in 2023

Climbing plants with flowers

Rhodochiton atrosanguineus

This ‘purple bell flower’ produces beautiful flowers along the length of its twining stems, and looks effective growing along horizontal twigs or branches. This climbing plant can be sown late April, or August and overwintered frost free. 2.5m AGM. RHS H2.

Jasminum nudiflorum

© Jason Ingram

This jasmine can be persuaded to adopt the semblance of a climber by training and cutting back immediately after flowering. If allowed some freedom, this winter jasmine will flower abundantly in winter and early spring. AGM. RHS H5, USDA 6a-9b.

Ipomoea tricolor ‘Heavenly Blue’

A climbing plant that’s Perennial in a Mediterranean climate, it can achieve sufficient bulk here to make its presence felt from a late April sowing, without causing too much of a nuisance. Will flower until frost cuts it down. 3m. AGM. RHS H1c.

Ipomoea lobata

An intriguing member of the bindweed family, with flowers that are simultaneously an intense orange and yellow in the early bud stage, maturing to cream. Sow Spanish flag in late April and plant after all danger of frost. 3m.

Bomarea multiflora

Twining herbaceous climber, a relative of Alstroemeria, that arises from a tuber. The trailing lily may come through the winter protected by a thick mulch. Something this gorgeous deserves some effort. 6m. AGM. USDA 10a-11.

Lonicera x tellmanniana

A climbing honeysuckle lacking scent, but abundant, vivid-orange flowers offer excitement enough. Tolerates shade and may be pruned by removing flowered growth annually. 4.7m. AGM. RHS H5, USDA 7b-10b. Don’t miss our plant profile for more honeysuckle suggestions.

Solanum laxum ‘Album’

A twining climber with abundant clusters of flowers that look fragile and fresh right up to the first frosts. Trim lateral branches to around 15cm in winter. On the tender side, so site carefully. 6m. AGM.

Evergreen climbing plants

Pileostegia viburnoides

Self-clinging, evergreen climbing plant thats shade tolerant with frothy white flowers in late summer. This climbing hydrangea has a slow rate of growth, but this makes it less work to restrain once established. 6m. USDA 8a-10b.

Climbing plants for shade

Clematis ‘Frances Rivis’

A good early flowering clematis with nodding flowers of great charm in spring. Works well in partial, deciduous shade as part of a woodland scheme. Prune lightly after flowering, if at all. AGM. RHS H6, USDA 4b-9a.

Lapageria rosea

Achingly beautiful climber, but requires shade, shelter, good drainage (yet plentiful summer moisture), is slow to establish and an apparently ambrosial beacon for slugs. 7m. AGM. RHS H3, USDA 9b-11.

Parthenocissus henryana

Native to China, this Virginia climbing plant has tastefully variegated leaves that turn vibrant shades of red in the autumn. It self-clings and will tolerate the shade of a north-facing wall. 4.7m. AGM. RHS H5, USDA 6a-9b.

Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris

A climbing plant that’s deciduous, but in season it completely clothes its space with large, green leaves and white, lace-cap inflorescences. Another climbing hydrangea that will cover a shady wall fast. 12m. AGM. RHS H5, USDA 4a-7b.

Schizophragma integrifolium

• Buy now from Thompson & Morgan (£35.99)

Similar to Hydrangea anomala, although you will need more patience. This climbing hyrdrangea is distinguished  by the shape and size of the sterile florets that encircle the inflorescence. 6m. AGM. RHS H5, USDA 7a-10b.

Low maintenance climbing plants

Hedera algeriensis ‘Gloire de Marengo’

Good for lighting up dark walls without any fuss. A vigorous, self-clinging, adaptable variegated ivy climbing plant, with smart, glossy leaves tinged with white. AGM. RHS H5, USDA 7a-10b.

Ipomoea coccinea

Delicate in growth with striking scarlet flowers, this true annual is rarely seen and deserves to be grown more frequently. A climbing plant that’s straightforward from seed sown in late April and then planted out after all risk of frost is over. 6m.

Clematis ‘Prince Charles’

A prolific blue-flowered clematis, similar to Sissinghurst’s ‘Perle d’Azur’ but with slightly smaller flowers and improved resistance to powdery mildew. Cut back hard in spring and watch it go. 2.4m. AGM. RHS H6, USDA 4a-8b. Here’s our profile on clematis montana. 

Cobaea scandens

The most vigorous of all annual climbers, and perennial in a frost-free climate. In one year, from seed, the ‘cup and saucer vine’ can cover an astonishing area with bell-shaped flowers from late summer to first frosts. 1.8m. AGM. RHS H2, USDA 9a-10b.

Fragrant climbing plants

Trachelospermum jasminoides

The scent of ‘false jasmine’ is not that similar to true jasmine, but equally powerful. The star jasmine is quite hardy, although the similar Trachelospermum asiaticum is said to be hardier. A climbing plant that’s best on a sunny wall. 12m. AGM. RHS H4, USDA 8a-11.

Rosa ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk’

Vigorous rambling rose, with delicate flowers. Perfect for hoisting up a large tree. Will take time to establish itself, but once it does you will be rewarded with grace, scent and a profusion of flowers. 9m. AGM. RHS H6, USDA 4a-9b.

Fast growing climbing plants

Clematis ‘Alba Luxurians’

One of the most vigorous of the viticella cultivars. Cut back hard every spring, you’ll be amazed at the coverage you get over the course of one season. This climber flowers profusely July to September. 3.6m. USDA 3a-9b.

Read our expert guide to pruning clematis.

Rosa ‘Wedding Day’

The scrambling rose flowers have the agreeable quality of changing colour as they mature, from pale primrose to almost white. The different stages appear side by side in each many-headed inflorescence. 9m. USDA 7a-9b.

Clematis ‘Bill MacKenzie’

A tough, vigorous, climbing clematis, offering both striking flowers and seedheads over a long period. It’s tolerant of drought and extreme cold, but does best in full sun. 6m. AGM. RHS H6, USDA 5b-9b.

Lonicera periclymenum ‘Serotina’

Honeysuckle, with vivid colouring and a long flowering season. A vigorous and at times untidy grower; it can be kept within bounds by carefully removing flowered shoots in winter. 6m. AGM. RHS H5, USDA 5a-9b.

Rosa ‘Chevy Chase’

A climbing rose with a touch of opulence. The flowers are small double and crimson, with tightly clustered petals. Great in combination with the dark, glossy leaves of a mature holly, which makes a suitable host. 7m. USDA 5a-9b.

Rosa ‘The Garland’

Trained to cover an archway, this climbing rose has always been the most arresting sight in the garden where I’ve been working for the past four years. Now it’s happily rambling on to a neighbouring yew tree. 7m.

Wisteria floribunda ‘Alba’

Often grown in spur-pruned tiers on a wall, although if you allow it the freedom to romp into trees, this climbing plant will seek out the sunshine to flower well, and assume something of its natural character. 12m. USDA 5a-10b.

Vitis coignetiae

A vine in the more precise sense of the word: a close relative of the grape. This climber is grown for its large leaves, which turn spectacular colours in autumn. A wonderful way to enliven evergreen trees. 12m. AGM. RHS H5, USDA 5a-9b.

Clematis montana var. grandiflora

Well known for its extraordinary vigour, which makes it difficult to contain. This climbing plant’s stemmy growth can look rather untidy, especially in the winter. All will be forgiven when it flowers. 12m. AGM. RHS H4, USDA 6a-9b.

Climbing plants are a great addition to any garden as they not only provide aesthetic appeal but also offer practical benefits such as shade and privacy. With a wide range of varieties to choose from, gardeners have the opportunity to experiment with different climbers to suit their taste and requirements. Whether you have a small balcony or a large garden, there is a climbing plant that can transform your outdoor space. By selecting the right type of climbing plant and providing the right conditions for it to grow, you can create a beautiful and functional garden that is a joy to be in. So why not take the leap and add a climbing plant to your garden today!

If you’re in need of climbing supports for your climbing plants, we have rounded up the best climbing supports for 2023. Or here’s our piece on how to make your own plant supports. 

The National Collection of Clematis montana is held Val Le Neville-Parry at her garden By The Way in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and contains more than 200 plants in 50 named varieties and cultivars.

Some Clematis montana are rampant, reaching 8m or more, but clematis breeding has produced more compact varieties that are suitable for growing in smaller gardens, or even pots. For all types, flowering is longer than is often assumed, starting in early March and continuing into late June. All Clematis montana go on to produce fluffy seedheads in autumn and into winter.

Foliage is also a feature. “I love the leaves as much as the flowers,” says Val, who shares her recommendations here. Many are available commercially, although some can currently only be seen growing at By The Way.

You may also like

• The best climbing plants
• How to prune clematis and climbing plants
• Late-flowering clematis

How to grow Clematis montana

Medium and large Clematis montana 

The more vigorous types of Clematis montana can reach 8m or more, with some of the fully vigorous cultivars reaching 10-12m, depending on growing conditions. These are versatile plants with many uses in the garden.

In her garden, Val uses a Clematis montana var. grandiflora to transform a laurel hedge running down one side of the garden; its shining white blooms, which are among of the largest flowers in the group, sit like butterflies on the glossy leaves of the laurel. Both clematis and laurel are pruned together and thrive on it. The vigorous Clematis montana var. wilsonii can be used as ground cover where space permits. It forms an undulating carpet of foliage studded with scented creamy-white flowers in early summer.

Compact Clematis montana

Many varieties and cultivars of Clematis montana have been bred to have a more contained habit that is less rampant than the vigorous ones. These compact montanas grow to around 4-7m, depending on cultivar and growing conditions, and are a great choice to grow over arches and obelisks. They can be grown on the trunks of mature trees or up poles to add vertical interest to a bed or border.

Compact Clematis Montana will also grow successfully in large pots (at least 50 litres) with a loam-based growing medium with regular watering and feeding with a slow-release fertiliser. Regular watering and annual feeding with a slow-release fertiliser are both essential.

Compact clematis cultivars can be combined with later flowering Clematis viticella or encouraged to scramble up plant supports, obelisks or poles to add vertical interest to a border.

Pruning Clematis montana

Clematis montana is in Clematis Pruning Group 1. It does not need regular pruning, but if is getting too large or leggy, cut it back after flowering, in spring. Regular pruning will encourage strong growth and good flowering and will ensure that the flowers remain at eye level, with no bare, tangled stems at the base.

Read our expert guide to pruning clematis.

The best Clematis montana to grow

Medium to large Clematis montana

Clematis. montana var. grandiflora

The hardiest and most reliable, fully vigorous montana. Open, pure-white blooms with primrose stamens create a stunning display over cascading stems from late spring. AGM. Hardiness: RHS H5, USDA 4a-9b. Height: 8-12m.

Buy Clematis Montana Var. Grandiflora from Crocus

Buy Clematis Montana Var. Grandiflora from Primrose

Clematis Giant Star (=’Gistar’)

A large-flowered cultivar, introduced from New Zealand. Cup-shaped blooms with waved tepals of mid-pink, paler at the edges eventually open flat and upward facing. A medium-growing montana. Height: up to 10m.

Buy Clematis Giant Star from Norfolk Quality Plants

Buy Clematis Giant Star from the RHS

Clematis ‘Victoria Welcome’

An elegant, medium-growing, single montana selected by Val. Its delicate dark-green leaves are matched by starry white, green-eyed blooms, reflexed at the tepal edges. Not yet available commercially.

Clematis ‘Marilyn’

A seedling of C. ‘Prosperity’ named after a friend of Val’s. The mauve-pink blooms open as tiny, cream-eyed stars but mature to open, blooms with the longest, narrow tepals in the group. Medium. Height: up to 8m.

Clematis ‘Broughton Star’

Val is generally not as keen on the doubles, mainly because they prefer a richer soil, but she makes an exception for this medium-growing double. Fabulously floriferous, it has abundant dusky-pink, veined blooms that are displayed against dark, bronze-tinted foliage. Excellent  to grow through a shrub or a small tree. AGM. Hardiness: RHS H5, USDA 7a-9b. Height: up to 8m.

Buy Clematis Broughton Star from Crocus

Buy Clematis Broughton Star from Thompson & Morgan

Buy Clematis Broughton Star from Van Meuwen

Compact Clematis montana

Clematis montana ‘By the Way’

A selected seedling that has proved to be one of the best singles. Blooming from the base to the tip, the medium-growing cultivar has soft-pink, deliciously fragrant open blooms that develop into seedheads remaining attractive throughout autumn. Not available commercially.

Clematis ‘Marjorie’

Abundant, semi-double flowers with creamy-white outer tepals, becoming pink; the narrow inner tepals darker. At its best in fertile soil and full sun, the flowers open later than single montanas. Height: up to 6m.

Buy Clematis Marjorie from Crocus

Buy Clematis Marjorie from Thompson & Morgan

Clematis montana var. rubens ‘Veitch’

Small, open blooms of square formation with rounded tepals  of deep, mauve-pink with pale stamens. Best against a light background and seen at close quarters. Hardiness: USDA 7a-9b. Height: up to 4m.

Buy similar varieties, Clematis Montana Var. Rubens Odorata, Pink Perfection and Tetrarose from Crocus

Buy Clematis Montana Var. Rubens from Primrose

Clematis ‘Van Gogh’

Excellent cultivar that blooms early and continues for up to six weeks. Cherry-pink blooms, sometimes double at the end of the flowering period. Good choice for a large pot in a sheltered situation. Height: up to 4m.

Buy Clematis Van Gough from Gardening Express

Buy Clematis Van Gough from the RHS

Clematis ‘Primrose Star’

Attractive compact cultivar that grows to around 6m. From New Zealand with fully double pale, lemon-yellow flowers, pink at the edge of the tepals. It needs a sunny spot and fertile soil. Height: up to 3.5m.

Buy Clematis Primrose Star from Gardening Express

Buy Clematis Primrose Star from Primrose

Buy Clematis Primrose Star from the RHS

Clematis ‘Freda’

One of the best compact singles, which was discovered by Freda Deacon in her Suffolk garden and later introduced by nurseryman Jim Fisk. Probably a seedling from C. montana var. rubens ‘Pink Perfection’, it has open, lightly fragrant, mauve-pink blooms, which are darker at the edges and displayed against bronze-green leaves. AGM. Hardiness: RHS H6, USDA 3a-8b. Height: up to 4m.

Buy Clematis Freda from Crocus

Buy Clematis Freda from Gardening Express

Buy Clematis Freda from the RHS

Clematis ‘The Jewell’

A compact cultivar and Val’s all-time favourite. It produces posies of apple blossom-like blooms, darker on the outside of the tepals, from late spring through to autumn. It is named after David Jewell at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and has C. chrysocoma in its parentage. Height: up to 4m.

More information on hardiness ratings can be found here.

Crab apple trees have a lot to offer. The perfect trees for small gardens, crab apples are compact and inject colour and interest into the garden all year round. In spring, the trees produce clouds of blossom that can’t fail to lift the spirits, while the fruits and foliage provide rich autumnal colour.

Crab apple trees flower even when young, often blooming when two or three years old, so they’re a great choice if you want a tree that performs quickly. The blossom is also invaluable to pollinators. There are many cultivars that are suited to cooking – especially to make crab apple jelly – so in all, they are versatile little trees.

Jump to

• What is a crab apple?
• When to prune crab apple trees
• The best crab apple trees to buy for blossom, foliage and fruit
• Where to see crab apple trees

Here are the reasons to grow crab apple trees

Everything you need to know about crab apple tree

What is a crab apple?

Few of the crab apples we grow in gardens are descended from our native crab apple tree (Malus sylvestris); most are derived from one or more of the 40 other wild species that grow in the temperate regions of Europe, Asia and North America. They make large shrubs or small trees, flowering prolifically, colourfully and often fragrantly in white, pink or purple in spring or early summer. Those with red flower buds opening to white flowers are the most dramatic in flower.

The autumn crop of colourful crab apple fruits often lasts well into the winter, as birds seem to leave them until last. Crab apple fruits can be small, some little more than 10mm across, but a few are as large as 5cm and weigh down the branches impressively. They can be yellow, golden, orange, scarlet, crimson red or dark purple; the yellow and orange fruits may be overlaid with pink or red.

Don’t miss our crab apple jelly recipe

Crab apples are self fertile, which means they don’t need another tree nearby to pollinate them. In fact, one crab apple tree can serve as pollinator for a wide range of culinary apple varieties nearby. They have a longer flowering season than culinary apples – and produce up to ten times as much pollen – so if you have at least one crab apple tree, neither you nor your neighbours need worry about the pollination of culinary apples.

When to prune crab apple trees

Crab apple trees need little or no pruning but dead, diseased or crossing branches can be removed in winter.

The best crab apple trees to buy for blossom, foliage and fruit

Malus ‘John Downie’

Discovered in Staffordshire in 1875, Malus ‘John Downie’ is considered one of the finest of crab apples. In spring, pale pink buds open to white flowers, which are much loved by pollinators. These are followed by striking oval orange-red fruits. In autumn, the leaves turn fiery shades of yellow and orange before falling. Its upright narrow habit, which becomes more conical with age, makes it a useful tree for a small or urban garden.

Grow Malus ‘John Downie’ in a sunny, sheltered spot for the best results. Height 10m.

Malus Sugar Tyme (=‘Sutyzam’)

The pale-pink buds of Malus Sugar Tyme (=’Sutyzam’) open to white flowers. The glossy red crab apple fruits are small but make an impressive display among autumn leaves. Noted for its excellent resistance to scab, this crab apple tree copes well with other diseases too. Height 6m.

Buy Malus Sugar Tyme now from Ornamental Trees

Malus ‘Sun Rival’

Malus ‘Sun Rival’ is by far the best weeping crab apple – the branches sometimes sweep the ground. It has deep red buds that fade to pink then open to white, pink-tinted blossoms. It bears bright red fruits in autumn. Height 4m. AGM.

Malus x atrosanguinea ‘Gorgeous’

Malus x atrosanguinea ‘Gorgeous’ has lightly blushed white flowers, given a starry look by narrow petals. These are followed by deep-red, sometimes orange-tinted crab apple fruits that persist for months on the tree. They make unusually good crab apple jelly. Height 5m. AGM.

Buy Malus x atrosanguinea ‘Gorgeous’ crab apple tree from Primrose

Malus ‘Evereste’

Malus ‘Evereste’ is a great choice for any garden as it looks good almost all year round. In spring, the scarlet flower buds fade to pink before opening into a flurry of unusually large, white flowers. Once pollinated, these then turn into to yellowish-orange fruits with a red flush that last on the tree well into winter. In autumn, the leaves turn yellow and bronze before falling, giving an additional season of interest. Originally marketed as a patio crab apple thanks its upright, conical shape, Malus ‘Evereste’ is an excellent tree for a small garden. Height 7m. AGM.

Malus ‘Butterball’

Malus ‘Butterball’ is a spreading crab apple tree with an appealing, slightly pendulous habit, especially when in fruit. Pink buds open to blushed-white flowers. The golden-yellow fruits that follow develop reddish tints on the tops or sides wherever they are not shaded. Height 4m. AGM.

Malus ‘Comtesse de Paris’

The white flowers of Malus ‘Comtesse de Paris’ are followed by slightly pointed, golden-yellow fruits that last well into winter. This crab apple is more balanced in shape than the similar ‘Golden Hornet’ and more resistant to scab. Height 4m. AGM.

Buy Malus ‘Comtesse de Paris’ now from Crocus

Malus ‘Adirondack’

Often sold as ‘Admiration’, Malus ‘Arindonack’ is valuable in small spaces, thanks to its upright habit. Deep, carmine-pink buds open to clusters of pure white flowers followed by pinkish-red fruits. An excellent crab apple pollinator. Height 5.5m. AGM.

Buy Malus ‘Arindonack’ now from Crocus

Malus x zumi ‘Professor Sprenger’

The pink flower buds of Malus x zumi ‘Professor Sprenger’ fade to blush before opening white. The scented flowers on this crab apple are followed by amber fruits that deepen to orange. This crab apple also benefits from yellow autumn foliage and exceptional disease resistance. Height 6m.

Buy Malus x zumi ‘Professor Sprenger’ now from Pippin Trees

Malus ‘Wisley Crab’

The rich, purplish-pink flowers of Malus ‘Wisley Crab’, dark towards the centre of each petal, open against the purple-tinted green foliage. These are followed by purplish-red fruit, which are red inside and the size of a small eating apple. Height 3m.

Buy Malus ‘Wisley Crab’ now from Keepers Nursery

Malus ‘Indian Magic’

Malus ‘Indian Magic’ is a broadly spreading but upright crab apple tree with deep-pink flowers that open from even darker buds. Later small, rather elongated orange fruits become red and last well into winter. Disease resistance is good. Height 5m. AGM.

Buy Malus ‘Indian Magic’ now from Crocus

Malus x robusta ‘Red Sentinel’

Malus x robusta ‘Red Sentinel’ has fragrant white spring flowers that open from pale pink buds. Large, glossy, deep-red fruits follow and last almost until spring. It also has yellow autumn leaf colour and impressive disease resistance. Height 8m. AGM.

Buy Malus x robusta from Primrose

Malus ‘Harry Baker’

The huge purplish-pink flowers of Malus ‘Harry Baker’ open against purple foliage that fades to green, followed by ruby-red fruits. The tree was named for a fruit foreman at RHS Garden Wisley. It has good disease resistance and makes a superb crab apple jelly. Height 5m. AGM.

Buy Malus ‘Harry Baker’ now from Pippin Trees

Malus toringo ‘Scarlett’

As well as offering pink spring flowers and long-lasting purple fruits, Malus toringo ‘Scarlett’ also provides leaves that are purple as they unfurl then mature to fiery orange and yellow in autumn. This crab apple’s slightly weeping growth only adds to the appeal. Height 4m. AGM.

Buy Malus toringo ‘Scarlett’ now from Crocus

Where to see crab apple trees

National Collection holders:

Brogdale Collections
Brogdale Farm, Brogdale Road, Faversham, Kent ME13 8XZ.
Tel 01795 536250, brogdalecollections.co.uk

Christabella Charitable Trust
Barnards Farm, Brentwood Road, West Horndon, Essex CM13 3LX.
Tel 01277 811262, barnardsfarm.eu

Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre
The University of Manchester, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK11 9DL.
Tel 01477 571766, jodrellbank.net

Creating a late summer border is an exciting challenge. It needs vivid colours and textures, a wide range of plants, and a little luck with the weather. On top of all of that there is the hidden desire to make those colours last until the first frost arrives, maybe even longer. Gardener Andrea Brusendorf, who has created this bold design always uses plants that she has worked with before or has seen growing in other gardens. Those with flowers whose colour, height, spread and texture last well past the changing of the clocks.

Many of the plants that she has chosen for this border are ones that she grew in the Inner Temple Garden borders. She has spent many long summer days with them, learning their habits, revelling in their form. Here she explains in more detail how she came up with the plan and offers advice and time on when to plant and where to buy your garden plants from.

Andrea’s top tips for designing a bold planting plan

• Late flowering annuals and perennials are in general sun lovers with strong colours and they need a full solar blast to prolong their flowering period.
• It may be difficult to imagine that yellow, orange, red and blue can harmonise, but they do because the greens and greys in their foliage and stems soften those strong contrasts. Also, the light during the late summer mellows the most vivid colours.
• Beware of using white (for instance Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Purity’) which I have found impossible to integrate successfully into yellows, oranges, reds and blues, because it is too dominant.
• Besides colour and structure, combination is another ruling I keep in mind when I decide how many plants to use and where to position them. A single clump, like three Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’, should be in proportion to the overall area, otherwise the border will seem bitty and too busy.
• Repeating colours, shapes and textures create rhythm and cohesion; for instance I will repeat the feathery texture of Miscanthus sinensis ‘Silberfeder’ with Salvia uliginosa and other grasses.
• There is value in transition or ‘see-through’ plants, like Verbena bonariensis and Persicaria orientalis, which will break up the solidity of clumps such as Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’, and add an ethereal note to a border that would otherwise look too chunky.

Best time to plant

September is a good time for planning and laying out a new border as the soil will still be warm. This is an excellent opportunity to spread masses of well-rotted compost or manure to improve the organic matter content of your soil. Double-digging is excellent, but just forking it in is better than not adding anything at all. To help you to visualise the eventual sizes of plant clumps, mark out a square with bamboo canes and then use smaller canes to estimate the spread of the individual plants.

Wait until spring before planting out the asters, heleniums and salvias – they hate cold, wet feet when trying to establish themselves. Sow Verbena bonariensis in September and over-winter in a frost-free environment with plenty of light. Cosmos and Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Torch’ are grown easily from seeds, even on a window sill, from early April onwards. Persicaria orientalis is best grown by scattering seeds in March/April in situ. Keep an eye on this one because it has the tendency to self-seed freely, but the large seedlings are easily spotted and they can be weeded out.

The tubers of Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ are easily grown on in pots from March onwards in a warm setting. Other dahlias are less available, but cuttings can be grown on in a frost-free, light environment for planting out in June. Dahlia imperialis, a tree dahlia, is grown for its foliage, but with the luck of a hot summer and no early frosts it may flower for you in mid-December – and to protect it during the winter cover the root plate with a 20cm layer of dry wood chips. Don’t cut the grasses until late winter – or even early spring if the winter winds haven’t wreaked havoc.

Plant list and quantities used

Amicia zygomeris

Tender perennial grown for foliage. Yellow flowers. Height 2.5m. Plants used x3

Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Torch’

Annual with bright orange-red flowers. Height 2m. Plants used x10

Miscanthus sinensis ‘Silberfeder’

Grass with silver plumes. Height 2.5m. Plants used x3

Buy Miscanthus sinensis ‘Silberfeder’ from Thompson & Morgan

Dahlia imperialis

Tender perennial grown for foliage and bamboo-like stems. Height 4m. Plants used x2

Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’

Tender perennial with dark foliage and vivid red blooms. Height 1.5m. Plants used x3

Here’s how to grow dahlias

Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’

Grass with stiff, bronze feathery flowerheads. Height 1.8m. Plants used x3

Helenium ‘Wesergold’

Perennial with clear lemon yellow flowers. Height 1.5m. Plants used x5

Salvia ‘Indigo Spires’

Tender perennial, long blue flower spikes. Height 1.7m. Plants used x5

Don’t miss our guide to salvias

Rosa ‘Florence Mary Morse’

Vigorous Floribunda with red flowers. Height 2m plus. Plants used x1

Salvia uliginosa

Tender perennial with sky-blue flowers. Height 1.5m. Plants used x5

Don’t miss our piece on salvias to grow

Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’

Perennial with reddish-orange flowers. Height 1.5m. Plants used x3

Geranium Rozanne (=’Gerwat’)

Perennial, violet-blue. Height 0.6m. Plants used x6

Here’s our guide to hardy geranium

Clematis ‘Alionushka’

Climber, bell-shaped mauve pink flowers. Height 2m. Plants used x2

Read more about clematis here 

Dahlia ‘Hillcrest Royal’

Tender perennial with glowing red-purple flowers. Height 1.5m. Plants used x5

Miscanthus nepalensis

Tender grass, gold-tinted feathers. Height 1.5m. Plants used x3

Persicaria orientalis

Annual with rose-red flower spikes. Height 1.2m. Plants used x7

Buy Persicaria Orientalis from Sarah Raven

Read our guide to persicaria

Three golden rules

There are three vital tasks to do to keep your border looking good for as long as possible.

1. The first is regular dead-heading to encourage the production of new buds, thus extending the flowering season right into the autumn.
2. Secondly, apply a monthly feed during the active growing season.
3. And thirdly, though possibly the most important, is to stake those plants liable to flop about after heavy summer rains when they are still in bud.

A bit more about staking…
Stake asters, dahlias and heleniums when they have reached 45cm. It is worthwhile tying-in each stem individually with a loop in a long circle from a cane at the rear. It is time-consuming but it keeps the plant within its circular support of strings. In our large borders I can spend three or four weeks staking all my perennials (and even some of my annuals) in the early summer and every year those wet and windy summer days confirm it was time well spent.

However, I have not found the need to stake Tithonia, salvias or the tree dahlias, which seem to have sturdy legs. The Clematis ‘Alionushka’ should have some form of support, such as an obelisk. In the garden here we use strong pea-sticks, the tips randomly woven together to create a tall dome for the clematis to delicately rise above its neighbours (and hide a manhole cover in the middle of my border).

Creating a colourful late-summer border is thoroughly satisfying, but if you have limited space it means this portion of your garden will be a little bare until June or July. If this is the case, consider succession planting – lift the dahlias in autumn and plant tulips together with forget-me-nots for colour in spring and early summer, and in the pockets reserved for the annuals under-plant with more of the same or with alliums and aquilegias.

Download a PDF of the border plan

 Andrea Brunsendorf is director of outdoor landscapes at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.

Terrariums not only add a dynamic element to a room, but also create a tiny eco-system you can enjoy close up.

Take a look at our pick of the best terrariums to buy online to get you started.

Here’s how to build and plant terrarium one of these miniature gardens in a glass dodecahedron. Plant enthusiast Ali Bell she says ‘the geometric shape of this terrarium both magnifies and frames the symmetric forms of the Echeveria and other small sculptural succulents, whose intricate details are best appreciated close up.’

Ali also says that, ‘although these water-retaining plants prefer hot, dry and well-drained conditions, they can thrive in a partly open terrarium, such as this one, in which the air is still able to circulate and keep humidity levels relatively low’. Read our piece on the history of terrariums. 

How to plant a terrarium

Plants

The three Echeveria plants are the stars of the show. Tones of cool greens and blues are linked by the red accents on the leaves. The Sedum will colonise happily between the rocks and other plants, and the Senecio provides height at the back of the terrarium. When it grows too big I will replace it with smaller pieces. You should place the terrarium in a cool, bright room, avoiding direct sunlight, which risks glass magnifying the heat and scorching the fleshy leaves. Water these plants very sparingly, hardly at all in winter, and once every two weeks in summer if required.

1. Senecio articulatus
   
2. Echeveria colorata
   
3. Sedum album ‘Coral Carpet’
   
4. Echeveria pulidonis
   
5. Echeveria nodulosa ‘Painted Beauty’

Materials

To create a terrarium you’ll need:

• Pebbles for drainage, ideally around 1cm in diameter.
• Activated charcoal. Mix in a handful with your pebbles to keep the eco-system sweet and avoid any stagnation and fungi that can occur when there is a lack of drainage.
• Soil, to suit your choice of plants.
• Moss or gravel to dress. As you’ll probably need to use sphagnum, pincushion and sheet moss in fairly large quantities, it is best to buy them from a specialist supplier.
• Natural objects found in your garden to enhance planting ideas.

Planting process

Start by putting 2.5cm-layer of pebbles for drainage, mixed in with a handful of activated charcoal into the base of your chosen container. It’s much easier to work out your plant combinations on the table first before planting as you have more room for manoeuvre. After you’ve decided on a design, start placing them in the terrarium. As this container had an opening at the front I planted it up from the back to the front so as not to damage or bruise the plants.

The easiest way to plant in a confined space like this – and to some degree all terrariums – is to use a long-handled spoon to place soil around them. After dressing with gravel I placed some stones I had collected to match tonally around the plants to make it look more like the plant’s natural environment. Finally, I used a paintbrush to remove any soil or gravel that had been spilled.

More ideas for planting a terrarium

Bell jar beauty

Bell jar cloches provide the most sealed-off and humid environments of all terrariums. It creates the perfect growing conditions for subtropical plants like this Streptocarpus ‘Polka-Dot Purple’. Team it up with the simple, delicate foliage of Geranium robertianum and pin cushion moss like Leucobryum glaucoma and you have a beautiful natural-looking indoor display.

Victorian style

A modern-day nod to the Warden cases used by Victorian plant hunters for transporting exotic treasures. This lovely terrarium has been planted up with a tropical version of the lady’s slipper orchid, Paphiopedilum sukhakulii x charlesworthii, a young Dryopteris filix-mas and a small amount of Polytrichum commune, a moss with a starry appearance.

Terrarium tools

For displays like this you’ll need:

• A homemade tamper for firming in plants – a chopstick with a cork on the one end is perfect.
• Long-handled wooden salad spoon and fork to use as a trowel and for evening out soil or raking gravel
• Large wooden spoon, wrapped in kitchen roll, to clean around edges of terrarium after planting
• Large wooden knitting needles for making smaller holes or moving plants around
• Long tweezers or tongs for placing stones or rocks
• Scissors for maintaining plants
• Fish fork for removing moss from your garden
• Paintbrush to remove spilled soil

Recommended suppliers

• Cactus Shop
• Dee Puddy
• Dibleys Nurseries
• Kelways
• Ray Creek Orchids
• Shady Plants
• Waen

PLEASE NOTE

Never take any plants from the wild. All mosses shown came from the author’s garden or were bought as cultivated moss.

Hedge laying is a country skill that has been practised for centuries. Although a well-laid hedge looks beautiful, the original aim was to create a fence to stop sheep, cattle and other stock from straying. Styles of hedges vary across the country (see below), but the principles of hedge-laying remain the same. By laying a hedge you not only create a living fence, you also help to encourage new growth, making it an excellent way of regenerating an old, overgrown hedge without replacing it. While initially quite tricky to grasp, it’s a skill that really is a case of practice makes perfect. Once laid, a hedge simply needs regular trimming to keep it in good order for decades – far longer than a wooden fence and infinitely more beautiful.

Don’t miss our piece on alternatives to box hedging

How to lay a hedge

When is hedge laying season?

Hedge laying is a seasonal job carried out between October and March when trees and shrubs are dormant, and birds have finished nesting in the hedges. It is also the time of the year when many of the materials you’ll need for hedge-laying, such as the hazel and ash for the stakes and bindings that add strength and stability to the hedge, can be easily sourced.

A step-by-step guide on how to lay a hedge

First you need to remove the lower side branches from each stem, ideally using a pair of loppers (see here for our selection of hedging tools). This will allow light to reach the base of the hedge and encourage new growth, ensuring that the hedge thickens.

When cutting into the stem (or ‘pleacher’), you need to slice down at an angle just above ground level. Make the cut quite deep, far enough to allow the stem to bend over sufficiently for you to lay it down, but take care not to slice it all the way through.

Once you’ve made a cut in each stem, you can lay these down along the length of the hedge. You should never lay the stems completely horizontal as some upward slant is required to allow the sap to rise through the plant.

To add strength and stability to your hedge you will need to drive in a series of upright stakes, at intervals of around 50cm, along the whole of its length. These stakes need to be sturdy enough for you to hammer in, around 40-50mm thick, and cut to a length of around 1.6m. Hazel and ash are good woods to use, and you should be able to source stakes from a local woodland worker.

Bind the stakes firmly together, using long, thin and flexible hazel rods, known as binders, heathers or weavers. Ideally, these should be no thicker than around 25mm – the thinner they are the more flexible they will be for weaving – and around 2.5-3m long. Again, you can source these from a local woodland worker. Starting at one end, weave your binders around the tops of the stakes to hold the stakes firmly in place and add further strength. They also create a very attractive top to your hedge.

When your hedge is firmly bound, cut the cleft stumps (the stumps from the part of the stem not cut) down to just above ground level and be sure to leave them as clean and tidy as possible, as this is where regrowth is most desired.

Tools for laying a hedge

Traditionally, most hedge layers use a billhook for cutting through stems and branches. There are numerous different styles of billhook, which vary dramatically in weight and length. As with any tool, the feel of it in your hand is important, so it is worth finding a good tool supplier with a range you can try out for yourself. Vintage tools, such as those pictured below, can often be a good option.

1. French loppers are the perfect tool for removing side branches.
2. Yorkshire billhook is the preferred billhook for many professional hedge layers. It is generally larger and heavier than many other designs, making it ideal for cutting through bigger stems. It has a square-shaped, doubled-edged head and a short nose (the hook on the end).
3. Pruning saws are ideal for cutting down cleft stumps.
4. Nottinghamshire pattern billhook has some similarities to the Yorkshire pattern, with its distinctive double blade, but is smaller.
5. Berkshire, or Moss pattern, billhook is smaller than the Yorkshire pattern, and offers a well-balanced blade and handle that is easy to use.
6. Spar hook is a light and slim tool more commonly used by thatchers, but is also used by some hedge layers.
7. Kent pattern billhook has a deeper blade than the Berkshire pattern, with a short nose that is useful for working at the bottom of a hedge.

Traditional county styles of hedges

Many different hedge-laying styles have evolved to reflect a region’s farming practices and its native trees and shrubs. Here are just a few:

Yorkshire
The Yorkshire style creates a very thin hedge. The hedge is cut close to the ground with plenty of thickness of material along the bottom; new shoots will grow from the already established root system. As with most hedge laying, the hedge is always laid uphill. Sawn stakes and rails are then used to finish the hedge. This method was adopted in Yorkshire because trees suitable for making stakes and binders did not grow well on windy uplands.

Devon
The Devon style hedge is normally laid on top of a bank. The pleachers, or steepers as they are sometimes known in the region, are laid much closer to the horizontal than the usual uphill angle, and are pegged down with crooked hazel sticks that are used to secure the hedge. The bank is an important element as this acts as the main barrier against livestock until the hedge develops.

South of England
In the South of England style the hedge is cut and laid over to create a double brush on both sides. A single line of hazel stakes are driven into the centre of the hedge, with the top bound with hazel binders. Both sides of the hedge are then trimmed immediately after the hedge has been laid. New growth from the base will keep it healthy and thick for years to come.

Midland
This is also known as the bullock style because it was traditionally used by farmers with large animals, where the hedge needed to be able to withstand the weight of cows pushing against it. Some would argue it is the most attractive of the hedge-laying styles. A combination of distinctive stakes and binders is used. The binders are woven along the top for maximum strength and the ends wedged behind the stakes.

Somerset
The Somerset style uses a row ofstakes that are driven in alternately on either side of the hedge. The stakes hold the pleachers in place, some of which are woven behind the stakes. Once the stakes are in place, any remaining branches, known as brash, are woven between the bent-over pleachers to give structure, thickness and sturdiness to the finished hedge.

Welsh Border
This method uses hazel stakes that are sometimes driven in at a 35-degree slant. Dead wood is used to protect the regrowth from being browsed by stock. The dead wood and live layers are woven along the centre line, with the top and side of the hedge being trimmed. Any large gaps should have new whips planted to fill the spaces. A few long, thin binders are then bound between the stakes.

More information

Find out more about the craft from the National Hedge Laying Society (hedgelaying.org.uk), which provides information on courses along with details of professional hedge-layers.

You can get a taste of the skill involved in hedge-laying at the annual National Hedge Laying Championship, where over 100 competitors enter eight regional styles to become supreme champion.

If it is more garden hedging plants you are interested in, check out our guide you are looking for a guide to the best hedging plants.

Suppliers

• A Morris & Sons Ltd. Tel 01647 252352. Small company that has been making billhooks and other tools since the 1800s.
• Carters, another small manufacturer making hand tools since 1740.
• Coppice Products. Tel 01952 432769. Provides details of local hedge-layers and locally sourced coppice products.
• Garden & Wood. Tel 01844 279170. Excellent range of vintage tools.
• Readyhedge. Wholesale nursery providing instant hedging and screening plants.
• Timeless Tools. Wide range of vintage tools.

We pulled up at a gas station with a hot dog cafe named Diggety Dog near Dolan Springs, south of Las Vegas, sipped coffee and watched a mile-long train rattle across the desert on the horizon line, distant and surreal. From the west, a purple-grey dust cloud gathered, heading across our path, and from the way waiters wiped tables and scooped cups oblivious to these visuals, we surmised this was just a regular day in Detrital Valley – and so the scene was set.

The hyper-real visuals and sheer scale of the American desert revealed itself to us each time we left a city. Mesmerising and liberating, the miles of land and road stretching out before us was dominated by colourful layers of Paleozoic rock. We would see an intermittent brittlebush (Encelia farinosa), an occasional ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens), or a cactus forest creeping up a hillside near an intense red mountain range as we travelled though the land. We slipped down through a fissure in the rock one day, to see the marvel that is Antelope Canyon, on Navajo Reservation, sculpted pink sandstone washed by rivers and time.

Playing around with the surreal in our home and garden back home in London, a 2m-high cactus is planted inside the house next to a full-height, fixed-glazed window, while outside sits a large fireplace with cooking hearth, blurring of the boundaries playing around with the norm. The cactus, Euphorbia ingens appears to be growing out of the wooden floor from a planting pit recessed into a tanked subterranean slot. As you stand inside and feel the presence of the cactus and look outside to glowing hearth in the garden, the notion of inside and outside is vaguely and pleasantly blurred.

When it came to creating our garden, I replicated the colours of the desert and those of the striped rocks of The Painted Desert in Arizona using, as my green layer, the chartreuse green of Seslaria autumnalis, coral Rosa Lady Emma Hamilton (= ‘Ausbrother’) and Anemone x hybrida ‘September Charm’.

The geometry for our courtyard garden, a corner plot in North West London was complex: 54m² of impacted clay, viewed on four sides and needing an access point on all four sides too. I sketched out the geometry many times but it was as our road trip through Arizona, Nevada, Utah and California took us in a loop, that the narrative of the garden began to take shape.

Exploring the east rim of the Grand Canyon we looked down and saw the deep silken-green ribbon of a river far below us and the idea of a pathway, like the river, linking all the entrance points, formed the basic geometry and crystallised the design in my mind. Our family’s journey echoed this small, looped stretch of the Colorado River known as Horseshoe Bend; the garden has become a metaphor for our journey and the time we spent exploring the desert.

Although I would have dearly loved the National Tree of Arizona the palo verdi tree (Parkinsonia florida) in my garden for its intense, green, April-display akin to our blossom season, I am perfectly content with my 8m-tall Betula nigra Heritage birch, with its peeling cinnamon-mauve bark, and fresh-green leaves affording us shade in the summer, and buttery-yellow autumn display – for us, its scale in some ways replicates the majesty of the desert.

Born in Yorkshire with the standard village garden of shrub roses, hedgehogs that ate our French marigolds and a lawn ruined with too much football, I was introduced to and fascinated by a magazine called Arizona Highways sent to us by my aunt Therese from Arizona, from the 1970s onwards and thus began my love affair with The Desert.

Martha Krempel is an award-winning designer based in London. She studied fine art and sculpture before going on to train at the London College of Garden Design in 2014.
marthakrempelgardendesign.com

Read more about international wildflower spectacles and Martha’s trip to the American desert

When designer Erik Funneman was commissioned to design a rooftop garden for an apartment home in the centre of Utrecht, he was determined that it would be neither the archetypal extra ‘room’, nor a typical roof terrace. Instead, to reflect his clients’ passion for plants, he set out to create what he describes as a ‘proper’ garden on top a sturdy concrete garage, 1.5m above the clients’ apartment.

The clients wanted to attract insects to the garden and to watch the seasons change. “It was about creating a different ambience,” Erik recalls, “and establishing a softer environment against the urban backdrop.” Then there was the small matter of the neighbouring building clad in bright blue tiles. “I didn’t particularly like the building, but it does reflect the sky and it’s become an important part of the view from the garden,” says Erik.

Erik’s inspiration was drawn from Dutch landscapes. “I like to bring nature back into the garden,” he explains. Undulations in the substrate and organically shaped planting beds contrast with the angular geometry of the concrete walls and neighbouring buildings. The garden overlooks a park, and echoes of the planting there, consisting mostly of ornamental grasses, found their way into the planting scheme.

You may also like…

How Erik Funneman maximised space in small city garden

A modern courtyard with a living wall

Modern small garden ideas

First, though, came the challenge of transporting a significant quantity of planting substrate on to the roof without damaging glass windows and concrete walls. The solution was to blow a mixture of lava stone and soil under high pressure through a tube and manoeuvre it into place. Gravel paths were laid on top of the substrate using the same process. The whole, nerve-racking operation was completed in just one day.

Chosen for their ability to tolerate extremes of weather, the plants have proven themselves to be extremely robust in their relatively harsh environment. “This was a surprise to me,” says Erik. “I really didn’t expect that. In fact, many of the plants in this garden grow far better than they do in other gardens I’ve designed. They function like a complete eco-system here, and it’s made me rethink how I use these plants in other gardens and whether I should use them at all.”

“Originally the design for the garden was much more complicated, with wooden decking and so forth,” adds Erik. “It became too expensive, and we had to cut the budget. But I realised that less is more, and the outcome has been far more successful than I could ever imagine.”

Deschampsia cespitosa ‘Goldschleier’ forms a misty veil in front of the cityscape beyond, while scarlet persicaria, Bistorta amplexicaulis ‘Blackfield’ makes a bright spot of colour among the golden and bronze seedheads and bare stems of neighbouring plants.

Graceful fountain grass, Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Cassian’s Choice’, with its fluffy flowerheads partners with perennials and a variety of grasses to screen the garden from neighbours, providing privacy for the rooftop outdoor seating area.

In mid-autumn the planting matures to accentuate a tapestry of textures and colours of ageing foliage and faded flowers. Carex muskingumensis ‘Oehme’, Verbena bonariensis and Agastache ‘Blackadder’ create a jungly effect for year-round interest.

Find out more about Erik Funneman’s work at erikfunneman.nl

English ivy (Hedera) is more than just an evergreen climber for a shady wall. Many varieties make excellent ground cover and they also produce stunning foliage for cut flower displays and Christmas wreaths. Compact types are good for planting in pots and window boxes, spilling over the edge; they can also be grown as house plants.

Read out the best trailing house plants.

Ivy can also be used for topiary, trained over a wire frame.

English ivy is also great for wildlife. The green-yellow flowers are an important source of nectar and pollen in late summer and autumn, and the high-calorie berries provide food for birds in winter. Ivy can also provide shelter. 

Contrary to popular opinion, English ivy does not damage walls or buildings, unless the structure has already damaged in some way.

Does ivy damage walls?

Here we list some of the best decorative types of ivy including green-leaved and variegated cultivars, to add interest and colour into your garden all-year-round.

You may also like…

• Does English ivy damage walls?
• 30 of the best climbing plants
• How to train a climbing rose

Green English ivy

Green-leaved ivies offer an array of forms and textures, from the defined and bold, to the crimped and frilly.

1 Hedera helix ‘Duckfoot’ Good for containers and often grown as a houseplant.
2 Hedera hibernica ‘Spetchley’ perfect in containers or over rocks and low walls.
3 Hedera helix ‘Lalla Rookh’ Good as groundcover or in containers.
4 Hedera helix ‘Triton’ This bushy ivy is best grown as groundcover or in pots or containers.
5 Hedera helix ‘Anita’ Its trailing habit makes it ideal for pots or for training over topiary frames.
6 Hedera helix ‘Ivalace’ With a dense, compact habit, it responds well to clipping.
7 Hedera helix ‘Pink ’n’ Curly’ A bushy plant, with waved, crinkled leaves.
8 Hedera helix ‘Green Ripple’ Lovely in pots or cascading over low walls.
9 Hedera helix ‘Parsley Crested’ Reaching just 90cm, it is perfect for low walls and excellent for groundcover. AGM.
10 Hedera helix ‘Cockle Shell’ A trailing form, popular for hanging baskets and window boxes.

Variegated English ivy: cream and yellow

Cream and yellow-flushed and variegated ivies light up shady walls and fences and contrast with dark, evergreen shrubs in pots.

1 Hedera helix ‘Golden Ingot’ A slow-growing climber reaching up to 90cm.
2 Hedera helix ‘Jersey Doris’ Good on a dark fence or wall.
3 Hedera helix ‘Goldfinch’ Perfect for pots, over rocks or as ground cover.
4 Hedera colchica ‘Sulphur Heart’ A vigorous climber reaching up to 8m. Also good as groundcover.
5 Hedera helix ‘Buttercup’ A slow-growing climber up to 2.5m, and one of the best for colour.
6 Hedera helix ‘Amber Waves’ A compact climber or trailer growing to 90cm. Good for containers and baskets.
7 Hedera helix ‘Golden Girl’ A versatile ivy that grows fast for a variegated form.
8 Hedera helix ‘Oro di Bogliasco’ A vigorous climber, reaching 8m.
9 Hedera helix ‘Midas Touch’ A creeping ivy that rarely climbs, perfect for pots and containers, indoors or out.
10 Hedera helix ‘Luzii’ This fast-growing, medium-sized climber is popular as a houseplant.

Variegated English ivy: green and white

Green and white or cream variegations make uplifting backdrops as climbers, and enliven shady borders.

1 Hedera helix ‘Sally’ Ideal for lighting up a shady wall, this is a slow-growing climber (to 3m).
2 Hedera helix ‘Misty’ Ideal for pots and as a houseplant.
3 Hedera helix ‘Heise’ A medium-sized climber.
4 Hedera helix ‘Silver King’ A good climbing and trailing ivy with five-lobed leaves, the central lobe longer than the rest.
5 Hedera helix ‘Chester’ An attractive climber, not too dense.
6 Hedera helix ‘Ardingly’ Attractive in pots and as floral decoration.
7 Hedera helix ‘Glacier’ A fast-growing climber. Good as groundcover on dry, shady slopes.
8 Hedera algeriensis ‘Gloire de Marengo’ A vigorous climber, growing up to 4m. Great on a shady wall.
9 Hedera helix ‘White Ripple’ An attractive climbing or trailing ivy. Grows to 3m.
10 Hedera helix ‘Little Diamond’ A dwarf, bushy ivy. Good in pots and indoors.

USEFUL INFORMATION

Most ivies are classified with a hardiness rating of RHS H5, USDA 6a-11, although sheltered situations have a great influence, and plants grown in pots in colder regions may need winter protection. Hardiness ratings are explained here.

Where to buy English ivy

Buy a wide selection of ivy at Fibrex Nurseries, Honeybourne Road, Pebworth, Warwickshire CV37 8XP.
Tel 01789 720788, fibrex.co.uk.