Get keen on evergreen

By Adrienne Wild 25/11/2007

Red Variegated Phormium (Clive Nichols)

You may think your winter garden is tired and the colour has drained out of it for another year, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Keep your garden bursting with life by planting leafy evergreens, which come in every shade of the rainbow.

BORDERS
Adrian Bloom created the trend for combining conifers and heathers in the 1970s and has updated the look by adding colourful winter stems and perennials for year-round interest. For maximum impact in winter, he suggests a golden Pinus mugo planted through a carpet of heather Pink Spangles.
CREATE THE LOOK: This year marks the 40th anniversary of Adrian Bloom’s garden at Foggy Bottom, Diss, Norfolk. Enjoy a virtual tour by visiting www. bressinghamgardens.com
HOW MUCH? Pinus mugo costs £12.50 plus p&p from Barncroft Nurseries (01538 384310, www.barncroftnurseries.com). 

PHORMIUMS
Phormiums, or New Zealand flax, create a dramatic focal point in pots as well as borders. For striking good looks in a terracotta tub, choose a rich bronze-red variegated variety, as these are slightly thinner at the base but retain the graceful arching sword-like leaves, which make them look so majestic.
CREATE THE LOOK: This drought-tolerant plant is ideal for growing in hot spots and in shallow soils. They combine especially well with ornamental grasses and are a good choice for gravel gardens.
HOW MUCH? Available from Big Plant Nursery £10 (01903 891466, www.bigplantnursery.com). 

FERNS
Nearly evergreen, the wood fern dryopteris develops its new leaves underground, which rise and unfurl the following year. These rugged, deeply-cut fronds last well throughout the year, only beginning to wither and brown after a heavy frost. They are tough and will grow in deep shade.
CREATE THE LOOK: Wood ferns thrive in soils that are constantly moist but not boggy, making them an excellent choice to plant alongside a water feature on a north-facing patio.
HOW MUCH? Widely available, expect to pay around £6.95 from garden centres. 

GRAVEL BEDS
A dry gravel bed doesn’t have to be dull or dead in winter if it’s planted with weather-resistant evergreens such as euphorbia, artemisia, phormium and ornamental grasses such as Stipa tenuissima.
CREATE THE LOOK: To prevent competition for food and water from weeds, plant through a landscape fabric and mulch with a deep layer of gravel, which will prevent soft, hairy foliage from contacting wet soil, which is often the reason they rot.
HOW MUCH? Check out Crocus for a range of grasses and perennials – prices start at £6.45 (0870 787 1413, www.crocus.co.uk). 

CONTAINERS
Nearly all evergreens grow really well in patio containers and some of them can get quite large if you remember to plant them out in the garden after two or three seasons or when they begin to outgrow their pots.
CREATE THE LOOK: Group your containers together for maximum impact and select a variety of plants with colourful leaves and eye-catching berries. You can even invest in some winter flowers such as the stinking hellebore, Helleborus foetidus.
HOW MUCH? Evergreen plants cost from around £5.95 from garden centres.

TOPIARY
Topiary is great fun and while you can create impact with some simple shapes such as box balls and pyramids, you can also bring out the artist in you and clip and train any form that takes your fancy from 3D hearts to elaborate flying  pigs.
CREATE THE LOOK: The best plants to use are Buxus sempervirens, privet and yew, but the quickest way to make topiary is to cover a wire frame with a fast-growing climber such as a small-leaved ivy.
HOW MUCH? A topiary start kit with teddy bear frame costs £26.98 from Top Topiary (01252 626695, www.toptopiary.co.uk). 

JAPONICA
The indestructible caster oil plant, Fatsia japonica, is a good shrub to give a garden a jungle-like touch. The huge shiny leaves thrive in shade and, in autumn, creamy coloured flowers appear on stems, which are followed by berries. But these are best cut off to channel all the plant’s energy back into leaf production.
CREATE THE LOOK: To create an exotic-looking plant that resembles a papaya, prune off the lower branches in spring and retain one stem with foliage on top, and for the leafiest results give it rich soil and moisture.
HOW MUCH? Widely available, expect to pay around £6.99 at garden centres.