June 20, 2025 • 36 mins
Perennial borders may be all the rage in contemporary garden design, but have we forgotten the humble flowering shrub? In this eye-opening episode, we explore how these garden stalwarts are being overlooked despite offering year-round structure, extended seasons of interest, and spectacular flowers when perennials lie dormant.
From the architectural presence of Cornus kousa to the intoxicating fragrance of Philadelphus, we'll guide you through ten magnificent flowering shrubs that deserve a place in your garden. Discover why "old-fashioned" plants like Fuchsia, Forsythia and Mahonia shouldn't be dismissed, and learn how integrating these woody wonders among your perennials creates a more dynamic, interesting garden throughout the year.
We delve into early-season performers that bring life to winter gardens – Hamamelis with its spidery blooms, Daphne with its heavenly scent, and Mahonia with its architectural form. For summer drama, we explore statement plants like Hydrangea paniculata and butterfly-magnet Buddleja. Each recommendation comes with practical advice on size, growing conditions, and optimal placement.
The message is clear: the best gardens thoughtfully combine perennials with flowering shrubs to create interest across all seasons. Whether you're designing a new border or enhancing an existing one, these ten flowering shrubs offer structure, colour, fragrance and wildlife value that perennials alone cannot provide. Ready to rediscover these forgotten garden gems?
If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
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Until next week
Happy gardening
John
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
how's it going, everybody, and welcome to
episode 281 of master, my gardenpodcasts.
Now, this week's episode, we'relooking at the subject of
flowering shrubs and I'm goingto go through a list of the 10
top flowering shrubs.
Well, a list of 10 greatflowering shrubs and let's not
call them top, because you knowthat's people's opinions,
(00:35):
situations, gardens and so on.
But the reason I wanted tocover this was obviously
perennial borders over the lastfew years have become, you know,
they're all the go and they'reabsolutely fantastic.
But I think, within the contextof that and when you see a lot
(00:56):
of the gardens that are beingcreated now, the flowering shrub
is getting kind of overlooked alittle bit and maybe
underutilized, underused.
And you know, even if youreference back to the episode a
couple of weeks back with TomCoward, he's talking about
Gravetide, manor and how theyhave these borders.
(01:17):
But they're underpinned withstrong shrub presence and what
shrubs give you, particularly inthe context of a perennial
border, is that they give yousomething that's it's going to
give you well, number one it'sgoing to give you flowering at
different times of the year, butit's also going to give you a
bit of structure, something,something more permanent than
(01:40):
perennials.
As you know, perennials theycome up in the springtime, nice
lush growth, and then theyflower.
Generally speaking, you'regoing to get start your
perennial border starting toflower in sort of may ish, maybe
a little bit earlier.
You tend to rely on things likebulbs for your colors prior to
that and then then it'llcontinue flowering through the
(02:01):
right choices of perennialsright through to the end of
October, type time, and shrubsflowering.
Shrubs, as I said, have kind ofgot overlooked a little bit and
what ends up happening is they,they get forgotten about and
then, because they're forgottenabout or because they're they're
(02:22):
less purchased, then you seeless of them in in garden
centers.
So it's good to kind of, it'sgood to kind of, you know,
remember them and try and notthink of them.
You know shrubs generally, tryand not forget about them.
There's, there's fantastic onesout there, like the list is
(02:43):
endless.
I'm going to talk about 10today, maybe some other notable
mentions, but and some of thesewould be considered, I guess,
old-fashioned in, you know, inin today's terms, but if you
think about it, there there's alot of shrubs and plants that go
through their phase in thelimelight and you know, just
(03:06):
even thinking back to.
You know, 15, 20 years ago, say, bottle brush was everywhere.
You couldn't go into a gardencenter without seeing beds and
beds of bottler in a lot ofgarden centers.
Now you'd do well to find one.
In fact I'd say you probablywouldn't in a lot of them.
And now I don't have anyproblems with that because I
wouldn't overly like them.
But the the point I'm making isthat various various plants have
(03:30):
their, have their period in thesun and you know, over the last
few years that has certainlybeen hydrangea, annabelle,
everybody's talking about it,it's in every garden center.
Fantastic flowering shrub,obviously, um, but there's
others and the the beauty of thecorrect choice is that these
(03:52):
are going to give you severalthings.
They're going to give youstructure within a bed.
Some of them will have multipleinterests in that they're
structurally quite nice, butobviously they have to flower.
But again, through true choiceyou'll get a lot of these to
flower, you know, when you justwon't have any flower in your
perennial border.
They can also be really, reallystrong standout statement
(04:16):
pieces, statement trees within aborder or at the edge of a bed,
and all of those.
You know they have so many, somany benefits from that point of
view.
Then there's some of them thatare, you know, hugely supportive
to biodiversity.
They're, you know, fantasticflowers.
They work well in differentsituations, so some, some like
(04:37):
full sun, some like shade, andthen there's categories of
plants that are just, you know,really really interesting, and
I'm going to go through a listhere.
I say some of these will be, intoday's terms, considered old
fashioned, but at the same time,this shouldn't be overlooked,
because they do have hugebenefit within the garden.
Before we get onto the list,it's, you know, it has been a
(04:58):
fantastic week, weather wise.
Back to, you know, really,really, really warm temperatures
, and growth is phenomenallystrong.
At the moment we've had, youknow, kind of moisture as well,
as last week we were talkingabout fluctuations in
temperatures and rain and so on,and this week we're talking
about, you know, quite hightemperatures, quite warm weather
(05:19):
, nice bells of sunshine, butalso a couple of showers here
and there and at night time,kind of, you know, really heavy
dews.
So there's moisture in theground, which means that there's
a phenomenal amount of growthand, you know, has been really,
really, really lush time ingardens.
You'll see that everything isreally growing strong and going
(05:40):
growing really well now and so,yeah, that that's kind of the
context of the week.
Every week it's kind ofinteresting to see how things
change and how quickly thingscan change.
But, yeah, at the moment we'reexperiencing what we would call
here almost a little mini heatwave and, yeah, it's really,
really welcome so to get intothe flowering shrubs.
(06:03):
As I say, some of these now aregoing to be seen as
old-fashioned, but they're,they're all beautiful, given
different periods of interestand, as I say, it's a list of 10
, some you'll agree with, someyou won't.
If you don't, um, good, I had acall out last week to say, um,
you know anyone that waslistening to the podcast to give
(06:25):
me a shout.
You know, let me know thatyou're there, send me an email,
send me a message, and I've gota good few people, actually a
couple of requests for for um,different episodes which I will
cover over the couple of weeks,over the next couple of weeks,
and lovely to hear from newlisteners, a couple of new
listeners this week who havejust got into the podcast
recently.
As I said, there'll be someepisodes featuring their
(06:47):
questions over the next coupleof weeks as well.
But, you know, let me know onyour list of flowering shrubs,
something that's not there, thatshould be there, anything
that's you know missing from thelist, or anything that in your
opinion, gee, why did you putthat in there, john?
That's, that's not a good shrub.
So, yeah, it's alwaysinteresting to hear these.
(07:08):
As I say, it's it's not a top10 because it's it's a list of
10 and it won't be for everyone.
Might suit your garden, mightsuit your situation, but it's
their 10 solid performers.
Each of them work their placein in most gardens.
So, to start off, I'm going tostart with one that is quite
(07:28):
popular at the moment, one thatis in a lot of garden centers.
It featured hugely at bloom ina lot of the show gardens and
it's corna cornus kusa.
So cornus, there's the.
The flowering their dogwoods.
Flowering dogwoods are thecolored stem dogwoods, the
colored ones.
They look nice in the wintertime.
(07:49):
Other than that, they're, andthey can look, you know, they
can look like a nice feature ifthey're block planted.
It kind of gives an interest, awinter interest, in terms of
color.
These bright reds are thesereally kind of vibrant, yellowy
type stems, but the floweringcornice, these are, these are,
(08:10):
you know, they're fantastic,they're absolutely got
absolutely gorgeous.
Actually, the flowers on themare technically not flowers, but
we won't get into that they're.
They're leaves or bracts assuch.
So, and the main one, and theone I'm going to mention here,
is cornus cusa.
It's just some brilliantvarieties out there.
Cornus cusa china girl is onethat you will see a lot of, the,
(08:33):
you know, the most popularnurseries in ireland and garden
centers in ireland stocking.
It's one that featured heavily,as I say, at bloom and, timing
wise, it it was lookingfantastic, really nice, strong,
you know, good, strong plantwill perform in most gardens,
again, an ideal type featureplant.
So if you have, you have, youknow, a, a bed that flows, and
(08:58):
maybe there's a focal point onthat bed, a corner or a standout
piece or at the back of a boardor a cornice.
Cousa, a china garland, canlook really really good,
especially over time when, whenthey've reached full size, they
can get up to, you know, kind ofthree meters by three and a
half meters in in height, soquite wide and quite tall.
(09:18):
So it's a large, it can be alarge shrub, but it's a
fantastic, beautiful, beautifulshrub, flowering shrub, although
technically not flowering, but,as I say, we won't worry too
much about that it.
It flowers in may and june andhence the reason why it's have
featured so heavily at bloom,but it is definitely one one.
(09:40):
For the moment I don't have one, but I do.
I I will be getting on a newbed or a bed that's been
revamped.
I guess over the next couple ofmonths that there's definitely
going to be a big, a bigcarnoscusa going in there.
So carnoscusa, and there'sloads of others carnosmas,
there's loads of loads of reallygood flowering ones and if, as
(10:03):
I say, a lot of the nurseriesand will have them, and they'll
have them at this time of theyear and you'll see them at this
time of the year in flower, youknow.
So that's kind of a good gauge.
But you know, any of these youcan get them at any stage of the
year and then have them readyto to come out in your garden at
the appropriate time next year.
So number two on the list isdefinitely one that's going to
(10:25):
be seen as a little bit oldfashioned, and it's fuchsia.
So fuchsias in Ireland there's,you know, there's parts of the
country where they kind of runwild along hedges and so on, and
then years ago you would havehad certain certain varieties
that would have been planted.
They get very.
(10:45):
They can get very, very big.
But the one thing aboutfuchsias doesn't matter what
variety or which size.
So you have like the big bushvarieties that really can get
very, very big, up to two, three, four meters tall, and there is
ones that can be kind of grownas hedges and they have their
place as well.
But generally speaking, theflowers are really really
(11:08):
interesting.
So they have these flowers thathang down I'm sure mostly you
know them, flowers that hangdown with these really long
stamens that come out of themand they're just a really
interesting flower and they'reso intricate and there's a
mountain of varieties, likethousands of varieties.
You can get them as as beddingfuchsias, which again have a
(11:28):
really interesting flower, thesame type of flower that I'm
talking about here.
But in terms of the shrub orthe hardier varieties, there's
some phenomenal ones.
The best ones for for a gardensituation are the kind of
shrubby varieties, somethinglike a tomtom, which grows
really really small, istypically fairly hardy.
They they won't take a reallydeep frost but they're fairly
(11:52):
hardy for most of the time formost of the country in ireland,
but they're just a really andagain, I acknowledge that this
would certainly be seen by a lotof gardeners as old-fashioned,
but in terms of a flower,there's there's very few
flowering shrubs that haveflowers that are as interesting
as this.
(12:12):
They don't have any valuenecessarily for pollinators.
They typically are not scented,typically, um, but generally
speaking they're.
They're a fantastic lookingflower and something that you
know is really interesting.
Hardy will grow in most places.
The range of colors aretypically you can have white,
(12:32):
pink purple and there's severallike maybe six different shades
of pink purple that you can get.
So it's always a mixture ofthose, but they're really,
really interesting flowers.
They flower, typically speak inaugust, september, even into
october, and then there's a hugevariety of sizes available.
So, as I said, it can get up toreally big bushy plants like
(12:54):
three meters tall, but the likesof tomtom that I mentioned,
that will stay at kind of 40centimeters in a nice little
small shape, relatively hardy,but has that nice feature of a
flower, and it's just aninteresting flower and something
that's, you know, kind ofdifferent to what you'll see at
the moment.
As I say, potentially see mightbe seen as a little bit
old-fashioned but but reallyreally nice from a bed and plant
(13:17):
perspective.
I know you can get them as bedand plants, but from a bed and
plant perspective they'rebrilliant.
And hanging baskets, becauseyou know the flower hangs down,
as I said.
So you don't necessarily getthe full beauty of it while
looking down at it, as it'sfacing downwards as well.
But when you put it into ahanging basket or a window box
(13:38):
that's up higher than the eyelevel and you're looking upwards
at it, then you get the truebeauty of the flower and that.
That that is.
You know they're a fascinatinglooking flower.
So, yeah, fuchsia, number two,and again I think that one might
a lot of people might thinkthat that shouldn't be on the
list, but it is a really goodone.
Another one that is, in myopinion, severely underused in
(14:02):
these days.
If you went back, I would say30 years ago there was hardly a
garden that didn't have aforsythia in it.
Um, nowadays they're seen asold-fashioned, they are a little
bit scraggly looking, so theydon't suit.
You know, people look at themas untidy.
Um, but they, they are afantastic flower and they're
(14:23):
giving you a flower, kind ofbefore the rest of your, your
garden, starts to flower, andthat's why I think they they can
be really, really beneficial.
Again, I would view it a littlebit like the cornice.
I would view it as somethingthat stands on its own.
You don't block plant thesenecessarily.
It stands on its own in aparticular spot.
You allow it to take up thatlime light at that time of the
(14:45):
year.
Uh, it can get big, so theygenerally can get, you know, two
meters, three meters.
They're quite woody, looking onthe stems, so that they're not
a compact, tidy looking plantnecessarily.
But when that's in full flowerin March, april time, they
really do put on a show thatvibrant yellow.
(15:09):
A brilliant variety is onecalled Beatrix Farland.
It's difficult enough to get inIreland there is some garden
centers throughout, nurserieswith them, but you won't see it
everywhere and it's one thatwill go go to two or three
meters tall.
But when that stands on its ownin a particular spot that you
can see and that you know drawsyour eye to it, you will see a
(15:30):
mass of yellow at that time ofthe year and it will be in
contrast to a lot of what elseis going on in your garden,
especially if we get a reallycold spring when things are just
not, you know, waking up theway they normally would, and
then you just get this mass ofvibrant yellow flowers and for
that reason I think it's a it's.
It's one that's, you know,really worth having in in most
(15:51):
gardens.
Then on to the next one.
Again, it's this one now isit's going to be liked and
available in in most gardencenters at certain times of the
year, and it's Daphne, andthere's a load of different
varieties and they really do,you know, they really do stand
(16:17):
up and again, they're giving youflour when nothing else is
really flowering.
So Daphne will flower,depending on variety, january,
february, march, april,potentially into May.
So at that period of time whereeverything else is looking
fairly grim, except for a fewbulbs, different bulbs here and
there, you can have the likes ofa daphne in flower, and that,
(16:39):
that, for me, is is a huge, is ahuge win.
And this is where mixing thelikes of these through your
perennial border gives yousomething different.
So your perennial borderobviously prime the whole way
through the summer and and intothe autumn.
But in those winter months, youknow, so november, december,
january, february, march, april,those months can be quite bleak
(17:01):
.
Looking at a perennial borderand these, the likes of these
shrubs just give you somethingto catch your eye, a bit of
color, a bit of vibrancy at thattime of year, and that's why,
why they win.
There is a lot of varieties, um,probably one of the best ones
is merizium ruba.
Um, it's very good one.
(17:21):
Again, it's size wise, not nottoo big.
We'll go to 1.2, 1.5 meters andthat's you know, brilliant,
brilliant plant.
There's loads of otherdaphanies.
You can get them reallyminiature, like that will grow
up to 40, 40 centimeters andthen bigger again, up to two,
three meters.
Different daphnies will suitdifferent situations, but
(17:42):
they're all giving you that kindof really early season
flowering and for that reasonthey're again worth having in
your garden.
Number five is one that's youknow probably nobody's going to
disagree with too much on thelist.
It's hydrangea, but hydrangeabeniculata, and there is again a
lot of varieties here, reallygood ones, limelight.
(18:05):
There's the one that's kind ofrecognizable by its its name
pinky, winky.
But they're all very, very good, very, very good, very prolific
flowers and quite strong whenplanted in blocks together.
So if you have them down alonga walkway on either side,
(18:26):
they're tall, going, you know,two, two to three and a bit
meters and they kind of havearching foliage with art, with
flowers on them.
So, again, as I say, on bothsides of a walkway you can have
these kind of flowers that arekind of leading you down a
walkway or a driveway orsomething like that.
(18:46):
They're fantastic, they, theyget really big, they flower
prolifically and they'reflowering again while your
perennial border is kind of atits peak.
This is when you'll have these,but they are such a standout on
their own and they typicallythey're not going to be ones
that you will typically put intoyour, say, perennial border,
(19:07):
but they're ones that you willuse as a block planting or a
feature to draw you throughthrough an area, um, ideal,
along you know, certain paths oror things like that, through
your garden.
And what a brilliant onehydrangea paniculata and
recommended variety limelight,which is quite commonly got the
(19:27):
really white, vibrant flowersthat typically can have a pink
hue, um, towards the, towardsthe start and towards the end of
it.
But they're beautiful, reallybig flower, stand out, a
standout plant.
And the next one, again, I'mgoing for one that's going to
give you this kind of this early, this really early flower,
(19:49):
because I think these are, as Isay, they're going to give you
that interest when there's notmuch else giving that interest.
And this one is is quite wellknown.
It's Hamamelis mollus and witchhazel commonly known as.
There's some brilliantvarieties of it, and palida is
probably one of the best, butthe flowers themselves are
(20:12):
really really interesting.
So, like I said, with the TomTom or the fuchsias in general,
they have really reallyinteresting flowers and flowers
that you don't really see on it,on that are, you know, don't
have a similar flower toanything else, and I think that
that kind of makes it a standout, makes it a little bit of an
interest, and that's why they,they, you'll see a lot of them
at that time of the year.
(20:32):
So the flower really, reallyearly, you're going to get
flowers from them in sort ofJanuary, february, march, that
sort of time frame, depending onwhere you're living and
depending on what variety youhave as well.
But they're going to be reallyunusual, really nice at that
time of the year and they'rehardy, will grow in most areas,
(20:54):
like most situations.
Just a brilliant, reliableflower situations.
Just a brilliant, reliableflower.
When you get them in the earlyyears they're small and maybe
then the flowers don't lastoverly long and the flowers
themselves are kind of delicate,almost spidery like looking,
and in those early years theycan be a little bit
underwhelming.
But when they fully form, whenthey get big, when they, when
(21:23):
they create a, you know asubstantial, large shrub, then
that flower becomes way, waymore interesting and quite
stunning at that time of theyear, especially nice on a
frosty morning where you get,you know, the white ground, and
then this, this flower just justpops it, you know, really
really does stand out.
So that's a really good one.
And you can see, here there'skind of a team, I guess, where I
am kind of stitching in a lotof winter and early spring color
(21:47):
here.
So that was number six on thelist.
Number seven on the list isagain flowering this period.
This one will definitely be seenas old fashioned to a certain
extent and it's Mahonia, sothere's loads of them.
Mahonia media charity isprobably the most well known,
(22:09):
but again it has a kind of aninterest from lots of
perspectives.
Now these can get very bigdepending on what variety you
get.
So you can get them again inminiature varieties that will
only grow maybe two to threefoot tall or, you know, up to a
meter tall, but you can also getreally, really big ones that
are going to grow kind of three,four meters tall, maybe a meter
(22:30):
and a half to two in width.
So really big, big, solidshrubs, large shrubs, and so
they do need a bit of a space.
They prefer to be in in shade,but they will do really well in
in sun as well.
But the one thing they do likeis moist, humus, humus, rich
(22:54):
soil.
If they don't have, if theyhave that, but they don't have
good drainage, then they don'ttend to do well.
So you want to have gooddrainage, but humus, humus, rich
soil, so make sure you'remulching around them quite a lot
.
But that's a brilliant one.
It's the in terms of flowering.
It's yellow and yellow, onlyyou don't get anything else.
But again, the flower is quitebig and it's flowering at a time
(23:18):
of the year where you don'tyou're not getting you know
you're not getting much else byway of flower.
Lots of different varieties outthere.
With the correct varieties, youknow, or a mixture of varieties
, you could technically haveflower from November time right
through to the end of April,which is a really long period of
time generally speaking.
(23:39):
Any of the single varieties,they are quite long flowering as
well.
So you're going to get flowerover a couple of months, but
with a combination of a coupleof varieties the early ones,
some of the later ones you canhave flower for that long period
of time, which is really,really useful.
They are quite big, though.
The leaves themselves areinteresting looking not
particularly nice looking in myopinion, but they, but they, are
(24:00):
interesting looking.
You know, they look a littlebit um, what would you what were
their structural but notnecessarily a little bit, a
little bit untidy looking attimes.
The leaves themselves are big,they they look kind of spiky, um
, but in all in all, it's aplant that's well worth its
place because it gives you thishuge pop of yellow color,
(24:23):
especially as it matures, thishuge pop of yellow color, um, at
that early part of the year.
I've personally seen these witha mountain of of bees on them.
Um, people will debate whetherthey're any good for for early
season pollinators or not, but Ihave personally seen a quite a
(24:44):
big one, and it was.
It was in a back garden in atown and it was absolutely
teeming with bees.
Now it was probably february,march time.
It was quite a back garden in atown and it was absolutely
teeming with bees.
Now it was probably February,march time, it was quite a sunny
day, but it was alive with beeson a particular day and it was
really interesting to see thatbecause, you know, sometimes
people would say that they'renot necessarily useful for
(25:07):
pollinators, but that certainlywas attracting the interest on
that day.
So that's number seven on thelist, that's mahonia.
Number eight on the list ischysia ternata, a good one.
Aztec pearl is a good one.
It is again.
It's giving you the flower,kind of before your borders
would really kick off, and it'sapril, may, flowering, so it's a
(25:30):
really, really good one.
Nice, interesting leaves can bequite good in pots as well.
Size wise, again, you can getit different, different
varieties, but typicallyspeaking, you're going to be
able to keep them nice.
You're going to stay nice andsmall if you're up to 1.5 meters
in height.
So they'll they'll be quitestrong in a bed, but not
(25:51):
dominant or not overtaking it.
So quite a good one, againgiving you that slightly earlier
flower.
So really, really, really goodone.
Don't have one myself in thegarden, but a really solid
performer.
Again would be somewhat kind ofan old style one, but again a
really, really interesting plantfrom a leaf perspective and
(26:14):
from a flowering perspective.
Number nine is wellrecognizable and it's buddleia
butterfly bush.
So there's, I suppose there's,loads of varieties of this.
It's known because butterfliesthrive, you know, really swarm
to it and you know, again, alittle bit like the, a little
(26:40):
bit like the forsythia, it canlook scraggy, you know, the
plant itself is not overly,overly nice looking, but you can
get really brilliant, reallybrilliant flowers on it.
Um, there's one called royalblushed.
That's a really deep purple,large cone shaped flower and
(27:00):
it's just, you know, when itgrows.
Well, when it's in full flowerit looks fantastic.
Now it is flowering.
You're quite late in the year.
It's going to be july, august,september's when you get your
flowering again.
Suitable, because that's whenthe butterflies, hopefully, will
be coming out.
Um, definitely less than thelast few years, by the way, but
there's, you know that that isthe time when we will, when we
(27:22):
will see them and they flock tothe likes of a buddleia.
Loads of varieties.
Again, it can be quite, cangrow quite big, but they can be
kept small as well.
But the royal blushed is areally, really nice one.
Number nine on the list then no, that's number nine, buddleia.
And number 10 on the list isprobably my favorite one on the
(27:43):
whole list and it'sphiladelphia's mock or
philadelphia's version of mockorange.
So the I have it in the garden.
I actually got it from mary andgash gardens and it's out of
any plant it has the mostdistinct smell.
It's it's a beautiful,beautiful perfumed plant.
(28:07):
The flowers it's flowering now.
So flowers kind of you'll.
You'll typically get itflowering sort of early june
right through to july doesn'tlast, that's how long actually
flowering, wise.
But the smell of it is justphenomenal.
It's not like you know, it's adifferent smell to, say, any
(28:27):
roses that you might have or anyother scented plants.
Really, it's kind of has asmell all to its own.
But on a, on a, on a reallywarm evening, if you're anywhere
near that, there's a kind of ascent in the air.
It kind of hangs in the airwhatever, whatever type of you
know smell it is.
It kind of hangs in the air andit's a really nice kind of deep
(28:49):
smell.
Um, the flower itself isbeautiful, quite small, but
there's loads of them.
So when you're looking at it asa, as a, you know as a farm
shrub, and it will grow to a bigshrub like this, going to get
to three meters, you know, threemeters tall, about a meter and
a half wide, so quite big.
But it will be a mass of whiteflowers and because there's so
(29:12):
many of these they're quite asmall flower, but because
there's so many of them on it itjust looks like a big mass of a
big mass of white.
And then the scent which is Iknow I've said it, but that
scent is really exceptional, andto have a kind of a seating
area anywhere near that to siton it on a warm evening and to
get that scent in the air, it'sjust phenomenal.
(29:35):
So that is probably of the 10that's my favorite.
It's just a phenomenal plant.
So, to just go through the listagain, we had a cornus cousa, we
had a fuchsia, tomtom againprobably seen as old-fashioned
forsythia, daphne, hydrangeapaniculata, had hamamelis,
mollusk and mahonia, charity,choisia, buddleia and and
(30:03):
philadelphus.
And if you have these in yourgarden along with your, your
perennials, you'll havesomething you're able to extend
your, your interest, across morethan the summer border.
I guess, other ones that areworth mentioning again.
Some of them would be seen aspotentially old-fashioned, but
(30:23):
the likes of katina, smoke, bush, just some fabulous varieties
of those.
Again, they featured a bit atbloom, the, you know they look
really well, timing wise,they're probably suited.
But the, the lovely, beautifulleaves on the plant as well, the
, you know that deep purple, youknow they're just, it's a
(30:45):
brilliant, brilliant one.
Um, doesn't make it into thelist necessarily, but one that's
kind of worth looking at.
Another one, again a little bitscraggy looking in terms of
growth, but ktoniaster canubiawill be seen as large shrub,
smoke stroke, small tree, butagain it has seasons of interest
.
So you have this dark,evergreen foliage flower early
(31:06):
in the year and then a mass ofberries.
So in terms of berries it justgives you a huge, huge covering
of berries.
So again, a kind of aninteresting one at certain times
of the year.
Erica carnia, definitely overyou used, say, 20 years ago, and
as a result people are kind ofsick of them and and don't put
them in.
But at that time the ericacarnia, which is the, the winter
(31:30):
flowering header, they wereplanted in blocks.
So you'd get a you know flowerbed and you'd have all along the
front of it be erica carnies,and then they don't do anything
with them, they grow into oneanother and then they turn woody
and that's the.
That's the memory that peoplehave of them for at the moment
is that they remember this bigwoody um on thames plant that
(31:54):
just looks horrible at the frontof a bed.
They do have a lifespan andthis is, you know, part of the
problem.
They were probably planted toomuch, a little bit like what's
happening maybe at the momentwith hydrangea annabelle.
But they, if they're used, notnecessarily in blocks, as
singles, and they're kepttrimmed and they kept, you know,
(32:15):
relatively small, kept fresh,they're fantastic for early
season pollinators.
They're a beautiful flower,really beautiful flower, and
they really will pop in a in abed when nothing else is or when
not much else is flowering.
So they're worth the place.
But again, a little bit out offashion at the moment fatsias is
(32:36):
another great one, brilliant ina pot, interesting leaves,
interesting flowers, good.
One another kind ofold-fashioned one is hypericum
brilliant, really brilliant,bright yellow flower can be used
as a hedge as well.
So planted tied together as ahedge, not typically a hedging
(32:56):
plant, but can make a reallygood hedge and that yellow
flower is, you know, can be justa wall of yellow when, when,
when you get it right.
And spireas, again overlooked,a little bit deciduous most of
them, and again a lot ofdifferent colored leaves, so
nice yellow leaves, pinkishleaves and various colored
(33:17):
flowers as well again will beseen, a little bit old-fashioned
but quite good, and there'scertain varieties there that are
really good.
Camellia probably should havegot into the list, to be fair,
because it's fantastic.
You know the, the amount ofcamellias that have just
fantastic flowers at.
You know, a time at the,especially the earlier part of
(33:38):
the year, they look reallyreally good they're, you know
they're.
They're a solid, solid plantand and probably you know would,
will be, will be appreciated inmost gardens.
They're brilliant in pots aswell, so you know you can grow
them quite comfortably in pots.
Um, magnolias, I guess as well,could potentially be on the
(33:59):
list.
Then the likes of pyracanta,really good, struggling a bit
with blight at the moment, soyou know you have to watch for
that, but there they can bebrilliant as well.
So there's loads potentially,but I suppose the overriding
idea here was to not to overlookflowering shrubs.
There's, there's so much choiceout there, the, the list is
(34:22):
endless.
You could have hundreds,hundreds of really solid
performers, but it's interestingthat the, the best gardens
always have some of thesefeatured through the gardens.
You know they're.
They're adding this color when,when nothing else, when nothing
else looks good, or they'readding a structure to the
(34:43):
borders and they're just thesupport for the likes of the
perennials.
So perennials will do theirthing at that perennial time,
but these, particularly the onesthat you know, give you the
early season flower.
They're really well worth theirplace.
They're structurally.
Then you have loads other onesthat you could mention aurelias,
and you know all those typethat will add structure within
(35:05):
beds.
So, as I say, not not tooverlook that kind of section of
plants.
As I mentioned earlier.
Great to hear from somelisteners last week and a couple
of questions coming in, butagain, keep sending those
messages.
Info at mastermygardencom.
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You'll find me on TikTok.
(35:25):
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Send me messages there.
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(35:48):
terms of videos, instructionalvideos, how to videos, and so on
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But at the moment I just putthe podcast up there.
So please go subscribe onYouTube and, yeah, as I say,
keep getting in touch.
It's great to hear from people,and next couple of episodes, or
over the next few weeks,there's episodes which are
featuring listeners' questions.
So that's been this week'sepisode.
(36:08):
Thanks for listening and untilthe next time, happy gardening,
thank you.
how's it going, everybody, and welcome to
episode 281 of master, my gardenpodcasts.
Now, this week's episode, we'relooking at the subject of
flowering shrubs and I'm goingto go through a list of the 10
top flowering shrubs.
Well, a list of 10 greatflowering shrubs and let's not
call them top, because you knowthat's people's opinions,
(00:35):
situations, gardens and so on.
But the reason I wanted tocover this was obviously
perennial borders over the lastfew years have become, you know,
they're all the go and they'reabsolutely fantastic.
But I think, within the contextof that and when you see a lot
(00:56):
of the gardens that are beingcreated now, the flowering shrub
is getting kind of overlooked alittle bit and maybe
underutilized, underused.
And you know, even if youreference back to the episode a
couple of weeks back with TomCoward, he's talking about
Gravetide, manor and how theyhave these borders.
(01:17):
But they're underpinned withstrong shrub presence and what
shrubs give you, particularly inthe context of a perennial
border, is that they give yousomething that's it's going to
give you well, number one it'sgoing to give you flowering at
different times of the year, butit's also going to give you a
bit of structure, something,something more permanent than
(01:40):
perennials.
As you know, perennials theycome up in the springtime, nice
lush growth, and then theyflower.
Generally speaking, you'regoing to get start your
perennial border starting toflower in sort of may ish, maybe
a little bit earlier.
You tend to rely on things likebulbs for your colors prior to
that and then then it'llcontinue flowering through the
(02:01):
right choices of perennialsright through to the end of
October, type time, and shrubsflowering.
Shrubs, as I said, have kind ofgot overlooked a little bit and
what ends up happening is they,they get forgotten about and
then, because they're forgottenabout or because they're they're
(02:22):
less purchased, then you seeless of them in in garden
centers.
So it's good to kind of, it'sgood to kind of, you know,
remember them and try and notthink of them.
You know shrubs generally, tryand not forget about them.
There's, there's fantastic onesout there, like the list is
(02:43):
endless.
I'm going to talk about 10today, maybe some other notable
mentions, but and some of thesewould be considered, I guess,
old-fashioned in, you know, inin today's terms, but if you
think about it, there there's alot of shrubs and plants that go
through their phase in thelimelight and you know, just
(03:06):
even thinking back to.
You know, 15, 20 years ago, say, bottle brush was everywhere.
You couldn't go into a gardencenter without seeing beds and
beds of bottler in a lot ofgarden centers.
Now you'd do well to find one.
In fact I'd say you probablywouldn't in a lot of them.
And now I don't have anyproblems with that because I
wouldn't overly like them.
But the the point I'm making isthat various various plants have
(03:30):
their, have their period in thesun and you know, over the last
few years that has certainlybeen hydrangea, annabelle,
everybody's talking about it,it's in every garden center.
Fantastic flowering shrub,obviously, um, but there's
others and the the beauty of thecorrect choice is that these
(03:52):
are going to give you severalthings.
They're going to give youstructure within a bed.
Some of them will have multipleinterests in that they're
structurally quite nice, butobviously they have to flower.
But again, through true choiceyou'll get a lot of these to
flower, you know, when you justwon't have any flower in your
perennial border.
They can also be really, reallystrong standout statement
(04:16):
pieces, statement trees within aborder or at the edge of a bed,
and all of those.
You know they have so many, somany benefits from that point of
view.
Then there's some of them thatare, you know, hugely supportive
to biodiversity.
They're, you know, fantasticflowers.
They work well in differentsituations, so some, some like
(04:37):
full sun, some like shade, andthen there's categories of
plants that are just, you know,really really interesting, and
I'm going to go through a listhere.
I say some of these will be, intoday's terms, considered old
fashioned, but at the same time,this shouldn't be overlooked,
because they do have hugebenefit within the garden.
Before we get onto the list,it's, you know, it has been a
(04:58):
fantastic week, weather wise.
Back to, you know, really,really, really warm temperatures
, and growth is phenomenallystrong.
At the moment we've had, youknow, kind of moisture as well,
as last week we were talkingabout fluctuations in
temperatures and rain and so on,and this week we're talking
about, you know, quite hightemperatures, quite warm weather
(05:19):
, nice bells of sunshine, butalso a couple of showers here
and there and at night time,kind of, you know, really heavy
dews.
So there's moisture in theground, which means that there's
a phenomenal amount of growthand, you know, has been really,
really, really lush time ingardens.
You'll see that everything isreally growing strong and going
(05:40):
growing really well now and so,yeah, that that's kind of the
context of the week.
Every week it's kind ofinteresting to see how things
change and how quickly thingscan change.
But, yeah, at the moment we'reexperiencing what we would call
here almost a little mini heatwave and, yeah, it's really,
really welcome so to get intothe flowering shrubs.
(06:03):
As I say, some of these now aregoing to be seen as
old-fashioned, but they're,they're all beautiful, given
different periods of interestand, as I say, it's a list of 10
, some you'll agree with, someyou won't.
If you don't, um, good, I had acall out last week to say, um,
you know anyone that waslistening to the podcast to give
(06:25):
me a shout.
You know, let me know thatyou're there, send me an email,
send me a message, and I've gota good few people, actually a
couple of requests for for um,different episodes which I will
cover over the couple of weeks,over the next couple of weeks,
and lovely to hear from newlisteners, a couple of new
listeners this week who havejust got into the podcast
recently.
As I said, there'll be someepisodes featuring their
(06:47):
questions over the next coupleof weeks as well.
But, you know, let me know onyour list of flowering shrubs,
something that's not there, thatshould be there, anything
that's you know missing from thelist, or anything that in your
opinion, gee, why did you putthat in there, john?
That's, that's not a good shrub.
So, yeah, it's alwaysinteresting to hear these.
(07:08):
As I say, it's it's not a top10 because it's it's a list of
10 and it won't be for everyone.
Might suit your garden, mightsuit your situation, but it's
their 10 solid performers.
Each of them work their placein in most gardens.
So, to start off, I'm going tostart with one that is quite
(07:28):
popular at the moment, one thatis in a lot of garden centers.
It featured hugely at bloom ina lot of the show gardens and
it's corna cornus kusa.
So cornus, there's the.
The flowering their dogwoods.
Flowering dogwoods are thecolored stem dogwoods, the
colored ones.
They look nice in the wintertime.
(07:49):
Other than that, they're, andthey can look, you know, they
can look like a nice feature ifthey're block planted.
It kind of gives an interest, awinter interest, in terms of
color.
These bright reds are thesereally kind of vibrant, yellowy
type stems, but the floweringcornice, these are, these are,
(08:10):
you know, they're fantastic,they're absolutely got
absolutely gorgeous.
Actually, the flowers on themare technically not flowers, but
we won't get into that they're.
They're leaves or bracts assuch.
So, and the main one, and theone I'm going to mention here,
is cornus cusa.
It's just some brilliantvarieties out there.
Cornus cusa china girl is onethat you will see a lot of, the,
(08:33):
you know, the most popularnurseries in ireland and garden
centers in ireland stocking.
It's one that featured heavily,as I say, at bloom and, timing
wise, it it was lookingfantastic, really nice, strong,
you know, good, strong plantwill perform in most gardens,
again, an ideal type featureplant.
So if you have, you have, youknow, a, a bed that flows, and
(08:58):
maybe there's a focal point onthat bed, a corner or a standout
piece or at the back of a boardor a cornice.
Cousa, a china garland, canlook really really good,
especially over time when, whenthey've reached full size, they
can get up to, you know, kind ofthree meters by three and a
half meters in in height, soquite wide and quite tall.
(09:18):
So it's a large, it can be alarge shrub, but it's a
fantastic, beautiful, beautifulshrub, flowering shrub, although
technically not flowering, but,as I say, we won't worry too
much about that it.
It flowers in may and june andhence the reason why it's have
featured so heavily at bloom,but it is definitely one one.
(09:40):
For the moment I don't have one, but I do.
I I will be getting on a newbed or a bed that's been
revamped.
I guess over the next couple ofmonths that there's definitely
going to be a big, a bigcarnoscusa going in there.
So carnoscusa, and there'sloads of others carnosmas,
there's loads of loads of reallygood flowering ones and if, as
(10:03):
I say, a lot of the nurseriesand will have them, and they'll
have them at this time of theyear and you'll see them at this
time of the year in flower, youknow.
So that's kind of a good gauge.
But you know, any of these youcan get them at any stage of the
year and then have them readyto to come out in your garden at
the appropriate time next year.
So number two on the list isdefinitely one that's going to
(10:25):
be seen as a little bit oldfashioned, and it's fuchsia.
So fuchsias in Ireland there's,you know, there's parts of the
country where they kind of runwild along hedges and so on, and
then years ago you would havehad certain certain varieties
that would have been planted.
They get very.
(10:45):
They can get very, very big.
But the one thing aboutfuchsias doesn't matter what
variety or which size.
So you have like the big bushvarieties that really can get
very, very big, up to two, three, four meters tall, and there is
ones that can be kind of grownas hedges and they have their
place as well.
But generally speaking, theflowers are really really
(11:08):
interesting.
So they have these flowers thathang down I'm sure mostly you
know them, flowers that hangdown with these really long
stamens that come out of themand they're just a really
interesting flower and they'reso intricate and there's a
mountain of varieties, likethousands of varieties.
You can get them as as beddingfuchsias, which again have a
(11:28):
really interesting flower, thesame type of flower that I'm
talking about here.
But in terms of the shrub orthe hardier varieties, there's
some phenomenal ones.
The best ones for for a gardensituation are the kind of
shrubby varieties, somethinglike a tomtom, which grows
really really small, istypically fairly hardy.
They they won't take a reallydeep frost but they're fairly
(11:52):
hardy for most of the time formost of the country in ireland,
but they're just a really andagain, I acknowledge that this
would certainly be seen by a lotof gardeners as old-fashioned,
but in terms of a flower,there's there's very few
flowering shrubs that haveflowers that are as interesting
as this.
(12:12):
They don't have any valuenecessarily for pollinators.
They typically are not scented,typically, um, but generally
speaking they're.
They're a fantastic lookingflower and something that you
know is really interesting.
Hardy will grow in most places.
The range of colors aretypically you can have white,
(12:32):
pink purple and there's severallike maybe six different shades
of pink purple that you can get.
So it's always a mixture ofthose, but they're really,
really interesting flowers.
They flower, typically speak inaugust, september, even into
october, and then there's a hugevariety of sizes available.
So, as I said, it can get up toreally big bushy plants like
(12:54):
three meters tall, but the likesof tomtom that I mentioned,
that will stay at kind of 40centimeters in a nice little
small shape, relatively hardy,but has that nice feature of a
flower, and it's just aninteresting flower and something
that's, you know, kind ofdifferent to what you'll see at
the moment.
As I say, potentially see mightbe seen as a little bit
old-fashioned but but reallyreally nice from a bed and plant
(13:17):
perspective.
I know you can get them as bedand plants, but from a bed and
plant perspective they'rebrilliant.
And hanging baskets, becauseyou know the flower hangs down,
as I said.
So you don't necessarily getthe full beauty of it while
looking down at it, as it'sfacing downwards as well.
But when you put it into ahanging basket or a window box
(13:38):
that's up higher than the eyelevel and you're looking upwards
at it, then you get the truebeauty of the flower and that.
That that is.
You know they're a fascinatinglooking flower.
So, yeah, fuchsia, number two,and again I think that one might
a lot of people might thinkthat that shouldn't be on the
list, but it is a really goodone.
Another one that is, in myopinion, severely underused in
(14:02):
these days.
If you went back, I would say30 years ago there was hardly a
garden that didn't have aforsythia in it.
Um, nowadays they're seen asold-fashioned, they are a little
bit scraggly looking, so theydon't suit.
You know, people look at themas untidy.
Um, but they, they are afantastic flower and they're
(14:23):
giving you a flower, kind ofbefore the rest of your, your
garden, starts to flower, andthat's why I think they they can
be really, really beneficial.
Again, I would view it a littlebit like the cornice.
I would view it as somethingthat stands on its own.
You don't block plant thesenecessarily.
It stands on its own in aparticular spot.
You allow it to take up thatlime light at that time of the
(14:45):
year.
Uh, it can get big, so theygenerally can get, you know, two
meters, three meters.
They're quite woody, looking onthe stems, so that they're not
a compact, tidy looking plantnecessarily.
But when that's in full flowerin March, april time, they
really do put on a show thatvibrant yellow.
(15:09):
A brilliant variety is onecalled Beatrix Farland.
It's difficult enough to get inIreland there is some garden
centers throughout, nurserieswith them, but you won't see it
everywhere and it's one thatwill go go to two or three
meters tall.
But when that stands on its ownin a particular spot that you
can see and that you know drawsyour eye to it, you will see a
(15:30):
mass of yellow at that time ofthe year and it will be in
contrast to a lot of what elseis going on in your garden,
especially if we get a reallycold spring when things are just
not, you know, waking up theway they normally would, and
then you just get this mass ofvibrant yellow flowers and for
that reason I think it's a it's.
It's one that's, you know,really worth having in in most
(15:51):
gardens.
Then on to the next one.
Again, it's this one now isit's going to be liked and
available in in most gardencenters at certain times of the
year, and it's Daphne, andthere's a load of different
varieties and they really do,you know, they really do stand
(16:17):
up and again, they're giving youflour when nothing else is
really flowering.
So Daphne will flower,depending on variety, january,
february, march, april,potentially into May.
So at that period of time whereeverything else is looking
fairly grim, except for a fewbulbs, different bulbs here and
there, you can have the likes ofa daphne in flower, and that,
(16:39):
that, for me, is is a huge, is ahuge win.
And this is where mixing thelikes of these through your
perennial border gives yousomething different.
So your perennial borderobviously prime the whole way
through the summer and and intothe autumn.
But in those winter months, youknow, so november, december,
january, february, march, april,those months can be quite bleak
(17:01):
.
Looking at a perennial borderand these, the likes of these
shrubs just give you somethingto catch your eye, a bit of
color, a bit of vibrancy at thattime of year, and that's why,
why they win.
There is a lot of varieties, um,probably one of the best ones
is merizium ruba.
Um, it's very good one.
(17:21):
Again, it's size wise, not nottoo big.
We'll go to 1.2, 1.5 meters andthat's you know, brilliant,
brilliant plant.
There's loads of otherdaphanies.
You can get them reallyminiature, like that will grow
up to 40, 40 centimeters andthen bigger again, up to two,
three meters.
Different daphnies will suitdifferent situations, but
(17:42):
they're all giving you that kindof really early season
flowering and for that reasonthey're again worth having in
your garden.
Number five is one that's youknow probably nobody's going to
disagree with too much on thelist.
It's hydrangea, but hydrangeabeniculata, and there is again a
lot of varieties here, reallygood ones, limelight.
(18:05):
There's the one that's kind ofrecognizable by its its name
pinky, winky.
But they're all very, very good, very, very good, very prolific
flowers and quite strong whenplanted in blocks together.
So if you have them down alonga walkway on either side,
(18:26):
they're tall, going, you know,two, two to three and a bit
meters and they kind of havearching foliage with art, with
flowers on them.
So, again, as I say, on bothsides of a walkway you can have
these kind of flowers that arekind of leading you down a
walkway or a driveway orsomething like that.
(18:46):
They're fantastic, they, theyget really big, they flower
prolifically and they'reflowering again while your
perennial border is kind of atits peak.
This is when you'll have these,but they are such a standout on
their own and they typicallythey're not going to be ones
that you will typically put intoyour, say, perennial border,
(19:07):
but they're ones that you willuse as a block planting or a
feature to draw you throughthrough an area, um, ideal,
along you know, certain paths oror things like that, through
your garden.
And what a brilliant onehydrangea paniculata and
recommended variety limelight,which is quite commonly got the
(19:27):
really white, vibrant flowersthat typically can have a pink
hue, um, towards the, towardsthe start and towards the end of
it.
But they're beautiful, reallybig flower, stand out, a
standout plant.
And the next one, again, I'mgoing for one that's going to
give you this kind of this early, this really early flower,
(19:49):
because I think these are, as Isay, they're going to give you
that interest when there's notmuch else giving that interest.
And this one is is quite wellknown.
It's Hamamelis mollus and witchhazel commonly known as.
There's some brilliantvarieties of it, and palida is
probably one of the best, butthe flowers themselves are
(20:12):
really really interesting.
So, like I said, with the TomTom or the fuchsias in general,
they have really reallyinteresting flowers and flowers
that you don't really see on it,on that are, you know, don't
have a similar flower toanything else, and I think that
that kind of makes it a standout, makes it a little bit of an
interest, and that's why they,they, you'll see a lot of them
at that time of the year.
(20:32):
So the flower really, reallyearly, you're going to get
flowers from them in sort ofJanuary, february, march, that
sort of time frame, depending onwhere you're living and
depending on what variety youhave as well.
But they're going to be reallyunusual, really nice at that
time of the year and they'rehardy, will grow in most areas,
(20:54):
like most situations.
Just a brilliant, reliableflower situations.
Just a brilliant, reliableflower.
When you get them in the earlyyears they're small and maybe
then the flowers don't lastoverly long and the flowers
themselves are kind of delicate,almost spidery like looking,
and in those early years theycan be a little bit
underwhelming.
But when they fully form, whenthey get big, when they, when
(21:23):
they create a, you know asubstantial, large shrub, then
that flower becomes way, waymore interesting and quite
stunning at that time of theyear, especially nice on a
frosty morning where you get,you know, the white ground, and
then this, this flower just justpops it, you know, really
really does stand out.
So that's a really good one.
And you can see, here there'skind of a team, I guess, where I
am kind of stitching in a lotof winter and early spring color
(21:47):
here.
So that was number six on thelist.
Number seven on the list isagain flowering this period.
This one will definitely be seenas old fashioned to a certain
extent and it's Mahonia, sothere's loads of them.
Mahonia media charity isprobably the most well known,
(22:09):
but again it has a kind of aninterest from lots of
perspectives.
Now these can get very bigdepending on what variety you
get.
So you can get them again inminiature varieties that will
only grow maybe two to threefoot tall or, you know, up to a
meter tall, but you can also getreally, really big ones that
are going to grow kind of three,four meters tall, maybe a meter
(22:30):
and a half to two in width.
So really big, big, solidshrubs, large shrubs, and so
they do need a bit of a space.
They prefer to be in in shade,but they will do really well in
in sun as well.
But the one thing they do likeis moist, humus, humus, rich
(22:54):
soil.
If they don't have, if theyhave that, but they don't have
good drainage, then they don'ttend to do well.
So you want to have gooddrainage, but humus, humus, rich
soil, so make sure you'remulching around them quite a lot
.
But that's a brilliant one.
It's the in terms of flowering.
It's yellow and yellow, onlyyou don't get anything else.
But again, the flower is quitebig and it's flowering at a time
(23:18):
of the year where you don'tyou're not getting you know
you're not getting much else byway of flower.
Lots of different varieties outthere.
With the correct varieties, youknow, or a mixture of varieties
, you could technically haveflower from November time right
through to the end of April,which is a really long period of
time generally speaking.
(23:39):
Any of the single varieties,they are quite long flowering as
well.
So you're going to get flowerover a couple of months, but
with a combination of a coupleof varieties the early ones,
some of the later ones you canhave flower for that long period
of time, which is really,really useful.
They are quite big, though.
The leaves themselves areinteresting looking not
particularly nice looking in myopinion, but they, but they, are
(24:00):
interesting looking.
You know, they look a littlebit um, what would you what were
their structural but notnecessarily a little bit, a
little bit untidy looking attimes.
The leaves themselves are big,they they look kind of spiky, um
, but in all in all, it's aplant that's well worth its
place because it gives you thishuge pop of yellow color,
(24:23):
especially as it matures, thishuge pop of yellow color, um, at
that early part of the year.
I've personally seen these witha mountain of of bees on them.
Um, people will debate whetherthey're any good for for early
season pollinators or not, but Ihave personally seen a quite a
(24:44):
big one, and it was.
It was in a back garden in atown and it was absolutely
teeming with bees.
Now it was probably february,march time.
It was quite a back garden in atown and it was absolutely
teeming with bees.
Now it was probably February,march time, it was quite a sunny
day, but it was alive with beeson a particular day and it was
really interesting to see thatbecause, you know, sometimes
people would say that they'renot necessarily useful for
(25:07):
pollinators, but that certainlywas attracting the interest on
that day.
So that's number seven on thelist, that's mahonia.
Number eight on the list ischysia ternata, a good one.
Aztec pearl is a good one.
It is again.
It's giving you the flower,kind of before your borders
would really kick off, and it'sapril, may, flowering, so it's a
(25:30):
really, really good one.
Nice, interesting leaves can bequite good in pots as well.
Size wise, again, you can getit different, different
varieties, but typicallyspeaking, you're going to be
able to keep them nice.
You're going to stay nice andsmall if you're up to 1.5 meters
in height.
So they'll they'll be quitestrong in a bed, but not
(25:51):
dominant or not overtaking it.
So quite a good one, againgiving you that slightly earlier
flower.
So really, really, really goodone.
Don't have one myself in thegarden, but a really solid
performer.
Again would be somewhat kind ofan old style one, but again a
really, really interesting plantfrom a leaf perspective and
(26:14):
from a flowering perspective.
Number nine is wellrecognizable and it's buddleia
butterfly bush.
So there's, I suppose there's,loads of varieties of this.
It's known because butterfliesthrive, you know, really swarm
to it and you know, again, alittle bit like the, a little
(26:40):
bit like the forsythia, it canlook scraggy, you know, the
plant itself is not overly,overly nice looking, but you can
get really brilliant, reallybrilliant flowers on it.
Um, there's one called royalblushed.
That's a really deep purple,large cone shaped flower and
(27:00):
it's just, you know, when itgrows.
Well, when it's in full flowerit looks fantastic.
Now it is flowering.
You're quite late in the year.
It's going to be july, august,september's when you get your
flowering again.
Suitable, because that's whenthe butterflies, hopefully, will
be coming out.
Um, definitely less than thelast few years, by the way, but
there's, you know that that isthe time when we will, when we
(27:22):
will see them and they flock tothe likes of a buddleia.
Loads of varieties.
Again, it can be quite, cangrow quite big, but they can be
kept small as well.
But the royal blushed is areally, really nice one.
Number nine on the list then no, that's number nine, buddleia.
And number 10 on the list isprobably my favorite one on the
(27:43):
whole list and it'sphiladelphia's mock or
philadelphia's version of mockorange.
So the I have it in the garden.
I actually got it from mary andgash gardens and it's out of
any plant it has the mostdistinct smell.
It's it's a beautiful,beautiful perfumed plant.
(28:07):
The flowers it's flowering now.
So flowers kind of you'll.
You'll typically get itflowering sort of early june
right through to july doesn'tlast, that's how long actually
flowering, wise.
But the smell of it is justphenomenal.
It's not like you know, it's adifferent smell to, say, any
(28:27):
roses that you might have or anyother scented plants.
Really, it's kind of has asmell all to its own.
But on a, on a, on a reallywarm evening, if you're anywhere
near that, there's a kind of ascent in the air.
It kind of hangs in the airwhatever, whatever type of you
know smell it is.
It kind of hangs in the air andit's a really nice kind of deep
(28:49):
smell.
Um, the flower itself isbeautiful, quite small, but
there's loads of them.
So when you're looking at it asa, as a, you know as a farm
shrub, and it will grow to a bigshrub like this, going to get
to three meters, you know, threemeters tall, about a meter and
a half wide, so quite big.
But it will be a mass of whiteflowers and because there's so
(29:12):
many of these they're quite asmall flower, but because
there's so many of them on it itjust looks like a big mass of a
big mass of white.
And then the scent which is Iknow I've said it, but that
scent is really exceptional, andto have a kind of a seating
area anywhere near that to siton it on a warm evening and to
get that scent in the air, it'sjust phenomenal.
(29:35):
So that is probably of the 10that's my favorite.
It's just a phenomenal plant.
So, to just go through the listagain, we had a cornus cousa, we
had a fuchsia, tomtom againprobably seen as old-fashioned
forsythia, daphne, hydrangeapaniculata, had hamamelis,
mollusk and mahonia, charity,choisia, buddleia and and
(30:03):
philadelphus.
And if you have these in yourgarden along with your, your
perennials, you'll havesomething you're able to extend
your, your interest, across morethan the summer border.
I guess, other ones that areworth mentioning again.
Some of them would be seen aspotentially old-fashioned, but
(30:23):
the likes of katina, smoke, bush, just some fabulous varieties
of those.
Again, they featured a bit atbloom, the, you know they look
really well, timing wise,they're probably suited.
But the, the lovely, beautifulleaves on the plant as well, the
, you know that deep purple, youknow they're just, it's a
(30:45):
brilliant, brilliant one.
Um, doesn't make it into thelist necessarily, but one that's
kind of worth looking at.
Another one, again a little bitscraggy looking in terms of
growth, but ktoniaster canubiawill be seen as large shrub,
smoke stroke, small tree, butagain it has seasons of interest
.
So you have this dark,evergreen foliage flower early
(31:06):
in the year and then a mass ofberries.
So in terms of berries it justgives you a huge, huge covering
of berries.
So again, a kind of aninteresting one at certain times
of the year.
Erica carnia, definitely overyou used, say, 20 years ago, and
as a result people are kind ofsick of them and and don't put
them in.
But at that time the ericacarnia, which is the, the winter
(31:30):
flowering header, they wereplanted in blocks.
So you'd get a you know flowerbed and you'd have all along the
front of it be erica carnies,and then they don't do anything
with them, they grow into oneanother and then they turn woody
and that's the.
That's the memory that peoplehave of them for at the moment
is that they remember this bigwoody um on thames plant that
(31:54):
just looks horrible at the frontof a bed.
They do have a lifespan andthis is, you know, part of the
problem.
They were probably planted toomuch, a little bit like what's
happening maybe at the momentwith hydrangea annabelle.
But they, if they're used, notnecessarily in blocks, as
singles, and they're kepttrimmed and they kept, you know,
(32:15):
relatively small, kept fresh,they're fantastic for early
season pollinators.
They're a beautiful flower,really beautiful flower, and
they really will pop in a in abed when nothing else is or when
not much else is flowering.
So they're worth the place.
But again, a little bit out offashion at the moment fatsias is
(32:36):
another great one, brilliant ina pot, interesting leaves,
interesting flowers, good.
One another kind ofold-fashioned one is hypericum
brilliant, really brilliant,bright yellow flower can be used
as a hedge as well.
So planted tied together as ahedge, not typically a hedging
(32:56):
plant, but can make a reallygood hedge and that yellow
flower is, you know, can be justa wall of yellow when, when,
when you get it right.
And spireas, again overlooked,a little bit deciduous most of
them, and again a lot ofdifferent colored leaves, so
nice yellow leaves, pinkishleaves and various colored
(33:17):
flowers as well again will beseen, a little bit old-fashioned
but quite good, and there'scertain varieties there that are
really good.
Camellia probably should havegot into the list, to be fair,
because it's fantastic.
You know the, the amount ofcamellias that have just
fantastic flowers at.
You know, a time at the,especially the earlier part of
(33:38):
the year, they look reallyreally good they're, you know
they're.
They're a solid, solid plantand and probably you know would,
will be, will be appreciated inmost gardens.
They're brilliant in pots aswell, so you know you can grow
them quite comfortably in pots.
Um, magnolias, I guess as well,could potentially be on the
(33:59):
list.
Then the likes of pyracanta,really good, struggling a bit
with blight at the moment, soyou know you have to watch for
that, but there they can bebrilliant as well.
So there's loads potentially,but I suppose the overriding
idea here was to not to overlookflowering shrubs.
There's, there's so much choiceout there, the, the list is
(34:22):
endless.
You could have hundreds,hundreds of really solid
performers, but it's interestingthat the, the best gardens
always have some of thesefeatured through the gardens.
You know they're.
They're adding this color when,when nothing else, when nothing
else looks good, or they'readding a structure to the
(34:43):
borders and they're just thesupport for the likes of the
perennials.
So perennials will do theirthing at that perennial time,
but these, particularly the onesthat you know, give you the
early season flower.
They're really well worth theirplace.
They're structurally.
Then you have loads other onesthat you could mention aurelias,
and you know all those typethat will add structure within
(35:05):
beds.
So, as I say, not not tooverlook that kind of section of
plants.
As I mentioned earlier.
Great to hear from somelisteners last week and a couple
of questions coming in, butagain, keep sending those
messages.
Info at mastermygardencom.
You'll find me on Instagram.
You'll find me on TikTok.
(35:25):
I don't do a huge amount onsocial media, but that's, you
know.
Messages there.
Send me messages there.
That's where you'll find me.
I don't do a huge amount onsocial media, but that's your
messages there.
Send me messages there.
That's where you'll find me.
Also, I have been putting thepodcast up on YouTube.
It's just, you know, it'sanother place where people
listen to the podcast.
Now the plan is to sort ofstart doing more with YouTube in
(35:48):
terms of videos, instructionalvideos, how to videos, and so on
and so on.
But at the moment I just putthe podcast up there.
So please go subscribe onYouTube and, yeah, as I say,
keep getting in touch.
It's great to hear from people,and next couple of episodes, or
over the next few weeks,there's episodes which are
featuring listeners' questions.
So that's been this week'sepisode.
(36:08):
Thanks for listening and untilthe next time, happy gardening,
thank you.
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