The perfoliate honeysuckle is a stem-twining, climbing shrub growing to a height of several metres. The light brown bark on the stem peels off in long, longitudinal strips. The twigs are slender and hollow, the buds opposite, ovate, with pointed tips. The long flowers appear at the end of May and emit a strong fragrance, especially in the evening. The red fruits ripen from August onwards and are soon dispersed by birds. Widespread mostly in southern Europe, it extends north to southern Germany and the warmer regions of Czechoslovakia, growing there at the edges of forests, in thickets and in open broadleaved woods.

It is a popular shrub in parks and gardens, where it is planted as an ornamental climber on archways, fences, pergolas and the walls of buildings.

Not only does it have lovely fragrant blossoms but also attractive red fruits. To bear a profusion of flowers, however, it requires a sunny and warm situation. It is readily propagated by means of seeds as well as by cuttings. It is hardier than the common honeysuckle (L. periclymenum). Crossed with the related species L. etrusca, it yielded the hybrid x L. americana with striking purple flowers.

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Borage is an annual herb native to southwestern Europe. Because its blue flowers attract bees it is widely cultivated in bee-keeping regions, especially in England and France, but also in other parts of Europe, where it often becomes naturalized. It grows to a height of 60 cm (2 ft) and the young hairy leaves have a cucumber-like flavour.

Its use as a herb actually came about by fraud, for in the days of the Roman Empire the poor used it in place of the costly saffron, a practice that continues to this day. It deserves to be forgiven, however, for its lovely colouring, called calendulin, is used as colouring matter not only in butter and cheese but also in soups, sauces and pastries.

The ancient Romans prepared mustard from seeds that had first been soaked in water and then crushed and boiled. According to another recipe the seeds were ground and then blended together with honey and oil. Caper is a prickly shrub with long, trailing branches growing on rocks and walls in the warmest regions of Europe and Africa bordering the Mediterranean since time immemorial. It was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, but both Dioscoricles and Galenos warned against the effects caused by eating the buds. In this they were wrong, however, for the buds are not poisonous and nowadays are used as an excellent flavouring for foods.

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Virgin’s bower is a climbing shrub growing to a height of only 3-4 m. The leaf stalks are twining and support the plant on fences and the stems of other woody plants. The bluish to reddish purple flowers appear in the axils of the leaves on stalks about 10 cm long from June to September. The sepals are petal-like. The seed-like achenes lack the feathery plumes characteristic of other clematis and ripen from August onwards.

The buds, unlike those of other alders, are stalkless, pointed, and coloured greenish brown. The catkins appear together with the leaves in April to May. The cone-like fruit is only 1 cm long and is a paler colour and less woody than that of the common alder. The small-winged fruits are yellow-brown and resemble those of the birch.

Mistletoe is an evergreen shrub with forked branches that is parasitic on trees. The stem is covered with yellow-green bark. The shrub grows to a height of about 50 cm and is almost circular in shape. It establishes itself on the branches of trees, which it penetrates with its roots, thereby obtaining the water and mineral substances it needs for growth.

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Onion cooked in salt water was the chief food of the poorest peoples of central Asia, Asia Minor and the Mediterranean region in days of old. It was also the mainstay of the diet of Egyptian labourers, who built the ancient pyramids in the third millennium B.C.

The outermost skin gives the bulb its colour, which varies, depending on the variety, from silvery white, white to dark brown, red and violet. It also protects the bulb from drying out and therefore should not be removed during storage.

The Welsh onion has a milder flavour than the common onion. Unlike the latter, which is grown as a biennial, it is hardy and perennial. Another advantage is that the small elongated bulbs grow in clusters as part of one single bulb which breaks up into several smaller onions as it grows.

The onion’s metamorphosis from a vegetable into a seasoning is also apparent in recent years by its being available at shops in dried, finely-sliced form. This is used in the same way as fresh onion and is suitable for frying.

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Snowberry is a densely branched shrub 1-2 in in height. The twigs are slender, yellow-brown, with small, ovate, opposite buds. The small flowers appear in succession from June to August followed by white berries, which likewise ripen successively from August to October. This shrub is an important source of food for bees, providing them with nourishment in the summer months when most woody plants have already ceased flowering.

Among the latter also belong various aromatic, flavouring or colouring substances which make the spices what they are. These secondary metabolites are very diverse, and often distinguished by a pronounced aroma and flavour as well as important pharmacological properties. That is why many herbs used in cooking are also used in medicine. Typical substances found in herbs are first and foremost essential oils, bitter principles and tannins.

It is planted to form hedges, prevent erosion on steep banks and for its foliage and in non-fertile areas is valued because of its moderate requirements on soil fertility and moisture. It sprouts prolifically from stumps and also produces root suckers freely so that in parks it sometimes spreads to such an extent that it becomes a weed difficult to eradicate. It is readily propagated by means of cuttings and root suckers.

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Lilac is a large shrub or small tree growing to 6 m. The bark is grey-brown, a height of 2 breaking up into longitudinal strips that peel with age. The shoots are slender, upright and olive green; the ovate birds are covered by several scales. The highly fragrant flowers appear at the beginning of May.

The fruits ripen in September and remain on the bush until the spring of the following year. The capsules contain 2 winged seeds. This is a quick-growing shrub and produces stump and root suckers freely.

It is an important pioneer in the colonizing of logged areas or ones damaged by natural catastrophes. Its seeds are dispersed in such places mostly by birds of the thrush tribe, which are fond of the fruits. It is planted as an ornamental shrub in parks for its attractive flowers and red fruits; however, it requires greater soil moisture in such locations. Propagation is by hardwood cuttings and seeds.

The wayfaring tree is a shrub of upright habit, 1 to 4 m high. One-year shoots are straight, grey-felted, older twigs are yellow-brown. The buds are opposite, naked, white-felted. Leaf buds are the folded felted incipient leaves; flower buds, 2 cm across, are semi-spherical, borne at the tips of the shoots.

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If you are starting from scratch you should plan the location of items such as the greenhouse, tool shed, oil tank, coal or log storage, compost and rubbish bins, so that some sort of amalgamation is achieved, rather than an ever increasing number of small structures dotted around the site.

A greenhouse naturally needs full sun, good access to it and preferably a hard surface area around it, as it soon becomes another centre of activity within the garden. if you can combine it with or site it next to the tool shed, or any other necessary small structure, so much the better. When wrongly sited, greenhouses can dominate the whole garden and, despite recent attempts to improve their appearance, they are seldom handsome structures. If the greenhouse cannot be a lean-to or an extension of the house, try to site the freestanding building, running east to west, to one side of the main view.

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Even in the smallest garden a wide range of microclimatic conditions exists. These can be used to control the amount of sunlight, water and wind coming into contact with plants, which determines their health. For instance, the way plants are grouped creates a microclimate, since the proximity of one plant may reduce the water, sun and wind received by its neighbour.

While in a hot climate a patio should be sited to catch a cooling breeze, in more exposed areas it should offer shelter from the wind. Design can be as basic as this.

Before ordering new plants or making changes in the layout of your garden consider the fundamental climatic conditions of your region, any significant local differences, and finally your garden’s own microclimate: that is, the small variations within the overall climate particular to your own garden, caused by the shade or protection given by a neighbouring building or a group of trees, for example.

The incidence of frost will be less under overhanging trees and covering the ground with materials such as straw or sacking will also help to reduce night-time heat loss. A free flow of air, ensuring that cooled air gets whipped away by the wind before its temperature drops too far, prevents the formation of frost pockets.

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The factors that most influence the ways in which a plant develops in a garden are the plant’s hardiness, and the site and the aspect of the garden – that is, the amount of shade and the possibility of physical damage by wind if no support is provided.

A plant’s hardiness is possibly the most important of the three, and it is judged not just by the plant’s ability to withstand winter cold but also the degree to which it might be damaged by Spring frosts.

If you are planning an island bed – that is, one surrounded by lawn – make sure that the largest plants are in the middle, with the smallest ones all around the edges.

All these factors affect the amount of time a plant is exposed to levels of cold that can cause damage to the stem, foliage or, less often, the roots. In the directory each entry includes a minimum temperature that can be tolerated by any plant. If a plant is particularly prone to damage by spring frosts – as are hydrangeas and pieris.

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Colours can be used as garden features in their own right – edging a path with the blue and grey of catmint (Nepeta) or a rose border with the yellow-green of Alchemilla moths (lady’s mantle) are good examples.

The overall shape and form of every plant must be taken into account. for they will largely determine the final effect of the planting, particularly the way it appears in winter. Height and spread can be used to advantage when you want to provide sentinel effects in borders or to highlight a gateway or path.

The ultimate size and shape of all mature plants can be predicted with sonic. accuracy. These dimensions may be reached within one or two years, as with perennials such as Acanthus spinosus (bear’s breeches), or it may be many years or even generations before a plant reach- * es its maximum height and spread. The beautiful blue cedar, Cedrus libani ssp. atlantica ‘Clauca Pendula’, for example, will take generations to achieve its full height and spread, but it will need the space in which it can grow and develop.

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