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Whatever the type of pot, it is usually better to place it in a more decorative outer pot cover to improve the general appearance.

Growing plants in a group. These to my mind are by far the best purchase, as there is little doubt that plants do very much better if grown in the company of other plants. When taking my first steps, as it were, into the mysteries of growing pot plants a hardened old nurseryman once informed me t hat his plants did very much better when grown in a group. At the time I suppose an amused smile creased my face, but since then the sight of poorly plants making an indifferent job of growing in splendid isolation has given me cause to recall his remark with less amusement.

Grouped together plants create a certain amount of humidity and feeling around one another, and this is a very important requirement in hot and dry room conditions. In the greenhouse we can combat the dry atmosphere created by the heating pipes by frequent damping of the area around the plants, and by wetting the ground beneath the staging and the pathways as frequently as possible.

This damping down operation may take place several times daily, vet it may not be necessary to water the compost in which the plants are actually growing. If the compost is watered each time the greenhouse is damped down the soil will become totally saturated, depriving the roots of oxygen, a condition which few plants can tolerate for long.

The result was startling. Some two years later the previously delicate plants had grown apace and, in fact, no plant had so much as lost a leaf in spite of the very close planting. These dieffenbachias went on growing and in time reached their maximum height of some 3 ft. 6 in.

Thereafter they produced young plants at the base of the parent stem and the original plant gradually deteriorated, which is common to all the dieffenbachias that are likely to he grown in a pot.

People fortunate enough to inherit a garden which includes mature specimens of this genus should be thankful at being so singularly blessed, for the yew is an ornamental evergreen of great worth. In the woodland near my home they seed themselves under oak and birch, seeming to like the shade which few trees do. in the open they make a dark background for the gaily flowered deciduous shrubs. As a hedge its value has already been noted in the chapter on hedges.

However, enthusiasm should be tempered with discreet understanding for there are climbers which love to be baked into brilliance of flower by hot sun, whereas others must be soothed by moist shade. Some climbers, of which ,,Actinidia chinensis and Polygonum baldschuanicum are prime examples, will swallow a house completely so quickly do they grow. Others like wisteria or clematis must be carefully pruned and trained, or the gardener is left to contemplate a naked expanse of stem.

Some climbers like ivy need no support other than that provided by their aerial roots whereas others, as for example the climbing roses, need tying in with string, plastic ribbon, webbing or a similar artificial aid. I always use a soft string which will not chafe even the most tender bark and, which is perhaps more important, it will rot after a year or two.

When indestructible material is used I grow careless about the annual inspection to ensure the stem is not being constricted by the tie. All wall plants must be looked over at least twice a year to make certain the stems are not being chafed or strangled by the supporting media. I could till a book with a selection of climbing and wall plants but as before will restrict the choice to those which have been proven in the crucible of the garden.

Climbers need not be confined to walls. Stumps of old trees, venerable apple or other fruit trees, chain-link fencing, indeed anything capable of supporting the extra weight can be pressed into service as a foster home to a clematis or rambler rose. The soil improvement is just as necessary in each case.

ChamaeCyparis, cupressocyparis, juniperus. and thuja all root readily from cuttings taken in September or in the case of cupressocyparis in February. I use a 1 peat, 2 sand mixture, and leave the cuttings in the frame until really well rooted before potting them up, or lining them out. Picca, though not quite so easy, will root a modest percentage in the same medium taken in September. Taxus arc slow but will eventually develop roots from semi-mature terminal shoots which are 3 in. long and just firming at the base

Most gardeners, especially those with a well-stocked garden do not want an endless series of young plants cluttering up the limited garden space. So far as most plants are concerned, layering is the easiest, surest and most labour-saving way of all to get vigorous young stock. So readily do some plants respond that wherever w’branch touches the ground it roots.

Within ‘eight to ten weeks in most cases roots will be seen spreading into the moss, and the new rooted portion can be cut away from the parent plant. I plunge all cuttings made like this into a compost of 1 loam, 1 peat, 1 sand, made up in a heavily shaded frame where there is no risk of them becoming dry until the white water roots establish themselves into a system capable of supporting the plant.

Where only a few cuttings are required which do not justify the expense of a small propagating unit, a polythene bag and a 5-in. pot will provide an alternative. I use pumice or sand as the rooting medium, filling the pot to within i in. of the rim.

Where it is not possible to pull a branch down to soil level recourse may be made to the rather more difficult air-layering which has been brought within everyone’s compass by the invention of polythene. I use this form of propagation for acers, certain rhododendrons, in fact anything rather special which may be reluctant to root from cuttings. The operation is carried out in April on young, disease-free wood of the previous season’s growth.

Remove a leaf about 6 to 8 in. from the growing point. If it is any longer than this then the new plant, after it has been severed from the parent, will be difficult to reestablish.

I lift existing plantings just as growth is starting in the spring and then with a spade filed really sharp. indulge in a little precise surgery, which reduces one plant to several healthy pieces. Replanted in soil prepared with sharp sand they quickly establish themselves and make flowering-sized specimens by the summer.

The cambium is a thin layer of tissue composed during the growing season of actively dividing cells. Only these cells of both the scion and rootstock are capable of joining one to the other into an indissoluble whole.

A quick flick with the knife blade is usually enough to free this sliver of wood but as with roses make sure the bud is not sent flying at the same time.

A sliver of wood will be left behind the bud and this can be removed by bending it backwards and sideways. It is important to check that the core of the bud is not taken as well or the shell is useless. Open the T cut with the flattened end of the budding knife, slide the bud into position, trim the top level and the two flaps of bark should neatly embrace the shield.

Splice grafting is the same only without the tongue and I use it on soft-wooded clematis. Saddle grafting is used frequently for rhododendrons. R. ponticum stocks are grown on in pots on a warm bench for twelve months before working. At the appropriate season, as the sap lifts, make two slanting cuts on the scion in an upward direction to leave an inverted V like an old fashioned clothes peg.

Any suckers which appear, as they inevitably seem to, should be removed before they make too much growth. All the available food will be sent up to the terminal buds of the plant so that by October the snag of old wood to which the shoot was tied can be cut away.

The rootstocks for crataegus, sorbus, laburnum, and many other trees can be raised so easily from berries gathered from fields and woodland that budding and grafting offer a cheap, albeit fascinating, method of furnishing the garden.

I always buy the best tools which available funds permit, especially when it comes to secateurs and pruning saw, but the best is not always the most expensive. Find out which secateurs the nearest professional is using, then buy those. A good knife is something no eardener is ever without. I have one purchased many years ago which will give me a lifetime service.

The tools described will make up a modest collection and they will certainly be adequate to maintain the largest shrub border. To the basic outfit could be added a manure fork and shovel which would make the annual mulching of the border with manure or compost rather less of a labour.

The first rains of winter will soon discover any defects in the drainage. If water stands in puddles round the rose beds or on the lawns it may be that the existing drains are blocked or damaged.

An afternoon’s work with a set of jointed rods will clear most obstructions. In extreme cases a completely new system of land tiles must be laid. On clay these should be put down 30 to 36 in., covered with a layer of gravel, then by the excavated soil.

During prolonged wet weather a heavy crop of weeds may develop and an excursion with a broad-bladed hoe on the first bright sunny day is the best way to clear this particular nuisance. I choose the blade, then bend it in a vice until, when fitted with a handle, it sits flat in a working position while my`’–back back remains comfortably straight. I gave. up bending to push hoes many years ago.

Organic matter is broken down by the flora and fauna in the soil to leave a black residue known as humus which is immensely important to the health of the soil. Humus improves the water holding capacity and, at the same time, the drainage. By providing food for bacteria this black spongy substance assists in releasing suitable plant foods which otherwise would be unavailable, and stops them from being removed too rapidly by leaching.

Ignorance can sometimes be a blessing. For many years I grew Lithospermum diffusum without the slightest trouble. The cuttings rooted with vulgar alacrity and I honoured this beautiful shrub by poking a specimen of it in wherever space permitted.

In spring the mahonia is magnificent with racemes of rich yellow, sweetly scented flowers, followed by black berries and though evergreen some of the leaves turn scarlet. I am not sure if it is the root shade or the protection the underplanting affords, but both the kalmia and the garden are better served by the insertion of the mahonia. The other ground hugging mahonia, M. repens rotundifolia, will thrive in most soils except where drainage is bad. In the winter garden it will soon smother the bare earth. I grow it under Viburnum x bodnantense.

The growth of the Butcher’s Broom, Ruscus aculeatus, is closely packed, and the spine- tipped leaves appear highly polished as if they were varnished. Though extremely shade tolerant it resents a very wet acid soil, and berries sparsely in poor light conditions. Only once, in Northumberland, have I seen the bright red marble fruits really thick on a bush which was sited on the west face of a low wall.

For me the appreciation of the beauties of Colchicum speciosum album was over shadowed by the thought of its unsightly leaves in spring until I used a Cotinus coggygria foliis purpureis as ground cover to the bulbs.

By judicious mixing of deciduous with evergreen shrubs, it is possible to achieve not only the most effective foliage contrasts but also reduce the labour required to maintain a border in good order to negligible proportions. But be warned! Unless the soil is in first-class before planting is begun only a very tatterdemalion-like effect will result. The smaller garden requires a sympathetically judicious use of weed-suppressing shrubs otherwise, if outrageously invasive plants are used, it quickly becomes a monoculture. A friend of mine once planted snowberry under laburnum and flowering crabs across the boundary to his garden. Eventually he gave up the struggle to keep the suckering roots of the symphoricarpos within bounds, and built a hen run on that piece of land instead.

From a plant with such a hardy constitution as the potentilla one would naturally expect additional virtues, and I have certainly taken liberties with this genus. So far the happiest marriage was when I used the Purple-leaved Sand Cherry, Prunus Crimson Dwarf (cistena) with Potentilla Longacre. The first named grows 24 in. high, has bright purple leaves with pink flowers, and can be hard clipped. The potentilla Tows 18 in. high and has yellow flowers throughout summer and autumn. The resulting thicket rermits no weeds to grow and is altogether Dvely. I have no doubt there are other shrubby cinquefoils which could be substituted for the variety Longacre. In my own experience beanii, Elizabeth and fruticosa mandshurica (glabra mandshurica) show a similar weed smother aptitude.