SHRUBS

›JAPANESE MAPLE Always graceful, the Japanese maple has a place in every garden. Slow-growing with many small varieties suitable for the tiniest of courtyards, this plant is celebrated for its beautiful foliage, sometimes finely dissected and providing some of the best autumn colours of all. Grow in sheltered, dappled shade. Height: 4–8m Conditions: Partial shade; acid to neutral soil

›MEL IANTHUS MA JOR (HONEY FLOWER) This evergreen shrub behaves like a perennial in our climate and will need winter protection in harsher areas. It has large blue-green serrated leaves, which look particularly beautiful after a rain shower. As you’d expect from its South African origins, it does like the sunshine, but it doesn’t like to dry out — it prefers a moisture-retentive soil. It’s not completely hardy so, depending on where you live, you might want to grow it in a container outdoors in the summer but overwinter it inside. Height: 1.5–2.5m Conditions: Sun; moist but well-drained soil