Trees and flowers for every month of the year
Great ideas for creating seamless colour and interest throughout all of the seasons…
January: The first colour will be coming through, with snowdrops and cyclamen in borders and shrubs such as Daphne odora, winter jasmine and wintersweet creating an elegant framework.
February: Crocuses and other early spring bulbs will be flowering now, as will hellebores and early violets. Witch hazel and winter heather helpfully provide nectar for the earliest bees.
March: Shrubs including forsythia, chaenomeles and camellias will be ablaze with colour, with daffodils and spring bedding bringing life back to borders, pots and baskets.
April: Delicate epimediums and bleeding hearts add a pop of colour to shady places, while cowslips are lovely in a spring wild lawn. Ceanothus will produce flowers as blue as the spring skies.
May: Things are really getting going, with biennials, alliums and tulips fighting for space with hardy geraniums and aquilegias. For shrubs, choose headily scented deutzia or rhododendrons.
June: The floral riot continues with roses, clematis, philadelphus and bright-red berberis such as ‘Cheal’s Scarlet’ adding a contrast. Salvias, sweet peas, poppies and lavender will be flowering, too.
July: Hollyhocks are getting into their stride now alongside achillea, rudbeckia and willowy Verbena bonariensis.
Bedding, sea holly, globe thistles and fuchsias will also be dazzling.
August: Dahlias in every conceivable shape, size and colour are the stars of this month, sharing space with potentilla, redhot pokers, asters and shrubs including hardy hibiscus and caryopteris.
September: Late echinaceas are still going early in the month, hardy plumbago, monarda, gladioli and sedum will last a little longer. Nurtured summer bedding should still be in flower, too.
October: Pink nerines brighten autumn alongside hesperantha, gauras and Michaelmas daisies. Callicarpa will be producing purple berries and cornus will be preparing their dazzling stems.
November: The changing colours are the stars of November’s show, but there are still border plants to enjoy, including chrysanths and the last alstroemerias, as well as berries on many shrubs.
December: The Christmas month has its profusion of holly berries. Frosted dead flowerheads of hydrangeas are stunning, shrubs including mahonia and Daphne will bring scent and colour.