SPOTLIGHT ON:

DWARF EDGING

You probably think dwarf edgings are only for formal gardens. Wrong. Oh, they’re essential for real formal features, teaming well with gravel paths, York stone paving and highly trimmed topiary.

Yet they’re equally at home in a cottage-style garden, providing soothing contrasts to potentially garish flower beds and providing much-needed support for over-ebullient plants that would otherwise flop over the grass or paths.

In a family garden, a low surrounding of pliable interwoven plants gives a first line of defence from footballs, dogs and kids.

Even in a tiny town plot a low dwarf edging acts as a space-saving partition that segregates salad beds or seating areas without casting shade or creating a hemmed-in feeling.

The other great misconception is cost. You could spend a fortune buying ready-trimmed baby box plants by the metre, but the cheaper answer is to start from scratch by taking cuttings. It won’t take half as long as you think.

If you don’t have a suitable mother plant, go to a garden centre and invest in just one nice bushy plant. Alternatively buy readyrooted youngsters and grow them on.

The favourite plant for compact evergreen edgings is dwarf box (Buxus sempervirens “Suffruticosa”) which can happily be kept as short as 4in to 6in. For a slightly different effect, compact varieties of lavender such as “Hidcote” make great flowering dwarf edgings, requiring clipping just once a year after their flowers are over.

Rosemary makes good edging for a veg or herb garden, or for something smaller use upright varieties of thyme.