Heap up the hebes

THERE is a hebe, or shrubby veronica, to suit almost every garden – and they’re versatile.

They can be planted in a border, used as weed suppressing ground cover, as flowering hedges or grown in pots on the patio.

All your garden needs to help them is a well-drained soil and lots of sun.

In warm sheltered spots you can plant the impressive Hebe Midsummer Beauty, which has bright green spearshaped leaves and narrow spikes of purple flowers reaching nearly 30cm.

Growing to just over 1.7m, it’s a great choice for the back of a sunny border or as a patio showpiece.

Hebe salicifolia is potentially even taller. Attractive to bees, it has willowlike leaves and puts on a spectacular display of long, white, lilac-tinted flower spikes all through summer.

Grown for its vibrant foliage is the compact and incredibly decorative evergreen Mrs Winder. It produces dark green summer leaves that turn purple, or almost bronze, in winter.

Cluster

Unlike many hebes its flowers, attractive clusters of violet-blue, appear intermittently from midsummer to mid-autumn. This longflowering plant is tolerant of pollution and salt-laden air and grows well in urban gardens or seaside locations.

Hebe Great Orme enjoys similar conditions and its rounded habit makes it a good choice for patio pots or as a low-growing hedge. It has dark purple shoots and large, pink flowers which fade to white.

A must-have for autumn borders is Autumn Glory, growing to around 60cm. Its red-edged leaves and striking spikes of purple flowers keep going through late summer and autumn.

Variegated hebes are most popular for tubs – the variety Amanda Hardy is hardier than most and has distinctive multi-coloured cream and green leaves flushed violet and pink.

Many dwarf hebes are ideal for alpine sinks and rock gardens. One of the best, Hebe buchananii Minor, form a neat hummock of tiny, leathery green leaves and white flowers.

Hebe cupressoides Boughton Dome is just 30cm tall and its tiny, scale-like grey-green leaves often mean it’s mistaken for a conifer. CATNIP is a useful mosquito deterrent – so plant some near your to rub favourite bench legs for on arms and keeping bites at bay. When moving the flowers to a vase, re-cut all stems on a slant and slit the end of woody stems to allow water uptake. Remove any leaves, thorns and small flowers that would end up under water. They will cause the water to cloud up.

Remove the stamens of all lilies because the pollen will stain fabrics. A spoonful of sugar or cut flower food will encourage a long vase life.