GARDEN GURU

We recently moved to a Q bungalow with a southfacing front garden. The soil is heavy clay. What shrubs can we plant for all-year interest? Caroline Timiney

Before planting anything, A improve the ground by digging in plenty of garden compost or well-rotted manure. Among suitable shrubs are

Cornus alba ‘Elegantissima’ and Viburnum tinus ‘Gwenllian’. Choisya ‘Aztec Pearl’ has attractive evergreen leaves and scented flowers that appear in late spring, followed by another flush in late summer.

I have a £10 book voucher. Q Could you recommend a title that deals with the basics of gardening? I’m happy to spend more to get the right book. Doreen Roberts

There’s a great book by the A RHS called How To Garden When You’re New To Gardening that covers all the fundamentals. It’s £12.65 on Amazon.

I have a summer-flowering Q plant with ferny foliage and red flowers with yellow tips. I got it during first lockdown as a ‘pot-luck selection of dianthus’. Can you identify it? Ian Clark

A Your dianthus is actually a variety of Bidens ferulifolia, a short-lived tender perennial that grows to about 12in tall. Going by the wonderful common name of fern-leaved beggarticks, this native of Mexico is generally grown as a basket plant and disposed of at the end of the season. It might survive winter if you cover it with horticultural fleece during a cold snap.