Jeremy Florence

Euonymus Japonicus is an excellent plant in your garden because it is evergreen. This means it will keep its leaves all year round, providing a nice green colour to your landscape during the winter. It also has attractive flowers and berries, making it a popular choice for home gardens. Several varieties of Euonymus Japonicus are available, so you can find one that best suits your needs.

Yew does well in containers and makes an ideal shrub for a formal display such as on either side of a front door. Additional watering is necessary in pots as the roots have much less soil to search for moisture.

The process of pruning Photinia Red Robin does not require any special tools or complicated methods. Simply, you cut away those parts that you do not need. You can follow these guidelines:

A single Red Robin will grow very happily in a large container. A diameter of 45cm or more is about right. Fill with either standard multi-purpose compost or a John Innes type loam.

Osmanthus × burkwoodii hedging is a lovely evergreen with fragrant, jasmine-like flowers. The aroma from Osmanthus × burkwoodii hedge plants travels a fair distance so they are ideal for planting near a house or patio. Also Consider: The full range of flowering evergreen hedges.

Lonicera nitida, often referred to as shrubby or evergreen honeysuckle, is a fast-growing, hardy evergreen hedge. It is a popular choice of hedge plant for a medium height evergreen hedge (up to about 2m). Its densely packed leaves, borne on long stems are tiny, so it forms a very dense hedge.

This plant grows slowly, but it can be invasive. Its dark green leaves are lustrous, and the black fruit is hidden beneath them, so it is not obvious as in other hollies. Use Japanese holly in foundation plantings, hedges, beds and borders, or formal gardens.

Whitebeam (Sorbus aria Magnifica) is a stunning deciduous tree that has a distinctive leaf colour and not often seen in modern gardens.  The large leaves are a dark green on the upper surface and the underside is covered in a white felt.

One of the most unusual poisonous Autumn berries is the berry of the Spindle shrub (Euonymus europaeus). It is thought to be highly toxic though there don't appear to be many recorded incidents. The berries contain toxic cardiac glycosides and alkaoloids.

Buxus sempervirens is a slow growing evergreen shrub or small tree, growing between 1 and 8 metres tall. The small (1.5 to 3cm long) green to yellow leathery dark to blackish green leaves depending on the season have a pungent smell, and are oval in shape but can differ depending on the variant.

Taxus Baccata hedge or English yew hedging has an average growth rate of around 30 - 40cm per annum and can be easily maintained at a height of 1 - 5m, so it's no wonder that this ever-popular hedging plant is great for bringing privacy to your outdoor area.

This shrub thrives in sunny weather and can tolerate periods of drought. It can also tolerate some shade, but when the shade is quite dense, it makes the plant more susceptible to diseases. In cold climates, the plant thrives in the full sun.

If Osmanthus is used as a hedge or other topiary form, it's advisable to prune it in June and September. It's a good idea to prune every year if the plant is used as a hedge or for topiary. Osmanthus burkwoodii is best pruned after flowering in May/June, so you can still enjoy the beautifully scented flowers.

During the first spring after planting, cut back all stems by about one-third to a half to encourage bushy growth. Once established, hedges will need trimming several times each season to keep neat, starting in late spring.