Any shrub border would be incomplete unless it included one member of this family of evergreens. The greatest problem I have to contend with is which of the varieties to omit. Any soil with even a tentative protestation to fertility will support escallonia. On this day, with suitable encouragement, they are a valuable addition to the shades of summer and early autumn. In Cornwall and other coastal areas they make grand flowering hedges which are trimmed as required to keep them within bounds but with a view to gaining the maximum amount of flower. Cuttings taken in July – August root readily.

Apple Blossom is a dainty hybrid growing 6 ft. high with pink and white flowers and it is lovely when grown with pale blue Connecticut Yankees delphiniums. Donard Beauty is 4 ft. high and exceedingly free with its rose-red flowers over many weeks. Escallonia x edinensis, an old hybrid, grows 6 ft. tall in this garden and has bright pink flowers from early June until autumn.

Erica vagans, the Cornish Heath, makes a dwarf shrublet which is in colour during the period July – October. Of the varieties available kevernensis is rose pink; Lyonesse, a splendid white flower with protruding brown anthers: and Mrs D. F. Maxwell, a favourite of mine. with deep cerise blooms.

Ceanothus includes species with popular names redolent of romance – Californian Lilac, Jersey Tea, and Squaw Carpet. I find it a matter of great regret that not even with the deciduous species can I sit back and enjoy that rare delight of a shrub covered in blue flowers for no sooner do the ceanothus in my garden reach full size than along comes a really severe late frost to turn fresh green to black ruin.

There are some shrubs suitable for neither my soil nor climate which I still persist in trying to grow. Even now the sixth specimen of Carpenteriacalifornica ekes out a forlornly miserable existence in a corner under the south wall. In Devon, Birmingham, and Dolgellau, Merioneth, I have seen this beautiful evergreen 6 ft. high, smothered in pure white, goldenstamened flowers like drifted snow at the foot of a wall.

A. T. Johnson is an evergreen bush with a crop of blue flowers in spring followed by a repeat display in autumn. It is lovely in combination with chaenomeles. Ceanothus Autumnal Blue, as the name implies, flowers in late August through to September. Delight was splendid in my garden for 5 years, then was caught in growth by a late frost. The flowers, in long panicles, are dainty and a good crisp blue. This hybrid is generally one of the hardiest.

Aucuba japonica offers a shining example of vegetable good nature, because if ever a shrub was called upon to perform miracles the Spotted Laurel could certainly be so described. In the black grime of city cemeteries, their leaves thick with soot, they are condemned to a sunless well nigh airless existence, a picture of woe and neglect.

Again the long arching canes will reach 7 to 9 ft. and as they are not prone to suckering this bamboo will make a fine specimen plant for a lawn. A. nitida has purple-coloured canes and a rather neater foliage than murielae but is in other respects identical. Of all the bamboos this is the species I like the best.

Arundinaria nitida is readily as the arundirwias, a fact which causes regret as they are ver handsome, and do not spread all over the garden. Phyllostachys aurea, whose shoots are said to be edible, has pale cream canes but rather nondescript foliage. P. nigra grew wonderfully well in the gardens where I worked in Norfolk and Cornwall, possibly because it enjoys sunshine and a fairly dry root run.

Cornus alba has proved a worthy friend which when planted as a windbreak spreads, each branch rooting where it touches the ground, into a dense mass of shoots. For the connoisseur, C. alba sibirica, with brilliant scarlet shoots in winter, and less vigorous enthusiasm to colonise the whole garden, is better value.

CorylopSis spicata is taller and with me somewhat hardier than C. paucora. In appearance it is very like a hamamelis or hazel, the 5-in. spikes of yellow flowers are deliciously scented, opening mid-April. I planted one specimen near a flight of well-used steps and for 5 years it has given pleasure to all who pass by when it is in bloom.

Cornus florida, rarely condescends to vouchsafe more than a brief selection of the white petal-like bracts with which it delights all who see it growing wild in North America, although I am permitted to enjoy the rich autumn colouring. About 8 ft. is the most plants here have attained after 17 years.

These are delightful evergreen shrubs with handsome leaves and yellow flowers. They present an air of stern uncompromising endurance which I find strangely attractive. The species Mahonia aquifolium makes a useful low-growing ground cover under taller trees, especially cherries or acers. This does not inhibit the flowering in April.

Self-layered branches will always be found ready for lifting in autumn. M . a. undulata is perhaps lovelier, but at 6 ft. high too tall for ground cover. M. japonica is so much better than bealei and undulata that for the small garden it must be the first choice. The large clusters of pinnate leaves form a nest from which emerge racemes of pale yellow fragrant flowers, in some years during February, in others March.

As a shrub enthusiast there are certain plants I yearn to grow well, and I go to a lot of trouble to achieve these ambitions. Now after six years of endeavour, my 4-ft. high bush of Osmanthus delavayi has rewarded my efforts with a creditable show of white, perfumed flowers.

For two years I had a plant of Motherwort, Leonurus cardiaca, labelled Perovskia atriplicifolia and my confusion on discovering the mistake will stop me committing any further careless follies of similar magnitude. The beauty of the grey foliage, near white sterns, and subsequent lavender-blue flowers depends very much on the associate planting. Grown at the edge of a flagged path to intermingle with the purple-leaved Cotinus coggygria, the shrub achieves a certain distinction. A well-drained soil and position in full sun are two further essentials for success. Cuttings taken in June or July will root in a sun frame.

Once specimens are established, self-sown seedlings abound in the borders around them. Grow them with the old-fashioned roses, and enjoy the old world atmosphere they bring together with the rather herby fragrance. Paeonia delavayi makes a 6-ft. high bush on wet heavy clay. The deep crimson, yellowanthered flowers, rich with the odour of cinnamon, open from June until early August, and are followed by black-seeded fruits.

P. lutea is best represented in the form ludlowii which was introduced from Tibet by Kingdon Ward, and has golden saucer-shaped flowers measuring 3 in. across. A truly magnificent shrub. The Moutan Peony. correctly listed as P. suffruticosa, is available in a wide range of colours, but loveliest of all are the China pink forms.

In the light, airy room that affords a constant temperature throughout the year there is an endless range of plants to choose from which will soften and improve the surroundings.

All these sources of knowledge can, no doubt, solve many problems but, to my mind, the best way to learn about the everyday problems of plant growing is to be responsible for a plant display at any major flower show. There you will hear astonishing tales about success and failure, and some of the incredible things that can happen to a humble rubber plant or sansevieria.

My job takes me to many such flower shows, and requires me to answer a vast number of letters on the subject of indoor plants. Some letters are amusing, others quite sad; some concern premature loss of leaves while others are from perplexed householders who have room ceilings too low for rampant monstera plants.

The majority of flowering pot plants will do much better in the lighter and cooler hallway – certainly in these conditions they will remain in flower and give pleasure for a much longer period than in a stuffy room. Cyclamen, azaleas, hydrangeas and primulas would give an infinitely better account of themselves. In very hot conditions the cyclamen can prove to be extremely difficult, and azaleas will come into full flower and pass their best much more rapidly.

Plants grouped together are infinitely more effective than an equivalent number of plants plants growing indoors will be some way below perfection.

The smaller plant is the creeping fig, F. pumila which, as the common name suggests, creeps along the ground and is ideal for finishing off displays and arrangements. Really, the figs do play a most important part in our work and it is difficult to omit the tough almost to the point of being indestructible, but also because she is very useful for providing a display with a change of leaf form. Also, the greenish-yellow colouring is complementary to many of the other plants in the house plant range.

Although I have no particular preference, as a group of plants the Dracaena deremensis types have much to commend them; mostly grey and white in colour they invariably give one’s plant arrangements a touch of the exotic with their broad, boldly striped leaves.

The questioner wanted to know what my ten favourite house plants were. After thinking for a moment I gave him my answer, and it struck me that the plants mentioned were in fact my ten fivourite display plants – the ones without which I would feel rather lost in an exhibition hall or flower show marquee.

I have a warm regard for plants which grow easily, flower profusely, and yet can be bounds without resorting to extreme measures. Kerria japonica will send out long arching branches up to 6 ft. in height, or sometimes 8 ft. when given a sheltered place. Whether the soil is heavy acid clay, or shallow well-drained chalk they can be relied upon to spread a creditable – mantle of yellow over green polished branches.

One of the most erect forms I grow is Ilex aquirolium camelliaelblia. The smooth, dark green leaves are almost spineless, and when mature the berries are produced in abundance.

Flowers are produced from the leaf axils in February through to April and are a deep rich yellow and delicately fragrant. Pruning is restricted to cutting back each flowering shogt in April to within two buds of the base. Jasminum officina.

Madame Briot fortunately for the sanity of the gardening public has the good sense to be strictly female, berrying majestically with leaves which are margined and blotched with gold.

Potentillas are absolutely indispensable shrubs. Amongst their virtues is the ability to grow practically anywhere in any soil except dense shade or a weeping bog. I cherish the dozen or so specimens and varieties which grow here, and enjoy the flowers which open in succession from May until September. They look a little untidy after leaf fall, but this can be forgiven in a shrub so thoroughly worthwhile.

Pieris like rhododendrons are strongly adverse to any soil which contains even a hint of lime. Indeed, as one ericaceous enthusiast gardening on a neutral soil expressed it, even walking across his garden with a piece of chalk in his hand turned the pieris pale.

Given an acid woodland type soil they make densely foliaged evergreen shrubs which deck themselves with racemes of lily-of-the-valley flowers in early spring. In some species the flowers are insignificant compared to the brilliant colouring of the young growth. The young growths open scarlet, change to pink, then pale cream before eventually acquiring the more sombre green.