Nick Hamilton explains why small is beautiful when blooms and leaves work to glorious effect
Spring is such a wonderful and inspirational time of year as the garden bursts forth from winter. Smaller spaces require smaller shrubs and although these may be more delicate, if you choose the right varieties, they can still pack a punch and there are some for every situation a more compact garden offers.
Mock orange or philadelphus
This has to be one of my favourites. Most varieties grow as wide as they are tall, making them unsuitable for a smaller garden, but there are several that fit the bill.
P. microphyllus has single white flowers and grows to 90x90cm (3x3ft), while the newer ‘Pearls of Perfume’ boasts double white flowers and columnar habit, growing up to 1.2m (4ft) and only spreading 60cm (2ft).
Another taller but also columnar variety is P. lemonei ‘Erectus’, again with white flowers but this one reached 1.2-1.8m (4-6ft). They all have very sweetly scented flowers for you to enjoy and all can be grown in a container, in sun or semi-shade.
Gardening on alkaline clay, but still wanting to grow heathers, I focus on those varieties that are lime tolerant.
Erica x darleyensis types are such plants and I have the variety ‘George Rendall’ growing happily in my limestone pavement at Barnsdale. The purple-pink flowers on this small evergreen shrub begin in autumn and flower all winter until the end of spring, making the perfect plant to help see in the new season.
Foliage to complement the flowers
One of my absolute must-haves for my displays in the Great Pavillion at the Chelsea Flower Show every year was Physocarpus, which flowers in May and June. This plant produces lovely dome-shaped clusters of white flowers just at the right time and a stunning, compact variety is ‘Little Angel.
However, this variety is definitely not just about the flowers, as in spring the palmate foliage emerges a gorgeous red-orange colour before maturing to a dark purple-red, also giving lovely autumnal tints.
However, as beautiful as flowers are in the garden, the spring is also very much about luscious new foliage and there are a plethora of evergreen shrubs that burst forth with stunning foliage to complement the flowers.
A fine example is Nandina domestica ‘Red Light’, which is slightly different as its new foliage emerges bright red and then unexpectedly becomes variegated pink, white and green as it ages.
It also produces white flowers in midsummer and should produce berries after, but its compact habit is what makes it the perfect shrub for a small garden or a container.
On the theme of perfect spring flowering and evergreen shrubs, I defy anyone to beat a Daphne. These wonderful shrubs are always recognisable by the heady scent they produce, which is detectable long before the plant comes into view.
A compact, semi-evergreen variety that will only reach a size of 90x90cm (3x3ft) is Daphne x transatlantica ‘Eternal Fragrance’. Not only is this variety very fragrant, it also flowers over an extraordinarily long period, with its white flowers produced on the new growth, as opposed to the previous season’s growth like most other spring-flowering varieties. The blooms start to appear in April, continually flowering until October!
It will grow happily in sun or semi-shade in well-drained soil, although Daphnes do not like to get too dry so a little water applied during very dry spells would be beneficial, as would a little shelter from cold winds.
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