PLANTS WITH PURPOSE Part 2: Shrubs

When we first came to Glebe Cottage more than 40 years ago and started to make a garden, I was advised by knowledgeable friends that the first plants I should put in were shrubs. They, it seemed, would give the garden some structure, some backbone – it seemed they were indispensable. Not entirely true, any gardener can choose not to grow a particular category of plants, no trees, no bulbs, sometimes it seems the only group you can’t exclude are the weeds! It wasn’t that I ignored my advisers, more that there were more pressing considerations, terracing the garden, building deep beds and at last having an opportunity to grow my beloved perennials.

Over the years, almost surreptitiously more shrubs have been incorporated into the garden, though they have crept in here and there without my ever thinking, “Yes, I’m going to plant a shrub there.” Now we have roses, camellias, deutzias, hydrangeas, and a