Telegraph

Snippets: cotoneasters and delicate plants (Filed: 27/10/2001)

Rory Dusoir has practical ideas for late-autumn planting

Cotoneaster horizontalis

THIS is a superlative shrub - and it is common as muck. Plants such as this are despised by plant snobs and ignored by a host of gardeners, who crave novelty, while some of the best plants sit neglected under their noses.

This commonest of cotoneasters deserves a fresh look. The plant is worth growing for its berries alone, which thickly colour the whole shrub scarlet from October, and often right through the winter if they are spared by the birds. But its herring-bone structure is its greatest asset, making the plant a year-round proposition.

The tiny, neat leaves furnish the bones of the shrub in spring without obscuring its form. They turn crimson as they fall to intensify the display of berries. Not to mention the flowers, which make it the noisiest of spring shrubs as bees swarm all over it for nectar.

C. horizontalis is also a great vehicle for hoar frost in winter and for climbing plants in summer. It is a good idea to train morning glory (Ipomoea tricolor) into the cotoneaster, where it will scramble about and drape its silky blue flowers over the shrub. Just now they should be contrasting well with those scarlet berries.

Winter-care of tender plants

All but the tenderest of plants can withstand a couple of nights of frost. There is no need to start lifting cannas and dahlias until their top growth has been cut back and blackened by the cold in early winter.

When they are ready, lift their tubers with a fork and clean the soil from their roots. Then pack them closely into pots or crates and cover with moist peat or used potting compost.

They will need watering lightly only two or three times during their dormant period. Plants that have become dormant can be kept through winter in the dark, as long as they are kept cool - not much above 41F (5C), or they will start growing prematurely.

Hedychiums (except H. greenei, which is wintergreen) and the tuberous Salvia patens, can be treated in the same way.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001