Angie Griffin reports on a talk by Andy McIndoe to Wharfedale Gardeners’ Group

BY his own admission Andy McIndoe has always been a gardener, from a very young age. Growing and selling plants as a boy, a passionate orchid collector as a teenager, while working in a garden centre and eventually studying horticulture

As a manager at Hillier’s, he excelled in the art of recommending plant combinations to customers, encouraging them to make the best selections for their individual garden spaces, resulting in his long selling book “The Creative Shrub Garden” and the theme of our January talk.

Andy pointed out that we often choose the temporary flowery, seasonal plants because they attract our eye at the garden centre or supermarket but are so often disappointing because of their short lives and the fact that they are almost always squatting at ground level. Shrubs excel in the ‘middle layer’ of the garden; available in all shapes and sizes, colours and leaf shapes, more than one for every situation and soil type

His own two-and-a-half-acre garden “Hillside” in Hampshire is open to the public and demonstrates his experiments, over the years, of placing different shrubs alongside each other. Some for their height and grandiosity some for their delicate leaves, while others delight with flowers and scents. Rather than removing some shrubs he wasn’t particularly fond of, he added more, subduing some colours, enhancing others. Using subtle combinations, the effect is balanced

He suggests we grow shrubs, like Viburnum roseum “Snowball”, in pots and placed on a patio, near a bench, nearer to the house or where they can be seen from a window during the colder months. A particular favourite for autumn and winter colour is Cornus sanguinea “Midwinter Fire” with its red flame stems. In a gloomy spot the ‘fiery’ coloured plants like Acer palmatum “Bloodgood” or Spirea japonica ‘Firelight’ can enliven a dull view

During the Q&A session Andy reminded us that due to the changing nature of the climate and some of the extreme weather conditions our gardens have suffered, it pays not to be too hasty when we think a plant hasn’t survived. Be patient! Nature has a way of coping and you may notice that even though it has all but disappeared, it may well spring up again, given time and when weather conditions improve

Andy’s book “The Creative Shrub Garden” is available from his website www.andymcindoe.co.uk which also has details about garden visits and open days

* Wharfedale Gardeners' Group meet at Beech Hill Church, Otley at 7.30pm on the second Tuesday of every month between September and May