Why spring is all about colourful flowers and not just daffodils

Yellow is the prevailing colour of spring. Or is it? The answer, of course, is no. Although daffodils are currently bursting out all over, there are other plants whose colourful flowers and foliage do their bit to bring a bit of joy to March and April.

So, many thanks to the narcissus family, but, equally, three cheers for photinia, a leafy shrub much loved for its ability to grow quickly to form evergreen and hardy hedges.

But for a shrub so common in Britain, it is often neglected to the point where it becomes a sad and sorry sight.

Yet tended carefully and it is a bit of a star in early spring when its glossy young leaves look as though they have been polished with liquid bronze. It also produces clusters of tiny white flowers but its most welcome for that vibrant un-yellow foliage.

Give it a fertile, well-drained soil and site it out of the path of cold winds where the sun shines and it will be happy to do what’s expected of it. But it can’t do it for ever – it needs occasional encouragement in the form of pruning to help it produce that splendid foliage.

So, although there’s no need to give it an annual going-over with the secateurs or shears, there are times when a thoughtful trim will make a world of difference.

If your photinia is starting to look a bit too tall and leggy, cut it back to shape, at the same time removing any diseased or damaged growth.

Occasionally, a plant will start to produce vigorous shoots from ground level. If they threaten to take over, hack them off. On the other hand, if the shrub is starting to look old and past its best, leave a few of these rising youngsters to take over from the branches which are past their sell-by date.

Photinias aren’t to everyone’s liking, but a well-tended specimen can have a big impact on a garden. One of the best varieties for those bronzed leaves is P x Fraseri ‘Red Robin’, whose foliage starts life bright purple/red before gradually turning a deep, delicious bronze tinged with green.

It makes a superb specimen shrub and an even better hedge.

Cotinus

Any budding gardener should be happy to include at least one specimen of the ‘Smoke Bush’ in their planting, if only to provide a spring feast of purple-red foliage and a mid-summer show of fuzzy flowers which are impossible to keep in focus.

Apart from being such a wonderfully-unusual shrub, Cotinus is also pretty easy to care for, is relatively undemanding and quite long-lived. Sadly, it is deciduous, but the autumn leaves do turn to gold.

Once upon a time it was called Rhus cotinus, and it became popular as a important member of a well-stocked mixed border. Sadly, it seems to have gone out of fashion, partly because gardens have grown smaller and a ‘Smoke Tree’ can eventually reach a height and width of 20ft or more.

However, anyone with the space to grow one should consider doing so – particularly the purple-leaved C ‘Royal Purple’, whose smoky flowers are backed by wine-coloured foliage that turns an even deeper red as autumn progresses.

This is a shrub that will grow in just about any decent soil but it does have a preference for a light loam and a site well served by the sun, although it will still grow happily in semi-shade.

Another plus is that Cotinus coggygria needs little pruning; any unwanted or damaged branches can be cut out in spring.

Sadly, propagation is not quite as simple – taking hardwood cuttings does not automatically guarantee success. The only sure way of producing a new shrub is to search for rooted suckers at the base of the parent plant (the Rhus family is renowned for suckering) and then simply remove them (with the roots intact) and replant them.

Berberis

Purple is more a hue of high summer, a hot, faintly tropical, non-British sort of colour for a flower or a shrub.

And yet, in recent years, berberis seems to have become a must-have plant in many gardens, particularly those evergreen shrubs which virtually guarantee year-round foliage of deep, dark red.

Berberis have become darlings of the urban garden where they not only put on an early show of very welcome colour but where they also provide a sharp reminder to unwanted guests that they are not welcome.

Because the berberis family is a spiny collection, with some of its members are bedecked with incredibly sharp spines. Hence the fact that many barberries are planted as hedges and many a gardener invests in a pair of thick, spike-proof gloves.

Some people regard them as anti-social shrubs, but they do have a role to play in most gardens. They prefer a well-drained but moist soil and plenty of sunshine, although they are just as capable of growing well in semi-shade.

When they have finished their show, evergreens can be trimmed back; deciduous varieties can be lightly trimmed in February. Apart from that, leave well alone.

Left unpruned, some berberis can quickly get out of hand – a neglected shrub can quickly reach 15ft in height and throw out whippy wands several feet long. It needs controlling.