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Botanical name: Hesperantha coccinea

Common names: River lily, crimson flag lily

Name identifiers; Hesperanthia comes from the Greek words “Hesperus” the name of the evening star god, son of the dawn and “anthos” meaning flower because most of the genus flower in the evening. Coccinea means scarlet red in Latin.

A cormous or bulbous semi evergreen perennial, a massive fan of water and it’s often seen near a water source and thrives in constantly moist but well drained soil. Slender erect lanceolate leaves form quickly in clumps about 16 inches long. Often crimson, bowl shaped flowers with 6 petals are produced in 4-10 alternate buds. They will bloom from spring until winter frosts become apparent but even then it will bloom again intermittently during winter warm spells. The Hesperantha coccinea is capable of vegatative reproduction and the most preferred route of propogation is by lifting and dividing over growth. Despite this the plant also produces dry pods which ripen to produce seeds.

Ideal addition to an ornamental plant bed for winter colour and will constantly reproduce in the right circumstances. Will do very well near a water feature or pond and will spread its colour all on its own.

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Botanical name: Euonymous europaeus

Common name: The spindle

Name identifiers; Euonymus, is from the Greek 'eu', meaning 'good' and 'onoma', meaning 'name'. Name is given to small shrubs or trees widely cultivated for autumn leaves and bright fruits. Europaeus simply meaning a European species of the plant.

A deciduous native evergreen, shrubs or small trees. Its shiny leaves are opposite, elliptical in shape with a fine serrated margin and a waxy feel. Dark green in summers and spring before showing off beautiful autumn colours. Inconspicuous white or yellow flowers in cymes, both male and female. The fruit and seeds are the major selling point of the Euonymous europaeus, during the autum/winter months a bright pink capsular fruit is seen producing puffy bright orange seeds, often mistaken for the flowers with their beauty.

The fruit and seeds make it a popular ornamental plant as it provides stunning colour interest in later months. It’s also said that it is a symbol of an ancient woodland, living more than 100 years in right conditions.

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Lathyrus odoratus

Sweet pea

Herbaceous flowering fine with an annual life cycle, known for its climbing ability, showy flowers and strong fragrance.

Pinnate leaves with compound leaflets, dark green and ovate to elliptical in shape with entire margins. The leaf apex is modified into terminal tendrils, sensitive to contact aiding it with the pursuit of climbing and finding sufficient support, reaching heights of up to 6ft! Consider this for an ornamental plant for a trellis, arch, fences or potted with some support element.

Axillary inflorescences produce 1-3 flowers per peduncle, a calyx of five sepals and a papilionaceous corolla with five petals often seen with at least two keeled petals. Worldwide cultivation of the species has provided corollas with an expansive colour variety. Belonging to the fabacae family, the Lathyrus odoratus produces dehiscent legume fruit similar to a pea pod but not edible! The hairy pods ripen from green to brown and filled with several black or brown globular seeds.

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Botanic name: Carpinus betulus 

Common name: Hornbeam

Name identifiers; Carpinus relates to the genus characteristics, a deciduous, monoecious tree or shrub. Betulus implies a birch like tree or with characteristics of a birch.

From the Betulaceae family with broad leaves, alternative bud arrangement, ovate in shape with a pointed tip. The fine toothed double serrate margin and the corrugated effect from the prominent veintation are the main identifiers as it can often be confused with the common beech. Green leaves are produced in spring and turn into beautiful golden shades for the autumn and more often than not will remain for the winter. It flowers monoecious catkins (both male and female) in the early spring that rely on wind pollination for them to reproduce. If pollinated the female catkins will develop into a single winged papery samara which will disperse naturally when ripe.

The Carpinus betulus is also very accepting of being cut back and shaped, making it ideal for pleaching and hedging. Carpinus betulus provides shelter, places to nest, forage and a winter food source for wildlife throughout colder seasons with a dense steady foliage. If seen in a woodland though this tree has been found to reach heights of 98ft and up to 300 years old! The lack of shaping or pleaching allows the tree to spread ridged fluted trunks gaining a shrub status.

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Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Bluebell

A bulbous perrenial plant from the liliacae family that is famous for covering the woodland floor, it sends up green shoots early in the year to get the sun before the trees canopy can fully develop and prevent sun from reaching them. From the base of these stems 3-6 long and wide linnear leaves grow, and along them racemes arching to one side with the wait of the violet bell shaped flower.

The flower is seen with two bracts at the base and six identical tepals that bow out before strongly recurving at the tips, giving out a strong sweet fragrance beloved by many. After this a 3 lobed capsule fruit is borne and the plants arch begins to straighten. The unripe fruit is green and fleshy but as it ripens it dries out and becomes papery. Eventually the plant naturally sheds the fruit now open and revealing a small black seed within each lobe.

Hyacinthoides non-scripta can also produce vegetatively using bulb offsets which allows this plant to spread rapidly, often seen covering woodland ground and hillsides providing the blue carpet of beauty that’s so popular amongst many. They grow most successfully in slightly acidic soils and can reach a height of about 18 inches, would be ideal for somebody that wants a lot of low maintenance bed coverage with colour.

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Botanical name: Cistus laurifolius

Common name: Laurel leaved rock rose

Name Identifiers; Cistus meaning a low shrub with white or wine coloured flowers, laurifolius a reference to the plants laurel like foliage.

A high branched evergreen belonging to the Cistaceae family, known for being beautiful ornamental shrubs with perennial flowers. It’s strong erect branches sport a reddish brown bark with long dark green opposite paired lanceolate leaves. The leaf edge appears smooth in adolescence but eventually shows a slight sinuate margin.

It’s blooming period can range from May all the way until november with continuous new buds making up for the one day of flowering, persistently producing the bowl shaped white flowers with five tissue like petals and a gold centre.After the flowers  have had their day it produces a globular pod fruit ranging from green to reddish brown in appearance. This dries and becomes the seed vessel, which contains many glossy flat seeds.

This shrub can grow very well in poor soils but does require some shelter and full sun, if provided the Cistus laurifolius can emit a very pleasant aroma in hotter weather. It can reach up to 2m if permitted and is resistant to salt, harsh winds and droughts so it can remain hardy through most weather conditions.

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Botanical name: Acer palmatum

Common name: Japanese Maple

Name identifiers; Acer is directly related to maples and palmatum refers to the hand/palm shaped leaves. A maple tree with palm shaped leaves.

The Acer palmatum is a deciduous shrub or tree with mass variety both in nature and with cultivar but the leaves are a steady identifying feature of the species. All showing paired palmate leaves with 5-9 pointed serrate lobes. The leaves are also the main draw from a focal point as the stunning green foliage transforms into an idillic autumn show. In spring small flowers bloom from a cyme and are seen most often with 5 red sepals with another 5 lighter petals in some varieties. The flower gives way to samara fruit with attractive red and green colours that eventually ripen and dry in early autumn before they fall, relying on the wind to put distance between the parent and the seed.

Though slow to grow the Acer palmatum will reach between 20-34ft but 52ft in rare cases, with a mature width ranging 15-35ft depending on upright vs weeping foliage. With this plants beauty it’s gained a popularity leading to many dwarf cultivars. Adaptable to most soils and climates, proving to be very frost hardy and resilient. Despite this if growing conditions allow it an Acer palmatum can live up to a 100 years old.

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Botanical name: Calluna vulgaris

Common name: Heather

Name identifiers; As the sole species of the genus Calluna comes from the Greek “kallune” meaning to brush or sweep referencing the use of the plant as a broom in earlier periods rather than an identifier. Vulgaris simply meaning common.

Low growing evergreen shrub usually 50-60cm high but can reach up to a metre tall. It’s small lanceolate like leafs grow abundantly along the stems in four overlapping vertical rows and a dessucate pair to each node

Terminal racemes develop and colour in late summer or autumn and produces four petalled flowers in winter, ranging from the “lucky white” heather to deep pinks and purples. Hidden within the flower petals are the fruit, tiny spherical capsules which are green, fleshy and covered in fine hair during the pubescent period. As the fruit ripens the flower and its petals brown and dry out, slowly moving into an upright position. When fruit is fully ripe it splits open to reveal 4 compartments each full of tiny orange seeds.

Calluna vulagris thrives in low nutrient, acidic soil actually disliking an alkaline soil. It’s an incredibly frost hardy plant (it’s blooms often show through snowfall!), needs little to no maintainence and provides year round interest to the domestic setting. Calluna is also found in abundance in wildlife settings as it perseveres through constant grazing and weather changes, making it a consistent and sustainable winter food source.

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Botanical name: Berberis julianae

Common name: Wintergreen Barberry

Name identifiers: Berberis refers to a large group of evergreen deciduous shrubs, often seen with spikes. Julianae came from the name of the cultivars wife.

A hardy evergreen shrub of dense and steady branch growth with sharp, strong three-pronged spikes up to 1.5 inches long dotted along the stems. With these spikes are leathery spiny margined Lanceolate leaves, during summer and spring time a dark green that transforms into a warm red for autumn and again into a deeper more purple shade for the winter. Springtime brings with it dense round hanging clusters of yellow flowers normally blooming between one and two weeks and eventually turning into persistent oval fruits most often dark purple or a black shade that pairs so lovely with the fall and winter leaves.

It’s dense branches and protective spikes make it an excellent barrier hedge to protect a property from unwanted guests, it’s said that a man will only attempt to cross it once! incredibly frost hardy, salt tolerant and can tolerate most soils steadily growing to a height of 8ft with a spread of up 4 feet! This plants protective functionality, gorgeous year round interest and stubbornness to grow and thrive are truly amazing.

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Botanic name: Aconitum napellus 

Common name: Monkshood

Name identifiers; Aconitum is derived from the Greek “akonitos”. “ák” meaning sharp, pointed or even just spear as many believe the  toxicity of the genus was used to coat weapons, often in defence or attack of wolves, connecting to the wolfsbane name popular in culture.  Part “kónos” meaning cone which could be a reference to the plants conical tap root. Nappellus from the Latin word “napus” meaning tube, a more simple reference to the tuberous roots.

A herbaceous perennial plant, upright with tuberous roots, leaves green in colour are arranged in a spiralling alternate growth pattern, one leaf is produced from each node with a palmate shape with 4-6 deep lobes, each lobe then has 2 or 3 lobes with a deep dentate margin resembling a more pedate shape.

The flowers are produced in terminal racemes and bloom in June to august with varying shades of violet, a hooded sepal (which is why the name monkshood came about) and from 3-5 petals dropping to reveal numerous stamens. The fruits are formed into 3 fleshy pods that dry and split open when ripe, revealing shiny black seeds and a beautiful winged margin around them.

Aconitum napellus prefers full sun or part shade and thrives in cooler moist soil and is very unhappy in dry soil so this plant would suit a clay soil and would enjoy placement around a pond or water feature. It can grow up to 1.2m in height, making it a popular choice to go at the back of a flower bed for an addition of colour.

*Warning Every part of this plant is toxic and poisonous if ingested. Skin contact may also cause irritation so planting should only be done with gloves and knowledge on handling the Aconitum genus

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Botanical name: Olea europaea

Common name: Olive tree

Name identifiers; Olea meaning olive, europaea meaning European

A stunning evergreen tree with historical ties to the Mediterranean region, opposite lanceolate leaves with a leathery feel topped with deep green and bottomed with silver shades. Axillary inflorescence in clustered racemes, blooming small white clusters in late spring or even early summer. The trees iconic fruit (the olive) is formed as a drupe after this although fruit is a rarity in the UK as winter frost can detract from fructification. Despite this Olea europaea has a wide climatic range and can grow anywhere that provides sunlight and well drained soil.

Fossil evidence dating back over 40 millions years shows the olive trees function and importance has outlasted the ages. This regenerative and durable tree has provided a stable food source throughout our history. Seen as an emblem of purity, abundance and peace featuring heavily in religious and ritualistic offerings as a result. The wood of an olive tree is also incredibly resilient, especially when smooth growth transforms with age into the dark twisted bark it’s known for. Healthily rooted olive trees are even known to regenerate a trunk after severe damage and decay as long as the roots remain!

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Botanical name: Parthenocissus quinquefolia

Common name: Virginia Creeper

Name identifiers; Parthenocissus comes from the Greek words “parthenos” meaning virgin and “kissos” meaning ivy. quinquefolia means five leaves, referring to the five leaflets on each compound.

A woody perrenial climbing vine identified by its forked tendrils with adhesive pads that allow it to climb efficiently. It produces ovates of five palmate leaflets with serrated margins. Leaflets are joined together from a central point on each tendril which is often a beautiful red colour during the growing seasons before turning into a grey/brown bark texture during winter dormancy. The leaflets are the selling point of this plant as the colour displays throughout the year are truly stunning, going from a deep green to a royal purple and finally a brilliant crimson that draws the eye immidately. It produces small inconspicuous flower clusters in the late spring normally in shades of green or white which mature into small purple/black berries during late summer or early fall. These berries are poisonous if ingested by a human but can provide an essential source of food to multiple bird species and other foragers during the winter season.

Parthenocissus quinquefolia can and will grow in any soil or light condition and is even salt tolerant. This hardiness combined with very minimal upkeep makes it a very popular ornamental plant as it can cover a wall or an entire house with very little help and unlike English ivy it uses adhesive pads to climb rather than an invasive root system allowing for a lot less damage to the masonry of a building.