Spring and summer means the return of barbecues that most of us enjoy or the occasional evening entertaining friends or family in an outdoor setting. It is because we relish our outdoor life that we build and decorate our patio or deck.

Nothing will impress your guests more than providing them with comfortable and good looking patio furniture. The right selection will improve the look of you backyard or patio as well as provide the atmosphere you seek to impart.

Patio furniture should be chosen based on the following characteristics: Good quality to withstand the activities that we will impose on it Good looks to fit the decor of the house and the personality, style and taste of the owner

Whether you choose wood, metal, wicker or plastic is a matter of personal preference as today’s materials are all durable and most as also very stable.

This article will examine the differences between two different woods, Cedar and Teak.

Coming to us from Southeast Asia one of the most durable wood we can find is Teak. It can be exposed to any kind of harsh heat or cold, even heavy rains and remain unaffected. One of the best choices for outdoor furniture as it is extremely durable.

Cotoneaster microphyllus thymifolius is hard, ground hugging and rather like wire netting with leaves on. Planted in the rock garden it will follow and emphasise every rock and contour in a splendidly affectionate way.

Cotoneaster nitens is especially desirable for the beauty of the leaf colour in autumn, particularly when planted around with Lilium speciosum.

The Common or Scots Broom, C. scoparius, which makes a golden glory of the sheltered valleys in Teesdale has given rise to many hybrids. Cornish Cream grows up to 8 ft. tall with pale yellow flowers in July and together with Darley Dale in crimson and yellow, Firefly in crimson bronze, and Red Sentinel in deep red, it is worth a place in any garden. Cuttings of semi-ripened shoots taken in July – August, 3 to 4 in. long with a heel of old wood, root readily in sharp sand. Make certain the soft pith is not exposed or an imperfect callous forms.

The fact that the redoubtable sycamore is a member of this noble clan may prove a cause for reflection amongst the more sober-minded gardeners. However, contained in this genus are some of the loveliest moderate-sized trees for foliage it is possible to cultivate.

Acer cirrinatum, the Vine Maple, was at first try a most reluctant debutante at Harlow Car, largely because I succeeded each time in planting it near a subterranean sulphur spring. Finally on the third move I selected a dry site and it is now a flourishing large shrub. The leaves are lovely in summer when they are shaded with bronze tones and in autumn they turn deep yellow and crimson. Acer davidii makes a medium-sized tree of 30 ft. which is excellent in association with cherries or crab, for the white-striped branches and handsome autumn colour add interest when the others are out of flower.

Amelanchier x grandiflora is a hybrid with canadensis as one parent. I prefer the pink- flowered form listed by some nurseries as rubescens, by others as rosea. Pink candyfloss would be an exact description of this bush in full bloom, the autumn colour of the leaves being a rich deep red.

When you want to start a garden, you need the right supplies. Don’t start digging up your yard unless you are sure you have the right tools. You’ll end up with a mess of a yard and a lot to clean up if you aren’t prepared.

In order to find out what supplies you need, go through the gardening process. The first step is the cultivate the land and prep the soil. To break up the soil you will need a tiller. A motorized tiller will work best to break up the soil. They are efficient machines but quite expensive.

If you can’t afford a tiller, there are several replacement tools to choose from that are less expensive. You will need a shovel for digging, but you should also get a pickax to break up the tough grass and rocky ground. A garden hoe will help you break up the rest of the smaller clumps.

A garden hoe is a small tool that you can use to chop of the leftover chunks and break up the remaining grass and roots. A cultivator will help you by raking out the rocks and other chunks of stuff you don’t want.

Any shrub border would be incomplete unless it included one member of this family of evergreens. The greatest problem I have to contend with is which of the varieties to omit. Any soil with even a tentative protestation to fertility will support escallonia. On this day, with suitable encouragement, they are a valuable addition to the shades of summer and early autumn. In Cornwall and other coastal areas they make grand flowering hedges which are trimmed as required to keep them within bounds but with a view to gaining the maximum amount of flower. Cuttings taken in July – August root readily.

Apple Blossom is a dainty hybrid growing 6 ft. high with pink and white flowers and it is lovely when grown with pale blue Connecticut Yankees delphiniums. Donard Beauty is 4 ft. high and exceedingly free with its rose-red flowers over many weeks. Escallonia x edinensis, an old hybrid, grows 6 ft. tall in this garden and has bright pink flowers from early June until autumn.

These look lovely with a planting of the grey-leaved pyrus as a background.E. x langleyensis is of more arching persuasion’ and grows 6 to 8 ft. in full exposure. The deep rose crimson of the petals seen against a golden conifer make a solace for the shortening days.

Berberis dictyophylla came to me as a chance seedling in a box of mixed shrubs. The plant is now 4 ft. high, the young shoots scarlet but covered with a grey bloom.

In the autumn the leaves are absolutely delightful, first green rimmed scarlet which deepens until the whole leaf is bright silver and red.

B. x irwinii will always be represented in person in my garden, or by one of its numerous offspring, for they rank with the choicest shrubs. The type is a dwarf bush, 3 ft. high, with arching branches. The flowers, which are crimson in bud and orange- yellow when they open, appear in April.

The variety coccinea is a pearl-tight, compact, and very prim with flowers of coral red, while corallina compacta always reminds me of a garden in the Lake District, quiet under a warm April sun, with the berberis making a flame of vivid scarlet against the white limestone rock. Few places are lovelier than White Cragg Garden in the spring and it is well worth a visit if you are ever in Westmorland.

Erica flower varieties would include the following. First comes E. arborea alpina, with splendid foliage and white scented flowers in April. Good varieties of E. cornea include Eileen Porter, superb in rich carmine-red blossom, but slow growing; King George, a regular dwarf with deep pink flowers opening in December; Ruby Glow with dark red blossom and bronze foliage radiating warmth in every gleam of February sunshine; and Springwood White, a superb white form and the best for general planting. All the carnea varieties flower from December to April and can be propagated by self layers.

Each year in June the profusion of scarlet flowers against the perfectly contrasting deep green of the leaves make me eternally grateful that, ignoring all the advice offered, we insisted on trying the impossible.

Erica x darleyensis contains two essential varieties for me – George Rendall and Arthur Johnson, both with long spikes of pink flowers.

Fuchsia magellanica comes from Chile, a vastly different climate to that of the British Isles. However, growth is vigorous up to 6 to 8 ft. high, and in the summer the shoots are decorated for months with the typical fuchsia flowers, a combination of purple-blue and red. The white form I would not plant unless my garden had room to spare.

Caragana pygmaea is my favourite, and the longest lived with me at 16 years old. At first glance it resembles a sparse-leaved heather but in May the slender shoots are decorated with delicate pale gold pendant blossoms. Once again seed is the best method of propagation.

This is just one of the penalties paid for a glorious view of the Pennines in my over-exposed garden. Both the evergreen and deciduous species need a hot sun-baked position and a light free- draining soil to really flourish, so on a clay soil put them against the south or west wall of the house or any other sheltered location with the roots in a carefully prepared compost.

The golden heather of New Zealand, Cassinia jidvida, though mediocre in flower makes a very good looking foliage shrub. I planted five nearly fifteen years ago and so far only one has died and the tallest is now 6 ft.

Gloire de Versailles, a deciduous bush, presents a rather stiff formal appearance but the powder-blue flowers are extremely pleasant in late summer. C. x veitchianus (I have mine labelled Brilliant) is a neat bush and in my garden the blue flowers open with those of the yellow- blossomed shrub rose, Rosa cantabrigiensis.

Photosynthesis is the name given to the process that converts light into energy (or into sugar in the case of plants). In order for photosynthesis to occur the following requirements must be provided: light, a temperature that is optimally between 32F (0C) and 100F (37.7C), carbon dioxide (CO2) and water. The key to greenhouse gardening is to keep all of these factors in optimum balance, and by doing so it is possible to maximize plant growth. The glazing that you choose to cover your greenhouse can greatly affect the photosynthesis process. Studies have shown that plants grow better under glass or plastic that is not clear. Glazings that have smoky appearance to them; that you cannot see through clearly, are advantageous as they scatter the light that enters a greenhouse. This gives a more even distribution of light and thus gives more total light to plants. When light goes through clear glass shadows are created in a greenhouse, which causes some plants to get more light than others.

This is an important consideration if you are looking to maximize growth for all plants in your green house. The best type of material for diffusing light is fiberglass, then polyethylene, polycarbonates and finally acrylics. Glass is not good for diffusing light; it is also not as resistant to breakages and temperature fluctuations.

Arundinaria murielae came to me by mistake as the species. Fortunately, I did not discover the fact until the bright green young canes made an appearance and by this time the plant had so impressed me with its graceful elegance that removing even a single cane would have been a desecration.

Again the long arching canes will reach 7 to 9 ft. and as they are not prone to suckering this bamboo will make a fine specimen plant for a lawn. A. nitida has purple-coloured canes and a rather neater foliage than murielae but is in other respects identical. Of all the bamboos this is the species I like the best.

Arundinaria nitida is readily as the arundirwias, a fact which causes regret as they are ver handsome, and do not spread all over the garden. Phyllostachys aurea, whose shoots are said to be edible, has pale cream canes but rather nondescript foliage. P. nigra grew wonderfully well in the gardens where I worked in Norfolk and Cornwall, possibly because it enjoys sunshine and a fairly dry root run.