Country rose

Shrubs are more than your garden’s supporting players. Given the right role, and even the occasional seasonal spotlight, they can become a star turn

We may have invented the flower border, but planting them remains one of the trickiest things to get right. Charles Quest-Ritson looks at the secrets behind the very best

to make your garden bloom

REAL readers' gardens!

Cheerful and versatile, the daisy-like flowers of rudbeckias fill the garden with vibrant colour through the final weeks of the floral year

IF your garden is anything like mine, most of the borders and pots have peaked by this time, shifting from full-on florals to fading foliage. There are a few late-to-the-party dahlias, the cosmos are