Plant this
Laurustinus (Viburnum tinus) is a brilliant evergreen shrub that’s covered with white and pink flowers in winter and early spring, followed by blue-black berries. Left unchecked, it’ll get to 3m x 3m, but it responds well to pruning after flowering; you can turn it into a hedge, or even topiarise it into spheres or standards. It’s unfussy about soil and aspect. Cultivars ‘Eve Price’ and ‘Gwenllian’ are more compact, ‘French White’ grows faster and ‘Lisarose’ has red buds.
Prune this
If you know your apple or pear tree needs pruning, but you don’t know where to start, now is the time to conquer your fear. Brogdale Farm in Kent, the home of the national fruit collection, runs one-day courses in pruning, as well as orchard design and grafting.
Wrap this
Every year, I lose a terracotta pot or two – even the ones marked “frostproof” – to the extremes of winter. So this year I’ve vowed to insulate all my containers with hessian, horticultural fleece or even old blankets, to save them from flaking or shattering. Lifting pots off the ground using pot feet also helps prevent containers from freezing.
