These sedges, woodrushes and Hakone grass add fine texture, colour and movement to shady gardens. Years ago, the choice of plants you found at local nurseries always seemed to be the usual suspects: marigolds, fluffy peonies and bridlewreath spirea. Then two decades ago, a new plant made its way, ever so tentatively, into the marketplace and area gardens.

My father has a three-year-old wild rose bush, approximately one metre high. This plant had numerous buds on it, some of which opened nicely during the spring. Now most of the buds have discoloured and fallen off. This also happened last year.

Ever thought of building a Shakespearean garden -- a border or island bed full of the flowers known and loved by Shakespeare and featured in his plays and sonnets?

Late summer or early fall may seem like the perfect time to pack up the water-resistant pillows and wrap up the glass hurricane and citronella candles that accessorize your outdoor room, but before you do, take stock of what you actually have outside — decor-wise — and what you want to have. Sounds a bit odd, but planning the look for your backyard is best done a season in advance. Partly because you can jump right into a perfectly accessorized garden next spring without wasting any good weather, and also because your budget goes a lot further at the end of the season than at the beginning.

Recently, while reorganizing a stack of trade journals in the publication graveyard, I re-discovered a slightly yellowed Pike's Seeds catalogue dating back to 1942, as well as my father's frayed university textbook, Basic Horticulture, published in 1948.