Collection: Evergreen Shrub

Evergreen shrubs keep their leaves all year, so they are what holds a garden together once summer flowers have gone. Use them to give a border its shape, to screen a fence or a view, to edge a path, or as the permanent plant in a pot you change the seasonal colour around.

For shade, skimmia is one of the mainstays of a winter container, and euonymus copes with anything from full sun to full shade, including exposed and seaside gardens. For sun, compact hebes are tough and long flowering, and the small and silver-leaved kinds are the hardiest. There are larger shrubs here too, for screening and height.

A skimmia tip: most are either male or female, and a female only sets berries if a male such as 'Rubella' is planted nearby.

Autumn is a good time to plant evergreens. The soil is still warm and the rain does much of the watering, so the roots settle in before spring. Each product page gives the size, position and best planting months.

Grown peat-free in Yorkshire.