A garden-designer friend tells me I garden the wrong way round. If I were a sensible, design-conscious person, I would have planted a strong structure of trees and shrubs at the outset. Instead, in my back garden, I have put all thoughts of structure on the back boiler while concentrating on padding - perennials, annuals, grasses, vegetables and bits of plant-frippery.
In effect, I have performed the horticultural equivalent of kitting out my wardrobe with knickers, socks and other little things, while ignoring the more substantial necessities of trousers, skirts and jackets.
So this week, I'm turning my attention to some of the jackets-and-trousers of the garden: shrubs. To be honest, I'm a little afraid of shrubs (and I suspect I'm not alone in this) because they require a firm commitment. Herbaceous perennials can be shoved endlessly around the garden like chess pieces; so too can grasses (in late spring and summer); vegetables never last long; and annuals are simply annual. But shrubs require that you dig a hole big enough to bury a dog and that you lard it with compost, bonemeal and manure. Then they're there for the long haul. Shrubs are like getting married, complete with wedding preparations.
Some shrubs are often chosen as life partners (and very able ones) because they're immediately attractive and at-the-ready in the garden centre. Hebe, camellia, pyracantha, ceanothus, skimmia, fuchsia, Photinia `Red Robin' are among those most often picked. But there are other candidates, less obvious, more exotic - and just as willing and able - that are often left on the shelf.
I asked plantswoman Mary Leahy of T. & M. Leahy, Wholesale Nurseries in Piltown, Co Kilkenny, to suggest a few shrubs beyond the above old reliables that we might consider taking into our gardens. Mary is well-placed to advise. Not only is her and her husband Tim's nursery stock slowly and carefully grown ("superb quality" and "plump and happy-looking", according to one garden-centre manager), but Mary is also a tireless champion of shrubs that should be better known.
Before choosing any shrub, she counsels: "Think of what the shrub will do all year round. Remember there are four seasons. And take it a bit slow: find out what the plant is going to look like later." Too many people are beguiled by a fleeting, but alluring, display of flowers in the garden centre, she warns, or by a neat specimen sitting coyly in its pot. One such cuckoo-in-the-nest is the Lawson's cypress, `Elwoodii' - a fetching little number with a sweet, conical, youthful demeanour. Adulthood, unfortunately, turns it into a light- and moisture-sucking leaden hulk.
In Mary's mind - and in mine too - a good shrub "is all about change". The more of the following qualities the better: young foliage of intriguing hue and texture; uplifting winter colour in leaf, stem or bark; flowers of scent or beauty; interesting fruits. She puts her finger succinctly on the difficulty that I, for one, have with that most popular of clashy-dashy, variegated evergreens, Euonymus fortunei `Emerald 'n' Gold' (aside from the over-jaunty name, that is). "If you have a coloured shrub, it is vital that it changes. Otherwise you might as well get your wall and paint it instead!"
A variegated euonymus which is much less stolid, she suggests, is the old-fashioned E. japonicus `President Gauthier'. In its infancy, the foliage is yellow-edged and yellow-suffused, and it matures to form large, green leaves margined with white. The `President', being remarkably tolerant of wind and salt, makes an excellent seaside plant. So also does another of Mary's favourites (already added to my own wishlist): Grevillea `Canberra Gem'. This Australian plant has "a beautiful arching habit and bright, fresh green foliage that reminds you of an asparagus fern". It produces hundreds of red flowers along its stems from early spring to midsummer. It's a fast grower requiring good drainage. According to the books it can reach 4 metres, but it doesn't mind being kept in check by pruning.
The previous two shrubs are evergreen, as are the Japanese azaleas. Plant `Canzonetta' and `Johanna' for their rich, red winter foliage and their pink and red (respectively) spring blooms. These make a lively contrast with the pale-green-leaved `Irohayama', which bears pink-edged white flowers. Azaleas require acid or neutral soil, and are quite happy growing in a container - with John Innes ericaceous compost, rather than peat.
The smaller myrtles are also content with pot-culture - an ideal solution to the all-too-frequent problem of right-plant-in-wrong-place. The dwarf Myrtus communis subsp. tarentina is more compact than the common myrtle and has pink-tinged, frothy flowers that remind Mary Leahy "of someone making Christmas pudding" More gastronomic delights are attached to its cousin, the Chilea n guava, or Myrtus ugni (now correctly known by the less-memorable handle, Ugni molinae). The flowers are scented, but so also are its edible, strawberry-flavoured berries: "The perfume of the fruit is fantastic. It reminds you to pick it."
Although all the above are evergreen shrubs, Mary thinks that some of the most satisfying plants are those that lose their leaves in winter: "People should plant more deciduous plants!" she declares firmly. A wonderful dogwood, for instance, with spectacular yellow, orange and red stems, is Cornus sanguinea `Midwinter Fire', a more petite (and jazzy) form of those that controversially line the motorways. And Viburnum plicatum `Shasta' is an American hybrid of the wide-spreading shrub (almost a tree, really). With flat clouds of white blossom from spring to early summer - followed by red-turning-black fruits, vibrant green foliage becoming fiery in autumn, and an elegantly architectural, tiered skeleton in winter, it's a compelling plant in every season.
With shrubs like these waiting for a home (and dozens more that I have no room to describe), I'm sure you'll agree, it's time to take the plunge and get wedded to one. Or two. Or several.
T. & M. Leahy plants are available in nurseries throughout Ireland. Website www.se-growers.ie/tmleahy/
Jane Powers can be contacted at jpowers@irish-times.ie