Plants in Cha No Niwa – Japanese Tea Garden

The beautiful, deciduous foliage of this small, round-headed tree is attractively lobed and turns from its usual mid-green in autumn to take on shades of yellow, orange or red before it falls. In late spring tiny purple-red flowers are borne in small pendulous clusters and these are followed in late summer by charming red winged fruits, which float down from the branches when they are ripe.

A compact, medium-sized deciduous shrub with ovate leaves turning red and orange in autumn. Small pure white, urn-shaped flowers in clusters in spring.

Rosettes of glossy, dark green leaves with serrated edges form dense mats of eyecatching groundcover in sun or shade. In early summer upright clusters of tiny, white flowers contrast beautifully with the dark green foliage. Japanese spurge is perfect for carpeting bare areas of earth between deciduous shrubs or trees.

With vivid green catkins in March, followed by clusters of green fruit, and toothed mid-green leaves turning orange and gold in autumn, hornbeam is an excellent native tree for a large garden. Pyramidal in shape if left unclipped, it can tolerate wet, clay soils and responds well to pruning, which also makes it ideal for training as a formal hedge.

Growing irises is easy and provides some of the earliest blooms in the garden; later-flowering varieties compliment summer-flowering plants. Whether in containers or in the open garden, they are hardy and provide colour year after year.