One of the things I like about gardening is looking forward to the next season, the next year. As we slide into autumn, it is the time when plants and spring bulbs are being chosen for next year's display. Wall flowers, latin name Erysimum really pack a punch and have to be one of the sweetest scented flowers in the garden, up there with Lilies and Roses. Wall flowers are easy to grow, requiring a sunny spot and well drained soil. Wall flowers are spring-flowering and look great with the spring flowering bulbs. It is easy to imagine the bright red Wallflower illustrated left, which is E. cheiri Cheiranthus with some bold Orange Tulips and left the subtle shades with blues of Hyacinth or pale pink Tulips.

September is an ideal time to plant Wallflowers which can be bought as smaller plants for growing on over the Autumn to spring and so more cheaply than the fully grown plants next spring. Be sure to check which variety to buy; the biennial types have scent, the perennial variety which is usually Bowles's Mauve does not. More tips on growing Wallflowers. 

July and early August are the best times to give the Wisteria it's summer prune. Over the summer months the Wisteria has put on a lot of vigorous growth and it needs a good prune . This prune needs to take off long wippy growth, and where the Wisteria has outgrown its allotted space. In the image it is impinging on the windows and needs cutting back.

The other reason for pruning Wisteria in the summer is to ensure it keeps flowering. The pruning regime, Winter and Summer is an intrinsic part of the routine to ensure it flowers well.

These quick before and after images show just how much Wisteria can be happily cut back. Advise on growing and pruning Wisteria, video advise on how to make Wisteria flower including the summer prune, and a reminder how lovely the Wisteria looked earlier in the year.

There is much to see at this lovely garden which includes some interesting sculptures  featured in the garden. Illustrated above is a watchful Eagle, and in the wild meadow, a magnificent chariot sculpture. 

Mount Pleasant has lots of colourful zingy borders full of herbaceous planting with a great range of plants and colour. By contrast, it also has several attractive water features, creating a tranquil oasis with waterfalls and lilies. Walking around the garden there is an abundance of butterflies attracted to the varied planting, and it's buzzing with bees.

An impressive feature is the the wildflower meadow which was in bloom, although the owner, Dave Darlington, told us that in previous years with the benefit of different weather, the meadow had flowered better. Still, this year with the drought we are lucky to have flowers and it looked pretty good to me. 

There are 10 acres of gardens to see, which are carefully laid out so that as you walk around you twist and turn on the paths to find something of interest, a further garden, a pond, a Japanese garden, bog garden and dotted all around interesting sculptures. Much of the garden is hidden from view until you walk around and explore it. 

There is so much to recommend the visitor to Mount pleasant gardens. Personally, I really liked the varied planting, large wildflower meadow and all the sculptures which together make for a very interesting garden.

It's gone, but not quite forgotten. Spring if full of lovely images, above is Iris reticulata, blooming at Harlow Carr, but the Beast from the East with its prolonged, freezing wind has damaged garden plants, some permanently.

The mild spell means we can get out and take stock, and the main casualties are the evergreen and semi evergreen shrubs. Other plants have suffered, the hellebores look a bit ragged and many plants are much later coming into spring bloom, in some areas almost a month late.

Below are images of two plants illustrating the sort of damage which can be caused by the unusually cold weather. On the right Rosemary officinalis and on the left Cotoneaster. The Rosemary is too badly damaged to salvage, good only for the compost heap. The Cotoneaster, if you look closely does have some buds, so it is a wait and see gardening game.

How to tell if your shrub has died? 

The best way is to snap off a small branch, or scrape away the bark on a branch and examine the wood below. If it is brown all the way through, chances are it is dead. If it is green in the interior, the shrub should revive.

Many of the evergreens may have wind burn, where the leaves look literally burnt, or shrivelled,  which should  improve with the warmer weather.  The Cotoneaster is normally evergreen/semi evergreen but it has shed all its leaves in the extreme weather. 

A shrub which was really healthy before the bad winter  may well revive. The Rosemary was struggling because of the wet as well as the cold, and was not on best form before  the winter, and the Beast from the East was the final straw.  

This maybe a good time to feed shrubs with a balanced fertilised to help them along, remembering that any , ericaceous i.e. acid loving shrubs, Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Camellia, Pieris etc will need an ericaceous feed. 

Shrubs whose branches have been damaged by the snow maybe best pruned. If the stems of the branches have been compromised, the shrub is better off being pruned back. You may loose from flowers in the spring, and if this is a problem you can tie up the branch to support it and then prune later if you prefer; depends in part how damaged the branch is.

If you are not sure if your favourite shrub is alive or not, give it a feed and wait a while to see what spring brings.