Laurus nobilis

The noble Bay. Familiar but never common and has been grown in gardens up and down the land forever (ish) This smart evergreen can be pom-pommed and poodled into many architectural forms and we particularly like the classical ones like a half standard or a smart pyramid. There’s nothing quite like it for adding instant poshness to your garden, and goodness they’re tough. Green all year round, aromatic and with pretty little fluffy yellow flowers they are rarely troubled by pests and are also drought resistant and cope with most soils. What more can you want? They can be potted grandly (we have some bossy notes about potting here), or allowed to take deep root in the ground – any ground –  where they will billow voluminously into surprisingly large specimen trees, darkly handsome and extremely majestic. They are easily controlled though, as they take a good firm clipping with nonchalance and will forgive an erratic amateur chopping with good humour. They’re patient while you learn: and anyway all those trimmings can go into a Bolognese or two (freeze a bag full of plump leaves and spare yourself the desolate supermarket ones). Requires shelter in really, really cold areas but otherwise it’s pretty unfussy.