A FEW summer shrubs and climbers such as spirea and roses continue to flower in our garden, clusters of blooms huddled on stems. The flowers on some shrubs are smaller at this time of year, a last fling from them before the winter weather slows them down and puts them to rest.

Spirea bumalda ‘Anthony Waterer’ still looks good with plenty of foliage and a number of fluffy pink flowers dotted about the stems. These blooms are miniature versions of the ones we see in July; they will go over more quickly, but it is good to have this reminder of the summer. Some roses manage to magic up hopeful clusters of fat buds flowers during autumn and early winter. Not all will open and certainly not with the heavy flush we see in June and July, but it is lovely to see the occasional beauty glowing among the debris of dead leaves and stems that winter can bring to the garden.

A sheltered spot and mildish temperatures can even produce a flower or two for Christmas Day.

Our Rosa ‘Pink Perpetuee’ that climbs on a warm south-facing brick wall has a cluster of hot pink flowers high above our heads. Too high to enjoy the sweet scent, but a glimpse of a bloom at the end of the year is worth as much as total immersion of blousy colour in high summer.

Seeing these roses is also a timely reminder that I need to get up the ladders and secure this wayward stems which has come loose from its moorings.

Tying it horizontally will encourage side shoots to develop which will then give a good flush of flowers next summer. This will also stop the plant producing all its flowers out of sight at the top of long stems.

Some shrubs choose to flower in autumn and winter, waiting until their flashier neighbours have finished showing off and come into bloom just when everything else is going over.

Viburnum tinus is one such specimen, an evergreen shrub that can grow ten feet or more high given time.

During the summer it may seem a fairly insignificant shrub and in a small garden even a waste of space, but patience is rewarded in autumn when clusters of pink-tinged buds begin to appear at the end of each stem.

These gradually fatten up and burst open into lovely, long-lasting white flowers that will open throughout the winter and up until late spring. During cold spells the shrub is less floriferous, but a warm week will see it burst into life again.

Viburnum tinus can be grown as a free-standing shrub or as a wall shrub, as the stems are quite malleable when young and easily trained against a framework of wires.

It also responds well to pruning and will flower quickly even after a drastic cutting back. Shrubs of five years or more can be thinned out by removing one third of the oldest stems; the height of the remaining ones can also be reduced if they are too tall. If the shrub is completely out of hand, the whole thing can be cut back severely; new shoots will appear from the base.

An alternative way to deal with an overgrown shrub is to trim away the lower branches from the main stems and cut the upper stems into loose balls or clouds of foliage.

Done carefully, this can change what may be considered a rather ordinary shrub into a dramatic specimen. This method of pruning also frees up the area around the foot of the shrub for other plants.

Viburnum tinus is usually pruned in May after blooming, giving the shrub plenty of time to recover over the summer before flowering begins again. Hard pruning will be a shock to the plant so it is a good idea to give it plenty of water during dry spells in the summer and a handful of fertiliser to give the roots a boost. This extra care is usually only needed during the first summer after pruning.

Weekend catch-up

IT IS time to protect vulnerable winter containers. Wherever possible, move smaller ones to a sheltered place by a house wall but leave large pots in place as they will be too heavy to move.

Bubble wrap or newspaper filled bin liners wrapped around the pots will provide enough protection from frosts for the majority of hardy plants. Raising the pots off the ground with bricks or flat stones or purpose made ‘feet’ also helps.

Gardening TV and Radio

Tomorrow.

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther with Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC Radio 4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Bob Flowerdew, Matthew Gibbs, Anne Swithinbank and chairman Eric Robson visit Mayfield in East Sussex. The gardening weather forecast is at 2.40pm.

Friday.

3pm, BBC Radio 4. Gardeners’ Question Time. The programme is from Edinburgh where Bunny Guinness, Chris Beardshaw, Bob Flowerdew and chairman Eric Robson are guests of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society. There is also a tour of the city’s Royal Botanic Garden and the gardening weather forecast is at 3.40pm.

Saturday, December 5.

7am, BBC Radio York, Julia Booth. Presenter Julia Booth and gardening expert Nigel Harrison hold their weekly plant surgery. Phone number 01904 641641.