1 - 8 October 2006

Year-round colour, fascinating forms, easy to care for and great with other plants: discover what conifers can bring to your garden.

From a small balcony with room for a tub, to acres of grounds with space for an arboretum, conifers can add something truly special to any garden. During National Conifer Week, from 1 to 8 October 2006, gardeners are invited to head to their local garden centre to discover everything this plant for all seasons has to offer.

Conifers are a wonderful way to bring gorgeous colour and exciting form to the garden all year round, whether as a backdrop, a standalone feature or in a border with other plants. They are extremely versatile, coming in an amazingly diverse range of shades, textures, shapes and sizes.

Planted in the autumn, conifers offer a way to add something new and interesting to the garden at a traditionally quiet time.

Jon Tate, of the Association of British Conifer Growers, said: "Conifers are also hardy, and easy to care for. For example, most require only a little watering, making them an ideal choice in light of summer water shortages and drought orders. They do need watering in, but the seasonally wet autumn weather should do the job for you."

Conifers have recently burst back into fashion, and were seen in many of the stunning gardens at the 2006 RHS Chelsea Flower Show ­ including Hillier Nurseries' gold medal-winning Arc and Texture garden, and Pershore College's bronze medal-winning Conifer Courtyard. Pershore College also won Best-In-Show at Malvern Garden Show with a conifer garden.

To celebrate National Conifer Week, and demonstrate how conifers can be used in the 21st century, three special mixed-plant conifer borders have been designed by Andrew Fisher Tomlin, Chairman of the Society of Garden Designers (SGD). Plans, plant lists and photographs of the borders ­ one colourful (blue and white), one traditional and one contemporary ­ will be available on the National Conifer Week website (www.conifers.org.uk) and in garden centres, so they can be re-created at home.

Garden centres across the UK and Northern Ireland will be getting involved in National Conifer Week, offering imaginative ideas on how to use conifers, with activities and events, displays and customer information.

This website (www.conifers.org.uk) has also been created, with tips and plans for how people can use conifers in their own gardens, photographs, planting plans and other inspiration.

National Conifer Week is organised by the Association of British Conifer Growers (ABCG), and funded by the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) and Horticultural Development Council (HDC).

About conifers

• There are 630 different species of conifer, including pines, spruces, cedars, larches, cypresses, firs, yews and junipers ­ ranging from dwarf shrubs to magnificent trees.
• Most are evergreen, with foliage that consists of needle-like or scale-like leaves, though the larch and cypress drop their leaves in autumn.
• Although they are most commonly associated with the familiar Christmas-tree shape (conical), conifers take a range of forms including globose (rounded), upright (tall) and prostrate (ground-hugging).
• Conifers come in a rainbow of colours ­ greens, yellows, whites, oranges, blues and purples. Some have beautiful variegated foliage, with patterns of stripes, spots and patches. Many change colour with the seasons.
• Requiring only a little pruning and watering to keep them at their best, conifers are easy to look after.
• The name conifer comes from Latin, and means cone-bearing. Most conifers bear their reproductive organs in cones, although junipers and yews produce berry-like fruit instead.

Three specially-designed National Conifer Week borders

Andrew Fisher Tomlin's three specially-designed borders combine different varieties of conifer with popular shrubs and perennials, none of which are difficult to find or grow. Each has been designed as a straightforward, angular border but can be adapted to curves and other shapes.The three different conifer borders are:

Colourful
Traditional
Contemporary

Please click on one of the borders to find out more about it.

For more information on National Conifer Week or the Association of British Conifer Growers please contact Innes Mathieson on 0118 930 3132 or email innes.mathieson@the-hta.org.uk.