This easy-to-grow, reliable shrub gives a burst of good cheer in mid-winter, thanks to its bright yellow tubular flowers which appear on bare stems.

Growing to 3m (10ft) in height and spread, it can be trained against a wall or fence, or just left to make an informal clump.

Don’t neglect it for too long or it will become a tangled mass that you’ll have to cut down to the ground in spring.

Keep it in check by cutting out most of the stems that have borne flowers when flowering finishes in April.

Winter jasmine prefers a sunny site in humus-rich, well-drained soil.