CONSERVATORY GARDENING TIPS

5. Find your favourite Mediterranean plants. Bougainvillaea and Plumbago both grow wonderfully in conservatories, covering a large area with their wonderful blossom.

6. Extend the season. When the conservatory is cooler, fill with a wonderful display of spring bulbs - narcissi, hyacinths, and cyclamen. Choose fragrant narcissi, like Paper-white.

7. Bring in containers from the garden during the winter months to provide shelter and extend the indoor display. Patio plants will continue to flower if given food and warmth.

8. Repeat some elements of the planting in your conservatory with the plants you grow outside. Remember that your conservatory wall will provide a microclimate outside too, allowing you to grow tender plants up the outside. Grow similar varieties, indoors and out, to provide a link to the garden. In the milder counties choose callistemon, the bottle brush plant.

9. Small peach trees can be grown in pots indoors. You can move them onto the terrace during the summer months, but bring indoors during the cold weather. The added protection will reward you with early succulent peaches. 

10. Keep plants well watered. One good soak each week is much better than small amounts of water every day. Occasionally move outside and hose down to keep larger leafed plants dust-free. Remove dead leaves and flowers and only repot plants that are bursting out of their containers. Feed regularly with tomato feed during the flowering months.

The Conservatory Gardener Anne Swithinbank, Deni Bown This volume shows how to make the most of a conservatory. There is a comprehensive guide to 1000 conservatory plants, arranged according to use: for dramatic impact or as background, for seasonal interest or temporary display. They are cross-referenced according to temperature needs and other attributes such as scent and colour. A practical section gives essential advice on feeding and watering, ways of regulating light, temperature and humidity, dealing with pests and on step-by-step propagation. Anne Swithinbank is the author of "Bloom", "A Handbook of Greenhouse and Conservatory Plants", "The Gardeners' World Book of House Plants", "Border Planning" and "Container Gardening".