Cotoneaster dammeri

Evergreen, vigorous semi-prostrate shrub that's very tough. Gets only about 20-30cm high on open ground but hummocks-up and flows over bumps and hollows like thick and delicious green custard. ‘An ideal shrub for covering banks and as ground cover’ according to my tea-splashed Hilliers Guide. Sold short we reckon: it’s ever so pretty. Really attractive metallic leaves like tiny green coins thickly encrust low branches, identical and held just-so as if each one was applied by a meticulous jeweller. Ravishing after rain. Their thick coating and decumbent habit does indeed make a smashing choice for covering awkward bare patches under other stuff, but they can also look tremendous spilling over walls and colonising corners where its malleable form looks particularly fluid. White five-petalled miniature flowers speckle the entire thing in spring and summer and these are followed by oodles of shiny berries, as jewel-like as the leaves and redder than the doors at Elizabeth Arden. Wildlife loves them and birds will flock. Fantastic for new gardens or recently landscaped patches: their fast roots stabilise slopes and while a sunny and sheltered aspect is preferred, they are tough as anything and great for tricky spots. Sun or shade: it’s not bothered.