General Gardening Discussion

Waco, the generally given advice is to cut the old leaves off as the flower buds develop. Certainly we always have and we now have a few hundred of the things all over the place. Sawfish, sow the seeds as soon as the pods on the plants begin to open. We sow in trays 'cos otherwwise we have far...

Thanks again guys you are all superstars !! x x

Rossco, can you explain more about why cuttings do not grow true to type? This confuses me, although I don't doubt you're right. I was lucky with my twisted willows then, they came in a bouquet of flowers, and all 3 rooted. I gave 2 away but all three have made nice little twisted trees.

Thanks for all that info folks!

"but the property to our left is still owned by the council and it is also "their" fence,"I am in much the same situation. Council wanted �£800 to remove the old fence (2 feet high, 80 years old and useless) and erect another - and that was only my half! I suggested that I would replace the...

Thanks will give them a go in the pots knowing the wife she will want something new in the pots in a couple of years anyway the ones iv,e got are called red dream grow two feet spead two feet

Waco. I think you are right that fertilisers are over complicated. All fertilisers are just a mix of the three basics - N:P:K. With some trace elements thrown in.My understanding is that, for garden plants, you want something hight in Nitrogen (N - for green foliage) and Phosporous (P - for...

ty rossco, the borders won't be walked on, and i ve warned customer that the plants may struggle, i understand Cordyline Indivsa and Phormium Texan will tolerate semi shade

That's happened to most folk, dabbit. Not enough light and too much heat are the usual culprits.

Yes, It's the grafted ones, rarer as Palustris says, that are pricey. Roberts have a set price of �£5.75 but postage is expensive, usually the way with mail order, and mine were beautifully packed. I had an email from them some time ago about size:Size quoted is approx. height/spread at...

is the lady on a plynth gold plated? btw who actually puts up �£250000? it cant pay back, and what if you did spend that and didn t get a ticket! I think there should be a value for money categorie where peeps have to detail retail costs

Ouch! Take care, Laburnum - get someone else to do the digging for a bit!

I have some 3 year old buddleia cuttings which are 2' tall but only because I keep pruning them... and when I moved the pots yesterday I had a struggle because the roots had got out through the drainage holes over winter. Fond as I am of pots, not a good idea!

small annuals would be better, what you used seem to be perennial that create a bigger root system as you know

I agree Liz - they love delphs. If you can get them more mature, the slugs are less of a problem, but protect as much as possible against snails. Mine will insist on chewing through the flower spike - one minute glorious stem of buds or even blooms - next day, collapsed thanks to snails...

Thank you can't believe all the replies so quickly i am going to try the shrub in a pot that sounds like a good idea. I will let you all know what happens. Thank you again

Weve added a growing blog for those interested:http://www.thechileman.org/collection.phpMark

I think thats right Peter, I tend only to use peat based compost on short term pots ie. one season. Anything longer and I use John Innes, I buy the no 3 and add some peat, or organic matter of some kind, or grit, depending on what the particular plant likes.

Think Liz might be right,its been too wet or too cold or even both. :(

If it likes its' conditions it will self-seed; so after 3 years you should have continuous flowers!