General Gardening Discussion

When I search 'butterfly on tree trunk' I get a few images returned with butterflies doing a headstand, and they mostly seem to be painted ladies or red admirals. Intriguing, but best I don't spend another x hours spelunking the depths of the internet ..

I have complained on J Parkers WhatsApp thing - but it seems to now be ignoring me. Currently sat on hold on the phone with them

Not many places in the UK where you could leave a standard out all winter I would have thought.

Always used to visit here when I worked in London. Worth knowing that the John Tradescants, father and son, are both buried in an elaborate stone sarcophagus in the back 'garden'. Lovely, peaceful place, worth visiting if only to honour the memory of those two great explorers, collectors and...

My arms are still not long enough for this one, its got the pullies to give you the advantage, so it cuts really easily but, it just involves so much cord length to close the cutter. Mine hasn't got a wooden handle but it did come with a silly plastic thing to wind the cord round.

Hakonechloa grows really well here I have H. aurea/aureum, as the variegation's nice, but it loses that if in more shade. It likes plenty of moisture so it's very happy in my garden whether in a raised bed or directly in the ground, and in plenty of sun. Despite creating shelter from wind, my...

@Goldenlily26 Thank you for your input , i shall monitor this over the winter months and assess the way forward . The only vertical stem ends with two horizontal stems , so i shall take photos over the coming months and monitor the changes , i am also inclined to cut back but i know this is a...

Yes it's in the High St he seems very well known here.

That's great @Donna Crossman . Glad it's working better now. You'll be able to enjoy all the area around the pond, as well as the pond itself. You can experiment a bit more with your choices too, when the soil's decent

My Heleniums went into a state of suspended animation at the end of last month. They have plenty of new flower buds but are refusing to progress. Erigeron lasts here until December and is in full display. Some Hostas are reflowering as are many Heucheras. I'm getting a second flush of flowers...

@infradig Thank you for that article link, possibly answers a question I had which was given the known parsimonious of farmers and that glyphosate is supposed to be bound to the soil particles how come so much ended up in rivers.

That’s a nice choice @cucumber .

Thank you all for your kind input. I don't think that will be possible The bungalow is long and sideways on - on the plot. The back garden is actually at the east end of it, so it follows that the back garden faces east, although it has almost all day sun as you can see in the second shot....

I got one Big Ben plant last November for £6 reduced at a garden centre, planted it and planted up the cuttings from the initial prune and have six more plants to go in this winter if I want. Every cutting took which was nice. I'm going to try a couple as a fan along a fence I think.

Yes they're lovely, thanks for sharing

I think they sound like Aconites too. They flower in spring - and the exact timing depends on location, as with many plants. There are loads of dwarf daffs available, so it's worth checking out some of the good bulb suppliers Peter Nyssen, Broadleigh, Avon etc. It's a good time to do it. If...

I can see where I've been going wrong since OH sold his JCB . It was back to spades and wheelbarrows, with the most helpful machinery being a ride-on mower and little trailer. Time to muscle-up methinks

All you can do is keep an eye on them, and hope that the autumn/winter weather will benefit. Ling, which is what you have, is pretty hard to kill [even when being burned on hillsides to rejuvenate it] but it does like plenty of moisture. A pot grown specimen can easily dry out though, and is...

This thread was a good read. I’ve got one side of back garden which has permanent shade from fence except for a short time first thing. Always a challenge knowing what to plant, especially when wanting year round interest.

And that is the major problem. Its two- fold Land which until now has been rejected for development; flood plain in many cases, is now being built upon. Traditional drainage schemes are being neglected through a mixture of mistaken 'restoration'/rewilding/misappropriation of budgets. Allowing...