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New December Thread here:- What's Looking Good December 2025

Soft Buddleja cuttings will root in water.

If the new growth is flexible enough you could even bend them over and tie it all together as a proper living fence, like this:

Nature doesnt make many chemicals that arent biodegradable, because eventually it would build up and something would evolve to eat it. This goes for most chemical poisons, though elemental poisons like arsenic can be problematic.Plants filter chemicals into their body quite finely, but metals...

@Adam I Sounds a bit too advanced for me

I know I'm a few years too late,but I did find some of these suggestions veryfunny

If it's in the lawn, just mow it. It is green after all. Weedkillers are noxious to wildlife as well as plants and a real problem as they leach into waterways.I have it appearing in a couple of my hosta pots where it does its thing before the hostas really get going and then get hidden. ...

Clematis Armandii is a bit of a thug, so I wouldn't recommend for that situation. However I have one (cheap from Morrisons!) called clematis x triternata rubromarginata. It's delicate and cute. Not supposed to be evergreen, but it's holding on well. The sites say it's vigorous, but I haven't...

There is a nice dwarf perennial pea lathyrus vernus albo-roseus. Doesn't spread, doesn't climb. But sadly, no perfume. I've never managed to grow the white sprawling one - only the Barbie pink one

I’m quite sure that this is not Camassia in your first pictures. Not that I can tell what it is, but I would take out one and see if it has a bulb or roots like a grass or roots like a cordyline.

yeah... I hacked at the roots a bit and pulled them out.

When I've grown Salvia Patens, they have managed outside down here in the balmy south, but that is in pots under the shelter of the overhanging roof, so they stay fairly dry. I'd say they can cope to about -3 as long as they are not too wet. Any lower than that and I pop them in the garage...

Thank you @NigelJ

Thanks for the replies.

Yes the dreaded beetle , it’s easily sorted with a spray .. but where it was it was a shared hedge and it was me paying out and cutting it all the time ..

tumeric makes for a good dye with cotton based stuff but it leeches slowly so dont wash it with other stuff. I dyed string with it to make gold decorations for christmas. just a small amount of powder (i guess crush the live root instead), in with some boiling water and the string for 13 hours...

Wood probably won't be affected, terracotta depends on whether frost resistant or not, higher quality pots are likely to survive better.

A Camellia is another one you could try @fuchsialady, they are shade loving and need a soil based ericaceous compost. I also have Phormiums growing in shade in the ground but they are happy in pots. You may need to repot and divide occasionally.