General Gardening Discussion

You picked a really good one @ThePlantAssassin, old and reliable cultivar which won an AGM in the early nineties! Nick

My Neighbour swears by 'Wet and forget' and I must say it's worked a treat.

Hi. We have a very large Photinia, more like a tree than a shrub. It must be about 18ft high or so and I am not sure how to prune it. It looks terrific but it is getting out of hand. Can it be hard pruned? It is quite bare at the bottom.

Yes SimonZ Do nothing until the spring now......then prune back to a few buds. If you want it to be a little sturdier, less floppy, then you can cut again around early May. Don’t feed or water too much, if at all, next summer. Grow it hard It is a fairly hardy plant

Shiney, that’s lovely. Adds so much more to the garden and our plants

Adrian's father, Alan, was also a brilliant gardener and we still have the tree that he gave us. We were originally introduced to him by my cousin who was a specialist Dahlia grower and had his own small nursery. Things weren't as commercial and frantic in those days.

No problems. Glad to be of help.

They dont look that leggy to me.

Thanks everyone, I unexpectedly got a reply from CWGC and they say it is thuja plicata.

I’ve got Ipheion “Wisley Blue”. It’s a super plant flowering for well over a month from the end of March but as you live in a climate with colder winters, that might be delayed. It’s really pretty and cheerful. Like @CarolineL ’s the leaves of mine are just beginning to emerge. The leaves do...

Fond of Diablo.....have it here with solanum Alba on the wall behind it creating a sheet of white flowers and geranium Orion in front of it

The bees love Hollyhocks so I sowed the seeds in spring, on the packet it said they would flower next year...........well they have flowered this year. I have two in pots around 2ft tall, ready to plant out next spring.

Nice one Cindy

Hi CindyAre you trying to inprove the drainage for the phlox and put them into bigger pots but to keep the weight down on your shelves , yes perlite will be fineSpruce

You're right, ES, the dead parts of the mushroom will not cause more mushrooms, it's only the spores that cause reproduction, so you need to break the reproduction cycle of the mushroom by using the rake and breaking up the mushroom before it matures to the stage where it will start to produce...

Interesting comments from Pete and makes sense to me ..I always stop feeding when tomatoes have formed and fruit is ripening well. As usual it is the result of experimenting. Also very little watering this year....plants are in the gh soil, replaced every 2 or 3 years......but regular...

Ours do a big cut at the end of the season after the flowers have seeded and pick up all the p,ant degree and take away and it is working well.. 3rd year on the trial areas so they want to expand it.. They say... Much cheaper to do one cut a year and clear all arisings..

My favourite gardens have not been mentioned as yet, so...In this country, my favourite is called Norrvikens Trädgårdar. They are situated near to the town of Båstad, which may be known to tennis enthusiasts on the forum. Not only because it is a beautiful place to visit, but also because the...

Bulbs have just arrived special delivery by....the POLICEapparently they were flagged up by the post office as cannabis the police were called and my parcel searched checked as ok and then kindly delivered by them