General Gardening Discussion

I have no idea what sort of bamboo ours was (is). It came from a large house in north Wales in the 1970s, where we used to go for training. Hubby was wondering around the grounds and thought he would like some. He must have used some canteen cutlery to dig up a bit as his only other equipment...

Autumn is generally a good time to plant so long as your plants are a reasonable size. Foxgloves should be OK, mine seed themselves, but slugs love lupins. They will attack them in spring just as they emerge if they are small plants. I would cut down the flowers of the achillea.

To do that I would need it to flower again (the desired rose) which won't happen now until next year (I believe).Would a better plan be to cut the rose back completely to the lowest point say 12 inches or so off the ground?

Thank you all.I have lots of sites, but most of them are currently obscured, in the Bilbo Baggins "Mirkwood" sense of obscured, albeit mainly by apple trees, Himalayan Giant blackberries (I'm a blackberry vinegar fiend) and wisterias.

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.

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 .

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...