New member from Hereford

Hi all,

Thanks for allowing me to join your forum.

I am 75 and have recently lost my wife Pam who was the gardener. I have a small patio and would like to grow container tolerant plants that will attract bees and butterflies. The patio is northeast facing and so not ideal for most plants. I would be grateful for any advice.

I have also got cacti and a snakes tongue, which Pam entrusted to me and warned me not to overwater. Unfortunately, I already have overwatered the snake's tongue resulting in several of the leaves rotting at the root. I have reduced watering and the centre of the plant seems to have survived but does not look happy and a baby that is growing in the centre is starting to wither from the top. Again any advice would be most appreciated.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Best regards Ken.

 

Hi bayn a warm welcome to freindly great forum all though you have a north east garden there are still some plants and herbs that grow well in containers and attact butterflies chives do well in shade but you must let them flower to attract bees also
Avoid using any insecticides or pesticides in your garden – these are naturally very damaging to insects and wildlife. Enjoy gardeniing

 

Hello and a warm welcome to Gardeners Corner from Belgium...

There are many plants that will grow with not much light, but growing in containers makes it a little more challenging. The advantage of container growing means that you will be able to grow plants that wouldn’t like Hereford clay, or the relatively moist (!! In light of recent weeks!) growing conditions. In fact, many plants that people think of as sun-lovers actually are relishing the drier conditions, so don’t dispair!

I’m going to put my thinking-cap on, and see what springs to mind. I’m sure you’ll have lots of good suggestions. But if all else fails, there is a plant stall next to All Saints Church on a Friday and Saturday. They are a small nursery, and grow many of their plants themselves. The guy in charge is very knowledgeable, and may also be able to offer a few interesting suggestions...

 

Good morning @Bayn, my condolences to you on your sad loss of Pam.

But may I extend a warm welcome to you on joining our lovely forum family.

 

Welcome to the forum @Bayn , the house plants I will leave for someone else (I dont like them), but for your containers in the shade I will put forward a few suggestions.
If you are just a fair weather gardener, and only want summer interest, Begonias grow well in the shade, there are some great performers available, glowing embers, a nice dark leaf with orange flowers, majestic various colours with double blooms up to 8in across, and for baskets use Bellconia comes in 3 colours and can trail up to 6ft. Also coleus is great in the shade and come in some fantastic colours with great names like fish net stockings, and campfire, andvthe ever reliable Kong series.
If you want year round, and want to stear clear of conifers and plants like euonemous, you could try Heuchera or Tiarella and the Heucherellas, a myriad of colours and leaf patterns, and flowers, oxalis is another container shade liking plant a striking one Oxalis black velvet, dark purple to black leaf with white star shaped flowers, or grass type plants, and you dont need the tall varieties either, Ophiopogen is black, Unicinia rubra is red, there are may colours, and all pretty much low maintainance.

 

Thank you all so much for your warm welcome and advice. I will digest all and hopefully implement.

 

A few plant ideas:
Foxgloves
Hardy geraniums
Chives
Forget-me-nots
Busy-Lizzies
Pansies / violas
Astilbe
Veronica
Crocuses (bees love these!)
Thymes and lavender in the sunnier corner?
Sage
(You can see that I love herbs - they tend to have been developed for flavour, and the flowers are still “natural” so good for insects)

another thing you could do is create a small water-feature - also very important for wildlife. Either a birdbath, or a deeper container, maybe with pump to move the water? Some containers have single large drainage holes, that can be easily blocked with a cork ...

 

Thanks so much for the ideas, Sian. Everyone is has been so helpful. I like the idea of the water feature and think I am going to make that a project. I will seek out the stall by All Saints church next Saturday and run some of your suggestions past him. On Fridays, I am a volunteer gardener for the National Trust would you believe, last Friday was my first day. I was digging in the morning and leaf clearing in the afternoon. Totally Christmas crackered LOL, but it was a wonderful sunny day and I enjoyed being out in the fresh air so much. I will update you with my progress.

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Ken.

 

@Bayn Welcome to the forum, Ken!

Nick

 

One tip - if you are planning on a 2-hour Tesco parking shopping trip, go to the stall first, before moving on. The stall is quite rightly very popular, and the selection diminishes as the day goes on. They will keep your purchases under the table for you to collect at the end of your outing....

 

Hi @Bayn and welcome to the forums. Sorry about your wife.

 

Thank you all for your warm welcome and wonderful advice.

I have spent all morning trying to find a suitable compost to pot on Pam's Cacti and succulent and have simply become confused. I have researched what is available on the forum and the advice is to get the necessary components and make up my own.

The problem is I don't have much space to store anything and I only require a small amount.

Can anyone recommend a ready-made suitable compost that is available in small quantities?

I found this one on Amazon but apparently, the seramis contained causes water retention and so not suitable.

 

It should be, the seramis is there so the cacti can absorb water and it's got grit in it but you could put some more in.