Gardening tips and advice Database

This is a plant list for shady border – white flowers and white variegated plants Assuming the border is still open to the sky but receives little or no direct sunshine Hedera colchia ‘Dentata Variegata’ x 3 Helleborus orentalis x 7 Acer palmatum x 1 Polystichum setiferum x 3 Heuchera ‘Stormy Seas’ x 6 Anemone [...]

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Before Christmas is a good time if you want to avoid nesting birds. If your ivy has reached the adult form if it has flowers and in this case the stems should be cut at the base and the plant allowed to die naturally over a few months before you try to remove the stems [...]

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Suitable shrub/tree to grow in a container that is 18 inches by 16 inches would be Skimmia japonica ‘Rubella’, Box, Hebes, Cordylines to name but a few. The Japanese Acer like Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum’ would be nice but in time would need a larger pot.

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Getting your orchid to flower , orchids generally live on tree bark so do not like to be in too big a pot. If in a big pot they might just produce leaves as they are ‘too’ happy. On the whole they like bright light but not direct sun light and want approximately 10 to [...]

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The best way to prune your pyracantha is to prune it lightly after flowering and again tidy it up in the autumn. Pyracantha blooms on the previous year’s growth. The flowers are pretty but the berries really steal the show. The more flowers that you have the greater the number of berries so really it [...]

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Honeysuckle it generally is a good grower. If it is an early flowering kind it should be pruned after flowering so that it has the whole summer to grow next year’s flowering shoots. Late flowering honeysuckles can be pruned hard early spring to make the growth that it is going to flower on this season. [...]

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coconut palm the best watering regime for it is to water thoroughly when the top inch or two of soil feels dry. Let it get drier however, in winter but never completely dry. It needs to be placed in a bright postition but not in direct sunlight. It needs a mimimum winter temperature of 55 [...]

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slugs. A simple way to get rid of them is to pick them up and put them in a bucket of salt water. Slugs like to breed in areas of leaf debris so clearing up areas where they might hide might help reduce the numbers too. Other simple slug control methods are to encourage the [...]

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plants for a terrace in Barcelona provide you are prepared to water well there are a great deal of plants that would be suitable for your balcony. Large plants you could use are Cistus, Lavender, Rosemary, Oleander (Leaves are toxic) Pittosporum, Bay, Arbutus, Lantana, Agapanthus, Phormiums to name but a few. For smaller plants you [...]

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Walnuts are quite hungry and require nitrogen and phospahtes so to help them fruit ita a good idea to feed them every spring with a balanced feed such as growmore. They are best fed in the early summer. Other problems with fruiting can be caused by the flowers being destroyed by frost earlier in the [...]

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