Sid's Outbox

What sort of conditions is it growing in? Waterlogging or excessive dryness? Buddleias are pretty tough things - you see them growing out of peoples chimney pots here!

I can only think of geraniums as being drought resistant. The trailing ones especially make a lovely show even if it is just the one species in the trough. I think you have begonias and lobelia in the one pictured - both these don't like to dry out.

Maybe you could reduce the drainage capacity of the troughs - I mean like lining them with plastic with just a few tiny holes to let out excess - might keep them moist for longer? I do this with my hanging baskets.

Have a look at my pictures - I have an island bed which is devoted to perennials, BUT also has tulips!! The tulips tend to be towards the front of the bed where they get the most sun, but they have done well there and are obviously happy in this setting. The perennials do eventually cover them by mid May, but doesn't seem to matter.

WOW WOW WOW!!!! 0_0 :-)

Do they go black at the bottom? If so, this is the charmingly named 'bottom end rot' and is caused by an imbalance of nutrients in the soil. It can be caused by growing the toms too many years in the same soil or it can be caused by overuse of fertilisers.

Grass seed does grow quickly in good conditions, but we're getting a bit late for it now. However, from your picture, looks like the site is in partial shade, which might help. It will need watering daily to get it established. I don't know exactly how long it will be before you can use the area. Good luck with it.

I have the same problem under my apple trees - I've yet to find a good solution, i'm afraid.

It's lovely - lucky birds :-)

Very much so - a great leveller :-)

Well I thought the bees had little tiny buckets and they had to climb a ladder inside the hive and pour the honey into a big pot......or is that just in the cartoons???!!!! ha ha ha....

Please feel free to send you rain this way, Sarah. My plants are all thirsty!

My parents always say that spring is the yellow time. I guess now is the pinky-purple time?!

Oh, i see......now that makes sense. I had a vision of you stood on a roof blowing a wistle or something...?! A former employer once told me 'You are living on Planet Sarah'. You can see why, can't you?! Ha ha ha.....

I have a lovely lady in her 80s across the road - her garden is SO lovely - it is very long and very narrow, but she and her late husband divided it into lots of little compartments divided by hedges/trellises and archways - all with wonderful clematis - I love to see it! And last week I had the privilege of being able to show her round my garden for the first time - we nattered away about gardening like a couple of old chums - despite my being very much her junior by about 50 years!!!

I leave my tulips in - so far they've got better each year - I now get about 3-4 flowers per original bulb I planted :-)

Could you send your storms my way? My garden is so dry already......actually got the hosepipe out today :-0

Ha ha - naughty kitty! Reminded me of years ago when I had a pet house-rabbit. I had been given a little tiny 'sensitive plant' seedling and was rearranging the window sill to accommodate it. I made the BIG mistake of putting it down on the floor. When I reached down to pick it up again, there was just a stump left ....... and there was a very naughty little rabbit sat chewing under the table
>:-( tut. Good luck in your new home :-)

I believe that the law says you can legally remove any branch or root that grows onto your property from your neighbours property so long as removeing said root does not cause the tree to become unstable. And you must then offer said root or branch back to them. But maybe you could dig up and pot up the offspring and give them away to friends?! ;-)

The common name is 'snow flake'. It is not really a pot plant. I don't know what your climate is like, but over here in the UK it grows outdoors in semi-shade and flowers in spring. You will then have a clump of leaves for a few months while it builds up the bulb for next year. It will then die down completely and reappear next year. The leaves will naturally get longer, but if you've had it indoors, it probably has not received enough light (light bulbs do nothing for plants - they need daylight). I would think the kindest thing to do with your baby is to plant it outdoors and just water occasionally until it dies down. I should then pop up again next year. Good luck!

Could they be too warm? With the recent lovely weather I've struggled to keep the temp down in my greenhouse and my toms are looking a bit yellow on the bottom leaves.

Hi Chris - yes, Cornus alba does root very easily! The usual way to propagate this plant is to cut stems off in winter and simply to push them into the ground - they usually root and start growing without any more input! If you have somewhere to put them, I see no reason not to plant them straight away (keeping them well watered until established), or leave them in pots until you decide where to put them :-)

You can plant whatever you like near your boulder - you don;t need to be confined to choosing 'rock-garden plants'. If under the shade of trees, maybe consider a collection of ferns? I think their soft fronds would look nice against the stone :-)

Plus it would make pruning the rose more difficult...

Try to avoid using topsoil if you can. The problem is, unless someone kind gives you some real topsoil they dug like Bonkers (!) then you don't know where it's come from and it is not necessarily topsoil - just because it looks nice and crumbly and does not contain stones or sticks, does not mean it does contain all the humus and nutrients the plants/grass need. Topsoil is a pet hate of mine and yes, it is expensive and potentially an expensive mistake! But back to the point, as Bonkers said, if you sow now you will have to water constantly, but it might be ok. I sowed some about 2 weeks ago and it has started growing. Try to remove rocks from teh top few cms - deeper than that and they prob wont effect the grass at all. Remove any larger bits of wood as you might get mushrooms growing from them as they decompose. As for gravel, that might be a good thing, improving drainage. Hope this helps.

Ooooo - there are LOADS of plants that are not eaten by slugs - a quick list from my garden.....

IN sun:-
Cistus (loads of varieties in all shades of pink and white)
Rosemary
Lavander
Geraniums (hardy)
Euphorbias
Heucheras
Lamiums (for ground cover)
Oriental poppies (and all other species for that matter)
Phormiums (for the foliage)
Osteospurmums
Roses
Nigella / Love in a Mist (and annual that self-seeds itself)
Eryngiums
Grasses

Part Shade:-
Rhodos and azaleas
Camellias
Euphorbias
Geraniums
Dicentra

Shade:-
Ferns and ivy

I've left out 'borderline' ones, but many more would probably be Ok. If you plant MOST of your garden with plants that are not too susceptable to slugs, then the population should stabilise at a lower level than it is at current and you can then introduce the more susceptable plants - hostas, delphiniums, achilleas etc. I will be writing a blog about this soonish. Hope this helps.

Well, I might not be the best person to answer this question as every Hebe I touch seems to die on me!!! But the best time to move most things is when they are dormant (ie not growing) in the autumn/winter. Pick a day when the soil is neither frozen nor too wet and try and get as many as the roots as poss with as much soil attached as poss so it gets the minimum of root disturbance.

My Mag stell is in sun for most of the day, but I think they like to have shade at the roots - mine has a path built over the roots and seems to like it that way!

I agree. They are otherwise known as scale insects. They are hard to get rid of, I'm afraid. I had them on my Pyracanthas and in the end got rid of the Pyracanthas!

I get a lot of grilling.......

Oh that's what it is! You look to have plenty of plants in there, Mike.