Spritzhenry's Inbox

For perennials, I would recommend Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants in Hampshire who do mail order. I reckon to pay them a vist at least once a year. Their website is www.hardys-plants.co.uk

Love the colours and the glossy leaves. Good choice Spritz

Lovely choices Spritz. I understand the lack of nursery problems only too well. When in the UK I preferred smaller family run nurseries - good plants, personal service and loads of info from the owners. And good prices too!
Here in France the ornamental plant market is just taking off. Most folks are veggie and fruit growers so most places cater for them. The local nurseries with ornamental plants charge an arm and a leg eg Imperata "Red Baron" in a 5" pot was 25 euros (about £19) and the plant none too healthy!
We use Gamm Vert for our outdoor plant needs and Tridome for indoor and bedding. Good plants, reasonably priced but lacking information, so careful purchasing is needed. One of the problems is French labelling as the common names for plants are often different and the latin names often missing.
My father in law bought me a wonderful French book when they visited and so along with the RHS Plant Encyclopedia it is my garden bible.

Mmmmmm Scrummy!

yes that would be great if you could send me a list please. i have had some good and some bad on line. i just bought a rose bush off David Austin web site, that is beautiful think i will be shopping there again. and i do know of a couple on ebay that are brilliant for shrubs, i use Van Meuwen for bulbs, have'nt had any problems with them, and T & M for seeds, and sometimes for young plants, but the plants they have sent this year i have had a few problems with, but at least with T & M you don't have a problem getting your money back or a credit note - always lethal! buecause i go back on the web site to use it and end up with loads and spending more money! and as you know B & Q are usally very good for bedding and the occational unusaul plant. it seems to be perennials that i stuggle with at the moment, so if you know of any good supliers on line i would be very greatful of the tip.

Hi spritz, can well see why you gave in to temptation! you have some lovely additions! it sounds like you have some lovely nurseries near you, you are very lucky. the ones near us are far and few between (good ones that is) and as i don't have a car at the moment kind of limits me because the decent ones are all out in the sticks. it was so much easier when i had a flower shop and a nice big van - the problem was i used to get tempted far too much and not too good a resisting, living close to london does have some advantages like the Chelsea Flower show for one, - now theres a place to go if you really want to impress and make everyone green with envy! - not very cheap though. and there's the New Covent Garden Market - if ofcouse you don't mind driving through central london at 1am but when i had to do it for the shop i used to end up with more plants for my garden than flowers for the shop lol. but i have niether the shop or the van anymore, so i have to make do with B & Q or Homebase for my basics, and the rest i buy on line - problem with that is you don't always get a healthy plant after going through the post.

These are definitely hardy, way below freezing!I'd suggest maybe over watering, but after 40 years I reckon you know how to care for it. Maybe, if just moved to the spare bedroom, the need for water was drastically reduced (as it was cooler) and it has in fact been given too much? But hey, 40 years is a good run, good luck with the other one.

Bulbs can be left in original container for 2, 3 or more years before any need to repot.When flowers start to 'go off' move into light shade,water and fertilse to get the leaves growing strong.

Never seen a silver leafed hebe! Very nice

Looking good to me Spritz! What's the plant in the centre?

If you go to my pictures, I have managed to show my Amaryllis.

I was given a bulb about 17 years ago, as a Christmas present. After all these years it has multiplied to about 6 huge bulbs in a pot which flower in the summer and produce up 12 stalks of superb blooms. I will try to include a photo on this site if I can find it !! Best of luck ,they are worth it but do take the advice of darryluk.

Just for the record, we love getting everyone's ideas for the site but I'm afriad smell-o-vision might be a bit too ambitious :D

Can take 6 weeks,or up to 4 months to flower! Should bloom first season.Soak bottom of bulb in warm water to spread roots out.Top 1/3rd of bulb above soil.Any good compost will do.Water well then leave till growing or soil bone dry. Will rot if watered too much. Assume you are growing indoors,they wont survive frost outdoors.

Hi Spritzhenry, the cause of the cracking is the water that gets into the terricotta (porous) and then when it freezes it contracts. If they are really valuable I would store them somewhere dry and frost free. They look gorgeous, try and make room for them indoors - wrap them up in bubble wrap even in an out building. jack frost can get anywhere!

I find plants confound me every year by doing something unexpected like this! Maybe thats why we love them

If they are empty no problem. I would not risk it, wrap them up, it's not a big job ,good old pots are hard to come by.

I'd say if you'e not sure, wrap them. I've got some pots from Witchford Pottery which are frostproof and come with a ten year guarantee but I wouldn't risk anything else

hi Spritz, in my experience if they are decent thickness and are planted up they should be ok. i have lots of terricota posts and i have only had cracks on the ones that are cheap and thin, or ones that are empty throught the winter. but don't hold me to that, i could just have been lucky! if they have sentimental value i would be safe rather than sorry and wrap them anyway. and the one pictured is a lovely looking pot - is it hand made?

love the photos, your frost looks more severe than southampton.

So where is this nursery? Sounds like they've got some exciting things as several of your purchases are New Zealand plants

Good luck with this. I've tried a couple of times with a small leptospermum (and lost it twice) - they seem to need more moisture than you would expect. I'm trying again next year - third time lucky I hope!

How can I break this gently to you? It doesn't flower in the winter.
Like all fuchsias, it keeps going until the weather gets too bad for it. But it will come again next year like any other hardy fuchsia

There is no particular problem with sending seeds abroad, restrictions or customs to deal with and the post office has a list of counrtries that have restrictions the post office clerk at your local post office will have a chart he can check for you.
Looking at the prices from the sending items abroad leaflet airmail prices up to 100g to Europe small packets is £1.19 for 100g small packet rate at home is £1.09. the only thing here is if you only had a few seeds to send they would be likely to go large letter rate and there is no large letter rate for airmail.
What it amounts to is that it is not out of the question to seed swap nowadays with our European neighbours. The states too may not have restrictions and that is not much dearer £1.31 for 100g small packet rate. For unusual or difficult to obtain seed it may be worth paying that bit extra.

yes me too, i have also been out taking pic's and sweeping the grass of the last of the leaves that have fallen, i have plenty of bare soil as the garden is new, so i have put the leaves i collected all over the bear bits where i have planted bulbs. managed to get the last few tulip and daff bulbs in as well. well it certainly looks as if winter is well on its way, but does'nt it look stunning with the ice coating in the mornings!

thanks Ajay will go and have a look at that now.

Hi majeekahead. The seed swap is found on the plants tab or directly at http://www.growsonyou.com/plant/exchanges

hi Spritz, i have been rumaging through my shed this afternoon and found a couple of packets i don't want they are:Lathryrus odoratus (Sweet Pea T&M prize strain mixed) and Papaver somniferum 'Seriously Scarlet' -(Double Opium Poppy) i have taken picture of the packets, how do i go about putting them up for the swap? i will proberly have more in the next couple of weeks once i have my front garden sorted.

Heavy frost here in east Berkshinre last night too (and again tonight by the feel of it). Lifted the last of my tender plants yesteday to pot up and bring indoors. Also put a dry mulch over the roots of anything a bit borderline which seems to help

Wow! :o)