Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2024 i Garden Answers

“Potting up hippeastrum bulbs for indoor flowers in February.” Louise Curley turns the spotlight on fire and ice plants, p14 “Removing the growth from apple trees and roses after a very wet summer.” Val Bourne looks at ferns, p22 “Planting up patio pots with a mix of winter colour hardy plants.” Sue Fisher talks sarcococcas, p38 “Washing pots and tidying the tool store so that I’m ready for 2025.” Join Adrian Thomas in his back garden, p52 “Taking it slow, feeding the birds and waiting for Winter Solstice.” Visit Olga Grieves’ allotment, p74 “Constructing the world’s smallest dead hedge with garden-pruned branches.” Dan Masoliver is left scratching his head, p106…

Patio project SIMPLE PLEASURE Sometimes the simplest of displays can imbue a garden with subtle beauty. It’s winter, and plant choices are limited, but you can still create something eye-catching with a few clever moves. There is no shame in buying in forced flowers and this is an opportunity to pick up muscari from a garden centre. It’s a fantastic pop of colour here against the zingy green of Helleborus odorus. The delicate, dangling heads of precious little snowdrops deserve their place at the top of the steps, followed by the big, showy blooms of Helleborus niger in the middle. The mix of pots in different sizes and textures give the impression that this display is bigger than it actually is. GET THE LOOK Festive beauty Treat yourself to some plant-inspired…

A few carefully chosen plants is all it takes to illuminate borders or containers with an elemental display of fiery reds, oranges and golds, set alongside the icy sparkle of snowy whites and glistening silvers to create a show-stopping contrast. Whether it’s pops of scarlet berries next to gleaming white bark or a carpet of pearly flowers around the base of flame-coloured stems, these opposing hues will light up the coming months. Helleborus niger Commonly called the Christmas rose, this is the earliest hellebore to flower, its pristine white, bowl-shaped blooms lighting up the dark days of December. It does best in neutral to alkaline soil that’s moist and fertile – dig in and mulch with plenty of leaf mould. The dark green, leathery leaves are handsome but it’s a…

This year I hit a major milestone – the 10-year mark since taking on my secret acre of garden in suburban Sussex. From November 2014, we turned our focus to the long-abandoned wilderness beyond the window, overgrown with bramble and a dense thicket of suckered damson, which hid a mouldering outdoor swimming pool, copious amounts of rubbish, and even a half-buried bedframe! The plan was to create a wildlife haven that was also attractive to the eye and produced food for the kitchen. I work on the basis of minimum-in, minimum-out, so all logs have been kept from any tree work, as much leaf mould and compost as possible is created from the garden, and rainwater is harvested in numerous water butts. What a joy-filled journey it has been. The…

Q What are these huge caterpillars? KATHY ROCHE & MS HARAN, BOTH BY EMAIL A They are elephant hawkmoth caterpillars, which are usually brown but can also be green. They commonly feed on rosebay willow-herb and Himalayan balsam but also, as Kathy has found, on garden fuchsias. After pupating it will hatch as a golden brown and pink moth. Q Are these bugs friend or foe? MO LOMAS & TRACEY ATKINSON, BY EMAIL A Shield bugs are common on a wide range of wild and garden plants such as birch, raspberries and docks, and these are their ‘young’, which are more rounded than shield-shaped with tiny, part-formed wings. Shield bugs do suck sap and can feed on raspberry and other fruits but are not really a serious garden pest and add…

Timely tips After cleaning my garden hand tools at the end of the season, I oil them before storing them in a bucket of fine dry ‘play sand’ over winter. Come spring they are sparkling and rust free. Carole Gasan, Tiverton, Devon I’ve placed a large glass jar level with the top of my pond and extracted the air, which brings the water up so I get to see my fish all year round. Alan Davies, by email I’ve found a great way to avoid bruised apples is to place large cardboard boxes filled with pet shop straw around my trees. I collected about 95% of my crop from high in the trees with no bruising! Jacqueline Young, by email Dazzling nerines Thank you for your informative article on nerines…

And here it is, etc, etc – we all know the words! Maybe it feels a little premature to be celebrating Christmas but it’ll be upon us before we know it – and here at Garden Answers we’re not about to let that fact pass us by. Our Christmas gift guide, which begins on page 32, is packed with ideas to help you buy for another gardener in your life, or just to put on your own list! There are some great present ideas and at this time of year when it’s too grim to go outside, there are few better things than settling down with a good gardening book, for instance, and we’ve chosen some of our favourites. And despite the shorter days and cooler weather, there is still…

Low autumnal light picks up intricate plant details missed in high summer when colourful flowers dominate. Ferns come into their own now and those with wintergreen foliage make excellent garden plants in dappled shade or deep shade. They keep the garden verdant and green when the weather’s bleak. Many of our named native ferns were discovered in the wild in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, when fern collecting was popular, so you’ll be planting a little bit of horticultural history. Which fern suits you? Their restful fronds add a touch of the Green Man to the garden, but they all have slightly different requirements. Some forms of the oak fern, or dryopteris, cope with dry shade and dark positions so they are useful under shrubs and trees, or in…

Plants that perfume the winter garden give our spirits a much-needed lift and sarcococca or Christmas box is one of the finest. This understated gem of a shrub is quietly handsome in both form and foliage, with slender, glossy, dark evergreen leaves that look good all year, then a fragrant delight in mid to late winter when upright stems are wreathed in tassels of petal-less flowers that give off a rich vanilla-like fragrance. Easy to grow in most positions, almost any soil, and compact-growing – even suitable for containers – sarcococca can deservedly be accommodated in almost any garden. The common names of sweet box or Christmas box are derived from its perfume, flowering time and from belonging to the box family, Buxaceae - though not to be confused with…

Deal with weeds A mild winter unfortunately means there’s no respite from weeds. Hairy bittercress is an especially pernicious weed because it can grow, flower and set seed in four to six weeks, quickly taking over a patch of bare soil. These shallow-rooted weeds are easy to pull out by hand. But, unlike in summer, when you can leave annual weeds to wither on the soil surface, it’s best to clear them away to avoid them rerooting in damp soil. Pop weeds that haven’t set seed on the compost heap; those that have can go in your council green waste. PLANT A BAREROOT HEDGE Bareroot plants are cheaper and stronger than container-grown ones – so now’s a great time to plant a bareroot native hedge. • Choose your plants. Spiny…

“The garden is very much about the flowers and, from hollyhocks to hydrangeas, they all have merit Gardens don’t tend to appear by magic, but sometimes there’s a certain inevitability about proceedings and when Denise and Chris Wallis found themselves with lots of space and an excellent supply of horse manure to hand, it was a slippery slope in waiting. “We’d only had a medium-sized garden before, but it was always something that appealed,” says Denise. “We had horses and a bit of land on the edge of the village, so we started off with just an open patch of grass. But it gradually changed from a field to a garden, as first we added a border, then a few trees, then a little while later we added another border…

Our experts GEOFF STEBBINGS gives expert answers to all your gardening problems. Geoff is an author and gardening writer and was head gardener at Myddelton House, London. GEOFF HODGE is a gardening and horticultural writer, author, editor and radio and TV broadcaster living in the UK. IAN HODGSON casts an expert eye over unruly borders, providing advice on how to revamp them. Ian is the author of Great Gardens, in association with the Society of Garden Designers. CONTACT US Send us your queries! By post: Garden Answers, Bauer Media, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA Email: gardenanswers@bauermedia.co.uk Web: gardenanswersmagazine.co.uk Social media: Find us on Facebook as Garden Answers Twitter @GardenAnswers Instagram as gardenanswers AMARYLLIS Solution of the month Q My garden centre has amaryllis growing in grit and on wood but I…

Oh rats! Q Are we encouraging rats into our gardens with bird feeders and slug pellets? ANN GERRISH & CHRISTINE WOOD, BOTH BY EMAIL A Rats and other pests are a frequent issue with bird feeders, so Ann should try to keep the feeders in open areas where there is no cover for rats and avoid feeding the birds at ground level. It’s a good idea to clear up excess dropped food regularly, and moving the feeders around the garden every week, even by a few feet, might help too. Regarding Christine’s concern about slug pellets attracting rats, some pellets are based on bran and rats may eat these. I suggest using the slug pellets sparingly and apply them little and often so there is less chance of you providing…

Save £50 on a pair of holly trees What could be more perfect this winter than a twist on a Christmas classic? Create stunning festive displays, frame doorways and entrances or adorn patios and conservatories with this pair of standard holly trees, even supplied with decorative pots. The classic holly leaves are deep and evergreen, with a slightly blush tinge, acting as an eye-catching base for rich red berries. These look attractive for years to come and can be enjoyed throughout the seasons, not just during the festive period. This new variety is female, so it’s berry producing and very prolific. It will bud up and produce rich, red berries in future years. These bushes are slow-growing and easy to manage, with just one trim needed a year to keep…

CLUES ACROSS 1 Trumpet vine – flowering creeper of the Bignoniaceae family (7) 5 ‘The - - - - -’, jewel of Achillea ptarmica group also called sneezewort (5) 6 ‘Concorde’, ‘Comice’, ‘Williams’ and ‘Conference’, for example (5) 8 Grand Canyon state whose flower is the Saguaro cactus (7) 10 Red-berried cuckoo pint genus (4) 11 Melissa officinalis or lemon - - - -, aromatic herb of the mint family (4) 15 Botanical term indicating pure white as in Weigela or Sidalcea - - - - - - - (7) 16 Verbascum thapsus, - - - - - or common mullein (5) 17 Herb of the parsley family grown for its aniseed ‘fruits’ (5) 18 Prostrate ring of leaves at the base of plants such as Bellis perennis (7) CLUES…

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1 Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’ is probably one of the most graceful of all grasses. Its arching foliage on upright stems gives it such elegance. H: 1.5m, S: 1m. 2 Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’ is such good value throughout the year. Golden flowers glow against icy blue leaves in summer that turn greener in the winter. H&S: 50cm. 3 Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’, the corkscrew hazel, is a curious tree with dramatic twisted stems, which look fantastic once it loses its leaves. Pollinators love it, too. H: 3m, S: 4m.…

Filler: Gaultheria procumbens With its juicy red berries, checkerberry is a Christmassy plant that’s ideal for pots in shady parts of the garden; H: 15cm, S: 1m; £13 for three. jparkers.co.uk Spiller: Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’ The zingy foliage of evergreen creeping Jenny will cascade softly over the edge of containers and add contrast to deeper winter colours; H: 80cm, S: 5m; £10.99 for 9cm pot. crocus.co.uk Thriller: Skimmia japonica ‘Fragrans’ Easy to care for and perky all year round. The dark, glossy leaves are slightly aromatic and it has pretty white flowers in spring; H: 50cm; £19.99 for 2L pot. rhsplants.co.uk Filler: Heuchera ‘Sugar Plum’ The silvery marbling on the deep plum-covered leaves make heuchera ‘Sugar Plum’ shine and the ruffled texture will soften the overall display; H: 40cm; £8…

Ghostly spines of silver punctuate July’s blousy borders, serving as a reminder that not all is soft and delicate within the garden. Yet, while the teasel-like spikes of Eryngium giganteum – also known as Miss Willmott’s ghost – may inflict the occasional finger-prick, there is beauty in those bracts. Their sharpness adds depth and contrast and prevents over-sweetness – not unlike the role their namesake took in the hazy Edwardian world of horticulture. Miss Ellen Willmott has a chequered reputation today, but no amount of Willmott folklore can take away what this extraordinary character did for gardening. Born in 1858 to a comfortable, middle-class family, the young Ellen never knew want. From the age of seven, she would find a cheque for £1,000 – worth approximately £150,000 today – on…

CLEAN YOUR GARDEN TOOLS Now’s the perfect time to give tools a good clean. Use a stiff brush to remove soil, then wipe the handles and blades with hot, soapy water to remove any final bits of dirt. Rub thoroughly with a clean, dry cloth. Remove rust with steel wool and use a sharpening stone to give blades a sharp edge. Wipe metal parts with a lubricant such as WD40 or vegetable oil, and rub linseed oil into wooden handles before storing somewhere dry. Keep an eye on forced bulbs Check bulbs such as hyacinths and narcissus paperwhite regularly to keep an eye on their progress. As soon as their flowerbuds have formed, bring them into a cool, bright place to develop naturally. If they seem to be opening too…

Midwinter brings a sense of earthy magic. It is when the vitality of evergreens seem like an enchantment in the face of the sinking back and emptying that is happening all around us. In Bressingham Gardens, Norfolk, the cumulus shapes of pinus ‘Thunderhead’ live up to its name and serves to highlight both the white of the birches and the slashes of scarlet cornus ‘Sibirica’. At their feet, the sweeping hair of red tussock grass peers over frosted bergenia foliage looking like the choppy surface of a maroon lake. Then behind it all, tall conifers keep the viewers gaze firmly in the picture. It’s a combination that knows how to play with colour, texture, shape and movement, every part of it roaring its defiance at the thinning of the year.…

As I count down the days and minutes, preparing in every way I can for the return of the light, I sow my chillies in a heated propagator on the shortest day of the year. They are little seeds of hope. Don’t be tempted to sow yours unless you have grow lights, as the days are short, and the light levels are low. Seeds germinate quickly in warmth, but without enough light, they’ll become leggy. If you don’t have grow lights, it’s better to wait until late January or early February to start sowing. This month is also perfect for spring bulb bargains. I don’t know about you, but it’s become a bit of a tradition for me to visit garden centres after Christmas, hunting for discounted crocuses and other…

Reaching for the skies Q Can I prune my skyward-soaring standard apple tree? TERRY CASEY, PRESTON A Your apple tree looks very tall with few side branches, so it might be ‘Ballerina’ or one of the other genetically columnar apples. These grow upwards and tend to produce few branches apart from flowering and fruiting spurs. You can cut off the top when it reaches the required height, although this might stimulate one or more vertical shoots to replace it, so look out for these and cut them out. Q What is affecting fruit formation on my peach tree? JACKI DAVIES, BY EMAIL A I suspect that your potted peach tree is growing in multipurpose compost. It would be better in John Innes No 3 because this is less likely to dry…

This unusual front garden was obviously well-loved in the past. Previous owners probably chose these plants in the 1970s when conifers and heathers were all the rage. Fortunately there’s plenty of potential to revive the planting scheme, revitalise the soil and achieve a more up-to-date look. First, let’s take the large Juniperus chinensis ‘Blaauw’ at the end. It’s not contributing much by way of privacy and it’s far bigger than all the other plants, so it’s spoiling any sense of scale. I’d remove it. In fact, all the conifers seem randomly positioned. Ideally you want to group them by kind, size, shape or colour to create a more dynamic, deliberate relationship. Either huddle them together, or spread them into a neat line or triangle, with complementary plants drifted between to…

Save £8 when you buy 3 Loved for their unsurpassed winter beauty, hellebores will survive the coldest of weather, poking their heads up above the snow. Blousy, cup-shaped double blooms appear above glossy, evergreen foliage throughout winter and into spring, providing your garden with colour when not much else is flowering. Perfect for planting in shady borders and containers or underneath trees and shrubs. Supplied as 9cm pots, delivery in 7 days. Buy all three and save £8. • Buy 1 x ‘Double Ellen White Spotted’ for £14.• Buy 1 x ‘Double Ellen Red’ for £14.• Buy 1 x ‘Double Ellen Pink’ for £14.• Buy Helleborus Collection (x3 – 1 of each) for £34 – you save £8. THE PERFECT FESTIVE GREEN GIFT GIN & TONIC PLANT Save £18 when…

Plus… fill your beds, borders and pots with winter shrubs that will ignite your gardens with colour and scent Put skimmia in the spotlight – a handsome, evergreen, fragrant shrub Join head gardener Claire McNally from Rowallane, Belfast Find out how to identify the most common birds found in your back garden Plus • Inspirational reader gardens Veg patch diary • Expert Q&A Puzzles & prizes Jobs for the month…