Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2025 i Garden Answers

“Cutting leaves from hellebores – minimises leaf spot disease and reveals their flowers.” Sue Fisher goes all-white, p14 “Sowing chilli seeds. They need a long growing season so it’s all go!” Ade Sellars on how to light up your winter garden, p22 “Pruning! The word is synonymous with January for me, great for my dead hedges.” Join Adrian Thomas birdwatching, p46 “Planning, sorting my seeds and sowing chillies.” Olga Grieves is making the most of winter life on the allotment, p70 “It’s seed-sowing season for veg and flowers that need a long season.” Geoff Hodge, pressure washers, p90 “Plotting, planning and dreaming of what the garden could be, and not touching a thing!” Dan Masoliver is on p106…

Patio project PACKING A PUNCH With just a few pots, this fantastic display is simply bursting with vibrant plants, proving that you can have colour at any time of year. It is an inspired choice to pop in a couple of ornamental cabbages, which add deep purple hues. They will survive down to −5C. The pretty pink cyclamen picks up on the purple perfectly. In the large metal container, white Cyclamen persicum echoes the cool Helleborus niger ‘Christmas Carol’ while the silver-leaved calocephalus ‘Silver Sand’ shines between them. The variegated leaves of the trailing ivy are mirrored in the leaves of Cyclamen persicum. It is beautifully thought-out.…

BEAR HUNT TRAIL  Until January 5, 9.30am-4pm, Anglesey Abbey, Quy Road, Lode, Cambs Find 10 beautifully painted bear sculptures on this Wild in Art/Walker Books trail. Garden entry £17. nationaltrust.org.uk/anglesey-abbey WINTER SCULPTURE EXHIBITION Until January 31, RHS Garden Rosemoor, Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH Colour and texture provide the perfect backdrop for this annual exhibition. Garden entry £15.85. rhs.org.uk/shows-events NEW YEAR’S BREAKFAST January 1, from 10am, Dunstable Downs, Beds Enjoy a breakfast served on Bedfordshire’s highest point after a bracing walk on the Downs. Booking essential, £13.50. nationaltrust.org.uk/dunstable-downs ORCHID DAY January 11, 9am, Beetham Nurseries, Milnthorpe, Cumbria LA7 7AP Orchid specialists Beetham Nurseries have a huge range of plants to see and buy. Sara Ritterhausen’s talk on The Wonderful World of Orchids is at 2pm. Free. beethamnurseries.co.uk WINTER WILLOW WALK January…

A 200-year-old fir tree in Cumbria has regained its crown as England’s tallest after putting on a spurt of growth. Checking in at 59.7m tall, the grand fir, Abies grandis, growing in ancient Skelghyll Woods near Ambleside, beat the previous record held by a 58m grand fir in County Durham. Arborist Will Hicks and William Steele used ropes to climb to the tree top, where a tape was dropped to National Trust area ranger Jamie Armstrong to record the final measurement. When last measured 12 years ago, the tree was 57m. “It was likely planted by Thomas Wrigley around 1860, as part of his Wansfell Holme Country Estate,” said John Pring, National Trust countryside manager in the Lake District. “At the time Victorians loved creating arboretums, to show off newly…

Pots of white blooms exude peace and calm as well as looking smart and stylish: perfect for patios, front gardens, and for lightening gloomy spots close to the house. You’ll find white-flowered forms amongst most of our summer favourites, such as petunias, geraniums, osteospermums and nemesia. Go large with smallflowered annuals and create more impact by repetition planting, such as filling lots of smaller pots with white violas or white trailing lobelia. Keep an eye out for newer kids on the block: Bacopa and sutera are wonderful little trailers, while euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost’ creates a veritable cloud of hazy white blooms. Many white flowers are wonderfully scented, often breathing out their perfume on the evening and night air to entice night-flying moths that pollinate their blooms. Fragrant lovelies such as…

S. CONFUSA ‘KEW GREEN’ (MALE) Glossy green foliage; green buds tinged yellow open to ivory white flowers with a sweet, lightly citrus scent. H&S: to 2m. S. JAPONICA ‘FRAGRANS’ (MALE) Also sold as ‘Fragrant Cloud’; bears open panicles of strongly and sweetly scented white flowers. H&S: 90cm. S. JAPONICA ‘MYSTIC MERLOT’ (MALE) Compact with silver-edged green leaves; white buds change to pink and red, opening to white flowers. H&S: 30cm. S. JAPONICA ‘RUBELLA’ (MALE) Showy clusters of red buds open to white flowers against dark green leaves; widely grown for winter interest. H&S: 1.5m. S. JAPONICA REEVESIANA (M/F) Clusters of gleaming red berries are reliably produced with male and female flowers borne on the same plant. H: 1m, S: 80cm.…

Winter sunlight accentuates clean lines and crisp colours in the garden, such as the acid-yellow of Cornus sericea ‘Flaviramea’, which gives a landscape-cutting slash of colour. In this planting its strongly vertical stems are contrasted with a wash of dainty snowdrops across the border, evoking the woodland floor in miniature. If you choose the double, heavily petalled ‘Flore Pleno’, you’ll ensure these pinpricks of white are visible right across the garden. Helping to anchor this bold planting are the sentinel-like cones of blue conifer Picea glauca albertiana ‘Conica’. Slow growing and densely needled, this conifer has a solidity that’s welcome in the stripped-back winter landscape. To add warmth and continue the season of interest, thread in evergreen clump-forming Libertia peregrinans, whose striped olive-green leaves turn rich amber in colder weather,…

1 Get those garden tools cleaned and oiled ready for the busy year ahead! 2 Keep feeders clean. The recommendation is to give them a good clean with disinfectant and then rinse with fresh water and dry, every two weeks at least. 3 This is a great month to get new nestboxes up – start with the sparrows, starlings and swifts as they need them the most. Look out for… IF WE GET A COLD SNAP, watch for birds passing overhead fleeing the snow – such as lapwings and skylarks. SICKLY FINCHES fluffed up near feeders. If so, stop feeding for several weeks – it is the only kind thing to do. SPARROWHAWKS zooming through gardens, nature red in tooth and claw.…

How long have you been at Rowallane? I’ve been head gardener here since June 2020 – a very surreal time to start! I’ve worked in several different gardens but from my first day, Rowallane felt like home. It was the garden I’d visit on my day off or bring visitors to see and when the opportunity came, I jumped for it! Tell us about the garden… Set in the rolling drumlin hills with the underlying rock as much of a part of the character as the plants, the gardens were started in the 1860s by a retired reverend. It stayed close to its humble origins as farmland with drystone field walls, antiquarian cairns and a Victorian stableyard and walled gardens at its heart. When Hugh Armytage Moore inherited the estate…

1 You will need 9cm pots, peat-free compost, water and ‘Hungarian Hot Wax’ seeds. Chillies need a long growing season, so it is best to start in the winter or early spring – January is perfect. 2 Fill the pot almost to the top with peat-free compost and place around five or six of the tiny seeds on it. Lightly cover with compost and water well, taking care not to displace the seeds. 3 Clearly label the pot and move it either to a heated propagator or a warm windowsill to wait for them to germinate. They need to be in temperatures of close to 21C to thrive. 4 Once the true leaves have started to appear, prick them out, making sure to hold them by their leaves and not…

A powered pressure washer is undoubtedly the quickest and easiest way to deal with those messy outdoor cleaning jobs on your to-do list. Whether it’s removing grime and unwanted growth from paths, patios, fences and walls, reviving crusty old pots, or getting the greenhouse, conservatory, bike or car clean and shiny, any hard surface is suitable for a fast blast of the mighty cleaning power of water under pressure. Most pressure washer models are powered by electricity, are relatively light to move around, quiet to use, need little upkeep, and don’t produce any emissions. They start and stop quickly and are simple to control. Any hard surface is suitable for a fast blast of the mighty cleaning power of water under pressure If you’re sold on the idea of getting…

WRITE TO US AT Garden Answers, Bauer Media, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA EMAIL gardenanswers@bauermedia.co.uk WEBSITE gardenanswersmagazine.co.uk Feeling foxy Rightly or wrongly, these gorgeous guys wait for their scraps each evening outside our lounge window! Annette Fossett, by email We love our resident fox. Dawn Searles, by email Foxes are welcome visitors to my 94-year-old mum’s garden. Margaret Fox, Sutton Coldfield Cactus buddy When I moved my Christmas cactus into the lounge I spotted an interloper in the pot. There must have been some hart’s tongue fern spores in the soil when I repotted it!. They do make a lovely pairing. Heather Lawrence, by email Star letter CLEAR IT WITH WATER CRESS In the November issue, the Ask Garden Answers question of the month from the Youngs family asked about water turning…

Enjoy non-stop colour for months from these rose bushes, including red, white, yellow, peach, and pink. You won’t be able to escape from the magnificent aroma released – and why would you want to? Perfect for even less experienced gardeners as they’re disease resistant, easy to grow, and totally winter hardy. They’re also wonderfully versatile to suit any garden scenario – perfect for your patios, beds and borders. Supplied as five premium-quality bareroots. Item 530211: buy 5 x bareroots for £19.99 – you save £10! MORE GREAT MONEY-SAVING OFFERS ROSE ‘ABRACADABRA’ Be spellbound by these magical and varied blooms – you never quite know what to expect! A delightful bush rose with blooms that erupt with velvet red petals streaked in yellow, no two will be the same. Lightly scented.…

Win these gardening goodies! Enter this month’s crossword for a chance to win a begonia worth £14.99 or a cercis tree and a £20 Hayloft voucherworth! Entry form is overleaf CLUES ACROSS 6 Early-flowering compact evergreen perennial also known as rock cress (6) 7 - - – - lily, name commonly given to the wild daffodil (4) 8 Sedum morganianum or burro’s - - - -, tender, trailing succulent (4) 9 Cereal grain genus that includes the tall blue wild rye (6) 10 Asian land noted for its azaleas, chrysanthemums and cherry blossom (5) 12 Country nominally associated with the monkey puzzle pine (5) 15 Only species of the genus Levisticum whose leaves serve as a herb (6) 17 Native Australian annual, the - - – - river daisy (4)…

Luxury yoga mat £89 Centre yourself after a day in the garden with this cushioned yoga mat. thepositive.co Water bottle £14.95 Stay hydrated with a 500ml stainless steel water bottle, featuring a wild flowers print. rexlondon.com Wild Mocktails and Healthy Cocktails £7.99 Dry January doesn’t have to be boring! Use garden herbs for tasty mocktails. From CICO Books. blackwells.co.uk Aromatherapy eye pillow £25 Unwind with a Liberty print eye mask filled with lavender and chamomile. topdrawer.co.uk Greenhouse jigsaw £16.95 Get cosy with a cuppa and lose yourself in this 500-piece greenhouse puzzle. annabeljames.co.uk Sicilian bath salts £22 Jasmine-infused bath salts by Ortigia, ideal for soothing tender skin and tired limbs. heavenlyhomesandgardens.co.uk…

Can you name these plants that all have a J in their name? Answers on page 12 FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER & INSTAGRAM @gardenanswers A Summerflowering climber bearing clusters of intensely fragrant, creamycoloured blooms B North American vegetable grown for its edible tubers and attractive yellow daisy flowers C One of only three British native conifers with textural foliage and bright blue berries used to flavour gin D Summerflowering cottage garden plant with purple flowers and distinctive pairs of opposite leaves E British native spring woodland wildflower in the arum family, which produces red berries in autumn F Magnificent subtropical tree with violet flowers that can be grown in a conservatory in the UK QUIZ ANSWERS A Jasmine B Jerusalem artichoke C Juniper D Jacob’s ladder E Jack-in-the-pulpit F…

Crisp and elegant by day, romantic and refreshing in the evening, then lighting up the night garden to almost glow in the dark, white is deservedly in the spotlight. White wowed the crowds as well as the judges at last year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Two show gardens that majored on white flowers won Gold and the crowning accolade of Best in Show respectively; white played a starring role in many others; and a new flowering cherry, prunus ‘Starlight’ won the coveted Plant of the Year award. White is not a colour in the true sense of the word, though is often referred to as such. As a non-colour, white flowers work supremely well in almost all planting schemes, yet while often relegated to the role of understudy, white is…

Give your beds and borders a blast of heat with the fiery colours of cornus Winter can be long and dark, and with Jack Frost running amok, his antics can leave the landscape shy of colour. With struggling temperatures and brooding skies, green fingers across the land are twitching with frustration, longing to sow, grow and pot on once again. But do not give in to the winter blues and turn your back on the garden. Warm your heart with shrubs that give out bursts of colour during the coldest time of the year. Viburnum tinus ‘Gwenllian’ A hardy evergreen shrub, it’ll happily grow in most soil types in full sun or part shade, and its hardiness makes for an ideal winter display. If left unpruned, ‘Gwenllian’ has a spread…

The SS Great Britain now rests in Bristol, in the very dock where it was built. Known as ‘the world’s first great ocean liner’, the ship sailed around the world 32 times, travelling more than 1,000,000 miles at sea. Voted the second Greatest Briton of all time, (after Winston Churchill), Isambard Kingdom Brunel was one of the 19th century’s engineering heroes. At the SS Great Britain’s launch in 1843 she was by far the largest ship in the world; and the first ever to combine a metal hull and screw propulsion.…

UNCOVER EARLY BULBS It’s good not to be too tidy in the garden over winter. Stems and leaves can protect plants from the cold and provide places for insects to hibernate. However, if dying plant material is covering bulbs, now’s the time to get out the secateurs and tidy your borders up a bit so that you can appreciate the snowdrops, dainty daffodils and dwarf irises as they emerge. Put the cuttings on the compost heap or leave in a pile tucked in a hidden corner to avoid disturbing overwintering creatures. Boost winter pots Keep winter bedding such as violas looking good for as long as possible, by giving them a quick seasonal spruce up. Deadhead dying flowers and remove any yellowing leaves. Water the pots if the compost feels…

✔ WARM UP COMPOST Bring compost into your shed or garage for a week or two, so it’s not as cold for sowing and pricking out. ✔ SHRED WOODY PRUNINGS Lots of shrubs and trees can be pruned over winter. Shred the prunings to create wood chippings for composting, mulching or to make a bark path. ✔ PRUNE ROSES Now’s the ideal time, while they’re still dormant. Using sharp secateurs, cut back by one to two-thirds to just above a bud and remove any crossing or dead branches. Remember to wear thick gloves. ✔ SOW AUBERGINES AND CHILLIES These tender plants need a long growing season to produce fruit, with variable British summers. Start them off early in a propagator or sealed polythene bag on a warm, sunny windowsill.…

One of the events that has become a staple on the garden calendar is the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. Homeowners everywhere are invited to take one hour over the last weekend in January (including the Friday, should you be busy at the weekend) to count all the birds they see in their gardens. It runs from January 24-26. The survey was launched in 1979. From modest beginnings, it has grown such that now well over half a million people take part every year and between them count several million birds. The beauty of a survey like this is that it provides data that can be compared from one year to the next, building a powerful picture. A single year’s survey is interesting, but when you can compare results over many…

Visit greatmagazines.co.uk/gardenanswers PHONE 01858 438884 QUOTE XM24 At Garden Answers magazine our aim is to help you make the most of your outdoor space by creating your perfect garden, whatever the season. Now’s the perfect time to take out a subscription with Christmas just around the corner. This rich source of gardening ideas and inspiration can be delivered direct to your door, 13 times a year, with a free packet of seeds with every issue if you choose the Print Subscription. Or try our Print+ Subscription, which allows you to enjoy Members-only rewards and discounts. Simply scan the QR code (below on the left-hand page) with your smartphone or tablet camera to find out more to find out more. THE PERFECT GIFT FOR LESS THAN £20 Subscribe Print Subscription: 6…

Peacock on aster. Sim Yoxen, by email Bumblebee on aconitum. Tracey Atkinson, by email Autumn colour. Carole Sampson, by email Symmetrical sawflies. Shelly Bennett, by email Lilies and ‘Brown-Eyed Girl’ sunflowers still going strong in November! Mave Turner, by email Red admiral on dahlia. Wendy Dryburgh, by email Late-season nectar from agapanthus. June Deaton, Moulton Comma butterfly feasting on aster. Aldeen, by email…

These hardy perennials form dense mounds of handsome foliage complimented by upright flower spikes in summer. Perfect for light shade, mass them together in generous clumps for a spectacular display in perennial borders, or plant them into patio containers as individual specimens. These resilient, easy-grow, hardy perennials will reward you with fresh colourful foliage each spring, lasting right through to autumn. The Decorative Hosta Collection contains the following varieties: Hosta ‘Frances Williams’ Large, crinkled, blue-green leaves are edged with golden margins. Relatively slug resistant. H: 60cm, S: 1m. Hosta ‘Marmalade on Toast’ Corrugated, heart-shaped, blue-green foliage with gently wavy margins. H: 60cm, S: 1m. Hosta ‘Fragrant Bouquet’ A large variety with bold, pale green leaves, variously splashed with lime green and edged with creamy yellow margins. In summer, this plant…

1 The glossy foliage of Parrotia persica ‘Ruby Vase’, known as the Persian ironwood tree, is almost kaleidoscopic as it turns from green to yellow, orange, red and purple. H: 6m, S: 4m. 2With highly attractive, deep red peeling bark, Acer griseum is a most unusual tree that you just want to grab hold of! Brilliant red-orange leaves in autumn. H: 12m, S: 8m. 3 Fabulous all year, Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’ has elegant seedheads that look gorgeous covered in a light sprinkling of snow and ice. It adds great structure in winter. H: 1m.…

By opting for evergreen shrubs, when they’re not flowering, the plants still offer interest with their colour and structure. Apply a thick mulch around the base of shrubs. This helps to retain moisture and suppress weeds, as well as protecting the rootball from the harsh winter weather. Plant winter shrubs outside the front or back door, and alongside garden paths. As you step outside, you’ll enjoy their scent and colour as you pass. Place potted shrubs on the patio. If the winter weather forces you inside, you’ll still be able to enjoy their displays from within the warmth of your home as you look out. Keep in mind what these winter shrubs look like, and how they grow, during the warmer months. With beds full of colour and structure, you…

Ferns Hardy ferns were transported on steam ships from Australia to England to feed the Victorian fern craze, which was coined ‘Pteridomania’. Adiantum raddianum (maidenhair fern) Each frond bears small, delicate, apple-green leaves held on contrasting dark stems and the plant has an elegant, arching shape. It’s also known as Venus hair fern or delta hair fern and is sometimes sold as Adiantum rubellum or A. cuneatum. Its botanical name is derived from the Greek word ‘adiantos’, which means ‘unwetted’ – water rolls off the leaves. Dicksonia antarctica (Tasmanian tree fern) An evergreen tree fern, but deciduous in colder areas, growing slowly to 4m in height, with a stout, reddishbrown stem and a terminal rosette of arching, deeply divided, glossy dark green fronds to 3m in length. Ornamental plants The…

There’s something wonderful about the start of a new year. Add in frosty, sunny mornings, and you have a recipe for a happy and sparkling month! You’re probably thinking… the days are still short and cold, and January often feels like it drags on for 127 days! I know, I know. Trust me, I often struggle to see the point of it all at this time of year. The plot is a blank canvas, the winter blues linger, and I’m longing for brighter days. But I put on my rucksack, walk over to my plot, and after a few hours of pottering about, tidying, feeding the birds, and just being outside, I remember that gardening is good for the soil and even better for the soul. Allotments and gardens are…

Q What can I plant with my gorgeous red ‘Sibirica Variegata’ dogwood? There are so many plants to partner with this lovely cornus that you’re spoiled for choice. Much depends on whether you intend to cut back the stems in spring, before the buds start to break – hard pruning promotes the vigorous red stems ready for next year’s winter show. But rather than cut the whole thing back at once (leaving a big gap in your border from March to July), it’s better to thin out some of the congested growth, ‘tipping back’ the longer whippy stems by about 1m. On either side of the cornus I’d plant a matching pair of leafy evergreen shrubs to act as a backdrop for the red stems and help them pop. You…