Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2025 i Garden Answers

“Picking dahlias and planting scented narcissi in pots for the garden.” Val Bourne on the best hydrangeas, p14 “Sowing sweet peas and orlaya for overwintering under cover.” Sue Fisher celebrates beautiful echinacea, p30 “Creating a new seating area overlooking some of my flowerbeds.” Adrian Thomas on making meadows, p46 “Cleaning my greenhouse in readiness for the autumn months.” Olga Grieves and her lovely plot, p70 “Deadheading pot marigolds to keep the colour coming for longer.” Greg Loades on sowing spicy salads, p74 “Starting the autumn clean up – but not sacrificing plants with winter interest.” Geoff Hodge on the best loppers, p88…

Patio project CAREX, VINCA AND COOL CHARM The end of summer and beginning of autumn is known for its hot coloured dahlias, rudbeckias and red hot pokers, with the promise of dramatic leaf colours on trees and shrubs. But some choice plants in pots can add cool, fresh and vibrant shades of green to add elegance amid more boisterous late summer flowers. It will also be looking fresh and full in winter, too. The carex is a graceful ‘backbone’ plant that is tolerant of dry conditions and sharing space with other plants close by. The vinca (periwinkle) is a glossy trailer that can flower almost any month and can be easily trimmed if it gets too wispy.…

FIND SUITABLE SHOOTS Use a sharp knife or secateurs to take cuttings about 8cm long from healthy green leafy shoots. The best time to cut material is in the morning when it is most hydrated. Non-flowering stems give better results. PREPARE THE CUTTINGS Start by filling your pots with cuttings compost and water. Then remove the lower leaves and any flowers from each cutting, pinching them off by hand. Finally trim each cutting just below a leaf node with a knife. POT THEM UP Insert cuttings around the edge of the pot. Cover with a clear plastic bag, keeping it off the foliage. Place out of strong sunlight in a cool greenhouse or windowsill. Rooted cuttings should be ready to pot on in three weeks.…

As you might imagine in a garden named Acer Corner, autumn colour is in abundance here. “Trees were always key for me when I started designing the garden,” says owner Jo Naiman, “and I now have more than 70 acers as well as other trees and shrubs with glowing autumn hues, so October is a great month to visit.” When Jo moved into the house in 2003, there was lots of lawn, aquilegias and a big leylandii hedge blocking out light. She decided to divide the long, narrow garden into sections and design one area at a time. “First I ripped up the grass and laid out the paths for each section, then I’d go to a nursery or flower shows such as Hampton Court and come back with four…

What are you busy doing at Dyffryn this month? In September we’re wrapping up the last of our long grass management, including direct sowing of wildflower seeds back into the meadows from collections made earlier in the year. We’re still busy deadheading dahlias and enjoying the last of the summer blooms from the annual bedding, on the herbaceous borders and into the Exotics Garden. What makes September such a special time at Dyffryn? Dyffryn really is a garden for all seasons, but September is always a particular delight as we start to transition from summer into autumn. We start to get the first of the colour changes in the trees in the arboretum, while still enjoying a bounty of flowers from the Causeway Borders. What is the garden’s star plant…

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, north London. GEOFF HODGE is a freelance gardening and horticultural writer, author, editor and radio and TV broadcaster, and former online editor for the RHS. 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. Send us your queries! CONTACT US 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 X@GardenAnswers Instagram as gardenanswers BULBS Solution of the month Q What are the bright pink flowers…

WRITE TO US AT Garden Answers, Bauer Media, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA EMAIL gardenanswers@bauermedia.co.uk WEBSITE gardenanswersmagazine.co.uk Super silhouettes I’ve been enjoying looking at the way sunlight catches the plants and makes them look extra special or creates interesting shadows. The petals on the geranium and lavenders have been lit so that they shine and the feathery dill foliage and allotment chives have been throwing gorgeous shadows. But what I didn’t expect was to find this spider preening and apparently gesticulating at its shadow in the process! It was a really lovely, light-hearted moment – the garden is the gift that keeps on giving! Iona Chisholm, Staffordshire The light was just perfect in my garden for capturing the silhouette of this blue tit on my rowan tree. Carole…

CLUES ACROSS 1 Genus that includes sweet peas (8) 5 Scottish dialect term for a swede (4) 6 Single component of a plant’s foliage (4) 8 Compass point inspiring the planting direction of afternoon sun lovers (4) 9 Any tree producing cones and needle-like leaves (7) 12 Bells of - - - - - - -, common name of the late summer Moluccella laevis (7) 15 Chinese dynasty lending its name to the aralia Polyscias fruticosa (4) 17 Abnormal outgrowth of plant tissue sometimes caused by wasp activity (4) 18 Cream-flowering xerochrysum (helichrysum) cultivar named after French fashion guru, Ms Chanel (4) 19 Vigorous Geranium oxonianum marketed as ‘-- - - - - - - pink’ (8) CLUES DOWN 1 Spring-flowering syringa (5) 2 Term referring to outdoor cucumber varieties…

Seeds are tiny spells wrapped around a blueprint – each one a quiet plan for roots, leaves and bloom. Hold one, and you’re holding a secret eager to unfurl in sun and soil.. Stoneware vase £35 Perfect for showing off a handful of seedheads trimmed while you’re collecting seeds. dunelm.com Seed collecting kit £18.99 Includes 20 manilla seed envelopes, pencil, dibber and labels. crocus.co.uk Galvanized seed organiser £25.95 This metal has two compartments and a handy carry handle. harrodhorticultural.com Personalised seed tin £6 Seeds saved from your garden make a great gift in a personal tin. cottontwist.co.uk Seed year organiser £43 Made from recycled leather, with an index of months and weeks to plan when to sow saved seeds. undercoveruk.com Flower seed journal £7.99 Month-by-month sowing journal with inspirational quotes…

PLUG BORDER GAPS WITH LATE-SEASON PERENNIALS As early and mid-summer flowers start to wane, buy in some late-season perennials, grasses and foliage plants to plug gaps and keep the interest going into autumn and beyond. Perennials such as agapanthus, Persicaria microcephala, Phlox paniculata, Kniphofia rooperi, Rudbeckia hirta, heleniums, hylotelephiums, hardy fuchsia and Phlomis leucophracta should all keep blooming right into October, while cordylines and Nandina domestica add splashes of colourful foliage. Continue the drama right into winter with wafty grasses. Pep up flagging containers By late summer, hanging baskets and patio pots are looking a little weary, but a few simple tricks will soon pep them up. If basket fillers such as verbena, lobelia, calibrachoa and petunias are looking straggly, chop them back or remove them to the compost bin…

M/Gerden answers Visit greatmagazines.co.uk/gardenanswers PHONE 01858 438884 QUOTE SM25 Gerden answers 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 summer drawing to a close. This rich source of gardening ideas and inspiration can be delivered direct to your door, 12 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 Subscribers-only rewards and discounts. Simply scan the QR code (below) with your smartphone or tablet camera to find out more. Subscribe Print+ Subscription: Get 3 issues for just £5* when you subscribe PLUS 1 free packet of…

I’ve noticed over the years that for many people, September signals the end of the gardening season. Whether this is due to a slight shift in the weather or simply because we’re a little exhausted after a relentless summer of never-ending weeding, we often start to look forward to a well-earned rest. However, I find that this month marks the start of the gardening season for me. There is still so much that can be grown, especially if you’re lucky enough to have a greenhouse. I’ve realised that the greenhouse is the real workhorse of my allotment. It’s where most of my crops begin their life – a nursery, if you like – and I couldn’t be without it. If you can invest in one, definitely do! It needn’t be…

100 spring bulbs worth £19.96 for free* ! *Just pay £5.95 postage This beautiful mix features five different varieties that will bring colour from February to May. Easy to grow and low maintenance wherever you plant them, these will return year after year. The Spring Flowering Mixed Bulbs Collection comprises: • 20 xAllium moly Dense clusters of star-shaped, golden yellow flowers from late spring. • 20 x Anemone blanda Daisy-like flowers stretch out their petals to form a carpet of dazzling colour. These spreading woodland perennials create a great profusion of charming blue, pink and white anemone flowers over many weeks throughout spring. • 20 x Chionodoxa luciliae One of the first bulbs to flower in the spring, these create dazzling carpets of colour, not only in the traditional blue, but with…

1 Eucalyptus gunnii can grow into a very tall tree but if cut down to 8cm above ground in spring from an early age, it will be more of a tall shrub and will produce lots of the attractive juvenile, almost circular leaves that make it such a stand-out plant when placed in a border. 2 This annual climber, Ipomoea lobata, can grow to 5m tall and will weave its way through other towering exotic giants if it is planted out after the last frosts. The flowers start off dark red before fading to fiery orange and then mellowing to a creamy yellow hue. 3 Begonia luxurians, also called the palm leaf begonia, shows what a diverse group begonias are. It’s a tender evergreen perennial. If you grow it in…

My garden is full of flowers for most of the year, but the cherry on the garden cake is the sight of a butterfly skimming through and landing on one of my blooms. I love to watch them feeding, as they uncurl their proboscises, but they’re quite fussy about the flowers they land on. The flowers need to be accessible, for one thing, and many of them can’t access tubular flowers such as foxgloves, for instance. These short-lived beauties also seek out concentrated sugar-rich nectar, to power flight and mating. Butterflies are in decline, as we all know. The brilliant Butterfly Conservation charity tell us that half of our butterfly species are in long-term decline. Out of 59 species, 31 have suffered significant losses since 1976. Numbers of the once-common…

What a different place the British countryside was 100 years ago! Farms were typically small, a mix of grazing land, arable crops and haymeadows, creating a mosaic of habitats. There weren’t the fertilisers, insecticides or herbicides of today, nor the heavy machinery. As a result, it was a landscape rich in wildlife. Today, although many farmers are doing what they can to bring back nature, the countryside is a degraded world for nature compared to what it was. No statistic is more telling than the loss of wildflower meadows – down 97% since the 1930s. And that means the loss of most of the orchids, butterflies, grasshoppers, and other wildlife that once thrived there. So, it is wonderful to see so many gardeners these days making minimeadows to replace a…

1 Use scissors to cut a recycled mailing bag open, wide enough to cover your basket once it has been opened. Make sure the bag fits comfortably so that it will hold the compost easily. 2 Fill with good quality, peat-free, multipurpose compost, also mixing in a couple of handfuls of John Innes compost to help it retain moisture. Fill it 5cm from the top of the liner. 3 Sow salads to harvest as cut-and-come-again leaves. Sprinkle seed evenly over the compost surface, making sure there aren’t clusters of seeds bunched together. 4 Cover the seed with a layer of sieved compost equal to twice the depth of the seed then firm the compost surface gently. Add a label if sowing lots of baskets with different crops. 5 Use a…

There are always trees and shrubs that need pruning, cutting back and tidying up, especially at this time of year. While secateurs are your main go-to pruning tool, stems and branches that are too thick for these to cope with should be tackled with a pair of loppers. Because they have wider mouths and long arms, they can cut through thicker growth. Their longer handles also allow you to reach further into or up the plant, and thanks to physics, force and leverage, in theory the longer the handles, the more force you can put into the cut, although this isn’t always the case. Most manufacturers now also produce loppers that are blessed with geared or compound lever-action cutting mechanisms. These multiply the force you put into the handles, allowing…

Less than 5p per bulb! Want months of dazzling colour every year? This stunning mix will burst into life after winter. Transform your garden with months of glorious colour year after year with this fantastic Spring Flowering Bulb Collection. It includes 300 bulbs made up of seven varieties, including tulips, crocus, narcissus, ipheion, muscari and two types of allium. Terrifically versatile, it’s perfect for borders, flowerbeds, pots and containers for colourful displays. Plus, the bulbs can naturalise through grass, providing bigger and better displays each year. Get bulbs planted between September and December to see month after month of impressive flowering displays in the following year. Expect blooms from February to August. • Item 630050: 300 x bulbs for just £14.99 – you save £15! MORE GREAT MONEY-SAVING OFFERS COMPLETE…