Your Recent Questions and Answers.

Q.    How can I get my mock orange to bloom? I planted it about 10 years ago and rarely see any blossoms.

A.     Mock orange. Mock orange loves the sunshine the double one even more so, also mock orange love poor soil conditions. Too much feed encourages leaf growth not flowers. If your plant is in a dark corner it will also be very reluctant to flower. Cut out the old growth and dead canes to let in the light. Here at the nursery we have a forty year old specimen, exposed to the sun all day, which is always loaded with flowers.

Q.     I have a very old and very large Cyclamen. As usual in the spring I placed the plant outside for the summer. I recently brought the very healthy looking plant back indoors, but now to my despair all the leaves and flower buds are now hanging down over the sides of the pot. What is the reason for this, is it something that I have done?

A.    The most likely culprit is the Vine Weevil. This is an evil little beetle whose larvae love to eat the roots of the vine hence the name. However they also just love cyclamen roots and your plant out in the garden would have been heaven-sent. There are sprays applied in summer to deter the beetle, but to cure the problem now you must remove the plant from its pot. Then wash all the soil from the roots and you will find a host of small white maggots. Remove and kill all theses maggots, making sure that none remain hidden amongst the roots. Then re-pot your plant in fresh compost and look forward to an abundant display of flowers.

Vine Weevil are a pest throughout the garden but are at their worst in pots, containers, etc. The presence of the adult beetle is often indicated by crescent shaped bites taken out of the plant's leaves.

Q.     I am about to replant a hedge with Leylandii conifers, I note that there are green and golden varieties which is the best?

A.     Firstly, if you want to avoid future trouble don't plant Leylandii. With their rapid growth to great heights they are the curse of modern gardening. Here at the nursery we refuse to sell them, have done for the past 20 years. However if you must plant them, both are about the same. But if you plant the golden, to keep the gold colour you must feed with hydrated lime every so often.

Q.     I am a keen gardener but I live a long way from London. The question is this, is the Chelsea Flower Show worth the effort of visiting?

A.     If there is one event you must go to in your gardening life it is Chelsea. The exhibition gardens are larger than life as are the designers, but from all the grand schemes you can usually see an idea that will just suit your own garden. As well as British visitors, the air is alive with voices speaking many other languages, all gathered together in a common garden cause.

Also one can see, and order, all the latest plants at Chelsea, long before the Garden Centres get a look in. All in all definitely worth a visit, even if you can only manage once.

Q.    I have some Raspberry canes in my garden which start well enough in the spring, but as the fruit grows the leaves go yellow and the fruit stays small. I have tried feeding them but to no avail.

A.    This sounds like poor drainage or waterlogged heavy clay, try to see if you can improve the drainage. Raspberries really like light sandy slightly acid soil and mixing in some gritty sand will help. The yellowing leaves can also be caused by lack of what are called trace elements in the soil. Theses are essential to plant health and under certain conditions the plants are unable to access any, there are various products on the market to correct this deficiency.

Q.    My geraniums always suffer from scale insects what are they and how do I cope.

A.    Scale insects are small parasites that attach themselves to the underside of the leaf and plumb themselves directly into the veins of the plant; they are a serious pest. Young insects are easy to dislodge but once established they grow an ugly light yellow protective scale which slowly destroys the leaf.

Q.     What are F1 Hybrid Plants and are they worth the extra money?

A.    An F1 Hybrid is the result of a cross between two desirable parent plants. The plants are pollinated by hand in controlled, isolated, conditions. The resultant plant is superior to its parents but the downside is that the costs of production are high. Also the seeds produced from F1 Hybrid plants produce a plant totally inferior to the F1 parent. Today many F1 plants, on sale at the Garden Centres as young plants, are produced by tissue culture, rather than being produced from seed. This also is an expensive process.