QUESTION.
    I am not sure the correct name for it but my mother calls it Christmas cactus. It is obviously a cactus and it blooms red or white and mostly in December and January.

I wanted to know if there is a proper way to transfer one plant into a bigger pot. Every time I try it kills the plant. Their pots are so full and the plants are beginning to lean to one side. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks for your time,
Kerri, Austin, Texas

ANSWER.
    When re-potting cacti always use a soil-based compost, preferably compost for cacti. If you use standard soil based compost mix about 20% fine gravel into the mixture for drainage. A clay pot is best and put some drainage stones in to the bottom of the pot before filling with compost. Good drainage is essential.

Do not use a peat-based compost; the decaying peat attracts a type of fly that lays its eggs in peat, these then hatch out into maggots, which will eat your cactus roots.

Before planting the plant, sterilise the soil with Cheshunt Compound, or a similar branded product, which is recommended to sterilise the soil for seedling transplanting. See product application notes on label. Apply another application of sterilising compound after transplanting.

If you do not sterilise the soil, soil borne rotting and wilting diseases soon attack the plant, often with fatal results.

QUESTION.
    We have moved into a new home and the previous owners had not trimmed the existing cedar hedge for many years on their side (though the neighbours have always trimmed the other side). As a result it has grown very wide on our side and takes up more of our yard than we would like.

It is currently about 17 feet high and about 9 feet thick! We want to try to retain it because of the privacy it gives from neighbours so would like to keep it at it's current height but would like it to be thinner.

Can we trim it on just one side? How much can we safely trim? How long are we likely to be looking at a "greenless" hedge? When is the best time to trim it?
Thanks so much for any advice you can give!

ANSWER.
    Your cedars can be cut back now, cut out the side branches to about 2 foot length, leave any upright ones. Chop out all the dead branches in the centre. New shoots will soon start to grow from the stumps.

Whatever you do it will look a mess for quite a while. Feed with a balanced fertiliser in the spring. Some lime applied now will improve the ph balance and correct the fertility of the soil which at present will be very acid due to the decaying pine needles.

QUESTION.
    My mum would like to know what to do with her Tyrolen carnations. What procedure should she through to keep them good?

ANSWER.
    Feed with a high potash fertiliser in early spring and give a teaspoonful of garden lime per plant per year. Re pot into fresh compost every three years.

QUESTION.
    When is the proper time to plant Creeping Jenny in Arkansas? Not sure what zone I'm in. I am trying to fill in an area of my back yard that is elevated and has some Oak Trees.

ANSWER.
    You can plant Creeping Jenny now if you wish, but if you are buying in plants it is best to leave until early spring, this way you avoid winter losses. Always water well in the first summer. Please note Creeping Jenny likes a moist area, so if you're planting area is elevated it could be too dry.

QUESTION.
    What flowering ground cover would work best for an elevated, mostly shady space? I need it to take over the grass, so I won't need to cut anymore, plus be fast growing so it will cover that area quickly. Please give me some suggestions. Thanks, Lela

ANSWER.
    Vinca is a good ground cover, also Hypericum Rose of Sharon; Helianthemum; Dianthus; Sedum; Euphorbia; Epimedium.

QUESTION.
    We are getting quite desperate and would be extremely grateful for any advice you might be able to give. We have our garden enclosed by Laurel Hedges. Gradually one by one they are deteriorating i.e. leaves go yellow and brown and drop off. Why? On the stems one see's a 'Clear Gel' appearing to ease from the wood (the laurels are well established with 30mm diameter trunks). The gel appears along the lengths of the trunks and branches. Can you help please as holes are appearing everywhere and we are losing our lovely garden?
Thank you very much. Peter

ANSWER.
    Some form of fungal disease, probably powdery mildew due to the wet weather of late, is probably attacking your laurel hedges and poplar beetles are probably causing the holes. A fungicidal spray will help with the mildew and poplar beetles, a small shiny black beetle, if present can be sprayed with a suitable insecticide.

For a more accurate diagnosis I would suggest that you cut off some leaves and a portion of branch covered in clear gel, place in a clear plastic bag to prevent any contamination and take the sample to your local garden centre help department.

QUESTION.
    Hi,
I have a juniper tree (I think it is a juniper, it has the same type of branches and 'leaves' as smaller bushes that I have seen, but has not produced any berries). Anyway, it is about 15ft tall, and is infested with wasps. I cannot find a nest anywhere, but at any time during a warm sunny day there are anywhere from 10 - 100 wasps floating about the tree, landing for a few minutes and leaving again. I can't figure out why they are here, or what to do with them. We have put up a wasp catcher, which was full within a week. We are located in Peterborough Ontario (about 44.5 degree lat).

If you have any suggestions or even thoughts as to why they are here I would appreciate hearing from you. Alternatively if you can suggest an alternate forum for asking such questions I would appreciate that as well. Thank you very much for your time,
Sincerely, Kevin

ANSWER.
    Your wasps are feeding on a form of nectar, which is secreted on the leaves of your juniper and many other types of tree. Theses wasps are not usually the fruit eating type of wasp, which form the large nests, but some of the thousands of other varieties of wasp which are relatively harmless. Winter will be here soon, the wasps will hibernate or die and the problem will go away.

QUESTION.
    Last winter was very hard on trees and bushes here on Martha's Vineyard Island. My Holly has always done so well large, green and lots of berries. But this past spring it was black from the winter. The leaves and bark are black.

If I use my fingernail I can remove it from the leaves but not the bark. I thought it was maybe mould and it would wash off in the heavy rains but has not. It would always have berries year round and now has none. There is new bright growth on a few tips so it is not dead. What can I do to remove the black or do I just leave it looking ugly.
Thanks Bonnie.

ANSWER.
    This sounds like powdery mildew, you can spray with a suitable fungicide. However it is best to do nothing until spring, spraying now could do damage to the leaves due to low temperatures.

QUESTION.
    Hi, can you tell me what kind of plants I could put in the garden that are colourful and last all year also not too high. Also can I move a hydrangea this time of year? What kind of colourful climbing plants can I have to put in now that will flower all year?

ANSWER.
    I am afraid that no plants last all the year in one form, except conifers, and no plants flower all the year round, that's the joy of gardening. You can move your hydrangea now, try to retain as many of the fine surface roots as possible, the plant relies on these roots for water uptake. If you can obtain it, some well-rotted cow manure in the bottom of the planting hole will be of enormous benefit.

QUESTION.
    I see you advise in some of your answers that privet is a short-lifespan evergreen. Yet I see there are maze hedges in England dating to the 1930s and earlier. And down the street, a privet has been growing since before my family moved to that block in the 1960s, more than 40 years ago. The homeowner actually inherited the privet from the previous owner, a garden club member who was the community green thumb; this newer owner, who has owned the hedge now for 10 years, knew nothing about English gardening when she took it on, yet the hedge is in fine condition, despite lack of care.

Hemlock Woolly Adelgid has decimated my 15-foot, 35-year-old formal American hemlock hedge. I have given up on saving it; lower branches have been ruined and it will never be the hedge it once was. Now what can I put in its place? I need the privacy the hemlock offered and I was considering privet or yew since they can be pruned into a beautiful, smooth, effective visual barrier. What are your thoughts? Is privet really the difficult evergreen you say, or are there different varieties?
Cathy, Long Island, NY

ANSWER.
    The plants used in maze hedging are English Box, not privet. Privet is known as the poor mans box in professional garden circles. There are different varieties of privet. There is a Chinese variety, which is very resistant to soil borne disease. In fact in some southern US states it has escaped and growing wild to a point where it being classified as a weed.

Yew, Taxus baccata is excellent for hedging. Box, Buxus sempervirens, Hansworthensis, is also excellent. Western red cedar and plain or spotted Laurel are also good candidates for your requirements.

QUESTION.
    I will be moving in January from a zone 5 IL location to another IL location and would like to dig up and take some of my perennial vines with me for transplanting in the spring I planned to dig and pot them now in the fall and keep them in an unheated gardening shed (potted) until the Jan move, then in a garage until planting time. Should I plant them in spring before they sprout? Or wait until there are signs of life. Should I water them over winter?
Most will be clematis, some groundcover vines.
Thanks, Barb

ANSWER.
    The main thing to watch for is the roots freezing through the side of the pots, so be sure to protect the pots from the hardest frost. Do not keep them in the dark; the plants need to know the day length to prepare for spring.

Water very sparingly but do not allow to dry out completely, the plants are still alive although dormant. Plant out as early as possible, but not until the soil has thawed out. Best to wait for a warm spell. Well rotted cow manure or similar placed in the bottom of the planting hole and well watered will be of enormous benefit. Water the plants copiously over the first year.

QUESTION.
    Hi, I've just renovated a large part of my garden to put in heathers, of which I have already purchased. Would it be best to leave them in their small containers over the winter, or can I risk planting them out now? Thanks. Steve

ANSWER.
    Your heathers are best planted now. After planting spread garden peat around the plants, this will make the soil more acid, acidic conditions being essential for heathers. Always feed with an acid fertiliser, one recommended for ericaceous planting.

Rainwater is best for heathers; if you are able to collect a supply tap water is too alkaline.

QUESTION.
    My daughter bought some pretty daffodil and narcissus bulbs, but not knowing anything about gardening she also bought compost, which the packet tells her, is 'lime-hating'. Now she is worried that it will affect the bulbs. I suggested she mixed some compost with garden soil (not sure what it is - it's in North London, but that won't be much help, I think - perhaps clay?) and sand, but we would really like to find out how not to kill the bulbs.

She has no spare cash for buying more and the garden is just a patch of brown earth. She is quite depressed about finances and would like a little show of colour in the spring. Unfortunately all her spare cash - and mine - is going on wood and plasterboard. Can you give advice to save the day?
Please?

ANSWER.
    Lime hating compost is for heathers, azaleas, camellias, etc. If growing the daffodils in pots, the compost your daughter has purchased will make little difference to the bulbs this year. Watering with tap water, which contains lime, will add a slight amount of alkalinity to the compost.

If she intends to keep the bulbs in the pots for longer than a season, it would be best to add a small amount of lime in the spring after flowering. Lime can be purchased in small amounts at garden outlets or DIY builders merchants. If planting in the open ground there is no need to worry.




October     The mists of Autumn. Fall.     ------------


See OCTOBER QUESTIONS & ANSWERS PAGE ONE
PAGE TWO OCTOBER QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
For lots more Autumn gardening information, advice and help.

See also
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PAGE TWO NOVEMBER QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS GARDENING GLOSSARY
HEDGING PAGE


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