Since everyone's on their way out the door, I thought I'd leave you with a few photos of my pride and joy - a 14m by 10m back garden in West Yorkshire which I've spent 4 years transforming from a lawn into a tropical-themed, exotic garden with a mixture of big foliage plants (trachycarpus, musa basjoo, gunnera etc.) and desert plants such as agaves and yuccas. I also have a growing collection of cacti in the greenhouse. If anyone else is interested in this kind of planting, I'll be posting over in the other forum everyone is heading to, and also on social media: http://www.instagram.com ..read more

I have two hypericums, one gets covered in blackfly every year, no matter how much I spray, they just love this particular one. Anyway, I noticed it's sprouting tiny leaves now, and the blackfly are already in there! I swear my garden creatures are mutants. Isn't it a bit early for them?  ..read more

Planning my front garden design? What do people think - size and dimensions of flower beds and surrounding pathways look OK? 80cm for pathways surrounding central flowered, and looking at 50cm width for flowerbed running along pathway. Thoughts?   ..read more

For my front garden I am creating a bedding border to run alongside the path leading to the front door where I plan to grow a low formal hedge (2ft in height approx). How wide show I be making the border? 40cm 50cm 60cm? Is there a standard for these type of things?  ..read more

Thank you for all the collaborative posters on this forum over the years. It has certainly been the conversations that sing. Some thoughts on what makes for an interesting and helpful forum poster: someone ?  who is really interested in collaboration and exchange of ideas ?  who asks for questions, asks for more details, investigates rather than issues commands ?  who sees that the world is made up of multitudes of perspectives, ideas, opinions and experiences that are not your own; and that's a good thing ?  who does not go on and on about themselves all the time as if ..read more

Hi. I have two Monstera which are very tall (180cm) but leggy. There's not much growth low down, if the stems are straight they're probably 2m+ but then the bottom half is very thin. I've tried to improve the look of one of them with a taller pole but now it looks rather thin. Are they likely to thicken out once properly attached to a pole? Or do they need cutting back to ground? I've seen a couple of other posts where they suggest cutting right back but I'm reluctant to do that as it will obviously mean we have no plant for quite a while. If anyone can advise on what to do to make them look ..read more

Final question before we go our separate ways! Has anyone successfully divided and propagated any of the Swan anemones, either Wild, Dreaming or frilly knickers? I have tried and failed with all three, and on two occasions have lost the mother plant as well! Also with me they grow and prosper better when planted in the garden, they have a death wish plants in pots or tubs! Also it was nice knowing you all, best wishes ..read more

Quick qu ... before we vaporise!  I have Boston and Maidenhair ferns inside.  Do they benefit from feeding?  I feed my Peace Lilies with some slow release granules once a yr in spring.  Would my ferns like to be put on the rota?  I don't feed my outside ones, but, of course, they are in the ground, so better able to fend for themselves.  ..read more

Does anyone know roughly how tall a grafted black mulberry (Morus nigra) on dwarfing rootstock will grow in 10 years?  I would prefer answers drawn from your own mulberry growing experiences if possible ..read more

Hello I've got an old leylandii hedge I inherited with a garden, which is browning and getting quite straggly. It offers much needed privacy and prevents the house behind looking directly into bedrooms etc. So removing it all at once and starting again is simply not an option at this moment. I have an elderly parent living with me who values this privacy and I don't want to unsettle them with big changes. After much discussion and advice I've decided I would like to use yew hedging - because of its apparently reliable greenery, wildlife friendly, beautiful look and also because it can be kep ..read more