Minnie's Gardeners' Question Time - help for the new gardeners

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I think the tall one makes sprays of teeny white flowers - so most likely in the vast daisy family..

Right, will leave it there to see what appears then

Right, two final questions (one plant related) coming up

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Why's my cordyline so scrappy looking. I can't really rip the tatty leaves off as they're all tatty. (It's there next to that white plant stand)





And also, do you think that tall white metal stand would look better painted black? I'm really not sure I like it white

 

[gentlegreen]

Slugs have been chewing on it.
The trouble with dark foliage is it probably wants lots of sunlight - my green one is fairly sad too so I'm trying to motivate myself to water and feed it.



It used to be about 8 feet tall.

I had a purple one once but it failed my test.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Slugs have been chewing on it.
The trouble with dark foliage is it probably wants lots of sunlight - my green one is fairly sad too so I'm trying to motivate myself to water and feed it.

View attachment 37010

It used to be about 8 feet tall.

I had a purple one once but it failed my test.

Oh, it's been in the shady corner ever since I got it

Nice huge fern there. Is that a Dicksonia Antarctica?

 

[gentlegreen]

Nice huge fern there. Is that a Dicksonia Antarctica?

There was an even bigger one behind it, and a smaller one in front, but I made the mistake of hauling the garden back from wilderness in 2010 - exposing it - and coincidentally getting the coldest winter for decades ...
I wrapped this one up big time last winter and it was a much less extreme winter - hence I still have last year's fronds.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

There was an even bigger one behind it, and a smaller one in front, but I made the mistake of hauling the garden back from wilderness in 2010 - exposing it - and coincidentally getting the coldest winter for decades ...
I wrapped this one up big time last winter and it was a much less extreme winter - hence I still have last year's fronds.

Looking lovely

I take it you have a Fatsia Japonica?

I'm wondering if dead leaves fall off by themselves as none of mine seem to, but I'm guessing once they've gone yellow, I should pull them off or shall I leave them to fall off themselves? (Stupid question I know, but I'm not sure whether I need to cut them off with a sharp knife close to the stem or whether to just yank them off )

 

[gentlegreen]

I was looking at the massive one at work today - outdoors - a fair few yellow leaves falling off.
My instinct is always to let nature take its course - though it's a massively tough plant ... related to ivy and ginseng.

My garden basically has only ever had about six (huge) plants in it - three of those are grasses... I may have tried one once - you may have inspired me to try - would be nice to have something tropical-looking but evergreen.

I had a gunnera at the end once - but I never got the conditions right - my soil suits bamboo so much better.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I was looking at the massive one at work today - outdoors - a fair few yellow leaves falling off.
My instinct is always to let nature take its course - though it's a massively tough plant ... related to ivy and ginseng.

My garden basically has only ever had about six (huge) plants in it - three of those are grasses... I may have tried one once - you may have inspired me to try - would be nice to have something tropical-looking but evergreen.

I had a gunnera at the end once - but I never got the conditions right - my soil suits bamboo so much better.

Ok, I'll just let them fall off naturally as they're pretty tough to pull off and I felt like I was wading through the jungle today trying to get to a back leaf

3 huge grasses. Can't think of any I may have inspired you to grow as I don't have any (except the one I posted about earlier in the thread that died) and the Japanese blood grass which doesn't grow taller than about 1 foot.

I did like the look of zebra grass though and may have stuck up a picture of it when I started on my garden.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Oh, I forgot. Maybe it was lemon grass. I grew that the first year and that grows nice and tall

I tried growing it from seed last year and only managed to grow one blade and gave up

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

and some stipa. I binned that this year

 

[gentlegreen]

Ok, I'll just let them fall off naturally as they're pretty tough to pull off and I felt like I was wading through the jungle today trying to get to a back leaf

3 huge grasses. Can't think of any I may have inspired you to grow as I don't have any (except the one I posted about earlier in the thread that died) and the Japanese blood grass which doesn't grow taller than about 1 foot.

I did like the look of zebra grass though and may have stuck up a picture of it when I started on my garden.

I meant I may buy a fatsia.

I love my miscanthus - bit of a beast to keep up to spec.
I'll have to get it out of its huge tub at the end of the season - it's a bit pot-bound and it needs to go in the ground really.
The pink pampas is stunning, but the plumes get wrecked by any bad autumn weather.
The bamboo is seriously hard work - I feel like Ray Mears out there sometimes.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I meant I may buy a fatsia.

I love my miscanthus - bit of a beast to keep up to spec.
I'll have to get it out of its huge tub at the end of the season - it's a bit pot-bound and it needs to go in the ground really.
The pink pampas is stunning, but the plumes get wrecked by any bad autumn weather.
The bamboo is seriously hard work - I feel like Ray Mears out there sometimes.

oh, I assumed you'd already have one!

I'd love some black bamboo but it's expensive

Here's how my fatsia's looking at the moment

 

[gentlegreen]

I could send you some of mine but it would struggle in any kind of container.
I had a black one too - in a big tub, but it snuffed it eventually.

That fatsia really could do with being in something really big.
My big plants are in huge black builders' tubs ... googling says 70 litres, but I'll have to check.

 

[trashpony]

Definitely no spinach or beets. As much as I'd love to grow datura, poisonous plants scare me. I already come up with new spots every time I'm out there, and as there's loads of plants that could be skin irritants, I have no way of knowing which cause what, so I'm not going anywhere near datura. I was scared to touch the milkweed and sunset flower last year!

As for the lilies, I cut two right back last year on trashpony's advice. The stripey one survived, and I'm pretty sure I binned the other one because it didn't look like it was going to grow back, so I don't think it's that.

What about the tall one in the hanging basket? (post 529)

You're never going to let that go are you?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

You're never going to let that go are you?

I'm not upset honest. It was only a lily

 

[gentlegreen]

They aren't lilies, they're relatives of the banana.

 

[gentlegreen]

My pink brugmansia looked like it could benefit from a bigger tub, so I sacrificed my "pond" that was basically a tub of smelly mud.
This was only a bit of green twig in a teeny pot on my bathroom windowsill until a month or so ago.
I lost the original plant through drought, frost and cockchafer grubs.



The double white one is also flourishing after a couple of years' abuse. It spent the winter in my front room - but now it's in a big tub, I'll have to take loads of cuttings and seriously wrap it up in the greenhouse.



My one disappointment is that I have no fragrant nicotiana or lilies to compliment the citrus scent.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I could send you some of mine but it would struggle in any kind of container.
I had a black one too - in a big tub, but it snuffed it eventually.

That fatsia really could do with being in something really big.
My big plants are in huge black builders' tubs ... googling says 70 litres, but I'll have to check.

I really can't afford to let the fatsia grow bigger or I'll have no space for anything else!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

They aren't lilies, they're relatives of the banana.

This isn't a lily? What is it then?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

My pink brugmansia looked like it could benefit from a bigger tub, so I sacrificed my "pond" that was basically a tub of smelly mud.
This was only a bit of green twig in a teeny pot on my bathroom windowsill until a month or so ago.
I lost the original plant through drought, frost and cockchafer grubs.

View attachment 37053

The double white one is also flourishing after a couple of years' abuse. It spent the winter in my front room - but now it's in a big tub, I'll have to take loads of cuttings and seriously wrap it up in the greenhouse.

View attachment 37054

My one disappointment is that I have no fragrant nicotiana or lilies to compliment the citrus scent.

Well at least you have some smelly stuff. I don't have any, although I did buy some new plants at the Country Show today. Lemon grass is smelly, but only if you cut the leaves

Another fern
Some lemon grass
Some fennel
New Guinea impatiens
Another dahlia, although I'm hoping this one won't grow as big as the first one I had
Chocolate cosmos

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Storm last night bought death and destruction to my garden.







Well ok, loads of plants were just totally bent and blown over and I've had to stake them up, but lots of broken plants as well.

One of the biggest leaves on my Fatsia was broken off as well



but on a lighter note, got my first hibiscusesesescuses of the year



I bought the above plant at the Country Show, but the leaves are completely different to my other hibiscusesesecusesss like the ones below




Can't remember what the new plant's called, but if it looks so different to the other one, does it behave differently (ie. do the flowers flower for longer etc?)

 

[gentlegreen]

This isn't a lily? What is it then?

View attachment 37179

canna.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canna_(plant)

I was wrong, they're now placed near ginger and arrowroot.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

View attachment 37000

The first one looks similar to the canna alongside it actually.

You say the canna alongside it, so I assumed you meant the stripey leaf plant, but behind that is another plant I hadn't identified. It's been a mystery to me, until today, when this appeared!



I can't remember buying that at all, but I suppose I must have. It didn't flower last year though.

I bought clematis early last year as well (or it may have been the year before) and it did nothing last year either, but suddenly some flowers have appeared. Not sure if it's meant to be this spare leaf-wise though

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

eta: That's a calla innit, not a canna

 

[geminisnake]

I will try and notice my neighbours clematis when I drive past tomorrow for foliage.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

View attachment 37002

I'm now wondering if this could be a dahlia?

 

[gentlegreen]

You'd have thought it would have made an attempt at flowering by now though ...

EDIt :-

Actually it does.

They have a very distinctive juicy flower bud - you could be right.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

You'd have thought it would have made an attempt at flowering by now though ...

EDIt :-

Actually it does.

They have a very distinctive juicy flower bud - you could be right.

I took a picture today, and the top leaves have changed to a lighter green and I reckon that bud is going to open soon.



The leaves now seem to be looking more like this dahlia (but as you know, I'm crap at telling one leaf from another)



I seem to remember buying an orange dahlia from a 99p shop, but I don't know whether I planted it. Maybe it's that

 

[gentlegreen]

The leaves look so different on your new one - I wonder if the flowering has got messed up and all it has is flowering shoot leaflets...
They all look a bit drawn - I'm guessing you didn't lift the tubers over the winter ?

 

[Tankus]

Why's my cordyline so scrappy looking. I can't really rip the tatty leaves off as they're all tatty. (It's there next to that white plant stand)


View attachment 37006

pots too small and out of the sun , not that I know anything

I water mine every night and put feed in the water every 3 days........ in £stretchers biggest pot ....gone mental it has