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

[ringo]

I see there's a red/purple variety. I share the garden with my neighbour and we've just removed a 40 year old conifer and she wanted "something red" in its place so I'm tempted to buy one.

Sounds good, never seen a red one. I want a couple of red Japanese Acers in with my bamboo for some colour.

 

[Leafster]

Sounds good, never seen a red one. I want a couple of red Japanese Acers in with my bamboo for some colour.

They have purple catkins too!

 

[ringo]

What colour wall/fence is the bamboo going against?

It's this wall, with the Lilac & Elderflower tree on my side of the wall identified here a few months ago. Not sure how long the Lilac is going to last, it's a bit wobbly but it's good to have some mature stuff so it can stay for now. The black bamboo will fill one of the gaps but I haven't decided where yet, probably between the two trees.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It's this wall, with the Lilac & Elderflower tree on my side of the wall identified here a few months ago. Not sure how long the Lilac is going to last, it's a bit wobbly but it's good to have some mature stuff so it can stay for now. The black bamboo will fill one of the gaps but I haven't decided where yet, probably between the two trees.

Would the black bamboo not show up better against a different colour?

 

[ringo]

Would the black bamboo not show up better against a different colour?

Maybe, but that's where I'm having a bamboo hedge so it'll have to look good there

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Maybe, but that's where I'm having a bamboo hedge so it'll have to look good there

You mean you're having different bamboo in front or behind the black bamboo to cover the wall?

Sorry, I'm confused

 

[ringo]

You mean you're having different bamboo in front or behind the black bamboo to cover the wall?

Sorry, I'm confused

I'm putting a bamboo hedge in front of the wall, all the way from left to right, made up of a few varieties, so the black bamboo will just be in front of the wall.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I'm putting a bamboo hedge in front of the wall, all the way from left to right, made up of a few varieties, so the black bamboo will just be in front of the wall.

Oh, i think maybe we're misunderstanding each other. When I was talking about showing the bamboo off, and whether it would look good against the wall, I didn't mean the greenery part of the bamboo, but the black part of the bamboo (the stalks, stems, trunks, whatever they're called)

 

[ringo]

Yep, iswym, but I'm not going to paint the wall so it'll just have to look good as it is. Once it matures and goes fully black I'll trim off some of the other foliage so that you can see the black stems properly, reckon that will look OK.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Yep, iswym, but I'm not going to paint the wall so it'll just have to look good as it is. Once it matures and goes fully black I'll trim off some of the other foliage so that you can see the black stems properly, reckon that will look OK.

Ok then. Can we have some pics please?

 

[gentlegreen]

At least you'll be able to keep it in check against a wall.
My yellow one (Phyllostachys aureosulcata f. aureocaulis) is like managing a jungle.
I had a black one in a tub and sadly killed it before I got around to planting it out, but I got the feeling it wasn't quite as rampant.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

At least you'll be able to keep it in check against a wall.
My yellow one (Phyllostachys aureosulcata f. aureocaulis) is like managing a jungle.
I had a black one in a tub and sadly killed it before I got around to planting it out, but I got the feeling it wasn't quite as rampant.

I was going to ask if bamboo wasn't meant to be hard to kill before remembering that I killed my umbrella bamboo earlier in the year

 

[gentlegreen]

Phyllostachys is sometimes listed as "non-invasive" ** and can be kept in check fairly easy, but if you let it get out of hand, the "stumps" and associated rhizomes are somewhere between steel and concrete.

** But presumably Japanese Knotweed was once deliberately planted.

 

[ringo]

Yep, I'll do some pics, be nice to see how it progresses as it matures.

I love the colour of that Phyllostachys, might add it to my list. I'm sticking to clumping bamboos, but I guess you still have to be pretty stern with them to keep them in check. I don't mind them going up to the wall and sideways, but they won't be allowed to spread onto the lawn. I want to put a couple of red acers in between them and possibly some of those coloured grasses if they don't get out-competed by the bamboo.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

blood grass is nice but unfortunately it only grows about a foot high. might get rid of my little or this year

 

[ringo]

blood grass is nice but unfortunately it only grows about a foot high. might get rid of my little or this year

Just the sort of thing I'm after, I was looking at that in a book the other day - fitting the oriental theme but filling and around and in front of the bigger plants at low level.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Just the sort of thing I'm after, I was looking at that in a book the other day - fitting the oriental theme but filling and around and in front of the bigger plants at low level.

there's another grass that I quite liked but never got. may have been nicknamed zebra grass?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Can't find that other winter gardening thread

This is what I'm thinking of doing today, but I may be doing stuff too early

Cutting banana back
Cutting lily back (which I'm most pissed off about as it didn't flower last year, and I didn't expect it to this year, but last week it finally flowered)
Lifting all my dahlia bulbs
Lifting all my begonia tubers, most of which I grew from a bulb last year and didn't lift and are still going strong
Need to cut some ferns right back I suppose, but can't remember which ones
Clematis, do I cut that right back to soil level or what?

Any of those I shouldn't bother with lifting?

I'm going to have to dig out more boxes to store them all in!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

and I'm binning all the snapdragon, all the petunias, the campanula and that trailing stuff with the orange or yellow flowers whose name I've temporarily forgotten

 

[gentlegreen]

don't cut things back - wait till the first frost touches them - esp. the banana

weeks to go yet.

My brugmansia has just put on a growth spurt.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

don't cut things back - wait till the first frost touches them - esp. the banana

weeks to go yet.

My brugmansia has just put on a growth spurt.

lucky I checked back here first then. got rid of everything I said I was going to. I thought it's meant to be getting cold?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

should I bring my parrot in?

 

[geminisnake]

Leafster and ringo You do both realise how big Hazels get aye?? I have one in my garden and he's about 3mx3m Also ime after a while you'll get straight bits. I DO like those purple ones though

 

[gentlegreen]

should I bring my parrot in?

Yes that one is tender and is going to be a good houseplant through the winter.

Last year it seems I insulated my brugmansia on 20th October .. but my tree fern was good until January.

Probably a good idea to make sure your dahlia doesn't get too much rain in the compost - but definitely wait for it to go to sleep by itself...

I forget how big your banana is - is there no room indoors - what variety is it ?

 

[Leafster]

Leafster and ringo You do both realise how big Hazels get aye?? I have one in my garden and he's about 3mx3m Also ime after a while you'll get straight bits. I DO like those purple ones though

Yeah, I know how big they can get. I have had to spend a couple of weekends each year cutting back the Hazel hedge in my Mum's garden. At least we used to get nuts from it until the squirrels moved in.

If I get a purple one I plan on regular pruning to keep it in check.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Yes that one is tender and is going to be a good houseplant through the winter.

Last year it seems I insulated my brugmansia on 20th October .. but my tree fern was good until January.

Probably a good idea to make sure your dahlia doesn't get too much rain in the compost - but definitely wait for it to go to sleep by itself...

I forget how big your banana is - is there no room indoors - what variety is it ?

My parrot's got right tall now and leggy now, but there's finally flowers appearing lower down. Have watered everything else today as not watered anything for a week and everything was drooping. Will wait a bit 'til I take out the begonias and dahlias then.

Here's my lily which finally flowered after two years.


and here's my parrot


and here's that suspicious weed (name forgotten) but I found it in one of my ferns. The red leaf is very pretty. It also smells (I remember someone mentioning it being smelly)


and not sure if this is a weed



or what this is growing in the same pot as my Tigridia (which hasn't flowered this year )

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Yes that one is tender and is going to be a good houseplant through the winter.

Last year it seems I insulated my brugmansia on 20th October .. but my tree fern was good until January.

Probably a good idea to make sure your dahlia doesn't get too much rain in the compost - but definitely wait for it to go to sleep by itself...

I forget how big your banana is - is there no room indoors - what variety is it ?

Banana's not too big, but not really room to keep it indoors, and parrot is now too big for window cill. Think it's a musa basjoo

 

[gentlegreen]

cranesbill (herb robert) ivy leaved toadflax (??) - and that looks like another impatiens (bizzy lizzy).
Your "lily" is a canna - they're as tough as old boots.

 

[gentlegreen]

Basjoo will survive if well insulated - i.e. off the ground and wrapped with straw / fleece - if it has a significant trunk some people use a drainpipe and straw - but wait until the frost touches the foliage ... no harm in insulateing the container now - and wrapping the trunk with fleece ..

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

cranesbill (herb robert) ivy leaved toadflax (??) - and that looks like another impatiens (bizzy lizzy).

Well if it is, I don't think it's a New Guinea as their leaves are darker and longer, so that one's a bit of a mystery

Your "lily" is a canna - they're as tough as old boots.

I cut that right back before on trashpony's advice, but I couldn't remember when exactly I did it.

The banana's only a couple of foot high and last year I just left it in my bath. Pain in the arse having to keep taking it out though, so may do as you advise, although it's only in a plastic container, but nowhere else to put it really.

Oh, and none of my Dutch Irises flowered this year. Not sure whether to give up on them. Can't remember whether I lifted them the previous year but I think I did. I wonder if they're one of those that just doesn't like growing in pots.