blairs

garden furniture

Hardwood decking will cope, the cheap softwood decking will mark easily. Sticky felt pads will work but will fall off after the first rain. I would use rubber and use a waterproof glue like araldite.

Potting my bamboo

Georg Faust wrote (see)

blairs wrote (see)

Looks likea Phyllostachys, possibly Golden Bamboo (Phyllostachys aureocaulis)

Golden bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea) has very different leaves to Sasa.

I have several of both plants in my garden. The two leaves at the left are Golden bamboo, the one on the right is Sasa...

Typically, the leaves of Golden bamboo are 20-25mm in width. Sasa is much bigger, typically 80mm in width.

But your bamboo might be something else.

Your right - re looking at the plant, the leaves are very large! Much larger than Golden Bamboo.

Potting my bamboo

Looks likea Phyllostachys, possibly Golden Bamboo (Phyllostachys aureocaulis)

Tree Peony

gardengirl6 wrote (see)

Does anyone know how long I will have to wait for a newly planted tree peony to start flowering?   I planted one in the spring of 2010.   The leaves look healthy but no flowers yet.

Did you buy it bare root or with in a pot? I bought mine bare root, added bonemeal and good compost and it flowered (if one flower denotes flowering!) by June, so 3-4 months. Is yours in full sun, with fertile soil? The trick is also not to overwater. They droop in spring/earyl summer because of temperature differences and not due to lack of water! Easy to confuse.

Overwintering Cannas

The last episode of GW had Monty over winter Dhalia in vermiculite that he watered and said would monitor it to keep it slightly damp every month till March. I do the same except I use sand. Cannas die if left to dry out over winter (sigh as someone who did that last year!)

Topiary Alternative

Are you watering them? Remember that the plants can act like an umbrella preventing water reaching the soil, so rain alone is rarely enough. Box is normally fine in north facing aspects, so I also suspect that it may be exposed (windy), or the planter too small for the size of plants. Fushia standards are not a good choice for north facing aspects as they need sun.

If you reply about how windy and exposed the site is and pot size then we might have better ideas for you.

Tree Peony

Give it a mulch of compost and bark over winter and give a good fertiliser feed in early spring. It needs lots of sun (prefereably full sun) to give a good show of blooms. I only had a handful of blooms last year, but what tends to happen is it sulks one year then blooms like mad the next.

foxgloves

Slugs and Snails normally leave 2nd year Foxgloves alone if that helps. Caterpillars can be a problem though, so you still need to look out.

FIR TREES

Fir trees have shallow feeding roots and with the wet summer washing away nutrients, adding leaf mulch now over the area of the trees will help bring back the green-ness.

Dark corners

Dolores Umbridge wrote (see)

What abourt a couple of solar lights?

Solar light need direct sun light....not something you normally get in a dark corner!

Light gravel does work from experience.

Agave Seed Germination

Not GWM getting advertised discount @ Crocus

tetrapanax papyrifer seed germination