BobTheGardener

Strange fungus-like growth on tree

Hi tropidog, those are 'bracket fungi', the fruiting body of a fungus which grows in the heartwood of the tree and will likely eventually kill it.  There is, unfortunately, no way to control it.  You could try cutting off any branches which are showing the brackets, but the fungus could well be in the main trunk.  If it is a large tree, it could become dangerous as the fungi will severely weaken the wood itself and branches can fall off at any time, so I would strongly recommend asking a local tree surgeon to take a look.

Pruning

Good idea, nut, just in case the neighbour has done a real hack job (which sounds quite likely!)

Peony Tree

Heheh, Tina - I'm like that too - this Bob flourishes only in a very narrow range of temperatures!

Pear tree

Hi preksha, that is Pear Rust and all you can do is inspect the tree regularly and remove any leaves which have the orange spots.  According to the RHS there is no chemical control, unfortunately.

Lots of us had no apples last year.  It was due to lack of bees to pollinate them.  The early heatwave we had encouraged the trees to flower, but then it went cold and the bees stayed at home.  You can try hand-pollinating them using a small, soft paintbrush etc (a makeup brush works well.)  This will only work if you have self-pollinating apples, or if you have more than one tree in blossom, in which case keep going from tree to tree to try and get a mix of pollen on the brush.  

Hellebore flowers

Just found a couple of babies have appeared near my hybrids.

Unfortunately one has decided to come up right in the centre of my favourite aquilegia which is just showing leaves..  Looks like I'll have to dig the whole lot up and try and tease them apart, otherwise it'll have to be a sacrifice!

Peony Tree

Hi Brumbull, planting depth for tree peonies depends on whether they are grown on their own roots, or grafted.  If in doubt, see the RHS advice, here:

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=711

Pruning

No, it shouldn't harm it, but you can delight in the knowledge that any branches pruned at this time of the year will now grow much stronger on her side, thus giving her more of a problem in the future! 

To restrict growth rather than encourage it, most trees are best pruned in late summer.

Peony Tree

I agree with Tom but would add that I always plant tree peonies deep, so that they are at least 6" (15cm) deeper than they were originally planted (judged by looking at the soil mark on the stem if supplied bare-rooted.)

what jobs done over easter.

I've finally sown most of those seeds which don't require a lot of warmth into trays and modules, about a month later than I would normally have done!  Also planted 60 broad beans into small pots in the GH and finally planted tomato seeds into modules in windowsill propagators in the south-facing front room bay (they're usually up in 4 days as it's so warm in there, after which they'll go into the cooler conservatory for a while.)  Hoping that by the time the toms are ready to be transferred from modules to small pots that the weather will have turned and they can grow-on uninterrupted in the GH with maximum light, otherwise I'll have run out of space in the conservatory, which is still full of potted-on perennial plug plants which can't go outside yet as it's too blummin cold (-5.6C at 6am on Sunday morning!)

Well, that's how the "plan" is going so far..

Forget me nots

Like Verdun says, I no longer need to plant forget-me-nots, it's now just a matter of pulling them up from where I don't want them!  I tend to leave them growing everywhere as a kind of ground-cover over the winter, then let them flower in the spring and try to remember to pull them up from where I don't want them, before they set seed.  The foliage has turned a little purple this year after the harsh winter and no sign of flowers yet though.  I'm really looking forward to the drifts of pastel blue that will soon appear.

Bee spotting

New deliveries

Flower ID

Oh no, lily beetles are back!