obelixx

Hanging basket in shade

Trailing fuchsias will love the shade too.

Clematis

Yes, in theory, but often they don't take from cuttings.  Layering is a good method and you can also sow seeds but then what you get will be surprises.

This advice is from the RHS - http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=97 Scroll down to propagation and then click on the highligted words for more info on techniques.

Hakonechloa All Gold

Mine are in shade most of the year except at the height of summer but the soil is moist even in summer and quite damp in winter.  They're growing well and spreading at a reasonable rate.

Maybe yours are just a bit too cold this year and maybe too dry.   Try watering them in dry spells and then be patient and wait for some warmth to get them going.

Primula - growing from seed

You can cheat by sowing the fresh seed on small trays or pots of compost and then putting them in your fridge for a few weeks so they think they've had winter and can grow.

Chelsea Flower Show 2013

Please see responses to your other post on this subject.  I, and others, believe all plants for Chelsea gardens have to be sustainably sourced from nurseries or existing gardens and that the plants you mention are readily available in Oz nurseries..  

Clearing nettles

All sorts of herbicides for domestic use have been withdrawn from the market as the producers don't want to spend the necessary money on tests required for a license.

Nettles are actually quite easy to pull up, especially after rain so try doing that instead but have a small trowel or fork handy to deal with any stubborn roots as they will grow again.

Nettles are actually a good indictaor that your soil is fertile and make excellent compost or even a liquid feed if you steep them in buckets of water for a week or so then dilute the resulting soup.   before adding them to teh compost heap, leave them on athe lawn or a path to dry out for a few days so they are properly dead.   Best to do this with all perennial weeds.

Plants should be grown, not ripped out of forrest's.

Judging from programmes and articles I've seen on preparing for Chelsea, trees and plants for the displays have to be sustainably sourced from nurseries or borrowed from gardens and then either sold or put back at huge expense.   If the Oz garden is indeed ripping stuff out of the wild it needs to be censured and the RHS needs to be made aware that there is a problem.

Instead of having a go on here, why not send them a mail with your concerns.

I have to say I've never liked the Oz gardens at Chelsea, purely because they are so far removed in style and content form anything that can happily be grown or usefully used in the usual British or north European climate. You'd spend 50 weeks of the year unable to use the expensive outside sitting rooms and dining rooms and cooking facilities and the swimming pool they're wrapped around.   They're not exactly filled with plantsmanship.

That said, there is so much of of interest and excellence at Chelsea that can fill a whole day - looking at the other show gardens, big and small plus the chance to see great plants in the floral pavillion and talk to their growers without lingering in Oz.    I love it and will be there on Thursday with 6 Belgian scientists on their annual English immersion trip and my wheelchair cos my feet aren't quite ready for a whole day at Chelsea on their own.

Gardener's World TV show

The GW programme is pretty hopeless about providing info to the GW website which is, in fact, run by the magazine which has Monty Don as a regular contributor but not an editor.   Beechgrove, produced independently in Scotland, has a very good factsheet for each programme and with back issues available.

The Gardeners' World show began 21 years ago as a spin off from the TV programme and was run by the BBC Haymarket Publications dept.    For many years now it has been run in partnership with the RHS which organises its floral and plant content and has, for the last few years, been combined with BBC Good Food and Countryfile shows.  

If you want to know more about the GW show, you need to go to the RHS website.

Hosta flowering - shall I or shan't I?

I always let my hostas flower.  I like the form, the subtle colours and the way they last and attract bees.  Some are also scented.   Never noticed extra slugs visiting them in flower and a healthy hosta is not going to be weakened by flowers which I always cut off when spent so they don't waste energy on seed.

If you're going away for a long holiday, you may as well cut them as you'll miss them and just come home to spent heads.    If it's only for a week or two then by all means leave them to enjoy when you get home.

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Attract blue tits

You'll get the returning birds too if you feed them Gilly.   Like you we have hedges and then arable fields behind and pasture and woodland to teh side and front so lots of birds coming all year round to feed on food we put out and repaying the favour by scoffing pests.

Encouraging bats in our gardens

Beechgrove this weekend

Weekend 22 March

Good Morning - 21 March

Choosing chillies

Hanging baskets and window boxes

New shed - any tips?