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produced bright red, slim, succulent and tasty stems. But I've just discovered three flower stalks have grown in my rhubarb patch. If left to bloom, they can weaken or even kill the crowns, although I've never had the nerve to let this happen. I removed

Acid-loving azaleas grow happily in pots of ericaceous compost, so you can enjoy these plants even without acid garden soil. They come in a wide range of colours, from deep red and pink to orange, yellow or pure white. Some even have a wonderful

Mixing contrasting colours, such as lime-green leaves and wine-coloured flowers, is always eye catching. Ipomoea 'Sweet Caroline' is grown for its unusual bright-green foliage and Calibrachoa 'Million Bells Cherry' gives an extra zing. We also added

yielded some pleasant surprises. We bought some beautiful and inexpensive cyclamen, which came in a variety of colours, including rich velvety red, pure white and a lovely flamingo pink. My children demanded that we bought a variegated orange

It's now May, and we're just 12 days away from building our display at the Chelsea Flower Show. We've had a few bouts of sunshine in the last week, during which I could literally feel the plants growing.The new Nasturtium, Tropaeolum majus 'Black

the distractions of computers and mobile phones, it seems that 11-year-old young ladies still imagine themselves frolicking in a flower garden with a trug across their arm.We've already got a bed of blood-red dahlias, which provide a lot of flowers for the house

in colourful mixtures, but I love growing varieties in a single colour. 'Candy Stripe' has white flowers with a pink, picotee edge, while bicoloured 'Daydream' has a deeper rose-pink centre, fading to white at the edges. For reds try 'Pied Piper Red' or the new

are commendable, if nothing else. There are friends who grow the plants indoors and wonder why they don't fruit (the flowers need pollinating); friends whose plants flower and fruit but the tomatoes rot at the ends (blossom end rot caused by irregular watering

Rust fungus is the curse of hollyhocks. The undersides of the leaves are often peppered with bright yellow or orange-red rust spots with corresponding beige-yellow splodges on the upper surface. Eventually, it affects the whole plant, with leaves

-spring, covered in white flowers which, come the autumn, turn into deep red berries, or haws. They also make spectacular trees that reach about 5m in 10 years - although if left alone they can reach 18m. They're fantastically gnarly and twisted and every wild