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Christmas wreath decorations can be made simply from bundles of twigs pruned from your garden and can be left undecorated if coloured stemmed willow or dogwood is used. For a more traditional look, cover the framework with sprigs of evergreen foliage and anything else that takes ...

While you can't take cuttings from rhododendrons, there is a much simpler technique you can try - layering. Do it over the summer and by the following spring you'll have the beginnings of many new rhododendron plants.Established rhododendron plantSharp knifeRooting hormone (powde...

Planting bare-root roses during the dormant season allows the plants to establish quickly because this is when the soil is moist. Bare root plants are available to buy in winter and are more economical than planting pot-grown roses if you need lots of them. Bare-root rose plantSp...

Left unchecked, canker can gradually spread to affect whole branches and sections of trees. Severely-infected old trees may be beyond rescue, while young trees are vulnerable to infection, particularly where other susceptible trees are growing in close proximity. Where trees are ...

There are many species of aphid, often with its own favourite host plants and particular life cycle. Greenfly and blackfly are the most familiar, but there are also yellow, red, orange and brown aphids. Aphids usually spend the summer on one plant, moving to a host plant to overw...

Capsid bugs are sap-feeding pests. The 6mm-long adults vary in colour from green to red-brown, depending on the species. Look for the distinctive diamond shape when their wings are folded. When they feed, they release a toxic saliva that kills off tiny areas of leaf tissue, causi...

Every garden has its fair share of slugs and the bad news is that they are around for most of the year. They're active mostly after dark, especially when it's damp. In hot dry weather they bury themselves to avoid dehydrating.Holes are chewed in soft, new growth, young stems are ...

Aptly named blackspot is a fungus that causes dark spotting on rose leaves and stems. Eventually, leaves turn yellow and drop off before autumn. Spores overwinter on the fallen leaves and re-infect the plant in spring when new foliage appears. Plants can be weakened by recurrent ...

Rose powdery mildew is a fungus that produces airborne spores from infected stems or buds on roses. After overwintering on your plants, the disease is most likely to flare up if the roots are in dry soil and the leaves are in humid air - conditions that are often found when plant...

The fungal spores that cause rust are spread on the wind, and they can survive over winter on the soil surface, on fallen debris and even objects such as fences and stakes. The symptoms spread in early summer from patches of orange on the stems and leaf stalks of roses to more ob...