Growing Hollyhocks is a wonderful goal as a gardener. If you treat them well you can get them to grow up to a very impressive 3 metres tall and tower above any other part of your garden, adding a stunning and visually appealing vertical element. As long as you find the right location in your garden and you offer them a little bit of care, you can grow beautiful Hollyhocks that continue to appear year…
One of the best ways to grow Hollyhocks is to use the seeds that a successful plant already provides you with or buy some quality seeds from a seed specialist. If you have successfully grown Hollyhocks in your garden, you know that they require very little maintenance except for spraying them to protect them from Hollyhock rust and that, if left to their own devices, they will live for about 2 or 3 years and…
Hollyhocks are grown for the vibrant flowers that appear on the top of the large flower stalks. As a herbaceous perennial it’s commonly grown as an annual, and they are great for attracting bees and butterflies. They are also resistant to verticillium wilt. However, that does not mean that Hollyhocks don’t have their fair share of other diseases and we start our guide on the most common and sadly the most destructive disease, Hollyhock rust.…
Hollyhocks are fantastic plants, especially for cottage gardens but unfortunately, it often has to combat Hollyhock rust, and unfortunately, they can quickly become overwhelmed with it. It can also be very hard to prevent, with them often needing to be sprayed 2 times a week when they are actively growing to try and prevent it. What is Hollyhock rust? Hollyhock rust is a type of fungal disease and it spreads via airborne spores. This is…
When you are growing Lupins, most people use seeds to propagate, but as an alternative method, you can successfully take basal cuttings as well. The advantage of using cuttings/division is that the resulting plant you achieve will be genetically identical to the parent plant from which you took the cutting and when you sow seeds this is not always the case. It is also lots of fun and fairly easy to do, even if you…
Rust is one of the most common fungal diseases for any garden plant. Whether you have vegetables, fruit, grasses, herbaceous plants, trees, or shrubs, they are susceptible to rust, especially roses. Rust is often very unsightly and typically reduces plant health. In the most extreme cases, they can kill your plant, but this is fairly rare. Rust is a kind of fungal disease and the most commonly affects the leaves on your plant, however, occasionally…
The Peony is a beautiful and stunning garden plant but it is particularly finicky about the growing conditions it receives. It needs the sun with a little bit of chill, it doesn’t want to be buried too deeply in the ground, and if you don’t give it the perfect growing conditions, you won’t get the perfect flowers. Sometimes people who grow Peonies in their garden don’t get any flower buds or flowers at all, and…
Peonies are the perfect plants for people who are busy because they don’t need a lot of attention and they live for many years with very little maintenance. However, there might come a time when for the sake of space or simply to help out a mature plant you need to divide and move your Peony. If your Peony is too large for the position in which it was originally planted, you simply want to…
Peony wilt caused by Botrytis paeoniae If you have problems with your Peony leaves, you’ve noticed they’re wilting and the buds are dying prior to opening up to display the stunning flowers they are well known for, it’s most likely Peony wilt. This is a fungal infection caused by a disease called Botrytis paeoniae. This is an infection that targets the leaves and stems of Peonies. It’s a fungal infection that’s very closely related to…
Even if you don’t have the space to accommodate a very large flower bed, you can still successfully grow Poppies using pots and containers, although we do prefer to grow Poppies in the ground as our first choice. Poppies will provide you with a colourful display of flowers that might look delicate, but rest assured the plant itself is not. Growing Poppies in pots and containers are the perfect solution for anyone that has a…
