The Laurus nobilis plants are commonly known as bay trees and are popular with keen cooks. They can be easily grown just about anywhere in your garden, whether you keep them as an ornamental topiary, leave them on either side of your doorway, grow them in the middle of a herb garden to make use of the leaves, or anywhere else as a shrub. Dealing with winter damage That being said, no matter where you…
Most of the issues you face with any plant, including your box plant, have to do with less-than-ideal conditions. It’s important to understand that pests and diseases don’t typically attack a plant unless it is already at a disadvantage. This might mean a plant that’s drying out because of inadequate nutrients or water, which leaves it susceptible to pest infestations, or an inadequate airflow and level of light can leave it susceptible to fungal infections.…
If you decide to purchase Buxus plants, you will be pleased to know that you can plant them directly in the ground to create a hedge at any time of the year. Firstly, you will need to decide between using a container-grown hedging plant or a bare root plant to create your hedge. Both of these are suitable for forming hedges and some of the pot grown ones are actually planted in troughs already. You…
Buxus plants, often referred to as Box plants, are evergreen and will remain green in colour throughout the year. Whether you are using your Buxus as a topiary feature, for example, as a spiral or a box ball, or using them to create a compact and dense hedge, it is important to keep the dense, tight shape for which they are so well known for. To help your Buxus plants maintain their shape it is…
Quinces are ornamental flowering trees that live for a long time, grow to a medium size and produce fruit. Best of all, they aren’t prone to some of the other fruit tree problems you can experience with other fruit trees. The fruit should not be eaten in its raw form, however, it is great for making jellies and jams, which is what draws many gardeners to this fantastic fruit tree. Grows well in most soils…
Quince leaf blight is a fungal disease that can actually prove to be quite disastrous to Quince trees. It will affect trees most heavily when the weather has been wet and damp and results in severe leaf spotting, eventually, your leaves will fall off, and the fruit can be spotted and distorted too. These trees are often affected by this disease, especially if you experience wet summers where you live, which in the UK is…
This is an elegant flower and the good news is they are quite easy to grow, so nearly anyone can take advantage of these perennials. They typically reach a maximum height of around 60cm, although you can also get some alpine rockery style varieties that grow much smaller. Their eventual growing height makes them perfect to plant in the middle of a border garden that needs varying heights of vertical plants. You can also find…
If you are growing quince trees, it’s important that you prune these trees regularly. The trees tend to look after themselves quite well but you can help them by pruning near the end of dormancy to encourage better fruiting. When should you prune quince trees? – Between Autumn and late Spring Quince trees will fruit primarily on the tips of the shoots that they produced the previous year, so the main aim of pruning is…
Japanese Anemones flowers are beautiful, often sitting happily above their green foliage. Producing flowers that are often white or pink, they are probably one of the most popular perennials to grow and it’s not hard to see why. They will flower from the summer, right through to the beginning of autumn. If you have successfully grown these plants in your garden, you can divide them periodically just as the new growth is emerging to prevent…
Dividing your hardy Geraniums is important for keeping the plants healthy and looking their best. If too much growth happens in the same spot it can lead to overcrowding and plants like Geraniums are perennials, which means in order to keep the plant vigorous and performing well year after year, you want to divide them every few years to provide them with enough growing space and revigorate them. When you divide them, you have the…
