Gardeners?

[keithmac]

The laurel in the garden is about 20 feet high. I'm hoping to die before it completely takes over the garden, therefore becoming someone else's problem

Sounds like a good plan, wouldn't fany tackling a 20 footer!.

 

[summerdays]

I guess I want it to look something like this I the end:

http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/evergreen-border-collection---3m-x-90cm-179212

To the left I have a couple of bushes and a straggly rose thing.
View attachment 148148 View attachment 148149

And to the right a tree and a bush thing:


View attachment 148150

Is it a continus coggria ? Smoke bush?

 

[PaulSB]

So it looks like everything died months ago.

A few google searches and there's a suggestion I could plant confused and evergreens at this time of year.
View attachment 148080

Homebase are selling a few cypresses
http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/garden/trees-conifers-and-hedging/conifers-110

Can a buy a few of the small ones and walk away?

I've been a professional horticulturalist for 44 years and the description of those plants is poor at best. Personally I wouldn't buy hardy plants in Homebase. Their bedding plant supplier though, not me, is one of the best in the UK.

If you must buy cheap plants, though I feel this is a false economy, go to B&Q. Do NOT buy anything that looks dry, tired, old or is marked down. B&Q use some of the best growers in the UK and have exacting standards. I know this as I've been a supplier. There are two reasons why their stock can look shabby - lack of in store care and regrettably growing plants to achieve a price point has implications for plant quality and shelf life. With B&Q the trick is to purchase with 24/48 hours of a delivery to take full advantage of the nurseryman's skills.

There are excellent plants to be had in B&Q provided one takes time to make sure they are healthy. My advice generally though, for anyone, would be to visit a quality garden centre. If you indicate the general area you live in I may be able to suggest a decent centre.

I'm not clear what you are trying to achieve. If you can describe this along with soil type (any approximation will do, sandy, dry, claggy etc!), aspect, area of bed and how much you are willing to spend I should be able to help.

Your rose, presuming it's a recent photograph, needs pruning. The brown stems are dead and should be cut back to where a green shoot is breaking as are the two near the stone. I suspect the tall stems at the back are suckers. If they are then your original rose is probably near death as it appears most of the desired variety is or has died off.

Roses are produced by placing a bud from the desired variety on to a rootstock of another. Generally the rootstock is more vigorous than the desired variety. If you can see strong growths coming from below soil level these could be suckers growing from the rootstock - they need pruning out. To establish if they are suckers or not scrape away soil near where they arise. It will be obvious if they arise from above or below the original plant. If below cut off as close to stem as possible.

 

[PaulSB]

This a good image of what you are looking for re rose suckers. Decent advice as well.

https://www.gardenclinic.com.au/how-to-grow-article/how-to-remove-rose-stickers?pid=44214. Bottom right the thick brown stem is the desired variety with a shoot growing from it, the sucker is clearly growing from below this.

 

[summerdays]

I have to admit to being a sucker for the sick bay at my garden centre..... I bought a load of geraniums earlier this year at about £2 or £4 a pot recently, the trick is to decide which just need a bit of TLC to bring back to health, or just at the end of the season. My garden centre seems to reduce the quantity of stock it holds over the winter.

 

[PaulSB]

Many garden centres do reduce stock levels overwinter. For the public, 80% of people visiting a GC don't go with an intended purchase in mind, gardening consists of tidy up after winter, visit GC 2/3 times, plant up, cut grass. The end result of this is GCs stock looking good, usually in flower, berry or bright foliage, impulse lines designed to catch the eye at the appropriate time.

Gardeners know this is not necessarily the best way to go about things but can be frustrated by GCs reducing stocks during the main planting season of late autumn and winter.

GCs don't want to carry living plants which require care and protection through winter when the reality is the bulk of sales will begin 2-3 weeks before Easter, weather permitting and continue till early/mid June. They'd rather let the supplier take the risk.

A really good GC should be bursting with colourful autumn stock now but you'll be hard pressed to find one.

 

[Tin Pot]

I've been a professional horticulturalist for 44 years and the description of those plants is poor at best. Personally I wouldn't buy hardy plants in Homebase. Their bedding plant supplier though, not me, is one of the best in the UK.

If you must buy cheap plants, though I feel this is a false economy, go to B&Q. Do NOT buy anything that looks dry, tired, old or is marked down. B&Q use some of the best growers in the UK and have exacting standards. I know this as I've been a supplier. There are two reasons why their stock can look shabby - lack of in store care and regrettably growing plants to achieve a price point has implications for plant quality and shelf life. With B&Q the trick is to purchase with 24/48 hours of a delivery to take full advantage of the nurseryman's skills.

There are excellent plants to be had in B&Q provided one takes time to make sure they are healthy. My advice generally though, for anyone, would be to visit a quality garden centre. If you indicate the general area you live in I may be able to suggest a decent centre.

I'm not clear what you are trying to achieve. If you can describe this along with soil type (any approximation will do, sandy, dry, claggy etc!), aspect, area of bed and how much you are willing to spend I should be able to help.

Your rose, presuming it's a recent photograph, needs pruning. The brown stems are dead and should be cut back to where a green shoot is breaking as are the two near the stone. I suspect the tall stems at the back are suckers. If they are then your original rose is probably near death as it appears most of the desired variety is or has died off.

Roses are produced by placing a bud from the desired variety on to a rootstock of another. Generally the rootstock is more vigorous than the desired variety. If you can see strong growths coming from below soil level these could be suckers growing from the rootstock - they need pruning out. To establish if they are suckers or not scrape away soil near where they arise. It will be obvious if they arise from above or below the original plant. If below cut off as close to stem as possible.

Top post!

I will find a dictionary, a bottle of red and respond when I've understood it

 

[dim]

View attachment 129290 Actually I do have lots of seeds from this ( anyone know what it is ? )
It's not like this all year but very pretty most of the year . I'll send you some if you like .

I'm a landscaper .... it's Ricinus (Castor Oil Plant) .... one of my favourites (I'm into the tropical fast growing stuff) .... it's poisonous if you eat the seeds, so if you have small children or if the neighbours have small children be careful. They are annuals here in the UK (they die in winter never to return) .... keep a few seeds and propogate agin in March. They grow fast and depending on what species you get, they can grow up to 3m tall in one year. The one that I like is the Ricinus Communis Red Giant (with red huge leaves):

if you want some shrubs to fill a gap that grow fast, there are banana's (Musa Basjoo),

and Tetrapnex Rex .... huge leaves on both and they fill the gaps for cheap.

The banana has to be cut down in early winter and cover the stem with straw/hay and a fleecebag (you don't have to as it will grow from the ground again in spring, but if you cover it, the new leaves grow from the stem at the point that you cut it (gives it a head start)

theres also Paulownia tomentosa (one of my favourites) .... huge leaves and you cut all the side stems to create a single stem with ginormous leaves. In winter, cut it down to approx 2 foot from the ground and no need to cover

here a small section of my back garden (with my wife's trike) ... newly planted so they are still small (don't look at all the weeds!)... these will grow huge and fill the gap .... they cost me under £30 for the whole lot

 

[MartinQ]

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/327774/

Verbascum olympicum - Olympian mullein - is a cheap and cheerful biannual (short lived perennial) which would do ok in a bright spot, even with poor soil. You'd probably want to mix it with other stuff, but its fairly hardy, long lasting flowers and should self seed reasonably easily.

@Tin Pot If you pm me your address, I could send some seed from ours. 1st year, you typically get a single stem, then it bushes out in the 2nd.