Highclere Castle: Correspondence Edition

Questions and times codes are below. Where applicable plant names are listed.

Q – We removed a Leylandii hedge 2 years ago, and now need a low maintenance hedge (3-4ft / 0.9-1.2m high) as a border for our garden but I’d really like a strip of wild-flower meadow – can we do both hedge and wild-flowers?

(4 minutes 12 seconds)

Matt – Hawthorn hedge

Q – My 80-year-old mother wants to remodel the garden to be extremely low maintenance (10x20m / 32x65ft). She can’t use a mower and the patio is now weed-ridden. Please could you suggest some ground cover alternatives, which would still allow her to walk and sit on it – no gravel please!

(9 minutes)

Chris – Corsican mint (Mentha requienii)

Leptinella

Pippa – Chamomile

Q – I’d like to make a green driveway; could the panel recommend plants I could use which would take trampling from feet, and occasionally having the car shading them.

(12 minutes 26 seconds)

Matt – grasses and bulbs

Chris – ferns: Adiantum, Polypodium, Polystichum

Q – We have a south-west facing conservatory, we’d like to train some climbing plants to provide some shade and would thrive directly under the glass – have the panel any suggestions?

(14 minutes 39 seconds)

Chris – Passion flower – Passiflora quadrangularis

Matt – Petrea volubilis

Thumbergia mysorensis

Q – I have a potted cactus with one larger branch and two smaller. It recently flowered and has grown much bigger – what should I do with it? Can I repot is, and if so, how?

(18 minutes 37 seconds)

Q – Having asked other local Wiltshire gardeners, I find I’m not alone in having my healthily growing Brussel Sprout crop wiped out overnight in July, as if sprayed with weed-killer – what is causing this?

(22 minutes 41 seconds)

Q – I’m growing pepper plants and some of the fruit is falling off whilst still green. I have discovered a green caterpillar in some of the fallen fruit. The plant itself is healthy; what might this problem be?

(26 minutes 40 seconds)

Q – I’ve trained a Wisteria to grow through a small cherry tree, this year the Wisteria produced white flowers during spring but at the end of August it flowered again, and the flowers are lilac – have you ever come across this?

(30 minutes 53 seconds)

Q – I’m very keen to conserve water for my garden and want to buy a water butt, however I live in a narrow terraced house with no downpipe – is it possible to buy a freestanding water butt which will capture rain water?

(36 minutes 56 seconds)