plants Archives - Auntie Planty

plants need Xmas gifts too

Valerie Munro — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 15:40:01 +0000

You’re feeling a bit peaky So you reach for Grandma’s cure, But if a plant is feeling poorly The answer’s not so sure. You can call on Mr. Google, And wade through loads of stuff, But whatever is on offer May not be enough. What you need is an expert, Always ready on hand, The…

The post plants need Xmas gifts too appeared first on Auntie Planty.

Christmas cracker of an idea!

Valerie Munro — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 11:32:00 +0000

When you develop a headache, what do you do? You reach for whatever remedy works for you, whether it’s an aspirin, Grandma’s secret concoction, or you lie down in a darkened room for a while until the world looks and feels brighter.. Result – issue solved without too much of a drama. But what do…

The post Christmas cracker of an idea! appeared first on Auntie Planty.

spreading plant happiness

Valerie Munro — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 14:47:03 +0000

Christmas vouchers to solve plant and garden issues When you develop a headache, what do you do? You reach for whatever remedy works for you, whether it’s an aspirin, Grandma’s secret concoction, or you lie down in a darkened room for a while until the world looks and feels brighter.. That’s an extremely useful bit…

The post spreading plant happiness appeared first on Auntie Planty.

Christmas gift voucher

Valerie Munro — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 14:31:06 +0000

The post Christmas gift voucher appeared first on Auntie Planty.

calling all gardeners!

Valerie Munro — Tue, 04 May 2021 08:25:33 +0000

The next Auntie Planty Garden Zoom session is on Monday 10 May at 13.00. It’s for half an hour, it’s free and everyone is welcome. Gardening is the one physical activity that we all dive into without doing any warming up for. And, when we’ve done a good day’s digging and clipping, the chances are…

The post calling all gardeners! appeared first on Auntie Planty.

this year’s Christmas tree

Valerie Munro — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 08:46:37 +0000

The perennial question in our house is not merely ‘where will we put the tree this year?’ but more like ‘where will our fully lit tree complete with dangly tinsel balls of all sizes and colours be safe from the night-time marauding antics of a fully grown, but slightly delinquent moggie?’ While I am vexing…

The post this year’s Christmas tree appeared first on Auntie Planty.

purple4polio

Valerie Munro — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 09:35:47 +0000

Saturday 24 October was World Polio Day, and to celebrate I was honoured to be invited to support Richmond Rotary in the mass planting of 6000 purple crocus corms. This wasn’t some random act of horti-madness; it was done in an act of hope. There’s a very strong link between polio and COVID-19 – they…

The post purple4polio appeared first on Auntie Planty.

the joy of bright colours

Valerie Munro — Sat, 02 May 2020 14:04:58 +0000

There’s a lot of really bright pink in my garden at the moment; a rhododendron (probably ‘English Roseum’) a Crataegus laevitgata ‘Paul’s Scarlet’ and clumps of the amazing everlasting wallflower Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’. All of them are giving great joy, but I need to talk to you about the everlasting wallflower. If you leave it…

The post the joy of bright colours appeared first on Auntie Planty.

garden composting

Valerie Munro — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 15:44:54 +0000

For the time being our garden waste collections are paused so we’re being encouraged to make our own compost. Before you groan, why not give it a go? Compost is easy to produce, but making good compost is an art. It’s a result of the careful mixing of vegetable and other plant waste. Get it wrong, and…

The post garden composting appeared first on Auntie Planty.

daffodils and moving plants

Valerie Munro — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 08:59:51 +0000

Q: A lot of my daffodils this year just produced leaves and no flowers – is there something that I can do to improve things for next year? A: Daffodil blindness is where the plant looks reasonably healthy with no flowers at all, or the stem grows an ‘empty’ bud at the end. The most likely…

The post daffodils and moving plants appeared first on Auntie Planty.

Mothering Sunday gifts

Valerie Munro — Sun, 22 Mar 2020 12:37:55 +0000

It’s a lovely sunny Mothering Sunday. I was reminded of a couple of plants that ‘found’ their way into my garden specifically to give colour in early spring. The first is a flowering currant – Ribes sanguineum which I bought completely out of season. You know the way that garden centres tend to push those right-at-the-moment…

The post Mothering Sunday gifts appeared first on Auntie Planty.

stopped in my tracks

Valerie Munro — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 12:18:14 +0000

As I spend more and more self-isolation time in the house, the view from my kitchen window is getting rather more close scrutiny than before. I spotted a rather annoying clump of ivy that could do with a bit of a haircut. What I wanted to remove were the long strands of juvenile ivy. It’s…

The post stopped in my tracks appeared first on Auntie Planty.

Box tree moth caterpillar

Valerie Munro — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 10:55:47 +0000

There is a pest around at the moment that needs to be shown who’s boss! It’s the box tree moth caterpillar, and I was slightly annoyed that two presenters of the recent TV Chelsea coverage said that there’s no answer. If you have any box plants in your garden, you may wish to read this before…

The post Box tree moth caterpillar appeared first on Auntie Planty.

skeletonised rose leaves

Valerie Munro — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 22:07:01 +0000

I always say that vigilance is the key to combatting plant pest and diseases, so keeping your eyes peeled for the very first signs of a problem will serve you well in your attempt to get rid/control the effects. Imagine my horror the other day when deadheading some roses in my front garden that…

The post skeletonised rose leaves appeared first on Auntie Planty.

Air Pots – great news for plants

Valerie Munro — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 13:03:22 +0000

It’s been raining so much lately that I cannot get outside into the garden – mine or anybody else’s. So I now have time to tell you about a minor miracle in the plant pot world. Picture this; you have had a plant in a pot for a long time, and when you try to…

The post Air Pots – great news for plants appeared first on Auntie Planty.

topiary troubles

Valerie Munro — Sun, 23 Apr 2017 15:41:45 +0000

If you have box topiary in your garden, then there are a couple of rather devastating issues that could compromise their health. The first is the airborne fungal infection known as box blight. It’s a disease that was relatively unknown in the UK before the mid 1990s, and no one is quite sure where it…

The post topiary troubles appeared first on Auntie Planty.

fallen leaves

Valerie Munro — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 11:21:36 +0000

Today the weather is bright and clear. Looking out of the window, I see the leaves are beginning to drop. I know that I mustn’t leave them as they’ll kill off the grass if they lie there too long To some people, fallen leaves are a big nuisance, but I would like you to think of…

The post fallen leaves appeared first on Auntie Planty.

safe disposal of old garden products

Valerie — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 13:39:44 +0000

In an ideal world we would all buy just the right amount of fertiliser, garden disinfectant, weed-killer, insecticide, fungicide, or whatever that we need, and the garden shed wouldn’t fill up with leftovers. But of course life isn’t that simple. However, you can minimise the problem without any effort by using ready-to-use bottles and sprays.…

The post safe disposal of old garden products appeared first on Auntie Planty.

giant orchid at Kew

Valerie — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 08:40:50 +0000

I’ve just come back from Kew Gardens where I’m privileged to be a visitor guide. I was taken behind the scenes in the Tropical Nursery to see the amazing Grammatophyllum speciosum otherwise known as the giant orchid. Kew is very excited about this plant as it is flowering for the first since it was collected from…

The post giant orchid at Kew appeared first on Auntie Planty.

getting rid of rose blackspot

Valerie — Sat, 04 Jul 2015 09:06:56 +0000

It’s at this time of year when the nation’s favourite plant – the rose – gets attacked by the dreaded blackspot. the problem Rose blackspot is an extremely common and widespread fungal disease on most rose cultivars, as well as on wild roses. However, there are some cultivars that are partially resistant. The disease thrives…

The post getting rid of rose blackspot appeared first on Auntie Planty.