Homeowner Forum / Lawn and Garden / February 2009

Today, I said "After a winter like this one, it's sensible not to buy
a plant from a garden centre until it has started sprooting, so you
can tell the live ones from the dead ones."
Ah, well.  You know what I mean ....

I am new to this group but being from just ouside Vancouver, our weather is
very similar to southern UK.  I have tried to grow this plant from seed last
year by direct sowing but nothing germinated.  Does anyone have any hints on
how to  be successful with this lovely plant?  I ...

Our evergreen Agapanthus leaves have turned to mush.  Anyone any idea if
we've lost the plants forever, or will they sprout again?  As for an Arum
lily in a pot.......  ;-(

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Zone 7 - darn it's cold here in Maryland
I'm rooting  several azalea's and need to transfer them to larger pots.....   so
require a good potting mixture.  Looking at filling  24 - 1 gallon containers.
The plants will be kept in these pots for another year or two, before

At this time of the year I am sowing a number of seeds in pots in a
slightly warmed (i.e.frost free) greenhouse,prior to pricking them out
into modules.I usually use a mixture of multipurpose (3parts),John
Innes(1 part) and grit sand(1 part).I nearly always obtain good

We've had a long, hard winter.  Due to be in the teens and 20's again this
weekend....but I saw some green!!!
Pittsburgh, Zone 6

We're thinking of a major redesign of our back garden. We started looking
for a design(CAD) package. There seem to be a lot out there in webland,
but none of them seem to get rave reviews. What have you tried? Did it do
what you wanted? and lastly, would you recommend it to a fellow ...

Do Australian dendrobium flowers continue to expand after they've opened?
Specifically the ones with Den. speciosum in the background.  I have a Den
Lynette Banks that looks larger than a few weeks ago when I took a pic of
it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kbarrett/  (poor pic, I ...

Does anybody know of a U.K. source for this small rosette-like plant?  I
have had one for many years but this winter it died and I would love to get
another one.
Thanks for any help.

Anybody else watch it? Bemused?

Well, it's been a long and miserable winter in the garden.  Even
the grass has lost its green.
I wandered around last week admiring the overlap of the late
winter and early spring: crocuses, snowdrops still full,

I'm thinking of buying one (for my Somerset neutral clayey soil) but keep
finding conflicting advice. Everyone seems to agree on a black one but some
sources say that it can't be pruned and must have space to grow into a huge
tree whilst others say "best kept as a small bush" and ...

Has anyone noticed the great reluctance to snip postings to just the
relevant remarks?
It seems that some people are incapable of cutting all but the important
bits, the bits they are replying to.

I've got tons of seeds I saved and got free from a nursery last year, plus
the new stuff I've gotten for this year, and I want to be able to start
planting them outside. I just wonder if I'll have enough space...we have
just over an acre here, but I've got seeds for quite a few ...