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Kathy Clugston and the team are at the New Forest sharing their top gardening tips. Joining Kathy is Bethan Collerton, Pippa Greenwood and Matthew Wilson.

Which plants can I plant now that will survive the winter? Can you recommend a low-maintenance shrub for the garden? What should I grow to get my gardening mojo back?

Kathy Clugston and the GQT team are in the New Forest sharing their tips and tricks for the garden. Joining Kathy are  head gardener at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Bethan Collerton, pest and disease expert, Pippa Greenwood, and garden writer and designer, Matthew Wilson.

Later on, GQT regular Matthew Pottage visits Russell Stevens, head gardener Kensington Gardens to see the relocated Chelsea Flower Show garden.

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4

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42 minutes

Last on

Sunday 14:00
BBC Radio 4

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Plant List

Q1 - What does the panel think about autumn planting to give plants the chance to establish over the winter and hopefully survive future droughts?  

Q2 - Why’s my  Jasmine Trachelospermum not flowering?

 

Trachelospermum (star jasmine / jasmine)

 

Q3 -  Do the panel have any suggestions for low maintenance shrubs, preferably evergreen, which can fill a deeply unattractive, large, bare earth bank in the front garden? 

 

Sarcococca confusa (sweet box)

 

Lonicera pileata (shrubby honeysuckle)

 

Euphorbia robbiei (Mrs. Robb's bonnet)

 

Vinca minor 'Miss Jekyll' (lesser periwinkle)

 

Euonymus (variegated varieties)

 

Herbaceous geraniums

 

Viburnum davidii

 

Cotoneaster horizontalis

 

Pachysandra terminalis (Japanese spurge)

 

Q4 -  I have a five-year-old foxglove tree, a Paulownia, in my small back garden. Last year it grew too big, so I decided to cut it down. Since then, it's grown between 15 and 20 feet tall, with large leaves. Will I kill it if I keep chopping it down? 

 

Paulownia tomentosa (foxglove tree)

 

Catalpa bignonioides (Indian bean tree)

 

Cannas

 

Ginger plants

 

Ensete bananas

 

Q5 - How tightly packed can I plant my herbaceous perennials to improve shading, ground cover, and water retention? 

 

Stipa gigantea (giant feather grass)

 

Q6 -  Try as I might, I can never seem to grow agapanthus to flower. Can you help?

 

Q7 - What can I plant to get my mojo back?

 

 

Broadcasts

  • Friday 15:00
    BBC Radio 4
  • Sunday 14:00
    BBC Radio 4

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