This morning on my normal journey to work, which includes 25 miles of M25 from M4 to Leatherhead, there was about a 1 mile stretch at Staines where it had snowed. There was even snow on the carriage way between each lane. Then it stopped as abruptly as it appeared. It was definitely snow and not thi...

I agree and would add that the amount of fleece insulation required just to stop the hose freezing through would probably be enough to protect the plant on its own any way.

I saw the forcast for snow a about 11pm last night so I went out and put the plastic bell cloche over Aloe aristata. They don't bat an eyelid at snow here, Simon. Never protected them, and the snow protected them from -10C in 2010 :wink: Last year I left it uncovered for the first time as it had go...

I saw the forcast for snow a about 11pm last night so I went out and put the plastic bell closhes over Agave montana, Aloe aristata and Yucca filifera. I still need to tie up the leaves and fleece the Dasylirion serratifolium but that will have to wait until I am feeling brave. We had our first subz...

...humans are not supposed to live at these silly latitudes (if you think otherwise, try and walk barefoot for a week) Are you suggesting that humans are not supposed to wear shoes? If so, presumably we are not supposed to be intellegent enough to exploit new environments by making things that keep...

Mr List wrote:Pachysandra terminalis could be a brilliant shout.

what types of Helleborus?

are there any evergreen ones?

Yes I think most in cultivation are evergreen.

Have you tried Bergenia? they tollerate dry shade. I wonder If your ferns where too dry rather than too dark.

Ouraka, how did you get on with starting your wormery going and where do you keep it. I started one some time ago for kitchen waste but the worms died shortly after and I have been reluctant to try again as I don't know what killed them. I kept mine in the garage as the info said it should be kept f...

I toyed with the idea of getting it but decided against it for the reason Jas has said. I think it likes to be kept very wet. Would be good as a marginal but I don't have a pond. There are generally two species available; L. americanus and L. camtschatcensis. I don't know if one tollerates drier soi...

Where do people get these crazy ideas from? I can't imagine how anyone could arrive at the conclusion that cutting off healthy leaves could possibly make a palm grow quicker. Maybe it's trying to grow out of arms reach so you stop hackinging at it

I forgot to give my answer to the original question. I think there is a considerable temperature difference between loss of fronds and death of the crown. I always loose my fronds and have lost young knuckles a couple of times but haven't had a total death. I think that that as Dave said fronds are ...

I think Dave is right on this. The idea of mulch is that it effectively gives you a greater depth of protection for dormant tubers and rhizomes. If your soil is likely to freeze to a depth of 4 inches and you add 4 inches of mulch, the mulch freezes but not he soil (assuming for simplicity that the ...

Yes, much of western Europe, including France, Spain, Belgium, Holland are geographically in the UTC timeline but for some reason use UTC+1. Only Portugal uses UTC but geographically they are pretty much in UTC-1. along with about 50% of Rep. of Ireland. I don't see any reason why we can't go with U...

i do hope it sends out some more shoots from the sides and makes it more bushy. :D When it flowers, the growing point should divide into two or more, like a cordyline. Then it will become bushy and eventually branched. It is also likely to produce new growth points from around the base at ground le...

I had a scary thought today that the planet wont tilt back and we stay in winter forever!?! :shock: :shock: :lol: :lol: I think your misunderstanding how it works. The earth doesn't tilt back anf forth. Its axis is always tilted in the same direction, but the seasons change as it rotates around the...

Definitely not filamentosa. As Darren said, that has filaments coming off the leaf margins as the name suggests. Also they are no-trunk forming and readily sucker instead. That plant has no filaments, no suckers and appears to be forming a trunk. I would go for recurvifolia aka Y. Gloriosa var. recu...