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Q – My Magnolia has grown very little in ten years – what can I feed it?

Anne – It sounds like it’s in a position it doesn’t like.Ìý It would prefer a woodland environment.Ìý You could fertilise it and then mulch it but I don’t think it will help.

Q – How long after you’ve opened a packet of fertiliser are they good for?

Bob – I’d use them for a couple of years

Matt – I keep them in a sealed plastic container to avoid them absorbing excess moisture

Anne – I keep using them until they’ve run out.

Q – Do prepared Hyacinths naturalise well in the garden?Ìý What care do they need and how long will they be successful?

Matt – You can keep them going but they’ll need time to recover.Ìý

Anne – I put them in the garden but they’re never as profuse.

Q – I have a south-facing well-drained bank with some large heather plants which are about fifteen years old.Ìý Can I divide them?

Anne – Not really.Ìý You can mound well-drained compost around them and that will encourage them to layer and get new plants from them that way.

Q – We’ve just taken out 30ft of privet hedge.Ìý I would like to put an ornamental hedge back in its place – what can you recommend?Ìý

Bob – If you put wires/supports up then you could grow a Japanese Wineberry across it, rather than a traditional hedge.Ìý

Anne – You could have Rosa rugosa.Ìý ‘Wild Edric’ too.Ìý It would be more exciting to grow a variety of different shrubs – you could train fruits along a fence.Ìý Pyracantha hedge or rose hedge.

Matt – Apple espaliers.Ìý At ground level I would sow annuals to attract pollinators.Ìý

Q – Can you recommend a good pruning regime for a flowering currant

Matt – You can prune them pretty brutally.Ìý In spring cut out the older wood and shape them as you go.Ìý Do it over a few years.

Q – How would you recommend removing wild garlic from a woodland garden?

Matt – You could go through and fork it out year after year but it’s a lot of effort.Ìý You could constantly hoe or use a systemic spray once the daffodils have gone.Ìý

Q – Hardy Fushcias do well in this area but they are very late in flowering; any ideas for companion planting in a border would be much appreciated.

Anne – I use Cimicifugas (also called Actaea) but they’re quite late too.Ìý

Bob – I’ve got the Fuschia magellancia ‘Riccartonii’ ones which are very tough.Ìý Also, I put spring bulbs in with them, grape hyachinths, and then the poeticus »å²¹´Ú´Ú´Ç»å¾±±ô²õ.Ìý

Anne – Campanula lactiflora Prichard’s variety would look nice.Ìý Also, you could try ferns like Dryopteris wallichiana.Ìý

Matt – Ligularia ‘Desdemona’ would work.Ìý Also, Heucheras.

Q – I have a three-year old Laurel hedge and a quarter of it is being eaten by something.Ìý What is doing the damage and will it spread?

Bob – It could be a fungal leaf spot.Ìý