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GQT at Home: Sweet Peas and Rusty Leaves

Kathy Clugston hosts the horticultural programme with gardening experts.

Kathy Clugston hosts the horticultural programme with gardening experts. Bob Flowerdew, Pippa Greenwood and Matthew Pottage are the panellists answering questions sent in by green-fingered listeners and the live virtual audience. They discuss nurturing asparagus plants, the differences between sweet peas and garden peas, and what their flower characters would be.

Away from the questions, historian Advolly Richmond tells the fascinating history of vanilla, while Kirsty Wilson gives us an unusual option to plant this Spring.

Producer - Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer - Jemima Rathbone

A Somethin' Else production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4

Available now

42 minutes

Plant List

Questions and timecodes are below. Where applicable, plant names have been provided.

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Q – Why might perennial bulbs sprout and grow but not produce flowers on their first season?

(1 minute 29 seconds)

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Matthew –

Liatris

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Q – Does the panel have any suggestions for nurturing asparagus plants that are in their second season – how long should I now leave them before thinking about harvesting any asparagus?

(5 minutes 3 seconds)

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Bob –

Eremurus

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Q – I’ve never had much success growing sweet peas from seed. Can you help?

(6 minutes 45 seconds)

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Q – Is there any way to tell the different between sweet peas and garden peas?

(10 minutes 32 seconds)

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Feature – Advolly Richmond tells the history of vanilla

(12 minutes 42 seconds)

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Vanilla planifolia

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Q – What is lime for?

(18 minutes, 32 seconds)

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Bob –

Brassica

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Q – Suggestions for large plants for an unheated conservatory

(22 minutes, 2 seconds)

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Matthew –

Callistemon citrinus 'Splendens'

Buddleja asiatica

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Pippa –

Bougainvillea

Strelitzia

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Q – Can you tell me if there’s anything I can use to do to stop rust on my Eucalyptus?

(26 minutes, 32 seconds)

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Feature – Kirsty Wilson on Purple Toothwort

(30 minutes, 31 seconds)

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Lathraea clandestine

Poplar

Salix

Acer

Alnus

Buxus

Rhododendron

Taxis

Gunnera

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Q – I’m developing a hot border. I’d appreciate the panel’s thoughts on what their top 3 hot coloured plants would be for this spot to maximise year-round impact.

(34 minutes, 24 seconds)

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Matthew –

Kniphofia rooperi (Rooper’s red-hot poker)

Eriobotrya deflexa

Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer'

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Bob –

Canna

Crocosmia ‘L³Ü³¦¾±´Ú±ð°ù’

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Pippa –

Hemerocallis (Daylilies)

Cornus sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire'

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Q – What is your flower character?

(38 minutes, 9 seconds)

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Bob –

Fig flower

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Pippa –

Anemone ‘Frilly Knickers’

Osteospermum

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Matthew –

Strelitzia

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Broadcasts

  • Fri 5 Mar 2021 15:00
  • Sun 7 Mar 2021 14:00

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