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GQT at Home: Festive Floral Ideas and Overwintering Wisterias

Kathy Clugston hosts this week's gardening panel show.

Kathy Clugston hosts this week's gardening panel show. Horticultural experts Christine Walkden, Anne Swithinbank and Chris Beardshaw answer questions sent in by listeners from across the country.

This week, the panellists divulge their best tips for encouraging your plants to fruit and flower, and also look into a listener's query about the mysterious plant growing from a tree trunk in her garden - could it be an orchid?

Need some tips for your festive floral designs? Florist Hazel Gardiner shares her ideas for the most eye-catching arrangements. And GQT's vegetable virtuoso Bob Flowerdew has some seasonal suggestions for a productive winter plot.

Producer - Daniel Cocker
Assistant Producer - Bethany Hocken

A Somethin' Else production for 大象传媒 Radio 4

Available now

42 minutes

Plant List

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

Q 鈥 Panel, are you leaf collectors?

(0 minutes 57 seconds)听

Q 鈥 Can the team tell me if I can overwinter my sweet pepper plant and can I expect any fruit?

(2 minutes 33 seconds)听

Q 鈥揧esterday I spotted this orchid growing out of my tree, in the garden. I鈥檝e never seen this before. I鈥檓 fascinated by how this has occurred.

(6 minutes 35 seconds)听

Q 鈥 Ten years ago I planted an expensive wisteria facing northwest, and pruned twice a year, as advised. I feed it with potash fertiliser, but it has never flowered.

(7 minutes 58 second)

Q 鈥 When on a walk recently, I picked up a fallen chinese lantern. I hoped that I could sow the seeds from the decaying fruit hidden inside the leaves. What do I do next?

(11 minutes 28 seconds)

Anne 鈥

Physalis alkekengi

Feature 鈥 Florist Hazel Gardiner shares her tips for creating festive floral displays

(13 minutes 56 seconds)

Holly

Poinsettia

Anemone

Ilex, 鈥榃inter Gold鈥

Magnolia

Teasel

Helleborus niger, Christmas rose

Q 鈥 Festive floral ideas from the panel

(17 minutes 38 seconds)

Chris 鈥

Angelica

Willow

Cornus

Sweet chesnut

Beech mast

Pine cones

Christine 鈥

Hawthorn berries

Clematis, 鈥楾raveller鈥檚 Joy鈥

Q 鈥 Why is my seven-year-old damson tree so unhappy?

(19 minutes 20 seconds)

Q 鈥 Any tips on whether I should repot my olive tree? If so, what compost should I use?

(23 minutes 46 seconds)听

Q 鈥 How should nerines be treated once they have been flowered and can they be divided?

(27 minutes 23 seconds)听

Anne 鈥

Nerine bowdenii

Feature 鈥 GQT's own vegetable virtuoso Bob Flowerdew gives us some seasonal suggestions for a productive winter plot

(30 minutes 34 seconds)

Carrot

Parsnip

Leek

Saladin

Sweetcorn

Borage

Potato

Q 鈥 What is 鈥済reen manure鈥?

(34 minutes 00 seconds)听

Q 鈥 I鈥檝e quite a large compost box. I鈥檝e noticed the contents have become very dense soggy. Should I have a lid made for it and, if so, does it need to be removed during the summer months?

(35 minutes 17 seconds)

Q 鈥 I have an orchid, a date palm, and a red pepper all growing in the same indoor pot. I find it鈥檚 a helpful combination because if I overwater the orchid the red pepper drinks up the excess. What pot combinations would the panel suggest?

(37 minutes 37 seconds)

Chris 鈥

Crassula, Jade plant

Bromeliad

Senecio rowleyanus, 鈥楽tring of Pearls鈥

Anne 鈥

Lemongrass

Thai basil

Orange

Lemon

Christine 鈥

Palm

Cordyline

Scindapsus

Chlorophytum

Spider plant

Rubber plant

Monstera, Swiss cheese plant

Philodendron

Broadcasts

  • Fri 3 Dec 2021 15:00
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