Originally Posted by Sacha

On 24/7/07 11:14, in article ,
"AngeTheUnsure" wrote:

Hi All, Just found this forum so hope it can help. This is the 2nd year
I've actively been 'doing the garden' - leaving it to Husband in the
past to get on with it. I convinced him last year Perennials were the
way to go - come up year after year, might be expensive at first but
well worth it in the long run. Now I've managed to get myself into
trouble by not knowing how to look after this stuff! Example:

Hardy Geraniums - Cranesbill - Just cut them back for new growth, as
reached 4' high and leaning sadly to the side. Do I cut them back again
in October'ish?

Only if you want to. Most die back anyway so only very tidy people would
worry about that. If you have an evergreen one, you could just tidy away
any messy looking stuff. You could give the one you've just cut back a bit
of feed to encourage a second flush of flowers. And I'd like to recommend a
wonderful hardy Geranium to you known as 'Jolly Bee'. It's a descendant of
Johnson's Blue but flowers much longer and we think, much more generously.

Rose bush - I planted it last Summer, it's called 'Rhapsody in Blue'.
He's told me to cut a particularly long stalk, saying It's a Sucker, as
there aren't any buds on it ... so I cut it and now discover according
to the 'Expert' book it probably wasn't a sucker...

Suckers usually come from below the ground or rootstock. Some have a
different number of leaves to the main plant and/or are a lighter green.
Pulling them off seems to be the experts preference, rather than cutting
them off, which effectively acts as a form of pruning and can encourage
re-growth as pruning does.

Achillea - a Red/Pink variety that grows to about 4' tall is now more
than 5', in full flower and listing badly. Do I cut them back in
Autumn please?

Late autumn and perhaps stake it next year. There's one called Moonshine
which is, apparently, less floppy than some of the others. We have a lovely
one called Terracotta which we like very much.

How do I gather seeds from Delphinium - do I wait for them to dry ON
the plant, or take them off now and put 'em in a paper bag to dry off?

Leave them on as long as you can. But you'll probably find that the
seedlings won't be true to the parent plant as Delphiniums are greatly
hybridised. But they may have some resemblance and you might even find
something really exciting.

snip

By the way, you will find it much easier to follow uk.rec.gardening if you
subscribe to it direct through a newsreader. Garden Banter is a commercial
site which takes posts from urg without permission in order to lure
customers into its advertising. Some of us regard this as a form of theft.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'