wrote in message
...
Spider wrote:
that. Of course, she still has the option of moving her potted lavenders
to
the back garden to experiment on.

Ah, should have thought of that before I potted up the winter cyclamens
and pansies in the same pot!


! :~) Sorry I didn't think of it earlier. Perhaps you could replant before
they get settled in.


My advice was aimed at prettying up {new
verb! :~)} her frontage next summer. Since her front door is in the
shade,
she could try pots of fuchsia, begonia or impatiens instead, although -
with
the exception of a hardy fuchsia - these will need winter protection or
replacing each summer. Any lavender, unfortunately, is going to become
leggy in shade, so that doesn't seem like an option.

That makes sense, I had assumed it was the lack of water (I know
lavender are meant to be drought-resistant, but I do sometimes take
things to an extreme with my neglect!) not the lack of light. I've had
mixed success with the busy lizzies this year, and my begonias were
poor, but I may give it another go next year. All my lovely non-hardy
fuchsias died last winter despite being in the greenhouse. :-


If you try a fuchsia next year, consider planting F. 'Mrs Popple'. It is a
hardy one with good crimson and purple flowers, and it is readily available
in summer. It will look a bit sad in winter, so you may need to plant up
two winter pots and swap them over at the turn of the season. The fuchsia,
however, will start to sprout again in late spring and, provided you feed
and water it (!), it will get better each year. You could always underplant
it with Begonia semperflorens, the fibrous-rooted begonia, which would not
steal too much root space from the fuchsia. Or, in a bigger pot, you could
try one of the pendulous tuberous begonias, which would trail attractively
and disguise the pot.

Spider