Does anyone know anything about gardening?

I've got fargesia rufa. great bunch of lads

In the ground? Have you needed to restrict them?

fargesia rufa are in planters

I've got some pseudosasa in the ground in the front - put in post-growing season, and unrestricted. we'll see how that works out. might put a barrier in at the side - RHS says they're clumping, but think I've read elsewhere they spread.

Wow. Does anyone know what the leafy plants with the pink flowers are?!

leafy plants with the pink flowers

Canna iridiflora, I think [edit: as @lemonade said!]

They're definitely a variety of canna. No idea which one, there are tonnes:
https://hartcanna.co.uk/catalogue.html

These ones have been flowering non stop since August

Thanks both!

Any idea what this is?

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Looks a lot like a self-seeded apple.

Thanks. I think there must be an old orchard on my dog walk yesterday. There was a lot of this age tree dotted all over this patch of land

It got to 0.2 degrees C here last night according to my thermometer, and my Echium Pininana is suffering, looks like if it had gotten all the way to zero it would have been finished off.

Have bought some coffee sacks as mentioned upthread and will be creating a tent of sorts for it now. Hopefully the damage hasn't been done already

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvhDbsApDjw

My dahlias and peony tubers won’t be happy. I’ve covered them in compost but will be 🤞🏼

Well this is good news (also oddly beautiful)

Any tips for plants that do well in largish pots outdoors in London climate?

Previous occupants of the house took loads and we have gaps all over - would like to put some pots in the spaces but not sure what would go well. We're not very skilled gardeners....

Full sun, part shade or deep shade?

Thanks @lemonade

Good question - it’s an east facing garden so not much of it gets full sun all day - part shade, probably?

Next question is what sort of style you want - exotic/tropical, cottage garden, formal/architectural, Mediterranean etc. You can get a rough idea of what these mean easily on Google images.

Will herbaceous perennials that die back completely in winter be ok, or are you looking for deciduous shrubs (which have a woody frame even after the leaves have fallen), or do they need to be fully evergreen?

Are you more interested in flowers (in which case, what colour scheme) or interesting foliage?

The beech trees at the end of my garden looking superb in the late afternoon soft northern light #humblebrag

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lots to think about, isn’t there…

I’d probably like a bit of colour but not necessarily flowers - foliage is good.

Have set out below a pic of the garden in summer (from EA ad, so probably over-selling it) and how it looks now (obv a bit worse as winter…).

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Looks great, can't see too many gaps! Where would the pots go? If they're just going to go on the earth you might as well get the plants in the ground, less watering and feeding needed and they'll grow stronger. Anything can grow in a pot if the pot is big enough, but pretty much everything will be happier in the ground.

A bit of repetition is always good instead of having one each of fifty different plants. If there's anything there you particularly like that is doing well there, you could try propagating it, or just buy more, since you know it does well in those conditions.

Eg. there's a big grass at the back, might be a miscanthus, you could dig it up, divide it into three pieces, stick one back where it was and two elsewhere, they will all grow with renewed vigour.

You can also fill gaps with annuals that are easily grown from seed - poppies, cosmos, nicotiana etc.

Great tips, thanks!

The previous owners did well but amongst the things that are there a number were in pots - so there are some gaps / compressed circles where these were, which I thought we could replace with other stuff.

They also had a bunch of things on the patio (not visible from that angle, it’s raised about 80cm above the garden - I was standing on it when i took that pic!) so without those it looks pretty bare - it would be nice to get that looking more alive with a few potted plants.

It's also not too late to bang a load of tulips everywhere (in pots or not) they'll give you some colour and fill gaps and then you can pull them out when they're finished and plant longer term things while it's still spring and optimum planting time.

For stuff on the patio, if you're going to see them from the house when you're doing the washing up, either evergreens or winter flowering things are nice so it doesn't look too dreary in winter.

Witch hazels are in garden centres now, should flower in January with good scent, will cope fine in big pots and with some shade. They are fairly non descript but nice enough in spring and summer, then they have fantastic autumn leaf colour.

Incompetent supplier of the day award: I am building a decking in Eastbourne (yes, at this time of year); Mrs B rings to say that a man is stuffing decking boards up the side of my garage 25 miles away. You guessed it, the brain donors were trying to deliver to the invoice address instead of the delivery address! Lucky that the boss was at home.....

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