Adam Frost answers your gardening questions

Ornamental grass planting ideas

You asked:

I live in the Scottish Highlands on the west coast and we get mild winters. Could you recommend some grasses to plant between perennials?

Adam says:

So we need some ornamental grasses for the west coast of Scotland (which is rather beautiful, by the way) to interplant with herbaceous plants. So I would go for Deschampsia. Probably gets up to about a metre, holds strong all the way through the winter. Another one a little bit taller, probably a Molinia, might collapse through the winter, but that'll give you a really good late show. If I was going to go low, things like Hakonechloa, prefers slightly shady conditions or even something like Melica. So there you go. Hopefully that'll get you started.

Snowdrops not flowering

You asked:

My double-flowering snowdrops don't seem to come back the following year, and I buy them in flower. Am I doing something wrong?

Adam says:

Snowdrops. I think it's an interesting subject because we can go and we can buy them as bulbs. But most people will tell you buy them in the green, which is exactly what you're doing. You buy them in flower, in the green. So that bit I think you're doing right. In reality, I'd buy them in bulbs, but then I containerise them, grow them on and then I plant them out. I think the next bit that's confusing.

Are you growing them just in pots? If so, you're doing the right thing by potting them up each year. But if you're putting them into the garden, enjoying them and then taking them out in the garden and putting them in pots, then I wouldn't be doing that. I think if I was putting them straight in the garden, I would just leave them. They don't want messing with, you know, less disturbance, the better. So if you growing them just in pots then pot them on each year. But actually if you're growing them in the garden, leave them be - just label them up and let them come up.

Removing wildflowers

You asked:

How do I remove nettles, teasels, red campion, creeping buttercup and rosebay willowherb from my wildflower garden?

Adam says:

I think this is a really interesting question because all of the plants that are listed there are all slightly thuggish, but ultimately you could say that they are wildflowers. So if it was me, personally, all I would do is go in and manage because you don't want a monoculture. And that's what's going to happen in any wildflower area. You're going to have things that are stronger than other things. So I would go in, I would tease out the stronger growth, maybe with a fork, a trowel. However I had to do it and then I would sow over so with something else that I felt was a bit weak that could fill that space. So in reality that's probably not necessarily the answer that you want, but that is the way that I'd do it.

Hydrangea cuttings

You asked:

I struggle with hydrangea cuttings; they start well but then don’t seem to develop roots and go brown and die. What am I doing wrong?

Adam says:

I would take my cuttings probably about July, August time. I'd make sure that they're this year's growth and I take a tip cutting. So the tip cutting ultimately has no flower on it. And you've got the stem and then a series of leaves. I make sure that I cut just underneath two leaf joints, which we call the node. I might cut a little bit lower. Take it away somewhere clean, lay it on a nice tile, cut just under that node with a knife, because you need to make sure that that is really nice and clean. Once you've got your cutting, have a look at it, if the leaves at the top are really big, then maybe just half them. Hold them up, knife across, secateurs across. Again, making sure it's a clean cut.

As far as the mix I'm going to use, I would use 50% grit and then 50% peat free. That is what we call a one-litre pot. So I would probably put three cuttings all the way around, fill up with compost, give it a tap and then three cuttings and they would just touch the side of the pot. And then once I've done that, I would give it a really good watering. If you've got a propagator, I would put it in propagator. What you don't want is that losing too much moisture, if not, plastic bag over the top, pop it in greenhouse or even on a windowsill.

Water, but don't water too much because sometimes I think that's what happens. If you think about it, when we take a cutting and we instantly think it's a plant. Well, till it starts to root, it's not really going to need to start sucking up that water.

Pruning peach trees

You asked:

When and how is the best time to prune a two-year-old peach tree? This year it cropped well for the first time.

Adam says:

How do we prune peach trees? Well, you've come to the right place because I have got two on the front of the house. And this year, like you, mine fruited and aren't they the most glorious thing. As far as pruning's concerned, I do them after I've picked the fruit. So normally about mid to late August. Mine is a fan tree. It's tied back into a wall, it benefits from being south facing, the heat hits the wall, the stone sucks it up and it releases, which helps ripen that fruit. But as far as pruning, all I really do is look at all the new growths and then I'm reducing most of those to a couple of buds. When I say I cut back to two buds, it might be three, sometimes it might be four. All I'm really doing is reducing all that new growth, and that really sets me up for the next year.

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