The CEC Plant Guide

Name

Rose, Rosa spp.: bush roses (hybrid tea, floribunda), shrub roses, climbers, ramblers, patio and ground-cover roses.

• The most frequent ornamental plant in a survey of 267 UK gardens: in 179 of them (Loram et al. 2008, BUGS project PDF).
• Old-fashioned shrub roses do well on clay (RHS clay soils).

Identify it

Key features

• Stems: woody, usually with prickles ("thorns"). A few kinds are nearly thornless.
• Leaves: each leaf is split into several oval, toothed leaflets, usually 5 or 7, in pairs with one at the tip. There's a small leafy flap where the leaf stalk meets the stem.
• Flowers:
• wild types have 5 petals
• garden kinds are often fully double
• many are scented
• Fruit: hips, red or orange, in autumn.
• Size: from about 30 cm (patio roses) to 10 m or more (ramblers up trees).

In mid-September

• Repeat-flowering kinds still have some flowers and buds.
• Once-flowering roses and species roses show hips instead.
• Leaves are often tired: black spots, yellowing and early leaf drop are normal now (see Problems).

Look-alikes

• Bramble (blackberry):
• also prickly with split leaves, but the leaflets spread like a hand from one point, not in pairs (3 to 7 of them; the count varies)
• long arching stems that root where the tips touch soil
• blackberries, not hips
• Dog rose (wild rose):
• arching hedge rose with single pale pink or white flowers and red hips
• a shoot like this coming up from below a garden rose is often a sucker from the rootstock (see Pruning)
• Japanese rose, Rosa rugosa:
• stems thick with bristly prickles, and deeply veined, wrinkled leaves
• big single magenta or white flowers, then fat tomato-like hips
• on Schedule 9: it's an offence to plant it or let it grow in the wild (Schedule 9; gov.uk invasive plant rules). Never dump its cuttings or hips over the fence into open land.

Do this month (mid-Sep to Oct)

• Keep deadheading repeat-flowering roses. Cut to just above the next bud (RHS deadheading).
• Leave the hips. Don't deadhead species and rambler roses that carry decorative, bird-friendly hips (RHS deadheading).
• Clear black spot leaves.
• Rake up fallen leaves with black spot and send them to council green waste (RHS October).
• Or bury them under a layer of mulch (RHS black spot).
• Climbers and ramblers can be pruned in October (RHS October).
• Against wind-rock: from October, cut roses back by half so winter winds don't rock the roots loose (RHS October; RHS November).
• Suckers: remove any you find (see Pruning).

Pruning

When

• Late winter, February or March, suits most roses (RHS rose pruning).
• Timing and severity depend on the type. Each has its own RHS guide:
• hybrid tea and floribunda
• shrub
• climbing
• rambling
• patio and miniature
• ground cover
• Don't know the type? The RHS says watch how it regrows. Vigorous, flowering regrowth suggests a hybrid tea or floribunda; less vigorous growth suggests a shrub rose (RHS rose pruning).

How (all from RHS rose pruning)

• Cuts: no more than 5 mm above a bud, sloping down away from it so water runs off. Keep secateurs sharp so cuts are clean.
• Bud direction: usually cut to an outward-facing bud to open the centre. On sprawling kinds, use inward-facing buds.
• Take out first: dead, diseased, spindly and crossing stems. Cut dieback back to healthy white pith.
• Aim for well-spaced stems with air flowing between them.
• On established roses: cut out poorly flowering old wood, and saw away old stubs that haven't made new shoots.
• Suckers: trace them back to the root they grow from and pull them away.

Classic mistakes

• Hard-cutting a climber or rambler that has a single stem. It may not regenerate (RHS rose pruning).
• Cutting suckers off at ground level instead of pulling them. The RHS method is to pull them from the root.
• Deadheading hip roses into autumn. You remove the hips the birds use (RHS deadheading).
• Pruning every rose the same way. Check the type first.

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading:
• Pinch or snap off faded flowers with the stalk, or use secateurs on tough stems, cutting to just above the next bud (RHS deadheading).
• On roses with decorative hips, stop in mid-summer so the hips can form (same source).
• Feeding: general-purpose or rose fertiliser in spring, then mulch (RHS rose pruning; RHS April). No feeding now.
• Watering: Gap. Not sourced yet.

Winter care

• Cut roses back by half in October or November against wind-rock (RHS October; RHS November).
• Clear black spot leaves, so the disease has less to restart from next year (RHS October).
• Do the main prune in February or March (RHS rose pruning).

Problems

Black spot (RHS black spot)

• Looks like:
• from spring, fast-spreading purple-black patches on the upper leaf surface
• the leaf often yellows around the spots and drops
• sometimes small black scabby marks on young stems
• Worst on: hybrid teas, floribundas, climbers and patio roses. Older species roses are little affected.
• Fix without chemicals:
• collect and destroy fallen leaves in autumn, or bury them under mulch
• prune out stem lesions in spring before the leaves appear
• Chemicals: the RHS recommends against fungicides, which can reduce biodiversity and harm soil health. we do not spray (see the law).
• Disposal: council green waste, not home compost (RHS October).

Rose rust (RHS rose rust, as described on the black spot page)

• Orange or black spore pustules on leaf undersides.
• Orange pustules on distorted stems.

Rose powdery mildew (RHS rose powdery mildew)

• White powdery growth that can be very disfiguring.
• The RHS October page says leaves with mildews and rusts are safe to compost, unlike black spot (RHS October).

Other problems

• Dieback: cut back to healthy white pith (RHS rose pruning).
• Suckers: see Pruning.
• Aphids and other insects: Gap. Not sourced yet.

Safety

• Pets:
• The ASPCA lists rose as non-toxic to dogs and cats (ASPCA rose; read from a search summary, page not opened).
• Rose isn't on Dogs Trust's list of poisonous garden plants (Dogs Trust).
• Skin: the prickles are the hazard. Wear thorn-proof gauntlet gloves and long sleeves, and use eye protection when working inside a climber.
• Gloves: always.

PRO TIPS

1. Ask before you deadhead in autumn. "Do you like the hips on this one?" Species and rambler roses are left for hips and birds (RHS deadheading).

2. Tell the homeowner black spot is managed, not cured.

• The routine is clearing leaves every autumn and pruning out marked stems in spring.
• The RHS advises against fungicides, and we don't spray (RHS black spot).
• If they're replacing a rose, older species types suffer least.

3. Book two visits into the diary. An October or November half-cut against wind-rock, then the February or March main prune (RHS October; RHS rose pruning).

4. Spot suckers from the ground. A shoot rising from the soil a little away from the bush, with different-looking leaves, is probably a sucker. Pull it off at the root (RHS rose pruning).

5. A Rosa rugosa hedge by open land: keep its trimmings and hips in the green-waste bag (Schedule 9; gov.uk).

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="lavender"></a>

Name

English lavender, Lavandula angustifolia. Its taller hybrid, lavandin, is L. × intermedia.

• In 83 of 267 UK gardens surveyed (Loram et al. 2008).
• On the RHS drought-resistant list (RHS drought-resistant).

Identify it

Key features

• Shape: a low, rounded evergreen shrub, usually knee height or less.
• Leaves: narrow and grey-green.
• Smell: strong lavender scent when brushed or crushed.
• Flowers:
• small violet-blue, pink or white flowers packed into spikes at the top of long, bare, unbranched stalks standing above the leaves
• in flower in summer (RHS lavender)
• Lavandin (L. × intermedia): taller, with longer flower stalks, and usually hardy like English lavender (RHS lavender growing guide).
• French or Spanish lavender (L. stoechas and relatives):
• fat flower heads topped with petal-like "rabbit ears"
• less hardy and short-lived, so best in pots kept frost-free over winter (RHS lavender growing guide)

In mid-September

• Mostly finished flowering: grey-brown dead spikes on straw-coloured stalks above a grey-green mound, unless it has already been trimmed.
• Old plants show bare, woody, twisted bases with leaves only at the tips.

Look-alikes

• Rosemary:
• needle-like leaves, dark green above and pale below, with a piney smell
• flowers sit along the stems, not on long bare stalks
• it's pruned differently; RHS lists rosemary beetle on both plants
• Russian sage (Salvia yangii, was Perovskia):
• taller, at waist height or more, with whitish stems and airy, branched sprays of blue flowers
• still flowering in September, when lavender has finished
• Catmint (Nepeta):
• soft, broader, toothed grey leaves on sprawling stems
• smells minty, not of lavender
• often still flowering now
• Cotton lavender (Santolina): grey, finely cut leaves, and yellow button flowers in summer.

Do this month (mid-Sep to Oct)

• Trim now if it hasn't been done (RHS lavender growing guide).
• The RHS window is "late summer, just after flowering", so mid-September is the end of it.
• Remove the dead flower stalks and about 2.5 cm of leafy growth.
• Pots: before winter, move them to a sheltered spot out of the rain, such as the lee of a wall. Wet roots bring root rot. Keep French lavender in pots frost-free (same source).
• No feeding, and no watering of established plants in the ground (same source).

Pruning

• When: every year in late summer, just after flowering (RHS lavender growing guide).
• How:
• with shears or secateurs, take off all the spent flower stalks plus about 2.5 cm of the leafy growth
• shape the plant into a neat dome, always staying in green, leafy growth (same source)
• Pruning group: Gap. RHS pruning-group number not checked. It's treated as "trim after flowering, never into old wood".
• Classic mistakes:
• Cutting into bare, woody stems. "Lavender does not break new growth easily from old stems" (RHS lavender growing guide), so a hard cut leaves bare stumps that may never green up.
• Trying to rescue a leggy old plant by cutting it hard. The RHS says straggly, very woody plants are best replaced (same source).
• Skipping a year. The plant goes woody faster. Little and often keeps it compact.

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: the late-summer trim removes the spent stalks (see Pruning).
• Feeding: "plants don't generally need feeding". Lavender likes low-nutrient soil (RHS lavender growing guide).
• Watering:
• water new plants regularly
• established plants in the ground are drought tolerant and "rarely" need watering (same source)
• Soil:
• it likes poor, dry or moderately fertile soil, chalk included
• it "will not thrive in heavy clay soil or any soil that becomes waterlogged" (same source)

Winter care

• In the ground: nothing needed on free-draining soil. On wet, heavy soil it's prone to root rot (see Problems).
• Pots: stand them in a sheltered spot out of the winter rain. Keep French and Spanish lavender frost-free (RHS lavender growing guide).

Problems

The RHS lists these (RHS lavender growing guide):

• Root rots: in wet or heavy soil. The plant browns and collapses, and can die early. The fix is better drainage, or replanting somewhere drier.
• Rosemary beetle:
• small shiny beetles with metallic green and purple stripes on the shoots
• leaves eaten
• Gap: treatment not sourced yet
• Sage and Ligurian leafhoppers: pale mottling on the leaves.
• Cuckoo spit: a froth made by froghopper nymphs. The RHS lists it; it's usually harmless to the plant. Gap: "harmless" isn't confirmed yet.
• *Xylella fastidiosa:*
• a bacterial plant disease on the RHS list
• Gap: the official reporting route hasn't been checked yet
• Woody, leggy, split plants: age. Replace them (RHS lavender growing guide).

Safety

• Pets:
• Dogs Trust lists lavender among garden plants poisonous to dogs (Dogs Trust).
• The ASPCA lists lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) as "Toxic to Dogs, Toxic to Cats, Toxic to Horses", with linalool and linalyl acetate as the toxic principles and "Nausea, vomiting (not in horses), inappetant" as the signs (ASPCA lavender). That agrees with Dogs Trust.
• Until then, go by Dogs Trust.
• Skin: no skin warning on the RHS guide.
• Bees:
• it's a big pollinator plant, and bees work it hard in flower
• * trim once flowering is over (as the RHS times it), check for bees before shearing, and wear gloves
• Gloves: recommended for shearing.

PRO TIPS

1. Look before you cut. Part the foliage and find where the green stops. Only cut above that line (RHS lavender growing guide).

2. Tell the homeowner straight: a woody, gappy lavender won't come back from hard pruning. Replacing it is the fix, and a yearly trim stops the new one going the same way (same source). A good add-on job.

3. Don't feed it or give it rich compost (same source). If a lavender is failing in a wet, clay spot, suggest moving it or replacing it with something that suits clay.

4. Check the flower spikes for bees before shearing. In mid-September most are done, but lavandin may still be humming.

5. Dog in the house? Mention that Dogs Trust lists lavender, and sweep up the trimmings rather than leaving them on the lawn (Dogs Trust).

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="hydrangea"></a>

Name

Mophead and lacecap hydrangea (bigleaf hydrangea), Hydrangea macrophylla.

• In 85 of 267 UK gardens surveyed (Loram et al. 2008).
• The RHS says shrubby hydrangeas flower "in mid to late summer", with long-lasting flowers in pink, white or blue (RHS hydrangea).
• On the RHS clay list (RHS clay soils).

Identify it

Key features

• Shape: a rounded, deciduous shrub with many stems, usually waist to head height.
• Leaves: big, broad, oval and bright green, with toothed edges, growing in opposite pairs.
• Stems: thick and fleshy when young, turning pale brown and woody.
• Mophead: big round balls of large, showy florets.
• Lacecap:
• flat heads with a centre of tiny bead-like flowers
• a ring of larger showy florets round the edge, like a lace doily
• Colour: pink, blue, purple or white. Gap: the link between colour and soil pH hasn't been sourced yet.

In mid-September

• The flower heads are still on and ageing: blues and pinks fade to green, parchment, red or dusky purple.
• Leaves may be scorched or tired after summer.
• Fat buds for next year's flowers are forming at the stem tips.

Look-alikes (these matter, because they're pruned differently)

• *Hydrangea paniculata:*
• cone-shaped heads, white ageing to pink
• flowers on this year's growth, so it's hard-pruned in spring (RHS hydrangea pruning)
• *Hydrangea arborescens, e.g. 'Annabelle':*
• big round white or lime heads on thinner, floppier stems, with thinner, matt leaves
• also hard-pruned in spring (same source)
• Climbing hydrangea (H. anomala subsp. petiolaris):
• clings to walls and fences with flat white lacecap heads in early summer
• pruned straight after flowering (RHS hydrangea pruning)
• Lacecap viburnums (e.g. Viburnum plicatum):
• flat white heads in spring, with pleated, ribbed leaves
• in September they show berries or nothing, not flowers
• Oakleaf hydrangea (H. quercifolia): leaves deeply lobed like an oak, and cone-shaped heads.

Do this month (mid-Sep to Oct)

• Leave the mophead flower heads on. They give frost protection to the buds below over winter (RHS hydrangea pruning).
• Lacecaps: can be cut back after flowering "to the second pair of leaves below the head" (same source). A lacecap tidy now is fine.
• Don't do any hard or structural pruning now. The buds at the stem tips are next summer's flowers (same source).
• Watering and mulch: Gap. Hydrangea watering and mulching haven't been sourced yet. The RHS mulch guide covers mulching in general (RHS mulch).

Pruning

• Group: flowers from buds made on last year's stems. The RHS pruning-group number wasn't checked (gap).
• When: late winter or early spring (RHS hydrangea pruning).
• How:
• Mopheads: cut each old flower stem back "to the first strong, healthy pair of buds" below the dead head.
• Lacecaps: can be cut after flowering to the second pair of leaves below the head.
• Old, overgrown plants: can be renovated by cutting all stems to the base, but "this will remove all the flowers for that summer". New stems flower the year after.
• Frost-damaged shoots in spring: cut back to just above the first undamaged pair of buds.
• All from RHS hydrangea pruning.
• Classic mistakes:
• Pruning a mophead like a paniculata, cutting it hard every spring. You cut off the flower buds and get leaves with no flowers.
• The opposite: leaving a paniculata or 'Annabelle' unpruned. They do better with a yearly hard prune to a framework (same source).
• Deadheading mopheads in autumn. It removes their winter frost cover (same source).
• Cutting a climbing hydrangea hard all at once. The RHS says stagger drastic pruning over three or four years (same source).

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: mopheads in spring as part of the prune; lacecaps any time after flowering (RHS hydrangea pruning).
• Feeding: Gap. Not sourced yet.
• Watering: Gap. Not sourced yet. Hydrangeas are widely known to wilt in dry spells, but that isn't sourced here.

Winter care

• Leave the old mophead heads on for frost protection until the spring prune (RHS hydrangea pruning).
• If a late frost blackens new shoots, cut back to the first undamaged pair of buds (same source).

Problems

• No flowers:
• usually from pruning at the wrong time or too hard, which removes the flower buds, or from renovation cutting
• renovated plants miss a summer (RHS hydrangea pruning)
• Frost-damaged shoots: see Winter care.
• Pests and diseases: Gap. The RHS hydrangea growing guide link returned "not found". Vine weevil, hydrangea scale, powdery mildew and chlorosis (yellow leaves) still need an RHS source.

Safety

• Pets:
• Dogs Trust lists hydrangea among garden plants poisonous to dogs (Dogs Trust).
• Hydrangea is listed as toxic to dogs, cats and horses, the toxic principle a cyanogenic glycoside, with vomiting and diarrhoea the usual signs (LSU School of Veterinary Medicine). The "non-toxic to cats" search summary was simply wrong: the ASPCA page it came from also lists hydrangea as toxic to cats.
• Go by Dogs Trust.
• Skin: Gap. No skin warning was sourced.
• Gloves: recommended as normal practice.

PRO TIPS

1. Name the hydrangea before you touch it.

• Round or flat heads on thick stems with big glossy leaves: macrophylla. Leave the heads and prune lightly in spring.
• Cone heads (paniculata) or big white 'Annabelle' balls: hard spring prune.
• Getting it wrong costs a year of flowers (RHS hydrangea pruning).

2. Tell the homeowner why the brown heads stay. "They're protecting next year's flower buds from frost. We take them off in spring." (same source)

3. Old, huge hydrangea? Offer renovation, but say plainly it won't flower next summer (same source). If they can't bear that, check whether thinning a third of the stems a year is RHS-backed before we offer it (gap).

4. Don't promise to "turn it blue". Soil pH and colourants haven't been sourced yet. Say you'll look into it.

5. Dog that chews plants? Mention that Dogs Trust lists hydrangea (Dogs Trust).

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="hardy-fuchsia"></a>

Name

Hardy fuchsia (lady's eardrops), Fuchsia magellanica and hardy hybrids such as 'Riccartonii', 'Mrs Popple' and 'Hawkshead'.

• Fuchsia is in 113 of 267 UK gardens surveyed (Loram et al. 2008).
• The RHS says fuchsias "flower continuously from mid-summer to the early frosts". It separates hardy kinds that live outdoors all year from tender ones needing protection (RHS fuchsia).
• 'Mrs Popple', 'Riccartonii' and 'Hawkshead' hold the RHS Award of Garden Merit. F. magellanica can be grown as a hedge (same source).

Identify it

Key features

• Shape: a deciduous shrub of slim, arching, often reddish stems, usually waist to head height. It can die back to the ground in a hard winter and regrow (RHS hardy fuchsias).
• Leaves: small, oval, pointed and lightly toothed, in pairs or threes, sometimes with reddish veins.
• Flowers:
• hang like earrings: a slim red tube opening into 4 spreading red sepals
• a purple skirt of petals inside, with long stamens dangling below
• on the classic F. magellanica the flowers are small and slender; white-and-pink forms exist
• Fruit: dark purple, oblong berries after flowering.

In mid-September

• Still in full flower: this is its peak season and it carries on until the frosts (RHS fuchsia).
• Some berries are forming.

Look-alikes

• Tender bedding fuchsias:
• bigger, fatter flowers, often double and in pastel or bicolour shades
• usually in pots, baskets and bedding
• they need frost protection or bringing in (RHS fuchsia; RHS tender fuchsias)
• Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa):
• hanging chains of white flowers under wine-red leafy bracts, then dark purple berries
• hollow green bamboo-like stems and much larger pointed leaves
• *Abutilon megapotamicum:*
• dangling red-and-yellow lanterns with dark stamens
• usually trained on a warm wall

Do this month (mid-Sep to Oct)

• Leave it flowering. No cutting back in autumn.
• The RHS prunes hardy fuchsias in early spring, "just as the new growth begins" (RHS hardy fuchsias).
• So leave the stems standing over winter.
• Check the shoot tips for gall mite. Cut off any swollen, distorted tips and bag them (see Problems).
• Tender fuchsias in pots: these need protecting before the frosts (RHS fuchsia). Ask the homeowner where they overwinter them.
• Mulch: plan a crown mulch for November onwards (see Winter care).

Pruning

• Group: a summer-flowering shrub that flowers on the current year's growth, so it's pruned in spring. The RHS pruning-group number wasn't checked (gap).
• When: early spring, just as the new growth begins (RHS hardy fuchsias).
• How (same source):
• cut the side branches back to healthy shoots or buds
• cut congested plants to the ground in early spring; they soon resprout
• Hedges: F. magellanica can form a hedge (RHS fuchsia). Gap: hedge trimming timing wasn't sourced separately.
• Classic mistakes:
• Cutting to the ground in autumn. The RHS times pruning for early spring.
• Pruning too early, before any new growth shows. Wait until you can see where the live buds are.
• Digging out a "dead" fuchsia in March. Hardy fuchsias can regrow from the base after cold snaps (RHS hardy fuchsias).

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: Gap. Not sourced. Hardy shrub fuchsias in borders are normally left, and the berries follow.
• Feeding and watering:
• mulch every year with organic matter such as garden compost or well-rotted manure, to improve the soil, reduce water stress and protect the crown (RHS hardy fuchsias)
• Gap: fertiliser not sourced

Winter care

All from RHS hardy fuchsias:

• Mulch the crown with a layer at least 5 cm thick, from late autumn to late winter (November to February).
• *F. magellanica:* a deep winter mulch and shelter from cold, drying winds.
• When planting: set the base 5 cm deeper than soil level. This protects the crown and helps the plant regrow after cold snaps.

Problems

Fuchsia gall mite (RHS fuchsia gall mite)

• What it is:
• a microscopic sap-sucking mite that only attacks fuchsias
• first found on mainland Britain in September 2007, and a frequent RHS enquiry "especially from southern England"
• Looks like:
• swollen, distorted shoot tips, often yellowish-green or reddish
• flowers deformed or not forming
• Spreads: on the wind, and by hitching a ride on insects and other animals.
• Fix:
• cut off affected tips, which removes many mites
• dispose of them in council waste or bury them; * not in our compost
• some kinds are less affected, e.g. 'Baby Chang' and 'Space Shuttle'
• a predatory mite, Amblyseius andersoni, is sold as a biological control
• no chemical option is given
• wipe secateurs and bag the cut tips before driving to the next garden. The RHS gives no advice for people working across gardens, so this is our precaution, not a sourced rule.

Other pests (capsid bug, vine weevil in pots, rust, grey mould, whitefly)

• Gap. Not sourced yet.

Safety

• Pets:
• Fuchsia isn't on Dogs Trust's list of poisonous garden plants (Dogs Trust).
• The ASPCA has a page for honeysuckle fuchsia, F. triphylla (ASPCA), but its status wasn't confirmed. Gap.
• Skin: no warning found.
• Gloves: normal practice.

PRO TIPS

1. Tell the homeowner the autumn rule: "We leave the stems on till spring and cut back when the new shoots show" (RHS hardy fuchsias).

2. A fuchsia that looks dead in March usually isn't. Scratch a stem or wait for shoots from the base before anyone digs it out (same source).

3. Carry the gall mite check into every garden with fuchsias.

• The mite is common in southern England (RHS gall mite).
• Clean tools and bag the tips so we're not the ones carrying it.

4. Sort hardy from tender on the first visit. Border shrubs with small slim flowers are hardy. Pot and basket fuchsias with big frilly flowers usually need frost protection (RHS fuchsia). Ask whether they're kept inside over winter.

5. Offer a November crown mulch of at least 5 cm compost or well-rotted manure. It's cheap insurance against a hard winter (RHS hardy fuchsias).

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="butterfly-bush"></a>

Name

Butterfly bush (buddleia), Buddleja davidii.

• In 81 of 267 UK gardens surveyed (Loram et al. 2008).
• The Sheffield BUGS project found it "easily the commonest garden plant in the seed bank" (BUGS project).
• The RHS lists it as a plant for pollinators: "undemanding", with honey-scented flowers (RHS buddleja).

Identify it

Key features

• Shape: a large, fast, arching deciduous shrub, usually head height or well above.
• Leaves:
• long and narrow (lance-shaped), dark or grey-green above
• pale, white-felted underneath
• growing in pairs
• Flowers:
• long, tapering cone-shaped spikes packed with tiny honey-scented flowers
• usually lilac or purple with an orange eye; also white, pink and deep purple
• covered in butterflies in sunshine
• Seed heads: brown, dry spikes that stay on after flowering.
• Seedlings:
• pop up in wall cracks, paving, gravel, gutters and chimney stacks
• the RHS notes it can self-seed into walls and paving (RHS buddleja)
• look for small lance-shaped leaves, felted white underneath

In mid-September

• Mostly brown seed heads, with a few late, smaller flower spikes at the shoot tips and on side shoots.
• Tall, leggy growth after summer.

Look-alikes

• Orange ball tree (Buddleja globosa):
• round orange ball flowers in early summer
• needs little pruning (RHS buddleja growing guide)
• Fountain buddleja (B. alternifolia):
• a weeping shrub with flowers along last year's stems in early summer
• pruned after flowering, not hard in spring (same source)
• Lilac (Syringa):
• also cone-shaped purple flower heads, but in spring
• smooth, heart-shaped leaves with no white felt underneath
• Seedling look-alikes in walls:
• elder: leaves split into leaflets
• sycamore: leaves lobed like a hand
• buddleja: single narrow leaves, white underneath

Do this month (mid-Sep to Oct)

• Deadhead the brown heads.
• The RHS says this tidies the plant and "may also promote a second flush of small flowers" (RHS buddleja growing guide).
• Cutting heads off before they shed also stops that seed spreading. A plant can make up to 3 million wind-carried seeds a year, travelling 100 m or more (GBNNSS buddleia; GBNNSS factsheet PDF; figures from search summaries).
• October: cut it back by half so winter winds don't rock it loose. Leave the main prune for spring (RHS October).
• Pull seedlings out of paving, gravel and the base of walls while they're small.

Pruning

• Group: flowers on the current year's growth, so it's hard-pruned in spring. The RHS pruning-group number wasn't checked (gap).
• When: early spring, late March to mid-April (RHS buddleja growing guide).
• How: prune hard "to a low framework of permanent stems" (same source). Gap: the RHS guide gives no exact cutting height.
• Autumn: cut back by half in October against wind-rock, then do the spring hard prune (RHS October).
• Classic mistakes:
• Pruning B. alternifolia hard in spring. It flowers on last year's wood, so prune it after flowering, in early to mid-summer (RHS buddleja growing guide).
• Hard-pruning B. globosa. It only needs overly long branches shortened in late winter (same source).
• Doing the hard prune in autumn. The RHS times it for late March to mid-April; October is just a half-cut.

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: see Do this month (RHS buddleja growing guide).
• Feeding: "On a fertile soil, no feeding is required" (same source).
• Watering: keep new plants "moist but not soggy" for 18 months after planting (same source). Gap: drought tolerance of established plants isn't given there.
• Soil: well-drained (same source).

Winter care

• October half-cut against wind-rock (RHS October).
• Nothing else is needed. Hard prune late March to mid-April (RHS buddleja growing guide).

Problems

• Self-seeding into walls, paving and buildings.
• The RHS notes it self-seeds into walls and paving (RHS buddleja).
• GBNNSS records it as a non-native species, common throughout GB and especially in southern England (GBNNSS buddleia; search summary).
• A London council's invasive-species page says it outcompetes native species and can damage property (Bromley Council; search summary).
• Aphids: "Since 2023 there have been reports of leaf damage caused by aphids" (RHS buddleja growing guide). Gap: no fix sourced.
• Other pests (mullein moth caterpillars, glasshouse red spider mite, capsid bug): Gap. Not sourced yet.
• Legal status:
• Buddleja davidii is not among the garden plants on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (Schedule 9).
• So there's no offence in growing it. Still, don't dump its seed heads where they could spread.
• Disposal:
• seed heads go in the green-waste bag, not a home compost heap
• woody prunings go to green waste or a shredder

Safety

• Pets:
• Buddleja isn't on Dogs Trust's list of poisonous garden plants (Dogs Trust).
• No ASPCA entry found yet. Gap.
• Skin: no warning found.
• Gloves and eyes: wear gloves and eye protection for the spring hard prune, which means a saw and loppers on thick stems.
• Height: don't climb onto roofs, chimneys or ladders against gutters to pull seedlings unless that is a job you are properly set up for..

PRO TIPS

1. Tell the homeowner the two-cut plan. "Half now in October so the wind can't rock it, then right down to a low framework at the end of March" (RHS October; RHS buddleja growing guide).

2. Deadheading is the fair compromise.

• It's great for butterflies (RHS buddleja), but each plant can throw out millions of seeds (GBNNSS).
• Taking the brown heads off keeps the flowers and cuts the spread.

3. Walk the building, not just the border.

• Seedlings in gutters, walls and chimney stacks are a natural hand-over to our exterior cleaning work, and roots can damage masonry (Bromley Council excerpt).
• Pull what you can reach safely from the ground.
• Note roof and chimney ones for a quote; don't climb.

4. Check which buddleja it is before a hard prune. Orange balls mean globosa; a weeping shape with flowers all along the stems means alternifolia. Neither gets the spring hard prune (RHS buddleja growing guide).

5. Near a paddock, railway bank or open land, bag the seed heads rather than leaving cut heads on the ground.

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="hebe"></a>

Name

• Common: hebe, shrubby veronica
• Botanical: Hebe spp., now reclassified as Veronica. Garden-centre labels may still say Hebe (RHS hebe guide).

Identify it

Key features

• Habit: a rounded, evergreen woody shrub. Sizes run from low domes to big shrubs (RHS).
• Leaves: in pairs opposite each other, stacked in four neat rows, so a shoot looks cross-shaped from above. Smooth edges, leathery. Green, blue-green, purple-tinted or variegated (RHS). "Whipcord" hebes have tiny scale leaves pressed to the stem and look like a small conifer.
• Flowers: bottlebrush spikes of small flowers in purple, pink or white (RHS), from the leaf joints near the shoot tips. Busy with bees.
• Stems: woody. Old plants go bare and brown at the base.
• Smell or sap: no strong smell, no milky sap.
• Height: knee-high to head-high, depending on the kind.
• When seen: all year (evergreen). Flowers over many months in summer (RHS), and later kinds carry on into autumn.

Mid-September

• Later kinds still in flower, often purple or mauve spikes.
• Earlier spikes brown and papery at the shoot tips.
• Old plants often leggy: a green top on bare brown stems, sometimes split open in the middle.

Look-alikes

• Box (Buxus): small, rounded leaves, often notched at the tip. No showy flower spikes. A sharp smell when cut. Hebe leaves are usually longer and pointed, with no smell.
• Japanese spindle (Euonymus japonicus): finely toothed leaf edges, not in four neat rows. Hebe edges are smooth.
• Lavender: narrow grey leaves that smell strongly when rubbed, with flowers held above the plant on long bare stalks. Hebe leaves don't smell, and its spikes come from among the leaves.
• Border veronica (speedwell): soft stems that die down in winter. Hebe is woody and keeps its leaves.
• Dwarf conifer vs whipcord hebe: crush a shoot. A conifer smells resinous; a hebe doesn't.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Deadhead brown spikes with secateurs. The RHS says deadheading encourages more flowers (RHS).
• Keep any clipping light, only into leafy growth (RHS). The RHS guide gives no month for clipping. leave bigger reshaping to spring, because soft regrowth from an autumn cut can be frosted.
• Take cuttings from non-flowering shoots. Hebes root easily from softwood or semi-ripe cuttings, come true to the parent and flower within two years (RHS). This is the insurance for an old, leggy plant.
• Pots: before winter, raise them on bricks or pot feet so the drainage holes don't block (RHS).
• Water only new plants and pots in dry spells (see Deadheading, feeding and watering).

Pruning

• Pruning group: none. (Pruning groups are a clematis system.)
• Routine: little needed. A hebe forms a neat, rounded shrub on its own; a light clip with shears keeps the shape (RHS).
• How hard: stay in the leafy part. Hebes "don't respond well to hard pruning" and often fail to re-sprout from woody stems (RHS).
• Classic mistakes:
• Cutting back into bare brown wood to "rejuvenate" it. It often doesn't regrow (RHS).
• Shearing a flowering hebe into a tight ball every visit, which cuts off the flower spikes. clip after a flush of flowers.
• Trying to rescue a very leggy old hebe. Replacing it with a plant grown from its own cuttings is usually better (RHS).

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: remove spent spikes to get more flowers (RHS).
• Feeding: border plants rarely need it. A general fertiliser in spring may help (RHS).
• Watering: the RHS guide (as summarised) gives weekly watering and regular summer watering for pots (RHS). Veronica is also on the RHS drought-resistant list (RHS drought list). In practice: water new plants and pots in dry spells, and leave established border plants alone. See warnings.

Winter care

• Site matters most. Needs full sun and free-draining soil. Won't last long in shade, damp or extreme cold, and fails in heavy clay or waterlogged soil (RHS). On East Suffolk clay, wet roots are the usual killer.
• Hardiest kinds: green, purple and silvery-leaved. Some variegated kinds aren't fully hardy and get winter damage (RHS).
• Pots: move to shelter and keep off winter rain, for example in a cold frame or greenhouse. Raise on feet: damp compost makes root rot more likely (RHS).
• Frost-browned tips: leave them until new growth shows in spring, then cut back to green.

Problems

• Root rot: in wet soil or soggy pots (RHS). Fix: better drainage and less water. Replant on a raised or gritty spot.
• Downy mildew and leaf spots: blotched, discoloured leaves. The RHS guide names both (RHS), but its fixes weren't in the page summary. cut out badly affected shoots, bag them, and thin the plant to let air in.
• Winter damage: mainly on variegated kinds (RHS).
• Aphids: occasional; treatment isn't usually necessary (RHS).
• Xylella: hebe is a high-risk host for the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, a serious plant disease (RHS). suggest new plants come from a reputable UK nursery.

Safety

• Pets: Cats Protection's cat-safe plants guide lists hebe as safe for cats. This comes from a search summary; the guide itself cats.org.uk/media/gb1jkhcr/cats_protection-safe-plants-guide.pdf)). Hebe isn't on the Dogs Trust list of plants poisonous to dogs (Dogs Trust). Not being on a list doesn't prove it's safe.
• Skin: no irritant sap named in the sources read.
• Gloves: normal gardening gloves.

PRO TIPS

1. Look for green before you cut. If there are no leaves below the cut, don't make it: bare wood rarely reshoots (RHS).

2. Blame the soil, not the owner. A hebe dying back from the base on wet clay has a drainage problem (RHS). Suggest a replacement in a sunny, raised, gritty spot.

3. Tell the homeowner: "Old hebes get leggy and don't take a hard cut. We can root cuttings from this one now, so you'll have the same plant ready to replace it." (RHS)

4. Bees use hebe heavily. In a study of urban gardens in Plymouth, Hebe × franciscana got 18% of all bumblebee visits, second only to a campanula (research paper). Deadhead the brown spikes rather than shearing off spikes still in flower.

5. Search both names when ordering. Labels say Hebe; newer lists say Veronica (RHS).

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="clematis"></a>

Name

• Common: clematis
• Botanical: Clematis species and hybrids. The RHS calls it the "Queen of Climbers" (RHS clematis).

Identify it

Key features

• Habit: mostly climbers on walls, fences and obelisks, or scrambling through shrubs. A few are non-climbing herbaceous kinds (RHS clematis guide).
• Leaves: in opposite pairs, usually divided into three or more leaflets. It climbs by wrapping its leaf stalks around wires and twigs: no tendrils, no sticky pads.
• Stems: thin, ribbed and brittle when young. Old stems are brown and stringy, with peeling bark.
• Flowers: a huge range. Big flat saucers on the large-flowered hybrids, small nodding bells, open stars, yellow lanterns.
• Seed heads: silky, fluffy or spidery swirls after flowering. A giveaway in autumn.
• Smell or sap: nothing notable (a few kinds are scented).
• Height: about 1 m for some herbaceous kinds, to many metres for vigorous climbers.
• When seen: depends on the kind. Some flower in winter and spring, some in early summer (May-June), some from late June into autumn (RHS).

Mid-September

• Group 3 kinds (flowering since late June) are still in flower or covered in silky seed heads.
• Group 2 large-flowered kinds may show a smaller second flush on new growth (RHS).
• Group 1 kinds (winter and spring flowering) are just a green tangle.
• Brown, crispy lower leaves are common after a dry summer. A white powdery coating is powdery mildew (see Problems).

Look-alikes

• Old man's beard, or traveller's joy (Clematis vitalba): the wild clematis of chalky hedgerows. Small creamy-green flowers in late summer, then masses of fluffy grey-white seed heads that last into winter. It can swamp a hedge.
• Honeysuckle: also has opposite leaves, but they're whole, not divided, and the stems twine themselves around the support.
• Bindweed: arrow-shaped leaves set one at a time along the stem, white or pink trumpet flowers, and brittle white roots. Dies back each winter. A weed: see the bindweed card.
• Passion flower: climbs with coiled tendrils and has unmistakable flowers.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Work out the pruning group while you can see when it flowers. Flowering now is Group 3, unless it also flowered in May or early June; then it's a Group 2 on its second flush (light prune only). Ask the homeowner. If nobody knows, write "group unknown: no hard prune" and check again next May-June (RHS). Write it in the customer's garden notes.
• Don't prune Group 1 or 2 now. Group 1 flowers on shoots made the previous summer, and Group 2 on short shoots from last year's growth (RHS). The stems you'd cut now carry next year's flowers.
• Leave Group 3 too. Its hard cut is in February (RHS).
• Tie in loose stems. Cut away only what blocks paths, windows or gutters.
• Planting: spring and early to mid-autumn are the best times. Plant large-flowered hybrids with the top of the rootball 5-7.5 cm below the soil surface, and other kinds just below (RHS).
• Water new plants in dry weather for their first few seasons, and pots most days until October (RHS).

Pruning

The RHS simple rule: flowers before June, don't prune. Flowers from late June onwards, prune in late winter (February) (RHS).

• Group 1: flowers in winter and spring on shoots made the previous summer. Don't prune (RHS).
• Example: C. montana (RHS group one, search summary).
• No regular pruning apart from removing faded flowers. If a vigorous one like C. montana outgrows its space, shear it over straight after flowering, in mid- to late spring (RHS group one, search summary).
• Group 2: large-flowered kinds that flower in May and June on short shoots from last year's growth, with a later flush on new growth. Light pruning only (RHS).
• When and how: in late winter or early spring (February), before growth begins, remove dead or weak stems (RHS group two, search summary).
• Some flower again in late summer on new growth (RHS group two).
• Keep it light.
• Group 3: flowers from late June on this year's growth, plus the herbaceous kinds. Prune hard in late winter (February) (RHS).
• How hard: cut all the old stems back to the lowest pair of healthy buds, 15-30 cm above soil level, in February or March (RHS group three, search summary).
• Example: C. viticella (RHS group three).
• Newly planted clematis, any group: cut back to just above a strong pair of buds about 30 cm above soil level (RHS pruning guide, search summary). The excerpt didn't give the timing.
• Sources differ slightly:
• Group 1: the growing guide says "do not prune"; the group one page allows shearing vigorous kinds after flowering.
• Group 3 timing: the growing guide says February; the group three page says February or March (RHS guide; RHS group one; RHS group three).

Classic mistakes

• Hard-pruning a Group 1 or 2 in winter cuts off next year's flowering stems (RHS).
• Never pruning a Group 3. It becomes "a mass of tangled stems with bare bases and flowers well above eye level" (RHS).
• Tearing a tangle off its wires. Stems snap, and you lose more than you meant to. Cut first, then unwind.
• Digging up a "dead" large-flowered clematis after wilt. Planted deep, it can reshoot from below the soil (RHS).

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading:
• Group 1: removing faded flowers is the only regular pruning needed (RHS group one, search summary).
• Other groups: not covered in the RHS growing guide. snip faded flowers on large-flowered kinds for neatness, and leave seed heads on kinds grown for them.
• Feeding: clematis in fertile soil don't need regular feeding (RHS).
• Mulch: a 5-7.5 cm layer of organic matter around the base each spring is "very beneficial" (RHS). Keep it off the stems.
• Watering: new plants in dry spells for their first few seasons; pots most days from April to October (RHS).

Winter care

• No special protection. The RHS guide gives none for established plants. It does say not to plant into waterlogged or frozen soil (RHS).
• Leave the Group 3 hard prune until February (RHS).
• Dead-looking stems in December are normal on kinds that lose their leaves. scratch the bark; green underneath means alive.

Problems

• Clematis wilt: a fungal disease. Stems of large-flowered hybrids suddenly wilt and blacken. Deep planting helps the plant recover (RHS). cut collapsed stems back to healthy growth, even to ground level, then wait for new shoots.
• Wilting on other kinds: more likely drought stress than wilt (RHS). Water deeply at the base.
• Powdery mildew: a white powdery coating on water-stressed plants (RHS). Fix: water properly.
• Slugs, snails, earwigs, aphids and capsid bugs: all listed as damaging clematis (RHS). The fixes weren't in the page summary. protect new spring shoots from slugs.
• Slime flux: pruned stems fail to reshoot and ooze a slimy substance (RHS).
• Green petal: green flowers early in the season (RHS).

Safety

• Pets: Dogs Trust lists clematis among plants poisonous to dogs (Dogs Trust).
• Skin: the RHS growing guide gives no skin or toxicity warning (RHS).
• Gloves: wear them to clear tangles; old stems are rough and dead leaves are dusty.

PRO TIPS

1. Flowering in September? Ask if it also flowered in May or early June. No: Group 3, hard prune in February. Yes: Group 2 on its second flush, light prune only (RHS). Don't know: no hard prune until you've seen when it flowers.

2. Tell the homeowner: "Please don't let anyone give this a winter chop until we know its group. The wrong cut costs a year of flowers." (RHS)

3. Record the group on a plant tag or in the customer notes, so nobody has to guess next February.

4. A sudden collapse isn't the end. Wait before digging it up: large-flowered kinds planted deep often come back from below ground (RHS).

5. In a dry September, crispy lower leaves usually mean thirst, not disease (RHS). A slow, deep soak at the base beats a sprinkle.

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="honeysuckle"></a>

Name

• Common: honeysuckle, common honeysuckle, woodbine (RHS plant details).
• Botanical: Lonicera periclymenum. Native to Britain and Ireland (RHS).
• Garden forms: 'Graham Thomas', 'Serotina' and 'Late Red' are all on the RHS list for clay soils (RHS clay soils).
• How common: in 104 of 267 gardens in the Loram survey (Loram et al. 2008).

Identify it

Key features

• Habit: a vigorous woody climber that twines its stems around supports (RHS climbing honeysuckle guide). Loses its leaves in winter (RHS).
• Leaves: in opposite pairs, oval and whole: no lobes, not divided into leaflets.
• Flowers: clusters of long, tubular flowers at the shoot tips (RHS guide). White to creamy white, flushed reddish-purple outside, in mid and late summer (RHS). Very fragrant (RHS search summary).
• Berries: glossy red, after the flowers (RHS).
• Stems: thin and twining when young. Old stems are woody and stringy, with peeling bark, and old plants go bare at the base.
• Smell or sap: strongly scented flowers; no milky sap.
• Height: 4-8 m tall, spreading 2.5-4 m (RHS).
• Where: almost anywhere: chalk, clay, loam or sand; sun or part shade; exposed or sheltered (RHS). Happiest in dappled shade (RHS guide).

Mid-September

• Berries: glossy red clusters where the flowers have finished (RHS).
• Flowers: late forms may still have a few.
• Leaves: often a white powdery coating after a hot, dry summer. That's powdery mildew (see Problems; RHS guide).
• Growth: long, whippy new shoots waving off the support. Older plants: a tangle on top, bare stems at the bottom.

Look-alikes

• Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica): often keeps its leaves in winter. Flowers in pairs from the leaf joints along the stem, not in clusters at the tips. Black berries.
• Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa): an upright shrub, not a climber. Hollow green stems, dangling purple bracts, dark berries.
• Box-leaved honeysuckle (Lonicera nitida): a hedging shrub with tiny glossy leaves. Doesn't climb.
• Clematis: leaves usually divided into leaflets, and it climbs with its leaf stalks (see the clematis card).
• Bindweed: arrow-shaped leaves set one at a time along the stem, and single white trumpet flowers. A weed: see the bindweed card.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Prune if it has finished flowering. Early-flowering honeysuckles, such as L. periclymenum, flower on last year's side shoots. Cut the flowered shoots back by about a third in late summer, straight after flowering (RHS guide; RHS search summary).
• Leave some berries. The RHS suggests leaving browning flower heads so berries form, for interest and as food for birds (RHS guide). cut back a third of the flowered shoots and keep berried shoots where you can.
• Check for nests first.
• Some birds still nest in September (RSPB).
• A nest in use or being built is protected (WCA 1981 s1).
• In wildlife gardens, the RHS suggests keeping honeysuckle a little unkempt for nesting birds (RHS guide).
• Mulch around the base with garden compost. It holds moisture and helps prevent powdery mildew (RHS guide).
• Planting: plant deciduous honeysuckles like this one in winter, and evergreen kinds in spring or autumn (RHS guide).

Pruning

• Pruning group: no numbered group. The RHS splits climbing honeysuckles into early-flowering and late-flowering types (RHS guide).
• Early-flowering types, including L. periclymenum: after flowering in late summer, cut the flowered shoots back by a third (RHS guide).
• On posts and in tight spaces: cut side shoots back to short spurs of 2-3 buds from the main stems (RHS search summary; RHS).
• Every year: keep on top of it, so older plants don't become overgrown thickets (RHS search summary).
• Late-flowering types: prune in spring. Only a trim and tidy: a hard prune reduces flowering (RHS guide).
• Renovating an overgrown, bare-based plant: in late winter, cut all the stems back to 60 cm (RHS guide).
• Classic mistakes:
• A hard cut on a late-flowering type reduces flowering (RHS guide).
• Shearing the outside like a hedge every year. You get a thatch of dead stems underneath and bare legs.
• Taking off every flower head, so there are no berries for the birds (RHS guide).
• Renovating in summer or autumn. The RHS time is late winter (RHS guide).
• Cutting without checking for nests (RSPB; WCA 1981 s1).

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: don't. Leave the browning flower heads for berries (RHS guide).
• Feeding: once a year in spring, with a general fertiliser (RHS guide).
• Mulch: once a year, with organic matter, to improve the soil and hold moisture (RHS guide).
• Watering: regularly while it establishes (RHS guide). Dry roots bring mildew (see Problems).

Winter care

• Hardy: most climbing honeysuckles are hardy and need no winter protection (RHS guide). L. periclymenum is rated H6 on the RHS hardiness scale (RHS).
• Bare stems in winter are normal. It's deciduous (RHS).
• Late winter is when to renovate an overgrown plant (RHS guide).
• Supports: check the wires and trellis. The RHS advises a gap of at least 5 cm between support and wall, for airflow (RHS guide).

Problems

• Powdery mildew: a white powdery coating on leaves, worse in hot, dry weather. Prevent it by mulching the base with garden compost (RHS guide). water at the base in drought.
• Aphids: small groups are easily rubbed off and squashed (RHS guide). Honeysuckle aphids are listed as a pest (RHS).
• Other pests listed: thrips and glasshouse whitefly (RHS).
• Other diseases listed: fungal leaf spot and silver leaf (RHS).
• Overgrown thicket: renovate in late winter (see Pruning; RHS guide).

Sources disagree (slightly)

• The RHS says cut the flowered shoots of early-flowering honeysuckles back by a third straight after flowering. The same guide suggests leaving browning flower heads for berries and birds (RHS guide).
• cut a third, keep some berried shoots.

Safety

• Berries: "Fruit are ornamental - not to be eaten" (RHS).
• Gloves: wear gloves and other protective equipment when handling (RHS).
• Pets: the RHS gives pets the same warning: the berries are not to be eaten (RHS). Honeysuckle isn't on the Dogs Trust list of plants poisonous to dogs (Dogs Trust). Not being on a list doesn't prove it's safe.
• Watch out: ASPCA's "honeysuckle fuchsia" entry is a fuchsia, not this plant. Don't use it for honeysuckle.

PRO TIPS

1. Cut a third, not the lot. After flowering, cut the flowered shoots back by a third (RHS guide). It keeps flowering and doesn't turn into a thicket.

2. Look and listen before you cut. Dense honeysuckle is nest cover, and some birds nest into September (RSPB; RHS guide).

3. Tell the homeowner: "The red berries are for looking at and for the birds, not for eating, so keep children and pets off them. If it's a bare-legged tangle, we can cut it all back to 60 cm in late winter." (RHS; RHS guide)

4. White leaves in a dry September usually mean mildew from dry roots. Mulch with compost and water at the base (RHS guide).

5. Sorting out a tangled old fence line: twining stems with whole leaves are honeysuckle. Divided leaves with wrapping leaf stalks are clematis. Arrow-shaped leaves are bindweed, a weed.

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="ivy"></a>

Name

• Common: ivy, common ivy, English ivy
• Botanical: Hedera helix. A native plant, listed as native on the RHS clay-soils list (RHS clay soils).
• How common: the second most frequent ornamental in the one full survey of UK gardens found, in 164 of 267 gardens (Loram et al. 2008).

Identify it

Key features

• Habit: an evergreen woody climber that also carpets the ground. Climbs walls, fences and trees using aerial roots along the stems (RHS ivy on buildings).
• Leaves, two kinds on one plant:
• Creeping and climbing shoots: dark, glossy, with 3-5 pointed lobes, often with paler veins.
• Mature, bushy shoots at the top of a wall or tree: unlobed, oval to diamond-shaped, with no aerial roots. These are the shoots that flower.
• Flowers: round clusters of small, greenish-yellow, nectar-rich flowers in autumn, only on mature plants (RHS common ivy).
• Berries: green at first, black in winter (RHS).
• Stems: thin and green-brown when young. Old stems become hairy trunks as thick as an arm.
• Smell or sap: no milky sap, but the plant can irritate skin (see Safety).
• Height: to the top of whatever it climbs. On the ground it keeps spreading.
• When seen: all year.

Mid-September

• Flowering is starting on the mature bushy growth: globes of yellow-green flowers busy with wasps, flies and hoverflies. The ivy bee feeds mainly on ivy nectar in autumn (Wildlife Trusts, search summary; Wildlife Trusts ivy).
• Summer's long new shoots have crept into gutters and window frames, and under tiles and fence caps.

Look-alikes

• Irish ivy (Hedera hibernica): also native and very similar, usually with bigger leaves (RHS clay soils). Treat it the same.
• Persian ivy (Hedera colchica): much bigger, heart-shaped leaves, often barely lobed. Same care.
• Boston ivy and Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus): drop their leaves in winter after turning bright red in autumn. They cling with tendrils ending in sticky pads, not aerial roots. Virginia creeper's leaves are split into five leaflets.
• The law: Virginia creeper and false Virginia creeper are on Schedule 9, so it's an offence to plant them or cause them to grow in the wild (Schedule 9; RHS invasive plants).
• Poison ivy: leaves come in threes. Common ivy's leaves are single.
• Periwinkle (Vinca) as ground cover: small oval leaves in pairs, blue flowers, no lobes, no aerial roots.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Trim it away from gutters, windows, chimneys, roofs and delicate wall finishes, using secateurs or loppers (RHS ivy on buildings). Left alone, it can lift roof copings and slates and grow into gutters, chimneys and roof spaces (RHS).
• Check for nests first.
• The RSPB warns some birds still nest in September (RSPB).
• A nest in use or being built is protected by law (WCA 1981 s1).
• Ivy in hedges benefits nesting birds (RHS hedges for wildlife).
• Leave flowering ivy that isn't doing harm. It's an autumn nectar source when there's little other food for insects (RHS hedges for wildlife; RHS common ivy).
• Ground cover: cut and pull runners back from lawn edges, paths and borders.

Pruning

• Pruning group: none.
• When:
• Trim whenever it's heading for gutters, roofs or windows (RHS).
• For a big cut-back, the RHS hedge advice is to wait until late winter or early spring so wildlife gets the fruit, and never cut in the March-August nesting season (RHS hedges for wildlife).
• Sources differ on when nesting ends. The RHS hedge page says March to August (RHS hedges for wildlife). The RSPB advises cutting only from 1 September to 28 February, and warns some birds nest late into September (RSPB).
• That makes February the best month for a big trim.
• How: cut, don't rip. The aerial roots can't bore into sound masonry, and they usually only cause damage when they're pulled off by force (RHS).
• Taking it off a wall: removal can pull away paint and loose mortar, leaving repairs such as filling joints, re-rendering or repainting. Try a small test patch first (RHS).
• Classic mistakes:
• Ripping ivy off render, paint or soft old brick (RHS).
• Letting it reach the gutters and tiles (RHS).
• A big cut in nesting season (RHS hedges for wildlife; WCA 1981 s1).
• Stripping a wall without warning the owner first. Dense ivy can hide damp and defects in the building (RHS).

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: none. Leave the flowers and berries for wildlife (RHS common ivy).
• Feeding: none its vigour is the problem.
• Watering: only new plants and pots.

Winter care

• No protection needed: a tough evergreen.
• Berries: black berries ripen in winter and feed wildlife (RHS common ivy).
• February is the big-trim window, before nesting starts (RHS hedges for wildlife; RSPB).
• After storms, check old fences and walls carrying heavy ivy. Mature, branching ivy adds considerable weight to a structure (RHS).

Problems

• Buildings and gutters: lifted copings and slates, blocked gutters, growth into chimneys and roof spaces (RHS).
• Hidden defects: thick ivy hides damp and wall problems (RHS).
• Weight: mature ivy can overload weak fences and walls (RHS).
• Stopping it clinging: in RHS trials, copper and zinc sheet and dense copper mesh completely stopped ivy attaching (RHS research, search summary; RHS research paper).
• Pests and diseases: Rarely worth treating.
• Sources disagree on ivy and houses. The RHS lists the damage above, yet its research also found ivy-clad walls keep homes cool in summer (headline only; RHS ivy-clad walls). Damage is about maintenance, not ivy on sound walls as such (RHS).

Safety

• Eating: harmful if eaten (RHS common ivy).
• Skin: a skin irritant and allergen (RHS). long sleeves when cutting a lot.
• Pets: harmful to pets (RHS), and on the Dogs Trust list of plants poisonous to dogs (Dogs Trust).
• Gloves: always (RHS). add eye protection when cutting old ivy overhead, because dust, dead leaves and old nests fall.
• Height: ivy at gutters means ladder work. Working at a gutter means working off a ladder, and that is not a job to take on casually.

PRO TIPS

1. Ivy in the gutter is our job too. Photograph ivy at gutters, fascias or tiles and show the homeowner. Clearing it stops damage (RHS), and it's gutter work we already do.

2. Test patch before stripping any wall. Tell the owner up front that paint or loose mortar may come away and need repair (RHS).

3. Offer a February trim for ivy that's flowering now but doing no harm. They keep the autumn nectar and winter berries, and the work stays clear of nesting season (RHS hedges for wildlife).

4. To kill a big ivy on a wall or tree, cut through the stems at the base and let the top die before pulling anything off.

5. Gloves every time. Ivy is a skin irritant and allergen (RHS).

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="montbretia"></a>

Name

• Common: montbretia (the old orange garden one). Crocosmia for named hybrids such as 'Lucifer'.
• Botanical: Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora and hybrids.
• Legal: common montbretia, Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora, is on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Schedule 9).
• How common: the third most frequent ornamental in the Loram survey, in 128 of 267 gardens (Loram et al. 2008).

Identify it

Key features

• Leaves: sword-like or pleated, in flat fans from the base. Bright green; some kinds bronze-tinted (RHS crocosmia; RHS crocosmia guide).
• Flowers: rows of small trumpets opening in turn along the tips of arching stems (RHS guide). Orange on common montbretia; red, yellow or gold on hybrids (RHS).
• Height: 60 cm to 2 m, depending on the kind (RHS guide).
• Underground: corms, like small flat bulbs. New corms form every year, so clumps keep getting bigger (RHS guide). They often sit in chains, oldest at the bottom. GBNNSS says it mostly spreads by short underground stems that make new corms a little way from the parent (GBNNSS montbretia).
• Smell or sap: none of note.
• When seen: leaves from spring; flowers mid-summer to autumn (RHS guide); dead leaves over winter.

Mid-September

• The last orange trumpets at the stem tips, with rows of round seed pods, green turning brown, below them.
• Leaves still green but browning at the tips and flopping.
• Tight, crowded clumps that have crept into paths, lawn edges and neighbouring plants.

Look-alikes

• Yellow flag iris: GBNNSS notes montbretia clumps look like yellow iris (GBNNSS). Iris leaves are thicker and grey-green, its flowers are yellow in early summer, it likes wet ground, and it grows from thick rhizomes, not corm chains.
• Other crocosmias, such as 'Lucifer': usually taller, with broader pleated leaves and big red flowers. Only C. × crocosmiiflora is named on Schedule 9 (Schedule 9), but labels are muddled (see "Sources disagree" under Problems).
• Gladiolus: also sword leaves, but a stiff upright spike of big flowers and one large corm.
• Daylily (Hemerocallis): arching strap leaves, not flat fans. Big lily-like flowers, and thick fleshy roots instead of corms.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Leave the leaves until they die down. Cut spent foliage in late autumn, or in early spring before new shoots appear (RHS guide).
• Mulch with well-rotted compost or manure, in autumn or spring (RHS guide).
• Snip off seed-pod stems if the owner wants it tidy. It spreads mainly by corms (GBNNSS).
• Removing unwanted clumps: fork them out and sift the soil for every corm. Bag the corms. Never put them on the compost heap: they may survive composting (RHS guide).
• Planting: the two RHS guides give different times (see Problems). Either way, don't grow common montbretia near open countryside (RHS crocosmia).

Pruning

• Pruning group: none.
• Cut back: dead leaves to near ground level, in late autumn or early spring (RHS guide). wait until early spring, with a mulch over the corms in late autumn.
• Divide: every 3-5 years, dig up the dormant corms in early spring, split them and replant in smaller groups (RHS guide).
• Classic mistakes:
• Tipping spare corms or clumps over the hedge, onto a verge or into a field edge. That can cause it to grow in the wild, which is illegal (RHS guide; Schedule 9).
• Putting corms on the home compost heap (RHS guide).
• Cutting the leaves off while still green in late summer green leaves feed next year's corms.
• Leaving corms behind when clearing. New corms form every year (RHS guide), so each one left is a plant.

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: not covered in the RHS guide; optional tidying.
• Feeding: pots get a high-potassium liquid feed every two weeks in summer (RHS guide). Border clumps: mulch only.
• Watering: new plantings regularly; established clumps only if the soil dries out (RHS guide).

Winter care

• Hardy: most crocosmias sold in the UK are hardy (RHS guide).
• Cold spots: a thick layer of garden compost over the soil in late autumn insulates the corms (RHS guide).

Problems

• Spreading too well: common montbretia "can spread rather too readily" (RHS guide). It has escaped into the wild, where it can crowd out more delicate native plants (RHS crocosmia).
• Red spider mite: a sap-sucking pest. Occasional, worst in hot, dry conditions (RHS guide). The fix wasn't in the page summary. look for fine pale mottling and webbing under the leaves; water in drought.
• Poor flowering: dry soil, too little sun, or overcrowding (RHS guide). Fix: divide in early spring.

Legal and disposal

• The law: it's an offence to plant, or cause to grow in the wild, any plant on Schedule 9 (RHS invasive plants; Schedule 9). Growing it in a garden isn't the offence; the RHS wording is about the wild (RHS guide).
• Not controlled waste like knotweed. The RHS keeps its "not in home compost, council green waste or household bin" rule for Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed and Himalayan balsam. Other invasive plants can go as normal green waste (RHS invasive plants).
• So: bag the corms for council green waste. They must not go on the customer's compost heap (RHS guide), or onto a verge or into a wood, where GBNNSS says dumped garden refuse is how it escapes (GBNNSS).
• The householder's duty: they must take reasonable steps to hand waste only to an authorised person, such as a registered carrier (EPA 1990 s34).

Sources disagree

• How much harm it does:
• The RHS says it has escaped and can crowd out natives (RHS crocosmia).
• GBNNSS says its impact on vegetation is low: it persists but spreads only slowly, if at all (GBNNSS).
• Both agree it shouldn't be dumped.
• Which plants the law means: the 2010 explanatory memorandum to the Schedule 9 changes records RHS advice that the naming is unclear, and that non-invasive cultivars are also labelled C. × crocosmiiflora (search summary, not opened; explanatory memorandum). Treat any orange, freely spreading montbretia as the Schedule 9 plant.
• Planting time: the RHS crocosmia guide says plant corms in spring (RHS guide). The RHS bulb-planting guide lists crocosmia with the hardy summer bulbs for September and October (RHS bulb planting).

Safety

• Pets:
• Crocosmia isn't on the Dogs Trust list of plants poisonous to dogs (Dogs Trust). Not being on a list doesn't prove it's safe.
• ASPCA's crocosmia page A search summary mentioned caution for cats, but its source wasn't clear.
• don't let pets chew the corms or leaves.
• People and animals: GBNNSS knows of no harmful effects to humans or animals (GBNNSS).
• Gloves: normal gloves for digging.

PRO TIPS

1. Never dump it at the field edge. A rural garden's back hedge borders the wild, and spare corms thrown there can break the law (RHS guide; Schedule 9).

2. Tell the homeowner: "You can keep it; it's only illegal to let it get into the wild. If you'd like less, we'll thin the clumps in early spring and take the corms away. They can't go on your compost heap because they survive it." (RHS guide)

3. Sift, don't just dig. Every corm left behind comes back (RHS guide). A fork and a bucket beat a spade.

4. Few flowers in a dry year means dry soil or crowding, not a dying plant (RHS guide).

5. A big red 'Lucifer' is a different named crocosmia. The Schedule 9 plant is common orange montbretia (Schedule 9). If in doubt, dispose of it as montbretia.

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="aquilegia"></a>

Name

• Common: aquilegia, columbine, granny's bonnet
• Botanical: Aquilegia vulgaris and its many garden hybrids

Identify it

Key features

• Leaves: rosettes of pale green or grey-tinged, scalloped leaves (RHS aquilegia).
• Each leaf splits into three, then three again.
• The leaflets are rounded and lobed, on long thin stalks.
• Flowers: nodding, bonnet-shaped flowers, often with spurs sticking out behind.
• Colours: reds, yellows, pinks, blues and whites.
• Forms: from very double and rounded to long-spurred (RHS).
• Stems: thin, branching flower stalks up to 60 cm (RHS).
• Seed: upright clusters of papery pods that split at the top and tip out shiny black seeds.
• Smell or sap: nothing notable.
• When seen: flowers in late spring and early summer (RHS); leaves from spring into autumn.

Mid-September

• No flowers.
• A low mound of grey-green leaves, often tired, yellowing, or dusted white with powdery mildew. Dry summers bring mildew on (RHS).
• Brown, dry seed stalks, if nobody cut them.
• Seedlings nearby: small, with the same rounded leaflets in threes. Aquilegias self-seed readily (RHS). Don't weed them out by mistake.

Look-alikes

• Meadow rue (Thalictrum): almost identical leaves.
• Tell apart: meadow rue is usually taller, often 1 m or more, with fluffy puffs of flowers and no spurs.
• Creeping buttercup (weed): leaves also in threes.
• Tell apart: buttercup leaves are darker green, often pale-marked and hairy. It spreads by rooting runners (RHS creeping buttercup). Aquilegia never runs.
• Hairy bittercress seedlings (weed): flat rosettes of small, round leaflets (RHS bittercress).
• Tell apart: aquilegia seedlings are grey-green, with lobed leaflets in threes on thin upright stalks.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Tidy, don't clear. Cut off tatty or mildewed leaves. Leave healthy clumps: the RHS advises leaving most herbaceous cutting back until February or March, for wildlife (RHS cutting back; RHS October flowers).
• Mildewed leaves go to council green waste, not the compost heap (RHS cutting back).
• Seedheads: ask first. Leave some if the homeowner wants more plants. Cut and bag them if not.
• Check for downy mildew (see Problems). If you find it, remove the whole plant.
• Weed by hand round the clump, and keep the seedlings the homeowner wants.

Pruning

• Pruning group: none. It's a herbaceous perennial, not a shrub or climber.
• After flowering (June to July): cut flower stalks to the base if seed isn't wanted. Deadheading stops plants setting seed (RHS deadheading).
• Powdery mildew fix: cut off all the leaves and water. Fresh, clean leaves grow back (RHS).
• Classic mistakes:
• Hoeing out seedlings and young plants.
• Letting every plant seed. Aquilegias hybridise freely, so the seedlings are unlikely to look identical to their parents (RHS aquilegia).
• Cutting mildewed leaves off in a drought and not watering. Watering is part of the RHS fix.
• Composting plants with downy mildew.

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: optional. Do it to stop seeding; skip it to get seedlings (RHS).
• Feeding: the RHS guide read for this card gives no feeding advice.
• Watering:
• It likes soil that doesn't dry out in summer (RHS).
• Water seedlings and newly moved plants in dry spells, within any hosepipe-ban terms.
• On dry, sandy soil, expect more mildew.

Winter care

• Nothing to protect. Aquilegia vulgaris is rated H7, hardy in the severest European continental climates (RHS Aquilegia vulgaris). It's listed as deciduous, but it doesn't disappear altogether: trim the old leaves off as they start to yellow in autumn and leave the tight rosette of newer foliage in the centre (RHS aquilegia).
• If the homeowner is happy, leave healthy clumps standing for wildlife (RHS October flowers).

Problems

• Powdery mildew:
• Signs: a white, dusty coat on the leaves, worst after dry spells.
• Fix: cut off all the leaves and water. Fresh leaves follow (RHS).
• Aquilegia downy mildew (the serious one):
• Signs: leaves yellow first, and the flower stalk gets purple blotches. Angular yellow or purple patches on the leaves spread until the whole leaf curls and browns. In damp weather the plant wilts and dies (RHS aquilegia downy mildew).
• Fix: the RHS gives no cure. Remove infected plants promptly and dispose of them carefully (RHS).
• Afterwards: grow no aquilegias in that spot for at least a year. For pots, replace the compost and wash the pot with garden disinfectant (RHS).
• Disposal: bag it and never home-compost it.
• Aquilegia sawfly:
• The RHS names it as a pest on aquilegia plant pages (search summary; RHS Aquilegia vulgaris).
• Its pale green, caterpillar-like larvae, with yellowish brown heads and up to 1 cm long, feed on the edge of the leaves while lying with most of the body beneath the leaf blade. Watch from early May; a second generation can cause more defoliation later on, and the RHS gives the timing as May to September (RHS aquilegia sawfly).
• Seedlings everywhere: not a disease. Deadhead next June.

Safety

• Sources disagree:
• An unattributed search summary said aquilegia seeds and roots contain heart toxins and cause severe stomach upset. It named no trusted source.
• Aquilegia isn't among the genera named on the RHS potentially harmful plants page (RHS harmful plants).
• It isn't on the Dogs Trust poisonous plants list (Dogs Trust).
• The toxicity line on the RHS plant page (RHS Aquilegia vulgaris)
• Wear gloves to collect seed and wash your hands after.
• Keep seedheads away from pets and children to check.
• Skin: no irritant warning found.

PRO TIPS

1. Learn the leaf. Rounded grey-green leaflets in threes. Once you know it, you won't hoe out next year's flowers.

2. Ask before deadheading. Many cottage gardeners want the seedlings. Offer: "Keep a few seedheads, or shall we bag them all?"

3. The mildew makeover. A plant white with mildew can be cut to the ground and watered, and it comes back fresh (RHS). Tell the homeowner it isn't dying.

4. Downy mildew is different. Purple-blotched stalks and angular yellow patches mean the plant comes out and gets bagged. Tell the homeowner not to replant aquilegias there for a year (RHS).

5. What to say: "Granny's bonnets seed about. We'll keep the ones you want and move any that are in the way."

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="foxglove"></a>

Name

• Common: foxglove, common foxglove
• Botanical: Digitalis purpurea
• Type: foxgloves are biennials and short-lived perennials (RHS cottage garden plants).

Identify it

Key features

• Year 1: a rosette of oval, downy leaves (RHS foxglove, search summary).
• The leaves are soft and grey-green, wrinkled with a net of veins, and finely toothed.
• They're paler and hairy underneath, and narrow into a winged stalk.
• Year 2: the next spring, a single spire grows from the centre (RHS).
• Flowers: tubular, hanging mostly to one side of the stem.
• Colours: purples, pinks, primrose yellow, cream or white (RHS).
• Inside the lip: dark spots on a paler patch.
• In flower: early to mid-summer (RHS cottage garden plants).
• Height in flower: often 1-1.5 m, sometimes taller.
• Seed: stems of rounded, pointed capsules that turn brown and shed dust-fine seed.
• Smell or sap: nothing notable. The danger is the poison, not the smell.

Mid-September

• Old plants: brown or yellowing spikes full of seed capsules, often leaning. Most biennials die after seeding.
• New rosettes and seedlings: this is how you meet foxglove now.
• Look for clusters of small, hairy, grey-green rosettes near last year's plants.
• They're next summer's flowers.
• Some plants throw small, late side spikes.

Look-alikes (the rosette)

• Comfrey: tell apart by touch. Comfrey leaves are rough and bristly, like sandpaper, and bigger. Foxglove feels like velvet.
• Green alkanet (weed): also rough.
• It's a "hairy-leaved perennial" with bright blue flower clusters (RHS identify common weeds).
• It has a deep taproot.
• Primrose: tell apart by colour and hair. Primrose leaves are crinkly but brighter green and much less hairy. It flowers in spring.
• Great mullein (Verbascum): tell apart by thickness. Mullein leaves are thick and felted grey-white, like flannel. It has yellow flower spikes.
• Why it matters: all foxgloves are highly toxic (RHS). Never pick "comfrey" leaves from a bed with foxgloves in it.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Pull out spent biennials once the seed has dropped, or sooner if the homeowner doesn't want seedlings. The RHS says let biennials self-seed or replace them after flowering (RHS). Gloves on.
• Keep the rosettes where they're wanted, and thin crowded clusters - pull the spares out or pot them up rather than replanting them now. The RHS spaces young plants 30-35 cm (12-14 in) apart, because if they don't have room to spread out their rosette of leaves they will often wait as small rosettes until their neighbours have flowered and died (RHS foxglove).
• Don't move small rosettes now. The RHS says autumn planting is not recommended for small young plants. Pot them up instead, keep them in a sheltered spot over winter out of reach of slugs, and plant them into borders in spring, spaced 30-35 cm (12-14 in) apart (RHS foxglove).
• Collect seed if asked, in gloves (RHS).
• Seedheads the homeowner doesn't want: bag them before they shed on paths and gravel.

Pruning

• Pruning group: none. It's a biennial or short-lived perennial.
• After flowering:
• Leave some spikes to self-seed (RHS).
• Or cut the main spike off as it fades if seed isn't wanted. On the perennial strawberry foxglove the RHS says to cut back the main flower spike as it fades, unless seedlings are wanted, to encourage the growth of flowering side shoots (RHS Digitalis x fulva). For the common foxglove its own guidance is to deadhead as soon as the flowers have finished, taking the whole flower stem out at the base (RHS foxglove).
• Perennial foxgloves: cut the spent flower spike back and leave the leafy base alone (RHS Digitalis x fulva). They flower above rosettes of glossy or downy leaves (RHS perennial foxgloves).
• Classic mistakes:
• Weeding out first-year rosettes, so there are no flowers next year.
• Cutting every spike before it seeds, in a garden that relies on self-seeders.
• Handling plants or seed bare-handed (RHS).
• Expecting named cultivars to self-seed. Some set few viable seeds (RHS).

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: see pruning. Leave a few heads for the next generation.
• Feeding: the RHS asks for soil rich in organic matter, not a feed (RHS; RHS biennial foxgloves, search summaries).
• Watering and site:
• Foxgloves are woodland plants, happiest in dappled to deep shade (RHS).
• Biennials take most soils but prefer them well-drained, with plenty of organic matter (RHS biennial foxgloves).
• Water young rosettes in long dry spells. That "long dry spells in summer" advice is the RHS's for established plants in soil rich in organic matter; anything newly planted needs watering regularly for at least the first few months, until its roots have spread out into the soil (RHS foxglove).

Winter care

• First-year rosettes sit through winter and flower the following year (RHS).
• Don't bury them under fallen leaves or mulch to check.
• On heavy, wet clay, losses are likely. The RHS asks for well-drained soil (RHS biennial foxgloves).

Problems

• Plant dies after flowering: normal for a biennial (RHS).
• No flowers this year: it's a first-year rosette, and flowers come next year (RHS).
• No seedlings: some cultivars and hybrids set few viable seeds (RHS).
• Pests and diseases: slugs and snails on seedlings, aphids, leaf and bud eelworm, powdery and downy mildew, and leaf spot (RHS foxglove; RHS Digitalis purpurea). The RHS doesn't name crown rot at all; what it does say is that foxgloves like free-draining soil with plenty of added organic matter.

Safety

• People: "All foxgloves are highly toxic." Always wear gloves to handle plants and seeds (RHS foxglove).
• Digitalis is on the RHS potentially harmful plants list (RHS harmful plants).
• Dogs: foxgloves are on the Dogs Trust poisonous garden plants list (Dogs Trust).
• Pets generally: the ASPCA lists foxglove as toxic and says it can cause significant changes to heart rhythm (ASPCA foxglove; search result, page not opened).
• Gloves: always, for plants and seeds alike (RHS foxglove), and keep your skin covered (RHS harmful plants). Washing your hands afterwards and keeping them off your eyes and mouth mid-job is sensible practice rather than published RHS advice.
• Waste: bag it. "Do not leave prunings or uprooted plants in reach of farm animals or pets" (RHS harmful plants).
• If swallowed:
• A person: go straight to A&E, or call 999. Don't wait for symptoms. The RHS says to "seek medical advice immediately from a hospital Accident & Emergency department" (RHS harmful plants), and the NHS says call 999 or go to A&E if you think someone has swallowed something harmful (NHS poisoning). NHS 111 is only for when you're not sure whether what was swallowed is harmful — with foxglove you already know it is.
• A pet: vet at once. The RHS says to "seek veterinary advice if you think an animal has eaten a poisonous plant" (RHS harmful plants).

PRO TIPS

1. Gloves on before you touch it. Every time, including seed collecting (RHS).

2. September is rosette season. The soft, grey-green rosettes are next summer's flowers. Know them before you weed.

3. Tell the homeowner it's a two-year plant: "The tall ones have finished and will die off. The little rosettes are next summer's show."

4. Ask about dogs and grandchildren. If either visit, suggest keeping foxgloves at the back of the border, away from paths to check.

5. Soft or rough? Foxglove feels like velvet; comfrey and alkanet feel like sandpaper.

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="ladys-mantle"></a>

Name

• Common: lady's mantle
• Botanical: Alchemilla mollis

Identify it

Key features

• Leaves: rounded, scalloped or shallowly lobed, pleated and velvety (RHS alchemilla).
• They're water-resistant (RHS), so after rain or dew the water sits on them in silver beads. That's the giveaway.
• Flowers: frothy sprays of tiny lime-green flowers in summer (RHS).
• Habit: compact mounds or mats of leaves (RHS). The flower stems flop outwards.
• Height: a low mound, usually well under knee height.
• Smell or sap: none.
• When seen: it dies back in autumn and regrows in spring (RHS).

Mid-September

• If cut back in late July: a neat mound of fresh, velvety leaves (RHS).
• If not:
• browning, flattened, tatty leaves and brown flower stems
• seedlings round the plant and in paving cracks. It can "self-seed more than is polite" (RHS) and turns up on hard surfaces (RHS hard surfaces).

Look-alikes

• Hardy geranium:
• Tell apart by the leaf: geranium leaves are cut much deeper into fingers, and aren't velvety.
• By the flower: geraniums have saucer-shaped flowers in white, pink, blue or purple (RHS hardy geraniums).
• Common mallow (weed): similar round, lobed, crinkly leaves.
• Tell apart: mallow has pink-purple flowers with dark stripes, and a long taproot.
• Dwarf lady's mantle (Alchemilla erythropoda): a smaller relative (RHS). Treat it the same.
• Seedlings: tiny, round, pleated, hairy leaves. Easy to spot once you know them.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Tatty plants: cut off faded leaves and old flower stems for tidiness, or leave them as winter shelter. The RHS allows either (RHS).
• Pull seedlings out of paving and gravel while they're small, or run the blade of a weeding knife along the cracks to sever the roots (RHS weeds on hard surfaces). Better still, stop them turning up: alchemillas self-seed readily, so deadhead the faded flowers before they set seed, or cut the whole plant down to the base after flowering (RHS alchemilla). Seedlings you do want can be dug up and moved in spring.
• Divide big clumps now or in early spring (RHS).
• Path edges: ask before clearing. The RHS suggests lady's mantle to soften path edges in a cottage garden (RHS cottage garden plants, search summary).

Pruning

• Pruning group: none. It's a herbaceous perennial.
• After flowering (late July): cut the whole plant down to the base, then water well (RHS; search summary from RHS alchemilla).
• It grows fresh, velvety leaves (RHS).
• It may give a second flush of flowers (RHS search summary, RHS alchemilla).
• Deadhead before the seed sets to stop self-seeding (RHS).
• Classic mistakes:
• Leaving the flower heads to seed, then spending hours weeding seedlings out of paving.
• Cutting back in a dry spell without watering well afterwards (RHS).
• Surprising the homeowner. Cutting to the base leaves a gap in the border for a while (RHS). Warn them first.

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: take off faded flowers before they set seed (RHS).
• Feeding: none needed (RHS).
• Watering (RHS):
• new plants: regularly
• established plants: only in dry spells
• Mulch: in spring (RHS).
• Soil and site:
• Sun or part shade, and most soils including clay (RHS).
• Avoid waterlogged or very dry sites (RHS).
• Alchemilla is on the RHS clay-soils list (RHS clay soils).

Winter care

• It dies back in autumn and regrows in spring (RHS).
• Faded foliage: remove it for tidiness or leave it for winter shelter (RHS).
• Protection: none needed. Alchemilla mollis is rated H7, hardy in the severest European continental climates, below -20C (RHS Alchemilla mollis). The RHS growing guide calls it easy to grow, hardy and low maintenance (RHS alchemilla).

Problems

• Pests and diseases: the RHS lists none, and says it's "untroubled by slugs and snails" (RHS).
• Self-seeding: the main problem (RHS). Fix it by deadheading or cutting back after flowering.
• Flopped, tatty mound by late summer: the fix is the late-July cut to the base (RHS).
• Struggling in a very dry spot: the RHS says avoid very dry sites (RHS). On dry sand, water in droughts.

Safety

• No warning found:
• Alchemilla isn't among the genera named on the RHS potentially harmful plants page (RHS harmful plants).
• It isn't on the Dogs Trust list (Dogs Trust).
• Gloves: ordinary gardening gloves.

PRO TIPS

1. Book the late-July chop into the summer visit. Cut to the base, water well, and it's fresh again within weeks (RHS).

2. Deadhead to save weeding. Ten minutes on the flower heads in summer saves an hour in the paving later.

3. Look for the water beads. On a damp morning they tell you it's lady's mantle from across the garden.

4. What to say before cutting: "It'll look bare for a few weeks, then come back fresh and green."

5. Ask before clearing seedlings from path edges. Some cottage gardeners want that soft edge (RHS cottage garden plants).

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="hardy-geranium"></a>

Name

• Common: hardy geranium, cranesbill
• Botanical: Geranium endressii (French cranesbill) and other hardy Geranium. Common ones:
• G. × oxonianum, a cross of G. endressii
• G. ibericum and G. × magnificum
• G. macrorrhizum
• Not the pot "geranium": that's Pelargonium, a different plant that won't survive frost (RHS hardy geraniums; RHS pelargonium).

Identify it

Key features

• Leaves: most make mounds of soft, mid-green leaves (RHS). Each leaf is hand-shaped, cut into 5-7 toothed lobes.
• Flowers: saucer-shaped, with five petals, in white, pink, blue or purple, on thin stems (RHS).
• Seed pods: a long pointed beak, like a crane's bill, which gives the plant its name.
• Height: 10 cm to 1 m, depending on type (RHS).
• Smell: most have little smell. G. macrorrhizum has sticky, strongly aromatic leaves.
• When seen: most flower through the growing season; a few flower in spring, then go dormant for summer (RHS).

The common ones

• *G. endressii and G. × oxonianum:* pink flowers, often with darker veins, over a long season, on spreading mounds.
• *G. × magnificum:* violet-blue flowers in early summer, hairy leaves, and good autumn colour.
• *G. macrorrhizum:* magenta, pink or white flowers. Aromatic ground cover that often keeps some leaves in winter.

Mid-September

• Long-season types such as G. × oxonianum may still be flowering.
• Early-flowering types have leaves only: fresh if they were cut back after flowering, sprawling and tatty if not.
• Autumn colour: some leaves start turning red and orange before dying back (RHS).
• Disease: mildew or rust is possible on tired leaves.

Look-alikes

• Herb robert (weed, Geranium robertianum, card): lacy leaves, red-tinged stems, pink flowers and a strong musty smell (RHS herb robert).
• Tell apart: hardy geranium leaves are hand-shaped, not lacy. Rub a leaf: herb robert stinks.
• Dove's foot cranesbill (lawn weed, G. molle): on the RHS lawn weed list (RHS lawn weeds).
• Tell apart: small, soft, rounded, hairy leaves low in the lawn, with tiny pink flowers.
• Pelargonium: tell apart by stems, leaves and flowers.
• It has thicker, fleshy stems.
• Leaves are often marked with a dark ring.
• Flowers come in round clusters.
• It lives in pots and bedding, and won't survive frost (RHS pelargonium).
• Monkshood (Aconitum): leaves also deeply hand-shaped.
• Tell apart: darker, glossier leaves, and tall spikes of hooded blue flowers from summer into autumn.
• Out of flower: monkshood has "deeply divided, 5 to 7-lobed and toothed, dark green leaves" on an upright, clump-forming plant to 1.5m (RHS monkshood), the lobes narrow and finely pointed (BSBI Aconitum crib). Hardy geranium leaves are soft and matt, mostly on long stalks from a low mound. Don't rely on gloss or hairiness: treat any deeply cut leaf on a stiff upright stem as monkshood until it flowers.
• hand-shaped leaves on a stiff upright stem in a border? Gloves on, and treat it as monkshood until it flowers.
• All parts are highly toxic if eaten, and it may harm through the skin (RHS monkshood). If unsure, put gloves on and check before cutting (see the monkshood watch-out).
• Creeping buttercup: glossy dark leaves in threes, yellow flowers and rooting runners (RHS creeping buttercup).

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Tired, mildewed or rusty plants: cut back to the base.
• Remove rusty leaves (RHS geranium growing guide, search summary).
• Growth with mildew, rust or leaf spots goes to council green waste, not the compost heap (RHS cutting back).
• Healthy plants: leave them for autumn colour (RHS) and winter wildlife cover (RHS October flowers).
• Still flowering: leave it to flower on.
• Divide overgrown clumps any time from early autumn to early spring. Spring is easiest (RHS geranium growing guide, search summary).
• Weed out herb robert before it seeds. Check each one really is herb robert first.

Pruning

• Pruning group: none. It's a herbaceous perennial.
• The summer chop: many border geraniums can be chopped back hard after flowering. Fresh leaves follow, and often more flowers (RHS hardy geraniums).
• Cut early flowerers to near ground level after flowering, for fresh leaves and late-summer flowers (RHS perennials cutting back, search summary).
• Winter: leaves die back by winter (RHS). Clear the dead leaves in autumn or late winter.
• Classic mistakes:
• Weeding out geranium seedlings as herb robert, or leaving herb robert as a "geranium".
• Chopping back in a heatwave and not watering. Hot sun makes the soft leaves wilt anyway (RHS).
• Cutting a clump of monkshood bare-handed, thinking it's a geranium.
• Shearing a long-season type that's still in full flower in September. The RHS says many border geraniums "can be chopped back hard after flowering", after which they produce a fresh head of foliage and often more flowers (RHS hardy geraniums) - cut one down mid-flower and you just lose the flowers.

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: for most types, the chop after flowering does the job (RHS).
• Watering:
• Water well after dividing and replanting (RHS geranium growing guide, search summary).
• Hardy geraniums dislike permanently wet soil, which can rot the roots (RHS).
• Soil: several hardy geraniums are on the RHS clay-soils list (RHS clay soils), but never waterlogged ground.

Winter care

• Leaves often colour in autumn, die back by winter, and regrow in spring (RHS).
• Protection: none needed in an Essex winter for the common border cranesbills. Geranium macrorrhizum, for one, carries the RHS top hardiness rating, H7, "hardy in the severest European continental climates (< -20)" (RHS Geranium macrorrhizum). Not every cranesbill is: G. maderense is rated H3, "hardy in coastal and relatively mild parts of the UK (-5 to 1)" (RHS Geranium maderense).
• On heavy clay: hardy geraniums "dislike permanently wet soils that can lead to root rotting" (RHS hardy geraniums), and on heavy soil the RHS advises planting in early spring because "plants may rot over winter after autumn planting" (RHS geranium growing guide). When mulching, take "care not to smother low growing plants" (RHS mulch), so keep it off the crowns.

Problems

• Rust:
• Signs: raised pustules, which "can be orange, yellow, brown, black or white" and are "found most commonly on the lower leaf surface" (RHS rust diseases).
• Fix: remove affected leaves (RHS geranium growing guide, search summary).
• The Cinereum Group suffered badly with rust in RHS trials (RHS geranium trial bulletin, search summary).
• Vine weevil:
• The larvae damage hardy geraniums (RHS geranium growing guide, search summary).
• Signs: a plant wilts or dies between autumn and spring as the larvae eat the roots, with "plump c-shaped white legless larvae" with light brown heads found among the roots (RHS vine weevil).
• Powdery mildew: "In dry conditions they may be affected by powdery mildew" (RHS geranium growing guide) - "white, powdery spreading patches" on either leaf surface, any time from spring onwards (RHS powdery mildews). Cut back and send it to council green waste (RHS cutting back).
• Root rot: caused by permanently wet soil (RHS).
• Wilting in hot sun: soft leaves wilt (RHS). Check the soil before assuming the plant is dying.

Safety

• No pet or skin warning found for hardy Geranium in the sources used:
• it isn't among the genera named on the RHS harmful plants page (RHS harmful plants)
• hardy Geranium isn't named on the Dogs Trust list. Its "Geranium" entry is under indoor plants, so it most likely means the pot pelargonium (Dogs Trust)
• Name trap:
• The ASPCA "Geranium" page is about Pelargonium species, not hardy geraniums. Don't quote it for cranesbills (ASPCA geranium, opened 13 Sep 2026).
• "Geranium" is what most people call Pelargonium (RHS pelargonium).
• Monkshood look-alike: gloves if unsure (RHS monkshood).
• Gloves: ordinary gardening gloves.

PRO TIPS

1. Chop after the first flush. A hard cut after the first flowering usually brings fresh leaves and more flowers (RHS). Book it into the early to mid-summer visits.

2. Leaf first, then sniff. A hand-shaped leaf means cranesbill; a lacy leaf with a musty smell means herb robert (RHS herb robert).

3. Rust: pick off affected leaves and bag them for green waste (RHS geranium growing guide; RHS cutting back).

4. What to say: "We're giving it a haircut. It'll look bare for a couple of weeks, then come back fresh, often with more flowers."

5. Free plants. Offer to divide big clumps between early autumn and spring to fill gaps in the border (RHS geranium growing guide).

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="peony"></a>

Name

• Common: peony, herbaceous peony
• Botanical: Paeonia officinalis (common peony, the old cottage peony) and other herbaceous peonies, such as P. lactiflora hybrids
• Not this card: tree peonies, which are woody shrubs (see look-alikes).

Identify it

Key features

• Leaves: divided into nine or more leaflets; they come up with rich reddish tones in spring (RHS herbaceous peonies).
• Flowers: single or double bowls up to 20 cm across, in white, cream, pink, yellow or red, in late spring to early summer (RHS).
• Buds: round and hard, often with ants on them (RHS).
• Height: 0.5-1 m (RHS).
• Spring shoots: fat red shoots pushing up out of bare soil.
• Roots: deep (RHS), thick and tuberous.
• Seed: some form clusters of fat pods that split in autumn.

Mid-September

• Leaves only. A leafy, dark green clump, sometimes with brown patches or spots.
• Autumn colour: the leaves often colour well in autumn (RHS).
• Seed pods on some plants.

Look-alikes

• Tree peony: woody stems stay above ground all winter.
• Tell apart: look at the base. Woody, bark-covered stems mean a tree peony.
• Don't cut it to the ground. It needs minimal pruning: take the flowered shoots off in summer, just above the new growth; remove dead shoots in late winter, cutting back to a healthy bud; and shorten leggy stems by a third in autumn after leaf-fall (RHS tree peonies).
• The RHS has a separate tree peony guide (RHS tree peonies), not read.
• Intersectional (Itoh) peony: looks herbaceous, and the RHS covers it alongside herbaceous peonies (RHS herbaceous and intersectional peonies).
• Stems can be woody at the base. The RHS says the foliage of these hybrids dies back in winter to leave a low, woody framework (RHS intersectional peonies); cut the dead top growth back to just above that framework, not into it. The RHS gives no separate pruning instruction for them.
• Hellebore:
• Tell apart: hellebore leaves are also divided, but leathery, toothed and evergreen, and it flowers in late winter.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Leave green leaves on. Cut the foliage down at ground level once it dies back in autumn, to cut the risk of peony wilt (RHS peony wilt, search summary).
• Remove any infected material promptly, and burn it or send it to landfill (RHS). In practice: bag it for the household rubbish, and never compost it.
• Weed round the crown by hand. Peonies are deep-rooted and dislike disturbance (RHS), so don't fork close in.
• Planting or moving: bare-rooted divisions go in in late autumn, pot-grown plants in late spring, with the red buds covered by no more than 2.5 cm (1in) of soil (RHS). Avoid moving if you can; if one must be moved, autumn is the time, and it can take a year or two to flower again (RHS).

Pruning

• Pruning group: none. It's a herbaceous perennial.
• Autumn: once the foliage dies back, cut all stems and leaves at ground level (RHS peony wilt).
• The exception to the rule: the RHS normally says leave herbaceous perennials standing until spring (RHS October flowers). Peonies are cut in autumn to prevent disease (RHS peony wilt).
• After flowering: snip off faded flowers with secateurs and keep the leaves; the foliage is only cut down once it dies back in autumn (RHS).
• Classic mistakes:
• Cutting a tree peony to the ground. It's a shrub.
• Cutting green leaves off in summer to tidy up. The RHS cuts the foliage at ground level only once it has died back in autumn (RHS).
• Heaping mulch or soil over the crown. Deep planting is a common cause of no flowers, along with too much shade (RHS).
• Digging it up or splitting it. Peonies dislike disturbance (RHS).
• Composting leaves with peony wilt (RHS).

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: see pruning. The RHS removes dead flowers after flowering, using secateurs (RHS).
• Staking: put supports in as soon as growth appears in spring (RHS).
• Watering:
• The RHS pages read give no watering advice.
• Herbaceous peonies are long-lived and drought-tolerant (RHS cottage garden plants, search summary), which suits a dry East Anglian garden.
• Water regularly in dry spells through the first year, especially if planted in spring or summer. After that they are deep-rooted and need no routine watering (RHS).

Winter care

• After cutting down, nothing shows above ground.
• Mark the spot with a cane or label, so nobody digs or mulches over the crown.
• Protection: none needed. Peonies are fully hardy and don't need any winter protection (RHS).

Problems

• Peony wilt (Botrytis paeoniae) (RHS peony wilt, search summary):
• When: spring or early summer. Shoots wilt and turn brown for no obvious reason.
• Leaves: irregular patches of dead brown tissue, which spread in wet weather until leaves collapse.
• Stems: patches of infection make leaves or buds collapse.
• Buds: infected just below the bud, which hangs down and never opens.
• Fix: remove all infected material promptly, and burn it or send it to landfill. This cuts spores and stops the fungus's resting bodies getting into the soil. Cut foliage to the ground in autumn. There are no chemical controls for gardeners.
• Grey mould: under wet conditions a fuzzy grey mould appears on the affected parts - on a peony that is the peony wilt symptom described above (RHS peony wilt). Grey mould proper (Botrytis cinerea) is a closely related fungus with a very wide host range (RHS grey mould). Either way, remove and destroy the infected parts.
• Ants on the buds: cause no problems (RHS).
• No flowers: the likely causes are being recently moved (peonies dislike disturbance: RHS), a buried crown, too much shade or a young plant (to check, except for moving).

Safety

• Pets: the ASPCA lists peony as toxic to dogs and cats (ASPCA peony; search result, page not opened, so symptoms aren't confirmed here).
• Sources disagree:
• Paeonia isn't among the genera named on the RHS potentially harmful plants page (RHS harmful plants).
• A search summary suggested the RHS page for P. officinalis carries a pet or skin note (RHS Paeonia officinalis). It
• Gloves: general good practice when pruning or weeding, and keep skin covered (RHS); wash your hands afterwards. Paeonia is not named on the RHS potentially harmful plants page, so there is no peony-specific skin hazard to claim.

PRO TIPS

1. Tree or herbaceous? Look for woody stems at the base before you cut anything to the ground.

2. Autumn cut, bag, never compost. Clearing peony leaves in autumn is the main defence against peony wilt (RHS).

3. Keep mulch and soil off the crown. The RHS says to mulch but avoid covering the centre of the plant, as that damages the buds, and deep planting can leave it flowerless (RHS).

4. What to say: "Best left where it is; peonies hate being moved" (RHS).

5. Ants are fine. Homeowners often worry about ants on the buds. They cause no problems (RHS).

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="ice-plant-sedum"></a>

Name

• Common: ice plant, sedum, showy stonecrop
• Botanical: Hylotelephium spectabile. The RHS says the genus was "until recently called Sedum" (RHS hylotelephium growing guide).

Identify it

• Leaves: thick, fleshy, grey-green or blue-green, oval with a slightly wavy or toothed edge, set all the way up the stem. The RHS calls them "fleshy and bold" (RHS guide).
• Stems: upright, unbranched, juicy. They snap cleanly and grow as a clump from one crown.
• Flowers: "small red, pink or white flowers in large flat heads" in late summer and autumn (RHS guide). Up close, each flower is a tiny five-pointed star.
• Height: larger kinds reach about 60 cm tall and up to 1 m across (RHS guide).
• Smell and sap: no real smell; watery sap.
• Mid-September: in flower. The heads are pink and busy with bees and butterflies. Through October they darken to red-pink, then rust-brown. On rich soil or in shade the clump may have flopped open in the middle.
• Look-alikes:
• Purple orpine kinds (H. telephium, e.g. 'Purple Emperor'): dark purple leaves and deeper red heads. Same care.
• Yarrow (Achillea): also flat flower heads, but with feathery, fern-like leaves and a strong smell when crushed. Sedum leaves are fleshy and don't smell.
• Hottentot fig (Carpobrotus edulis, sometimes also called ice plant): a low, trailing succulent with finger-shaped leaves and big single pink or yellow daisy-like flowers, not flat heads. It's on Schedule 9: never plant it out or dump it anywhere it could grow wild (Schedule 9, Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981).
• In bud (July-August): pale green heads that look like tiny broccoli. The fleshy leaves give it away.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Leave it alone to flower. The flowers are "nectar-rich", and the heads stay ornamental into winter if left (RHS guide).
• Don't water it in the ground. Established plants are drought tolerant and only need water "after months of dry weather". Keep plants in pots moist (RHS guide).
• Note floppy clumps for a Chelsea chop next late May, or a spring divide.
• Plants in pots: if one wilts in moist compost or rocks loose, check the roots for vine weevil grubs. The RHS lists vine weevil as a pest (RHS guide).

Pruning

• Group: none. It's a herbaceous perennial, cut back once a year.
• When: either cut the dead stems after flowering, or leave the heads over winter and "cut these dead stems back to the ground in spring, as succulent new growths emerge" (RHS guide). The RHS's wildlife-friendly timing for cutting back perennials is February to March (RHS cutting back perennials).
• Chelsea chop: "cut back the new stems by half in late May" for shorter, sturdier stems that don't flop (RHS guide).
• Classic mistakes:
• Tidying it flat in October, which loses the winter heads and the insect shelter.
• Cutting in spring without looking, and snapping off the new shoots at the base.
• Feeding it: extra nitrogen "will lead to lush floppy growth that can be disease prone and flower poorly" (RHS guide).

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: don't. The heads are part of the winter show (RHS guide), and the RHS says not to deadhead plants kept for their seedheads (RHS deadheading).
• Feeding: "little or no feeding in most garden soils" (RHS guide).
• Watering: none once established, except after months of drought. Pots need regular water (RHS guide).

Winter care

• Hardiness: "extremely hardy", to -20°C (RHS guide).
• Wet is the real risk: crown and root rots can set in on soil that stays wet (RHS guide). Don't let pots sit in water.
• Leave the brown heads standing until the spring cut.

Problems

• Flopping, open centre: caused by too much food, moist soil or shade (RHS guide). Fix: Chelsea chop in late May, or lift and divide in spring (same source).
• Few or no flowers: too much shade gives "weak, lax growth with few, or no flowers" (RHS guide). Move it to full sun when dividing.
• Slugs and snails: eat the spring shoots (RHS guide).
• Vine weevil: listed by the RHS (RHS guide). Notches bitten in leaf edges point to the adults. Creamy C-shaped grubs in the compost point to the larvae eating the roots, worst in pots. Pick the grubs out and repot in fresh compost. No insecticide drench for customers (see the law).
• Crown and root rot: in persistently wet soil (RHS guide). Improve drainage or move the plant.
• Powdery mildew: sometimes, in very dry conditions (RHS guide).
• Deer: listed by the RHS (RHS guide). Worth asking about in rural Suffolk.

Safety

• People: the RHS growing guide gives no toxicity or skin warning (RHS guide).
• Pets: not found on the ASPCA dogs list as it was read (ASPCA dogs list). That read may have been partial. Not confirmed safe; see warnings.
• Gloves: normal gardening gloves. Wash hands after handling.

PRO TIPS

1. Tell the homeowner the brown heads are left up on purpose. They look good in frost and shelter insects, and they come off in spring (RHS guide).

2. A floppy clump needs less, not more. Don't feed it; book a late-May Chelsea chop or a spring divide instead (RHS guide).

3. In spring, find the tight new buds at the base before you cut, then take the old stems off just above them.

4. A plant that lifts out of its pot with no roots means vine weevil until proven otherwise. Show the homeowner the grubs.

5. Free plants: it divides and roots from cuttings easily (RHS guide). Offer spares for gaps in a dry, sunny bed.

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="japanese-anemone"></a>

Name

• Common: Japanese anemone
• Botanical: Anemone × hybrida. Close relatives such as A. hupehensis var. japonica are sold under the same common name (RHS Japanese anemones).

Identify it

• Flowers: "saucer-shaped pink or white flowers" with "a circle of bright yellow stamens in the centre", around a round green button (RHS Japanese anemone growing guide).
• Stems: tall, slender, wiry and branched, standing 50-150 cm, well above the leaves (RHS growing guide).
• Leaves: a low mound of large, dark green leaves, each split into three toothed, lobed parts, a bit like a big vine leaf.
• Roots: spreads underground and "will re-grow from any roots left in the ground" (RHS growing guide).
• When seen: flowers from August "into October" (RHS late-flowering perennials).
• Mid-September: at its peak. White or pink saucers nod on tall stems, with round green buds still to open. Older flowers have dropped their petals and left green knobs. In this dry year some leaves may be yellow or brown, which the RHS says "may be a sign of dry soil" (RHS growing guide).
• Look-alikes:
• Mallow (Malva): pink saucers too, but the petals are notched and often striped, and the centre is a column, not a ring of yellow stamens.
• Hardy geranium (cranesbill): also has lobed leaves and pink or white flowers, but the flowers are much smaller, on low sprawling plants, and the seed pod is beak-shaped.
• Cosmos: white or pink flowers of a similar size, but the leaves are fine and thread-like, and it's an annual.
• Wood anemone (A. nemorosa): a small native that flowers in spring and is gone by September.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Leave it to flower. "Resist the temptation to tidy up faded growth in autumn", because it shelters insects over winter (RHS growing guide).
• Water only in long dry spells. This September is one. Water new plants through their first summer, and plants in pots all season (RHS growing guide).
• Check for spread: look for shoots coming up in paths, the lawn edge or other plants. Fork them out with all the root (RHS: it regrows from any root left).
• Root cuttings: autumn is the time (RHS growing guide).
• Planting: autumn or spring, "when the ground is moist and warm" (RHS growing guide). In this drought, wait for rain.
• Don't divide now. Spring is best (RHS growing guide).

Pruning

• Group: none. Herbaceous perennial.
• When and how: "snip out dead foliage and old flower stems in early spring, right at the base", before new growth starts (RHS growing guide).
• Staking: "don't generally need staking" despite the height (RHS growing guide).
• Classic mistakes:
• Cutting it down in autumn (RHS says wait for early spring).
• Dividing in autumn: even in spring it "may take a year to start flowering again" (RHS growing guide).
• Chopping through it with a spade when edging a bed. Every root piece left behind can regrow (RHS).
• Putting dug-out roots on a cold home compost heap. Use the council green-waste bin instead.

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: not needed. Leave faded stems standing until spring (RHS, above).
• Feeding: they "don't generally need feeding when growing in rich soil". Add a mulch of garden compost each spring (RHS growing guide).
• Watering: new plants through the first summer; established plants only in long dry spells; pots all season (RHS growing guide).

Winter care

• Leave the old stems and leaves standing for insect shelter, and cut them in early spring (RHS growing guide).
• Mulch in spring, not autumn. Mulch over moist soil, never dry or frozen soil (RHS growing guide; RHS mulch).
• Nothing else needed in the ground.

Problems

• Spreading: it has "a tendency to spread" and can form clumps more than 1.2 m wide that "can be difficult to contain" (RHS growing guide). It's on the RHS list of potentially invasive garden plants (RHS garden thugs).
• Fix: fork out unwanted shoots with every bit of root, and repeat as new shoots appear.
• Realistic time: expect at least one full growing season of follow-ups to clear a patch.
• Leaf and bud eelworms: "small angular patches of damage on older leaves, which should be picked off and destroyed" (RHS growing guide).
• Powdery mildew: white dusty coating, "especially in dry conditions" (RHS growing guide).
• Yellow or brown leaves: often dry soil (RHS growing guide).
• Viruses: don't buy or plant anything with "distorted or discoloured leaves" (RHS growing guide).
• Good news: "resistant to slugs, snails and rabbits" (RHS growing guide).

Safety

• People: the RHS plant details page says eating it may cause mild stomach upset and contact may irritate skin. Wear gloves (RHS Anemone × hybrida details, search summary).
• Pets: sources don't line up.
• ASPCA has an anemone page (ASPCA anemone), but it
• The read of the ASPCA dogs list didn't find anemone, and that read may have been partial (ASPCA dogs list).
• Treat it as harmful to pets if eaten until checked.
• Gloves: yes, for cutting back, dividing and digging out roots.

PRO TIPS

1. Tell the homeowner before you plant or split one: it spreads and is hard to get out once settled (RHS growing guide). It suits a big border or a wild corner, not a small bed.

2. Brown leaves in a dry September usually just mean thirst. Angular brown patches boxed in by the veins on older leaves mean eelworm, so pick those leaves off (RHS growing guide).

3. When digging it out, sift every root piece from the soil (RHS: any root left regrows). Bag it for green waste.

4. Divide in spring only, and warn the homeowner it may skip a year of flowers (RHS growing guide).

5. In a rural garden with rabbits, it's one of the few tall autumn flowers they leave alone (RHS growing guide).

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="michaelmas-daisy"></a>

Name

• Common: Michaelmas daisy, New York aster
• Botanical: Symphyotrichum novi-belgii (was Aster novi-belgii). The RHS says New York and New England asters "are now called Symphyotrichum novae-angliae and Symphyotrichum novi-belgii" (RHS aster growing guide).
• Name note: "Michaelmas daisy" is used for both kinds. Most asters in old gardens are one or the other.

Identify it

• Flowers: clouds of small daisies with violet-blue, purple, pink or white petals around a yellow centre that browns with age, in loose sprays at the tops of the stems. The RHS describes "late summer and autumn colour" (RHS aster growing guide).
• Leaves: narrow, pointed, smooth and dark green, with no stalk, sitting straight on the stem.
• Stems: upright, branching near the top, often purple-tinged. They grow in a clump from shallow roots; the RHS notes its "shallow root system" (RHS guide).
• Height: from dwarf kinds around 30 cm to tall ones over 1 m that need support (RHS guide).
• When seen: late summer into autumn, peaking around Michaelmas (29 September).
• Mid-September: coming into full flower. Tall kinds may be leaning. The lower leaves are often grey-white with powdery mildew or going brown; New York asters are "particularly prone" (RHS guide).
• Look-alikes:
• New England aster (S. novae-angliae): same flowers, but its leaves and stems are rough and hairy, and the leaves wrap around the stem. It gets far less mildew; rougher-leaved asters are less prone than smooth ones (search summary drawing on NC State Extension). Same care.
• Rub test: a smooth leaf means New York; a rough, hairy leaf means New England.
• Frikart's aster 'Mönch': larger lavender-blue daisies on a neater plant, flowering long from late summer (RHS late-flowering perennials).
• Fleabane (Erigeron): very many thread-thin petals, usually low, flowering from early summer.
• Sea aster: a native with fleshy leaves on the Suffolk coast saltmarshes, not in garden borders.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Let it flower. No deadheading needed (RHS guide).
• Water in dry spells. On free-draining soil, keep the soil around the roots "slightly moist, but not soggy". Pots may need water "daily in hot weather" (RHS guide). In the hosepipe ban, use a can of stored water on the soil, not the leaves.
• Mildew: expect it and don't panic. Moist roots mean less mildew (RHS guide).
• Tall ones leaning: a quick loop of soft twine will do for this year. Note the plant for staking or a Chelsea chop next year.
• Don't divide now. The aster guide says early spring (see Pruning).

Pruning

• Group: none. Herbaceous perennial.
• Cutting back:
• The aster guide suggests leaving seedheads for winter interest (RHS guide).
• RHS perennial advice: clear diseased growth such as mildewed stems in autumn and put it in council green waste. Leave clean stems until February or March for wildlife (RHS cutting back perennials).
• Chelsea chop: S. novi-belgii responds well to it, done in late May. It gives shorter plants that need no staking, but "results can be very variable" year to year (RHS aster guide; timing from RHS hylotelephium guide).
• Staking: asters over 1 m need support, "in place before mid-summer" (RHS guide).
• Dividing: "early spring (March/April)", every three to five years for health and vigour (RHS guide).
• Sources disagree on dividing: the general RHS page allows autumn division of summer-flowering perennials (RHS dividing). For asters, follow the aster guide and wait for spring.
• Classic mistakes:
• Staking after the plant has flopped, when the stems are already kinked.
• Leaving a clump undivided for years until the middle dies out.
• Putting mildewed stems on the home compost heap.

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: "not usually necessary for a good display" (RHS guide).
• Feeding: mulch "should be sufficient". On light sandy soils, a spring fertiliser may help (RHS guide). That's relevant on East Suffolk's sandy soils.
• Watering: moisture-retentive soil suits its shallow roots. Water in dry spells; pots often (RHS guide).

Winter care

• Hardiness: hardy throughout the UK, to -20°C. "Winter wet is more likely to be a problem than cold" (RHS guide).
• Stems: leave clean stems and seedheads until February or March. Clear mildewed ones in autumn (RHS cutting back perennials).
• Mulch: over moist soil once the rain comes, never over dry soil (RHS mulch).

Problems

• Powdery mildew: a white, dusty coating on leaves and stems (RHS powdery mildews). New York asters are particularly prone, and it's less common in moisture-retentive soil (RHS aster guide).
• Fixes: keep the roots moist, and divide congested clumps in spring.
• Longer term: replace the worst plants with New England asters or tougher cultivars.
• Sprays: no fungicide for customers (see the law).
• Heavy clay that bakes dry: the RHS says most asters are easy "except on very heavy clay soils or soils that dry out in summer" (RHS search summary, RHS aster guide). Expect struggle and mildew there.
• Slugs and snails: attack young growth in spring (RHS guide).
• Fusarium wilt and grey mould: occasional (RHS guide). Stems that wilt while the soil is moist point to wilt, so remove that plant.
• Flopping: stake before midsummer or Chelsea chop in late May (RHS guide).

Safety

• People: the RHS aster guide gives no toxicity or skin warning (RHS guide).
• Pets: not found on the ASPCA dogs list as it was read (ASPCA dogs list). That read may have been partial. Not confirmed safe; see warnings.
• Gloves: normal gardening gloves.

PRO TIPS

1. Tell the homeowner the grey-white leaves are powdery mildew. It's normal on this kind, it rarely kills the plant, and the cure is moist roots, spring dividing and tougher kinds (RHS aster guide).

2. Do the rub test and tell them which they have: smooth leaves mean New York (mildew-prone), rough hairy leaves mean New England (tougher).

3. Bag mildewed stems for council green waste; never put them on the home heap (RHS cutting back perennials).

4. Book staking for early summer or a Chelsea chop for late May. Staking after they flop never looks right (RHS guide).

5. On sandy soil: spring feed plus mulch. On clay that cracks in summer: mulch well over moist soil and expect some mildew (RHS guide).

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="daffodil"></a>

Name

• Common: daffodil
• Botanical: Narcissus cultivars. The native wild daffodil is N. pseudonarcissus (RHS wild daffodil).

Identify it

• In September you meet the bulb, not the flower.
• Bulb: brown, papery skin, rounded with a pointed nose, often with smaller side bulbs attached, and a flat base with roots. It has no onion smell. The RHS says daffodil bulbs are "easily and regularly mistaken for onions" (RHS daffodils).
• Leaves (late winter to spring): flat, thick, strap-shaped and grey-green, with blunt tips, coming straight from the ground.
• Flowers: February to May (RHS daffodils). A trumpet or cup in the middle is ringed by six petals, in yellow, white, orange or pink, on a leafless stem with a papery sheath just behind the flower.
• Height: from dwarfs such as 'Tête-à-tête' to tall kinds around 45 cm.
• Sap: slimy from cut stems, and irritates skin (see Safety).
• Mid-September: nothing above ground. Bulbs turn up when you fork over a bed or divide perennials. It's planting time.
• Look-alikes:
• Onion or shallot: smells of onion when cut or scratched; a daffodil bulb doesn't. Keep bulb bags labelled (RHS daffodils).
• Tulip bulb: smooth, shiny, chestnut-brown and more pointed, planted in November (RHS bulb planting).
• Bluebell bulb: white and fleshy, without a brown papery skin.
• Snowdrop bulb: much smaller, about hazelnut size.
• Spring leaves of three-cornered garlic: leaves triangular in section that smell of garlic. It's on Schedule 9, so never move it or plant it out (Schedule 9).
• Autumn crocus (Colchicum): flowering now from a bulb-like corm, and toxic. See the autumn crocus watch-out.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Plant new bulbs now: "in early autumn, ideally September" (RHS daffodil growing guide), preferably by the end of September (RHS bulb planting).
• Depth: "three times the bulb's height", nose up (RHS guide).
• Site: sunny, fertile and well-drained. Avoid "waterlogged soil and deep shade" (RHS guide).
• Pots: plant less deeply and pack bulbs closely (RHS guide).
• Water well after planting (RHS guide), using a can during the hosepipe ban.
• Lawns: bulbs can go into unmown areas of lawn in September (RHS September lawns).
• Forking over beds: work around known clumps. Replant any bulb you lift by accident at the right depth straight away.

Pruning

• Group: none. Nothing to prune, only old flowers and old leaves to remove.
• Leaves: "Wait until the foliage turns yellow before you cut it down – usually about six weeks after flowering finishes." Don't tie the leaves in knots (RHS guide).
• Congested clumps: flowering drops. Dig them up, split them and replant in several places (RHS guide). The RHS May jobs list includes lifting and dividing crowded daffodils (RHS May jobs).
• Classic mistakes:
• Mowing, strimming or cutting leaves before they yellow, which "may reduce flowering next spring" (RHS guide).
• Knotting or tying leaves.
• Planting too shallow (the rule is three times the bulb's height).
• Storing unlabelled bulbs anywhere near onions.

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: remove faded blooms so the plant "put[s] all their energy back into their bulb". In naturalised drifts in grass you can leave the flowers to seed (RHS guide).
• Feeding (pots): "a high-potassium liquid feed, such as tomato food", from when shoots appear until the foliage dies down (RHS guide).
• Watering: bulbs in the ground only in long dry spells; pots as needed until the foliage dies down (RHS guide).

Winter care

• In the ground: most daffodils are hardy and need no protection (RHS guide).
• Pots: don't let the compost get waterlogged, because "bulbs may rot in cold wet conditions" (RHS guide). Raise pots off wet paving.

Problems

• Blindness (leaves but no flowers): causes include leaves cut too early and crowded clumps. Fix: leave the leaves six weeks, and lift and divide (RHS guide).
• Narcissus bulb fly: listed by the RHS (RHS guide). A bulb with a soft, hollow middle and a fat grub inside, sending up only a few thin leaves, points to bulb fly. Bin those bulbs; don't compost them.
• Basal rot and other rots: "especially in damp conditions" (RHS guide). The bulb goes soft and brown from the base. Don't plant soft bulbs.
• Slugs and snails: eat leaves and flowers (RHS guide).
• Viruses: listed by the RHS (RHS guide). Streaked or mottled leaves and weak plants: remove them.

Safety

• Eating: daffodil bulbs are poisonous, "causing a stomach upset if eaten", and are "easily and regularly mistaken for onions". Keep stored bulbs in labelled bags (RHS daffodils).
• Skin: RHS plant details pages mark Narcissus "Harmful if eaten, skin irritant. Wear gloves" (RHS wild daffodil details, search summary). The sap causes "daffodil itch", the most common cause of skin rash in florists (MDedge, Botanical Briefs: Daffodils, search summary).
• Dogs: the ASPCA lists daffodil (Narcissus spp.) as toxic to dogs (ASPCA dogs list). Daffodils are on the Dogs Trust list too (Dogs Trust).
• Cats: Cats Protection says the bulbs contain "extremely toxic" crystals (Cats Protection).
• Gloves: always, for planting, dividing, deadheading and handling bulbs. Wash hands after. Never leave bulbs or bulb bags where a dog can reach them.

PRO TIPS

1. Tell the homeowner: leave the leaves for six weeks after flowering, with no knots and no mowing over bulb patches until they yellow. That decides next year's flowers (RHS guide).

2. Label every bag of bulbs, and never leave them in a kitchen or next to onions (RHS daffodils).

3. Gloves every time. The sap gives a rash on fingertips and wrists (RHS details; MDedge).

4. Squeeze before you plant: firm bulbs go in; soft or hollow ones are rot or bulb fly, so bin them (RHS guide lists both).

5. If there's a dog, plant where it doesn't dig, and pick up every dropped bulb and empty bag before you leave (ASPCA; Dogs Trust).

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="pelargonium"></a>

Name

• Common: pelargonium; bedding or pot "geranium"
• Botanical: Pelargonium, zonal and ivy-leaved kinds. The RHS notes "'Geranium' is the name most people use when talking about Pelargonium". True geraniums are often called hardy geraniums to avoid mixing them up (RHS pelargonium).

Identify it

• Zonal kinds: "upright and bushy with succulent stems" and "clusters of single or double flowers in red, salmon, pink or white". Leaves often have "purple or maroon markings in zones" (RHS pelargonium growing guide). The leaves are round, soft and slightly furry, with a scalloped edge, often a dark horseshoe band, and a sharp "geranium" smell when rubbed.
• Ivy-leaved kinds: trailing plants for baskets, with "stiff fleshy leaves" that "tumble down the sides" (RHS guide). The leaves are shiny and pointed-lobed like ivy.
• Other kinds: regal, angel and scented-leaved (RHS guide).
• Flowers: a rounded cluster on a long stalk above the leaves. Each flower has five petals, and the top two usually differ in size or marking from the lower three.
• Where: pots, window boxes, hanging baskets and summer bedding.
• Mid-September: still flowering in pots and baskets, often leggy, with some yellow lower leaves. The overwintering decision is due, because "Pelargoniums will not survive the frost" (RHS pelargonium).
• Look-alikes:
• Hardy geranium (cranesbill): a hardy border perennial with deeply cut leaves. Its five petals are all alike and it makes a beak-shaped seed pod. It has its own card.
• Ivy: woody, climbs with little roots and has no clusters of showy flowers. Ivy-leaved pelargonium leaves are fleshy and the plant trails rather than climbs.
• Busy lizzie (Impatiens): similar colours in pots, but single flat flowers with a spur, see-through watery stems and no zoned leaves.

Do this month (mid-September to October)

• Keep deadheading and feeding: high-potassium feed, such as tomato feed, fortnightly while flowering. Cut feeding to once a month in autumn and winter for plants kept growing (RHS guide).
• Water moderately. Don't let the compost stay wet (RHS guide).
• Cuttings: "In late summer, take softwood cuttings". Overwinter the rooted cuttings on a well-lit indoor windowsill (RHS guide).
• Agree the plan with the homeowner: overwinter the plants, keep cuttings, or buy new next year (RHS pelargonium).
• Move them under cover "before the first autumn frosts" (RHS guide). Inland East Anglia averages about 55 air frosts a year against fewer than 30 at the coast (Met Office eastern England). A rural inland garden shouldn't leave it late.

Pruning

• Group: none. Tender perennial.
• Pinching out: pinch shoot tips in spring or early summer for bushier plants (RHS guide).
• Overwintered plants in pots: "give them a hard prune in spring" (RHS guide). If space is short, cut them back to 10 cm in autumn (search summary from RHS results).
• Bare-root method, where there's no greenhouse (search summary from RHS results):

1. Lift before the first frosts and shake off the soil.

2. Let the plants dry off in a frost-free place.

3. Wrap them in newspaper, or hang them upside down in a frost-free shed or garage.

4. In spring, soak the roots, pot up, cut the stems to about 10 cm, and water sparingly somewhere warm and bright.

• Classic mistakes:
• Leaving them out "one more week" and losing them to the first frost (RHS pelargonium).
• Watering overwintered plants like summer plants. Cut-back plants "require barely any water at all until growth resumes in spring" (RHS guide).
• Using dirty snips: viruses spread "on pruning or propagating tools" (RHS guide).

Deadheading, feeding and watering

• Deadheading: "Deadhead plants regularly to promote flowering" (RHS guide). Bedding is best deadheaded often, daily if you can (RHS deadheading). Snap the whole spent flower stalk off where it joins the stem.
• Feeding:
• Spring: balanced liquid feed every 10-14 days.
• Once flowering: high-potassium feed fortnightly through summer.
• Autumn and winter: monthly, for plants kept growing.
• Source: RHS guide.
• Watering: moderate from spring to summer, "taking care that the compost doesn't become too wet". Sparingly in winter, letting the compost dry between waterings (RHS guide).
• Drought: pelargoniums are on the RHS drought list for containers and baskets (RHS drought-resistant plants). They cope with the hosepipe ban better than most bedding.

Winter care

• Frost: they won't survive it (RHS pelargonium). Keep them somewhere "light, airy, frost-free" (RHS guide).
• Temperature: 7-10°C keeps them flowering (RHS guide).
• Water: cut-back plants get barely any until spring. Check growing plants weekly and water if drying (RHS guide).
• Damp and mould: rust and grey mould are favoured by "poor air circulation and damp conditions" (RHS guide). Pick off dead leaves and flowers before bringing plants in, and ventilate the greenhouse (search summary from RHS results).
• Spring: harden off for "a couple of weeks". Plant out "not usually before the end of May" (RHS guide).

Problems

• Pelargonium rust: small yellow spots on top of the leaf, with whitish blisters underneath that turn into brown powdery spore masses, often in rings. Badly hit leaves yellow and fall (RHS pelargonium rust, search summary). Fix: pick off and bin affected leaves, ventilate and keep things drier (RHS guide).
• Grey mould (botrytis): fuzzy grey mould on dead flowers and leaves in damp, still air (RHS guide). Fix: deadhead, clear dead leaves, space pots and ventilate.
• Vine weevil: larvae eat roots in containers (RHS guide). If a plant wilts in moist compost, tip it out, pick out the C-shaped grubs and repot in fresh compost. No insecticide drench for customers (see the law).
• Sap-sucking pests: whitefly, leafhopper and root mealybug (RHS guide).
• Viruses and leafy gall: viruses show as distorted or mottled growth; leafy gall as "dense clusters of distorted leafy shoots". Viruses spread via thrips and tools (RHS guide). Bin affected plants, and don't take cuttings from them.

Safety

• Pets: the ASPCA geranium page covers Pelargonium species: toxic to dogs, cats and horses (geraniol, linalool). Signs are vomiting, loss of appetite, depression and skin irritation (ASPCA geranium, opened 13 Sep 2026). The ASPCA dogs list also names scented geranium (ASPCA dogs list). Dogs Trust names "Geranium" among indoor plants poisonous to dogs (Dogs Trust).
• People: the RHS growing guide gives no toxicity or skin warning (RHS guide).
• Gloves: optional, but the leaf smell stays on bare hands. Wash hands after.
• Lifting: wet pots and baskets are heavy. Use two people for big pots.

PRO TIPS

1. Ask the homeowner now: overwinter, cuttings, or new plants next May? Put the answer and a before-frost date on the job sheet (RHS pelargonium).

2. Cuttings save space: a tray on a bright windowsill instead of a greenhouse of old plants (RHS guide).

3. Winter losses are usually too much water, not cold, once they're under cover. Cut-back plants stay almost dry until spring (RHS guide).

4. Wipe the snips between plants, because viruses travel on tools (RHS guide).

5. If there's a cat or dog, don't bring the pots into a room where the pet can chew them (ASPCA geranium).

↑ Flower index · ↑ Contents

<a id="flowers-disagree"></a>