Care Guides
Care guides by Rupert Foxton-Smythe
426 guides
Plants to Climb and Screen
Climbers and wall shrubs are among the most rewarding plants that you can have in your garden. Yet in many ways they are both underrated and unexploited, too.
Composites – Multiple Sowers Mean Success
The Family Compositae General characteristics and distribution The family Compositae is the largest among dicotyledonous plants.
How to Grow Chrysanthemums
Growing Chrysanthemums Many people make a specialty of chrysanthemums. Chrysanthemums can be grown in the normal herbaceous border, but very often they are given a plot of ground on their own,…
Air Layering
Air layering involves persuading suitable plants to send out new roots from their upper stems. Once enough roots form, you can cut the stem just below the roots and pot up the new plant separately.
Grouping Cacti
When displaying cacti it is important to remember that there are two very different types of cacti — those from desert areas and those from jungles or forests — and each likes different conditions.
Flower Arrangements Using Grasses and Rushes
Ornamental Grasses for Flower Arrangements Also listed in seed catalogues are ornamental grasses. Every garden should have some of these for they really are beautifully decorative.
Evergreens for the Patio
Evergreen Plants for Containers There are some spectacular evergreen shrubs that grow very well in containers. For round-the-year interest include one or two plants that flower at differing times.
How to Position Climbing Plants
The following are suggestions for suitable plants for different purposes. You may want a plant for a particular aspect, or for a situation that demands a self-clinging rather than a twining climber,…
Grouping Pots Outdoors
When arranging a group of pots consider the aspect and choose plants accordingly.
Using Grasses in Dried Flower Arrangements
The infinite variety and decorative value of many different kinds of grasses, both cultivated and wild, give the dried flower worker wonderful scope, adding interest, charm and lightness to an…
Supporting Climbing Plants Properly
Supporting Climbers and Wall Shrubs With a few exceptions, ivy (hedera) and Virginia creeper (parthenocissus) among them, most climbers need something to fasten themselves to or to scramble over.
Growing Begonias From Tubers
Tuberous Begonias Although there are many different kinds of begonia, including some which are grown only for the beauty of their leaves, the- kinds most people grow are those which are grown from…