Author Topic: Will last years plants grow again or should I dig them up and start again?  (Read 933 times)

paloma63

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I know this enquiry might sound a bit dopey to anyone who knows about gardening - but I'd never done any gardening until last year - never had a garden!!  Anyway I bought a spade and some shears and was out weeding, digging over soil and buying all the plants to put in borders - someone told me to "dehead" the geraniums - but didn't say how - so I brushed off whatever buds looked to be ready to die off and did the same with anything else - but I'm wondering if I should have dug them all up completely and put them somewhere else during the winter?  They all looked reasonably ok well up to December - but now of course with the snow and frost they all look really sorry for themselves - as if they've had it - do I just wait and see if they revive naturally?   There's some artificial conifers; a star plant; lots of geraniums, a few delicate looking ones, some white fern type - sorry I don't know the names of them all. 

Jacqueline

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I am no gardener, but I have pots and grow a few old favorites.  So as one amateur to another, if they are the hardy type geraniums that grow in clumps in the garden they die off each year and then come back.

If you are talking about the type of geraniums you might put on your windowsill probably any frost has killed them off, I put begonias in my pots and they die left out.  So these type of geraniums need bringing inside for the winter or you can take cuttings, they are dead easy even for an idiot like me, just chop a bit off soak it until it starts to form a root and plant it.  I had some  lovely geraniums in my porch in the old house.  Your conifers should be OK but I can't really help with the others, I am sure there are proper gardeners on here who can help more than me.

Just add on that I don't know what the heck things are when they are first coming up in the garden, can't tell a flower from a weed!

Bee

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I find the easiest plants to grow are the Alpine plants.........




https://www.icealpines.co.uk/
The only way is up....

Scrumpy

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I leave my garden alone through the winter after having tidied her up after the last blooms drooped.. I am like the grim reaper with my shears and cut things right back.. Even my crimping roses that surround the decking I cut right back.. They all come back when they are ready ..
I grow a lot of wild/meadow flowers.. They are so easy.. I just ‘ top them up’ when there is a bald spot...
 I am not a gardener..
Everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright, its not the end.

paloma63

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Yes thanks for these replies .. good to know others are doing the same as I was thinking of  i.e. going with what looks right i.e. in a few weeks when it gets drier and a bit sunnier/warmer, I'll go out and cut back any wild/dead leaves on the bushes, they seem strong/wild enough to be tamed and I'll tidy everything up then I;ll see what's going to be budding again and I might get some Alpine plants as they will survive winters  .. thanks a lot.

klondike

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If you know what the plant's names are then look up if they are annuals so won't regrow but might seed themselves or perennials which should come back but there will be varying degrees of pruning involved. Geraniums won't usually survive the winter well.

Dead heading is just nipping off the flower heads when they look to be dying off. You can usually just do it using your nails. Typically done for marigolds geraniums and the like. If left on they will go to seed and sap energy from the plant. Nipping them off encourages fresh flowers to come out.

I do know some of the theory but am possibly the world's worst gardener. I have brown rather than green fingers and if I prune anything it stays pruned.

Use gardening books and Google for good advice.
So long and thanks for all the fish

GrannyMac

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Snowdrops are flowering, and other spring bulbs are pushing through now in our garden. We have perennial plants, roses and shrubs in the borders. Summer annuals (they need replacing every year) only in pots and hanging baskets.   

Cranesbill geraniums are good permanent plants. They come back every year, spread, can be split, and have pink, blue or purple flowers.  The more showy geraniums rarely survive winter outdoors.   
Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right.

R. Gervais

klondike

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Almost as an aside there are apps for smartphones to identify plants. I use one if I come across something when out and about that I don't recognise find interesting enough to care about. This is the one I use
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.plantnet
So long and thanks for all the fish

Sheila

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You mention snowdrops GrannyMac.  I was quite a keen gardener and have trouble growing snowdrops but I do like them.  I wondered if it was because we have clay soil but have read that squirrels like to dig them up so that may be the problem.

I have a lung condition that does not like compost so my gardening is limited now but at least I won't look so strange wearing a mask!

klondike

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We have some snowdrops and like everything now they are in pots. They used to be  growing wild under a hedgerow in our last house where there were lots of squirrels. We transplanted some of them when we moved and they survived (because my wife did it and not me probably). I have it in mind that some bulbs don't flower the first year - it seems they need a natural wintering cycle. Clay could maybe be causing the bulbs to rot off.
So long and thanks for all the fish

GrannyMac

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I took down a winter hanging basket yesterday, cyclamen is past its best. A monkey nut shell was buried in the compost. Could it have been a squirrel? There are lots in the park nearby, but I don't know how it could have climbed up the brickwork.
Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right.

R. Gervais

crabbyob

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Granny i have seen a rat run up a wall
and some folk.. ;D .. class squirrels as tree rats
so i suspect they can climb a brick wall...
“Life may not be the party we hoped for, but as we are already here we may as well dance”

klondike

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One of our yorkies thought it could run up trees chasing them. Found out she couldn't about 5 feet up.  :)


Seems funny it was just a shell buried.
So long and thanks for all the fish

Michael Rolls

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One of our yorkies thought it could run up trees chasing them. Found out she couldn't about 5 feet up.  :)


Seems funny it was just a shell buried.
Oh dear!
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

klondike

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The other probably thought she could fly as she chased birds. Oddly though the squirrel chaser never bothered with birds and vice versa.
So long and thanks for all the fish