What am i supposed to do with my daffs after they have flowered? My front garden looks a right mess with just the stalks everywhere but i dont want to harm next years flowers. can someone tell me what is the best thing to do

Leave the leaves to die down naturally, they will reward you with beautiful blooms year after year.

Are you looking to buy just the flower? or the plant?

Lotus is not a traditional cut flower. I don’t know how it does as a cut flower. It may not be available. Check with a local "high end" florist, they’re more likely to bring in such an exotic flower. Large chains or small independents are most likely targeting mainstream customers.

If you’re looking for the plant, it is an aquatic plant. You should be able to find it at a local garden center that sells or specializes in garden ponds or water gardens.

I hope that this helps

all i done was a google search……. don’t know if they are any help……..xxx

I have a fairly small garden and am hoping to pretty it up a bit with containers and pots. I would welcome any suggestions and tips as to which plants / flowers / veggies are best to grow in pots etc. Thanx in advance

You don’t want much, do you! I am in the same position as you and I also came late to horticulture. Therefore, I cannot ‘do a Monty Don’ for you! I can only tell you what successes I have had in my small garden, with containers and pots. Much depends, by the way, on which way your garden faces. Soil condition is not a problem if you are just using containers – as you can look for plants which do well in widely available composts. I have have always done well with my local supermarket bags of all-purpose compost. I avoided ‘specialist’ plants which need particular attention.

Basically, it was a hit and miss affair but the flowers I had most success with were the good old Busy Lizzies (Impatiens). After the growing season I often ‘chopped off’ stalks and put them in water in coffee jars inside on window sills and most stalks grew roots ready for the next season. You can’t get cheaper propagation than that!

Petunias always work well and the colour varieties seem to be endless. Long growing season. Cheap to buy. Dwarf geraniums, which actually look like miniature roses, do well in pots.

A great buy was the osteospermum range. These come in many colours and look a little like daises. You can’t stop them flowering and coming back each year!

Pansies and lobelias, for delicate looking plants, are surprisingly hardy, as are Sweet Williams.

More expensive plants are perenniels. I have had success with Asiatic lilies of various colours. They grow quite tall and are hardy but the spectacular flowers only last for a few weeks. Camelias give good colour during winter and spring. Peiris give good foliage and delicate flowers. For other foliage contrast, various ivy plants do well, as do slow-growing conifers – which you must have seen in people’s front gardens. I have even tried ‘supermarket roses’ and they gave fantastic results for a few years, although they can’t stay in pots forever. Still, they are cheap enough. Dahlias have done well, also, for several years at a time.

Hanging baskets always look nice. You can buy ready-made ones if you are lazy!

Care of the plants.

I only go for those which require minimal maintenance. I am not keen on reading up on minute details, as I am not a gardener! I want to ‘pretty up’ the garden, as you say.

However, make sure that the containers are of suitable size for the plants. Put broken crockery/pots, etc. in the bottoms of pots for drainage. ‘Dead head’ flowers regularly to promote growth. Feed with, say, ‘Miracle Grow’ during the growing season. Water reasonably but not excessively. The hardy plants I have mentioned can stand a bit of neglect! Remove dead growth ready for the winter and take inside those plants which cannot tolerate frost.

I place many pots on those plastic saucers – but with the saucers upside down. This prevents waterlogging in heavy rain and helps to keep off garden pests. You can then sprinkle anti-slug pellets around the bases.

As for ‘veggies’, I have only tried a few, as there is too much involved with propagtion, ‘planting on’, sheds and greenouses, etc.! I bought one of those supermarket ‘potato towers’ and bought the recommended varieties of potatoes from the garden centre. Quite good success, except for one year when disease struck. You would need mesh covering to keep out the critters! Some fruits like tomatoes and strawberries have done very well but you have to look out for the squirrels!

I am not into all of the things which experts talk about. However, for years, my little garden has been a ‘blast of colour and contrast’. Where there were failures, I tried something else, as long as it was cheap. I did all of this with one pair of garden gloves, a trowel and a pair of secateurs! I am not Capability Brown and I don’t care about designer gardens and ‘balance’ and that sort of thing..

Experts would be horrified to read all of this and tell me how much more I could have achieved but I would not have been ashamed to ‘open my garden to the public’ – three or four at a time, that is!

I hope that my ‘non-gardener tips’ will help you. If you become more serious about gardening, ignore me completely and go to the experts! Good luck.