Home » Plants & Animals » Gardening in Ireland » QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

© Michael Campbell

Now that the festivities are almost over you can get down to the usual business of cleaning up the pile of pine needles that has accumulated on the floor under the Christmas tree. Gathering the Poinsettia leaves that promptly dropped when the sleeve was removed. Spraying the withered brown leaves on that lovely Azalea, and trying to cajole the cyclamen to straighten up its leaves and flowers, that are by now hanging over the side of the pot as if it had just been strangled.

We did not get a real Christmas tree this year and have resorted to one of those wire and plastic monstrosities. She who must be obeyed has convinced me that it is far less trouble, fits neatly into a box, and is easily tipped into the roof-space for another year.

I did not buy any pot plants either, and thankfully was not given any as presents, for everyone had been forewarned. The quickest way to stamp out this slaughter of plants at Christmas is not to buy them.

So what to do in the garden this week?

With winds of over one hundred miles per hour in a fierce storm blowing outside there is no chance of even opening the door never mind gardening. I will just have to content myself with looking out the window and hoping that the greenhouse and frame lights are all in one piece when it settles down.

As it is almost the New Year let me reminisce and tell you about some of the questions that I have been asked, and the answers given at various gardening club meetings over the past twelve months.

Q. Can you recommend a hedging shrub that will form a dense eight to ten foot boundary? We were thinking of Leylandii.

A. Please do not plant Leylandii as a boundary round your house, as this tree will grow over sixty feet high and twenty to thirty feet wide. Unless you are prepared to stay the rest of your life in that houses and clip your trees two or three times a year, you are asking for trouble. Leylandii will grow three feet per year on average, so if you move house or for some reason cannot keep the tree under control, it will continue to grow. They won't just stop at the height you want them to. The country is full of Leylandii planted as boundary fences and I watch with interest to see the results.

The copyright of the article QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. in Gardening in Ireland is owned by . Permission to republish QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.