In Beechgrove Garden episode 8 2017: we are a nation of houseplant givers and buyers but do we know how to care for them once home? Carole the houseplant doctor dispenses advice. On a similar theme, in the Beechgrove Garden, trying to keep our own house in order, Jim, George and Carole struggle to rescue some pot-bound camellias.
Jim is back visiting the inspirational Firpark School in Motherwell. Firpark has 150 pupils with a range of additional support needs and pupils learn to take produce from fork to fork from garden to bistro. And Carole visits Simon McPhun’s deceptively informal cottage style garden near Huntly.
In Beechgrove Garden episode 8 2017:
Repotting Camellias
A few weeks ago the presenters were looking at the beautiful flowers on the Camellias. They have however been in these pots for 5 years now and need repotting.
Carole had lifted the plant straight out of its pot with some help from Mairi, the Head Gardener. Jim put his pot on its side and eased the plant out of the pot on his own by rolling the pot on its side.
Camellias have fibrous roots like Rhododendrons and the idea here was to replant the Camellias into the same sized pots, to semi-bonsai the roots and keep the plants compact and manageable.
House Plants
Carole was taking a look at a range of commonly available houseplants. These are fairly cheap to pick up from supermarkets and garden centres so Carole wanted to give some hints on how to care for them.
Propagation
Five weeks ago George started air layering the fig in the fruit house. He damaged the stem of the fig and encased it in a gadget filled with moss. It should take 8 weeks to root so it’s still too early to see if anything has happened. George then took a look at Trillium chloropetalum. He showed different stages of the plant growing from seed sowing from 2, 3 and 4 years ago.
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