Letters to Wendy from our readers

Write to us: Letters, Amateur Gardening magazine, Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough Business Park, Farnborough, Hants GU14 7BF (please include your address). Email us: amateurgardening@ti-media.com

Simple rules for growing hostas

Star letter

Maureen Gillian’s hostas thrive in raised buckets and pots

CATCHING up on my reading on a wet, soggy day here in Sheffield. I really enjoyed Anne Swithinbank’s article on hostas (AG , 23 November). I have a solution to the slug and snail problem. Having been given some rooted pieces from an old gardener chap many years ago, I planted them in two builder’stype black buckets, making drainage holes in the bottom beforehand. I put one on top of a black, cast-iron pot stand and the other hanging from a strong tree branch. Both have come up every year and flowered well without being attacked by slugs or snails. I lift them down every few years, and split and give the spares to others. I think the answer is ‘hang them high’, but still be able to see them properly. Maureen Gillian Carr, via email

Where can I buy these plants?

WOULD you tell me where I can obtain the shrubs recently mentioned, referring to two articles: hollies by Toby Buckland (21/28 Dec) and plants to create shelter in Ask Anne (4 Jan)? My interest has been aroused, because we are starting to construct a car park at my church and we need to plant trees/shrubs around the site, acting as a barrier and wind-break. We also need a few trees on the north boundary of our graveyard. Holly, in particular, would prove useful for our flower arrangers at the appropriate time of the year. I have been reading your magazine for a number of years, but this the first time I have written in – a bit late in starting, as I’m in my nineties! Ken Journeaux, Hampshire

Wendy says: Certainly, Ken. I am happy to help. The list below is a reminder of the plant names and where to buy them. A good reference for finding suppliers of plants, both locally and by mail order, is to look up the free online ‘Find a Plant’ service: rhs.org.uk/plants/search-form, also available to buy as a book £14.99. Highclere hollies: Ilex x altaclerensis I. x a . ‘Ripley Gold’ I. x a . ‘Golden King’ Ilex ‘JC van Tol’ Plants to provide shelter: Acer campestre Arbutus unedo I. x a. ‘Camelliifolia’ Pittosporum tenuifolium Elaeagnus x ebbingei Olearia macrodonta Escallonia rubra var. macrant Crataegus persimilis ‘Prunifolia’ Viburnums, such as V. lantana.

Where to buy

Ilex x altaclerensis ‘Ripley Gold’

Stunned by amaryllis beauty

Emma’s amaryllis has surpassed her expectations

HERE is a photo of an amaryllis bulb I planted on 16 November last year, in the hope it would flower for Christmas Day. Indeed it did, but I never expected such a dramatic result from just one bulb. I’ve never grown amaryllis before, so I’m stunned by its beauty. I just hope I can care for it over the year, so that it repeats its performance next December. Emma Taylor, Bridport, Dorset