Dede Sophie

Oh my goodness, my orchid cacti have been absolutely fine wintering outside for the past 6 years, then this year they have been absolutely smashed!  If you didn’t know before, Orchid cactus – Disocactus ackermannii is an species of epiphytic cactus that occurs in the cloud forests of Veracruz and Oaxaca, in Mexico. It is a gorgeous, evergreen plant with an arching trailing habit and produces dark green, long, flattened leaves which are only 2-3 inches wide but up to 36 inches long! Usually tough as old boots I like to grow it outside hanging from my trees. This year however a polar vortex descended on the garden and stayed for a couple of weeks, just long enough to kill a lot of my ‘on-the-edge’ hardy plants. Even the back up plan cacti in the greenhouse were frozen to mush! Luckily it wasn’t a complete disaster as you will find out in this video.

The hanging of mistletoe at Christmas to steal a kiss from a maiden may be considered sexual violence in today’s society but please don’t blame the mistletoe. Mistletoe is having a hard enough time! With the ever-dwindling UK apple industry meaning less and less host plants from which to grow on and steal nutrients and water from without giving anything back. So mistletoe are desperate for a helping hand! With this in mind why not consider growing your own mistletoe from seed – assuming you have a suitable host tree and a pair of organic disposable gloves? The best time of year for this is February/March and you should be able to get hold of viable seeds from on-like retailers. If you would like to see more content like this then why not subscribe to our YouTube channel ;Walking Talking Gardeners’? It is absolutely free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Welcome to the cacti and succulent collection at Birmingham Botanical gardens with your horticultural hosts Lorna and Zoe. In this video they take a walk around the cacti and succulent collection pointing out the things of interest. If you would like to see more content like this then why not consider subscribing to our YouTube channel ‘Walking Talking Gardeners’? It is absolutely free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

If you find yourself at a loose end on the Cany island of lanzarote then hire a caba and check out this truly gorgeous, and well thought-out cactus and succulent garden designed by local Lanzarote artist Cesar Manrique. It is a jewel in the crown of this island and I would recommend to anyone who is horticulturally minded. Sited in a disused quarry, the excavated sides and man-made terracing dramatically compliment the specimen cacti and succulents therein. If you would like to see more content like this then check out our YouTube channel ‘Walking Talking Gardeners’. It is free to subscribe to and that way you can be notified wherever we publish a new video/

My lemon tree has come through the winter looking like a stack of dead twigs so did I just kill my lemon tree? The answer may surprise you but rather than give the surprise away here you should check out the video instead. Lemon trees are a fantastic addition to the summer garden and are surprisingly robust and easy to grow. What they don’t like however is freezing conditions but there are an increasing number of cultivars that are capable of tolerating cold winters such as the meyers lemon. Last year winter was particularly cold with temperatures dropping to -7 degrees Celsius, far colder than even the hardiest lemons to cope with even with winter protection. So what happened to our lemon when the spring finally arrived? ell check out the above video to find out. If you would like watch more content like this then check out our YouTube channel ‘Walking Talking Gardeners’. It is absolutely free to subscribe to and you can unsubscribe instantly at any time. Click onto the notification

So, just what is a ‘Stumpery’ garden? Well, similar to a rockery it is a garden which used old tree stumps to create an artistic design within a garden setting. The first stumpery was built in 1856 at Biddulph Grange and they remained popular in Victorian Britain. We visit one of the best modern stumperys in the UK which was built with in the walls of Arundel castle, West Sussex. So why not check out the video of our visit to Arundel castles stumpery, arguably one of the best examples in the country. Of course it is not just the tree stumps that give ornamental effect it is the planting scheme supporting it to show of these magnificent piece of nature architecture that really make this garden shine. If you would like watch more content like this then check out our YouTube channel ‘Walking Talking Gardeners’. It is absolutely free to subscribe to and you can unsubscribe instantly at any time. Click onto the notification ‘bell’ icon to informed as to whenever we publish a new video.

If you want to know how to prune fruit trees then you would struggle to find anyone better than leading orchard owner – Matthew Foster, to show you the current best practice. Owner and manager of Dingle farm in Worcestershire, Matthew has been running his orchard of stone fruits for over ten years and produces arguably the best cherry crop in the country. So why not join us as we pick his brains on the best way to prune fruit trees. If you would like to see more content like this then check out the other videos on our YouTube channel ‘Walking Talking Gardeners’. It is absolutely free to subscribe to and if you click onto the notification ‘bell’ icon then you can be notified whenever a new video is published.