Help!!

A lot of house plants are dangerous including lilies. I haven’t had cats for years and, pre internet I never realised that anything was poisonous to dogs or cats. Never had lilies in the house but, like most people in the 70’s had spider plants everywhere.

Lilies are, I believe.

I don’t know if any plants are poisonous to cats: I am careful to buy plants that are dog safe.

I wish someone would sell plastic pots that fit perfectly inside terracotta ones, especially now that summers are getting hotter.I don’t like the look of plastic pots but they’re far more practical and the soil doesn’t dry out as much. I keep meaning to buy some of that copper tape to put round my pots to deter slugs, although I don’t seem to have too much of a problem with slugs.

Terracotta is often not such a great idea, they can crack in frosty conditions and dry out quickly.
Those plastic ones look fine, you will have to drill holes in them for drainage and raise them off the ground a little.
I use bricks to raise mine and sometimes pan trivets, picked up from charity shops.

Germanshepherdsmum

Hydrangeas are easy to kill. They need lots of water (clue in name) and, if grown in containers, very large ones. One of mine is in a very large pot. It will need to be transferred to the ground this autumn.

I'm not sure how I've managed to keep mine alive for so long then!
House plants I'm rubbish with but hydrangeas seem to be my thing.

Euonymus is good, too. Evergreen and perennial.

If you have perennials in your pots, for a good part of the year they won’t be doing anything and may disappear completely over the winter. That’s why annuals and spring bulbs are so popular in containers.

PollyDolly

Get an app on you mobile named PlantNet - others are available. It is free to instal and you just take a photo of the plant/shrub/tree/flower etc that you want to identify and it gives the result.

Thank you ?

Get an app on you mobile named PlantNet - others are available. It is free to instal and you just take a photo of the plant/shrub/tree/flower etc that you want to identify and it gives the result.

Clove!!

Pooing!!..?‍♀️

My kitten keeps pulling in thecompost in this plant. I have put some clothes essential oil in all the pots hoping this will deter him. Failing that somebody will come on and say cat faeces is actually very good for potted plants..?…. The thing is over the little fence is a designated area for his toilet habits and my other cat…. I can’t upload the photo because it’s saying it’s too big but I have uploaded much bigger photos before with no problem, anyway it is the Japanese maple which is in one of the other pictures I think ?

What I am looking for is plants that come back year after year (I know there’s a proper name for this but it escapes me at the moment !)in three of the pots and maybe just flowers in one of the pots.. getting quite excited about this prospect..?

Hydrangeas are easy to kill. They need lots of water (clue in name) and, if grown in containers, very large ones. One of mine is in a very large pot. It will need to be transferred to the ground this autumn.

I have ordered four new pots from Amazon and waiting for my book to arrive… ?????

I'm a big fan of hydrangeas. I have several in pots, a few I've had for years so clearly not easy to kill either!

Can I recommend Bacupa. I was surprised to hear Monty Don say on Gardeners World say he’d planted it for the first time this year. It’s evergreen but the little white flowers come back each summer. I thought it was an annual but realised it survived the winter. I have mine in an old chimney pot. I also have Skimmia in pots ( they need ericacious soil). And Ferns ( although I thought mine had died earlier in the year but it had just died back and came back better than ever). Because of the dry weather I’m going to buy more Sedum to keep in pots.Parsley looks nice in pots: I always stick my supermarket parsley in a pot after a while. Hebes are nice in pots, too. I’m a very lazy gardener so everything I plant has to be easy to maintain.

Terracotta is pricey and, unless it is frost proof can tend to split or pieces flake off.

Terracotta is very pricey. I have few gathered over the years but also some frost proof ceramic and some very stylish grey ones which are plastic and look much more pricey than they were (also easier to move). I got them online from Dobies. Just make sure you buy frost proof, not frost resistant.

Germanshepherdsmum

Gardening is a wonderful hobby. I suffer from depression and it helps so much to be outside just pottering around.
Don’t worry about being a novice. You definitely need drainage holes in smaller pots, and to raise them up a little so the water drains away and the roots aren’t sitting in water, which will rot them. Larger pots can cope better without them because the water will sink down to the bottom , well away from the roots. Too much water is as bad as not enough. If you buy the right plant for the right place (most good online sites will show you which plants are suitable for full sun, shade, dry conditions, damp conditions, containers etc) from a reliable nursery and look after it according to the instructions you won’t go wrong. The nurseries I mentioned (I should have given Beth Chatto a mention too) will guarantee your plants provided you follow the care instructions.
Enjoy!

Forget the terracotta, far too expensive for me! ?‍♀️…would like your opinion please on these?

I am going to look for some large planters and get rid of the small plastic pots, is it better to have the orange ones, God I can’t think of the name !!…?‍♀️…terracotta…?

Gardening is a wonderful hobby. I suffer from depression and it helps so much to be outside just pottering around.
Don’t worry about being a novice. You definitely need drainage holes in smaller pots, and to raise them up a little so the water drains away and the roots aren’t sitting in water, which will rot them. Larger pots can cope better without them because the water will sink down to the bottom , well away from the roots. Too much water is as bad as not enough. If you buy the right plant for the right place (most good online sites will show you which plants are suitable for full sun, shade, dry conditions, damp conditions, containers etc) from a reliable nursery and look after it according to the instructions you won’t go wrong. The nurseries I mentioned (I should have given Beth Chatto a mention too) will guarantee your plants provided you follow the care instructions.
Enjoy!

Germanshepherdsmum

Buying plants from the internet is fine so long as you use a reputable site. Amongst my favourites for reliable plants are Crocus, Bressingham Nurseries, Farmyard Nurseries (in Wales), Claire Austin and Cotswold Garden Plants. You really do get what you pay for with plants.

Thank you GSM but as you can probably tell I am a complete novice which is a shame because I have got quite a good size garden to work with as well as pots (I do know that the soil in the garden is clay )Will put a photo of, I think they are acers and Japanese maple which I have had for years and have not managed to kill so they must be quite hardy. Also I don’t believe I have got drainage in some of those pots which I have been told is vital but the big plants in the big pots that I’ve just mentioned they have got no drainage …. anyway with all the horrors that are going on in the world at the moment I do need a hobby and I am going to make my garden my hobby as I do need a distraction. I did get rid of my news apps on my phone and iPad but the news headlines keep coming up anyway ?‍♀️

Buying plants from the internet is fine so long as you use a reputable site. Amongst my favourites for reliable plants are Crocus, Bressingham Nurseries, Farmyard Nurseries (in Wales), Claire Austin and Cotswold Garden Plants. You really do get what you pay for with plants.