UK Edition
Helen Yemm: how to grow flame flower, play catch-up with sweetpeas, a pet-friendly weedkiller
Flaming frustration
We were impressed with a climbing Tropaeolum speciosum (flame flower) that we saw rambling through a yew hedge when visiting an open garden a couple of years ago. My dad has twice carefully tried to grow it from seed, with the same lack of results. Is there anything special he should be doing? Melaina Cox, via email
In my experience (and I know that I am not alone), flame flower, a herbaceous perennial climber with tiny but abundant scarlet nasturtium flowers, is the very devil to get established. I suggest that your dad give up on the seed, having tried his best, and go for a couple of young plants, probably grown from divisions and available from specialist nurseries, often to be found in areas where the plant thrives, such as Burncoose in Cornwall, or see the RHS Plant Finder for a mail order supplier. Flame flower requires quite specific growing conditions – roots in shade, upper parts in some sun, adjacent to an evergreen (commonly, as you both saw, yew) where its rambling flowers “flame” the best and, that rarest of commodities in such a situation, the famous “moist, well-drained soil”. Oh yes, and that magic soil has to be neutral to acid. And as so many will testify, even if you provide everything on the list above, it can still fail.
But let’s put all defeatism aside. What a challenge for your dad. The reason I suggest that he acquires two (or more) plants, is that it will give him a chance to try it in more than one situation in his garden – because subtle differences in light, moisture and so on may make a difference. I wish him luck. I am reliably informed it is a certified weed in New Zealand.
Sweetpea dilemma
I sowed my sweetpea seeds in the autumn in a cool greenhouse, pinching them out and doing everything “by the book”, hoping for an abundant crop of flowers (for my daughter’s wedding) in July. Imagine my alarm when they started to flower two weeks ago. I am frantically deadheading, but what else can I do? Angela Hamilton, Canterbury
In your shoes I would cut the plants down by at least half (maybe more, depending on how robust they are). This, while giving them a bit of a shock, should make them start again. Hopefully they will produce another lot of flowers just about on time for the big day.
Give them a weekly “general purpose” liquid feed to start with to encourage their recovery and a high potash one (such as tomato food) as they start to show signs of flowering. But it also pays to have a plan B, just in case this one fails. If you have the space, I suggest you also sow another batch of seeds. At this time of year they will germinate very quickly and should catch up with the cut-down autumn-sown plants. While not being as strong-growing as the originals, they may provide some backup flowers.
In a cat flap
In the days before we had our beautiful cat, we used Roundup on the weeds in the gaps of the paving slabs. What can we use that is safe and will not harm His Majesty, who has 24-hour access to the garden via his cat flap? Hand-weeding is not an option because we are both too aged and infirm, so we find ourselves in need of advice. Rosie Caswell, via email
The niftiest thing about Roundup (glyphosate) is the fact it is totally harmless to pets and wildlife as soon as it is dry, so if you could apply it to the weeds that grow in your paving cracks on a sunny day, your beloved cat would only have to be excluded from the garden for an hour or three at the most. The majority of cat flaps are lockable, as I understand it, so even taking into account the generally contrary nature of cats, this should not be impossible to organise.
However, you could try something different. I recently had a go with a flame-thrower at controlling the frill of weeds that every year embellishes an old brick path in my own garden. The weeds are mostly grass seedlings and juvenile garden escapees, so there is nothing seriously root-y and perennial that would potentially resist the scorching and grow back. I used a butane gas “torch”, a mini flame-thrower with a simple push-button ignition (Campingaz Garden Torch GT2000PZ). Because of the make-up of the path it was a painstaking job to target the weeds precisely, but no grovelling around was involved - as would have been the case with hand-weeding - and the results are promising.