My species tulips have been lovely - and they have attracted pollinators
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My neighbours and I made a bit of a mistake with the fence between us last year. Not sure if it had ever been treated to anything and there was a crust of green-ish stuff on it. Maybe algae? Anyway, we treated it to a fungicidal wash, vigourously applied. Where I think we went wrong was in not taking a stiff brush to it next day. Painted over with Ducksback and within 6 months or so, it started coming through the Ducksback. Quite a long fence and quite a bit of it is awaiting a second treatment! Yours looks fab!
Peter
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Nice to see the happy hens
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If itâs an oldish fence, the green crust would most likely be algae. I donât know what you used or what you know, but fungus killer wouldnât necessarily kill algae, as itâs not a fungus. Brushing it off wouldnât make a great deal of difference, as itâs either dead or alive after treatment. The good thing about Roxil Surface Biocide Concentrate is that it doesnât damage the fence (itâs not bleach) and once applied, the algae/mould disappears after a few days. It works.
Ducksback is just a water based wood repellant and doesnât contain any biocide. It will have very limited protection, wonât enrich the wood for colour or replace lost oils and doesnât have any uv protection. Some of these wax based repellents actually do more harm than good. They donât let the wood breathe and can seal in moisture, causing black mould and rot.
Now thatâs a garden.
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Wait until we see a photo of him on a boat fishing in that pond.
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Do you buy it online or is it sold by some of the usual suspects in most towns?
Iâd left some sacks of compost on a garden bench and thereâs a lot of green algal growth so could do with eliminating that before oiling the bench.
Can anyone tell me what this is and whether or not cutting it back once the flowers have gone would be a bad idea?
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Not sure what this is either yet, sprouted directly from a bag of compost Iâve not used, and there seems to be another developing in a pot further down the garden.
Just downloading the Woodland Trustâs tree ID app.
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I buy it online. ÂŁ25 for 5L from Amazon, the manufacturer Safeguard Europe via Ebay or even B&Q online.
This is the one:
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Thanks, saw it on B&Q but as you say online order not for collection.
Good product tip.
It looks like lilac to me. Is it fragrant?
I may be wrong on this identification.
I used to have a large lilac bush/tree which made prolific growth after flowering so I kept it under control and relatively tidy with my hedge trimmer in early summer. It flowers on old wood so best not to prune later on.
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How embarrassing, itâs probably come from the huge silver birch at the bottom of the garden!
Good thought, the previous house owners were keen gardeners and planted a variety of trees and shrubs - not really knowing what was what we let the garden go a bit wild. This particular one is probably over 15 foot now and could do with a trim to let a bit more light in.
If I can reach Iâll try to smell the flowers!
We used to cut a few sprigs of our lilac when in bloom. Lovely fragrance in a big vase indoors.
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Suggest trying the âPicture Thisâ app. Take a pic, it tells you what it is, how healthy it is, how to care for it etc.
Lilac and birch btwâŚ
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Lilac really benefits from dead heading when the flowers fade, so definitely do that if you can reach.
If it has multiple stems it helps the vigour of the plant if you completely remove a few of the oldest stems each year. Best to do this in winter.
Alternatively, if the plant has outgrown its space you can cut the whole plant back to maybe half a metre above ground. The new growth should be healthier, although it probably wonât then flower for at least a year or two.
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Great tips, thanks gents. The lowest flowers havenât opened yet so not much of a scent. Whatever is behind the lilac has white flowers and absolutely stinks when itâs in bloom!
Odd how scale didnât make me think of the birch tree as the likely source (30-40 feet high last year until we got someone to trim it back) .
I wonder how well birch does in large pots/containers as there are a few spots Iâd like to pop some small trees in containers to avoid the neighbours looking over - both sides have new patios which means we can see them above the boundary walls. Pretty sure neither got planning permission.