Crossword Our Plant Special bumper puzzle, plus how to buy back issues
ACROSS
8 Rhubarb genus’s space, you might say (5)
10 Genus of plantain lily – turns to ash (5)
12 Innermost whorl of flower’s petals – local or otherwise (7)
14 Colourful annual with funnel-shaped flowers – starts off favourite! (7)
15 Another name for salsify – as plenty rot off (6,5)
16 A series of Penstemon named after Enigma Variations composer (5)
18 A named Hypericum and a famous Cotswold garden (7)
20 Mused about the stonecrop genus (5)
21 Flax genus – hidden by chervil in umbellifers (5) 23 Bellis perennis: considered as weeds in lawns (7) 25 Vetches grown for green manure – aster surprisingly! (5) 26 A pink oriental poppy once loved by Kermit the Frog? (4,5) 27 ____ virginica or Virginian bluebells – renames it differently (9) 29 Term applied to maples with patterned trunks and branches (5-4) 31 Much coir I moved for the endive and chicory genus (9) 33 Medieval Spanish hero’s red, single-flowering fuchsia (2,3) 35 Senegal translated a cultivar name meaning graceful (7) 36 Citrus fruit – worthless thing? (5) 37 Separate out plant roots – from Protea seedlings (5) 39 Tall narrow plant container for an elongated plum tomato? (4,3) 41 Like texture of powdery mildew (5) 42 Tree of Platanus genus – seen around Heathrow? (6,5) 44 ‘Love-in-a-mist’ plant – the TV cook’s first! (7) 46 Acer ___, the paperbark maple (7) 47 Moisture-retaining material for the garden (5) 48 Eg pea or bean seed (5)
DOWN
1 The nasturtium genus (10) 2/45 Loaned girl … the wild daffodil (4,4) 3 Basal part of leaf surrounding stem – in cress, heather (6) 4 Quercus trees a feature of Epsom in June? (4) 5 Term for eg a strawberry seed – one scattered hence (6) 6 Pink dandelion flower’s partly mediocre pistil (6) 7 Rose-bay shrub (genus Nerium) – affecting one alder (8) 9 Lesser periwinkle is Vinca ___ (5) 11 Another name for gladiolus – silly word, possibly (5,4) 13 Genus of a silvery foliage plant – Maria ties loosely (9) 17 Spanish gorse genus – in nitrogen is tainted (7) 19 Papaver somniferum’s addictive produce (5) 22 Hortensia version of Hydrangea
macrophylla (7) 23 Poisonous plant of Apocynum genus – no badge, sadly (7) 24 Trees of Picea genus (7) 25 Clover – not the lucky sort? (7) 28 Pollen-receiving flower parts – bad signs? (7)
29 Pond plant Acorus calamus, makes fragrant paving stone? (5,4)
30 Gardeners’ World stalwart provides some periwinkle information (5)
31 Churchill’s home for a tight-headed lettuce resistant to mildew (9)
32 Heavy-cropping cordon tomato – a cash cow! (5,5)
34 A spiky, burgundy red dahlia – not a rich sort (4,4)
38 Tangelo, deadheaded, contains a pond weed genus (6)
39 A pink-purple pompom dahlia – endless palm-oil mixture (6)
40 Genus of aromatic labiate herb… in allotment (half-hardy) (6) 41 Unearth (3,2) 43 Umbelliferous plant genus – French friend holds end of eryngium (4)
45 See 2 down SOLUTIONS TO THIS MONTH’S CROSSWORD WILL BE PRINTED IN THE NEXT ISSUE
DECEMBER’S SOLUTIONS
ACROSS 7 Butcher’s broom 10 Thalia 11 Stroll 12 Pulse 13 Can 14 Elin 15 Blossoms 16 Eruca 17 Thatch 19 Thymus 21 Whips 22 Ramsons 23 Morus alba 24 Libertias 27 Phlomis 29 Heman 30 Oberon 31 Cornus 32 Slugs 33 Arborist 35 Pith 37 Air 38 Heart 39 Laddie 40 Disbud 41 Christmas rose. DOWN 1 Stools 2 Crepis 3 Rosebuds 4 Amicia 5/22 Wake-robin 6 Hibiscus 7 Bethlehem 8 Heliopsis 9 Ballerina 10 Tiny Tim 18 Aconite 20 Marilyn 21 Wilts 24 Lambs ears 25 Rootballs 26 Scots pine 27 Photinia 28 Mustard 29 Heuchera 32 Spruce 33 Autumn 34 Red top 36 Hebe.