Quick QUESTIONS
What is this plant I bought at the charity shop?
Steph Hollins, by email
You bought this plant from an RNLI charity sale but all you know is that it was labelled as ‘indoor’. It is, in fact, a bromeliad, or urn plant, probably a species of aechmea which originate in central and south America. Keep it warm but out of direct sunlight and water it, not on to the compost, but into the urn.
Why is my hellebore flowering now?
Janet Friett, Cheshire
Your hellebore bloomed from December until April and then again in July. I wish I knew the answer to all these unseasonable flowerings. My standard wisteria flowered better in July than it did in the spring. Flowering is such a complex process, involving chemicals within the plant, temperature and day length, all interacting with each other.
My ‘Scrumptious’ apple is no longer scrumptious!
Malcolm Buxton, by email Your tree has produced fruit but about half have dropped and the rest are small. When
you cut them open, there is brown blotching throughout the flesh, not visible on the skin. This sounds like bitter pit, a problem caused by a shortage of calcium, usually occurring in dry seasons. Sadly, there is no cure.
Why are the peppers we grew from seeds from a supermarket pepper not flowering?
Millie Tanner, by email Almost certainly the pepper from which you took the seeds was a hybrid and while the seeds are viable they may well produce no flowers and fruit. To avoid disappointment always choose non-hybrid kinds.