HOWZAT

The old idea of lifting and drying tulips after flowering came about because of the need, in public displays, to clear the space quickly for summer bedding. Nowadays, most parks departments simply throw away the bulbs, since they are so cheap and readily available.

Tulips which have been grown in pots can be left dry, in their pots, somewhere mouse-proof for next year; or, to save space, they can be cleaned of soil once they have completely died down and stored somewhere cool, dry and dark until autumn planting time comes round again.

Q: My local discount store is selling small bamboo plants in plastic boxes for £3 (Phyllostachys bissetii). Will they be any good? The bamboos I have seen for sale before have always been very expensive. - S. Pinto, West Bromwich

A: They will be young plants produced through micropropagation, by far the fastest and cheapest way of producing large numbers of bamboos. Very young bamboo plants, whether seedlings or microprops, always look pathetic and wispy, like little tufts of wiry grass. Don't be put off; at £3 they are a bargain.

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Young bamboos grow by leaps and bounds. Every new cane will be a little fatter and taller until, over the next 3-4 years, you will have a plant producing chunky 6ft stems. The tricky part of rearing small bamboos is making sure you don’t overwater them. Pot them on just a little at a time, and let them become fairly dry between waterings. But also be careful not to let them dry right out; that soon kills them, too. As I say, tricky; but a hugely economical way of buying bamboos. A mature Phyllostachys, even of the common varieties, can cost £30-£40 in a bucket-sized pot.

Q: My Solanum crispum ‘Glasnevin’ is outgrowing its position on a 2m-square trellis. It is much too tall and has many wayward branches. Though these flower wonderfully every May, the branches on the trellis are bare. What do I do about it? Should I cut it back now that it is going over? - Mrs C. Garrett, Isle of Wight

A: Mrs Garrett, really this is too vigorous a plant for a 2m-square trellis, however beautiful those blue potato flowers. It will always want to shoot up the trellis and fling its flowering arms outwards from the top; it is never a plant for neat wall-training. Your options are either to let it romp and then tie its arms downwards over the trellis (a straitjacket?) so you have a bulging swag of stems against the wall; or you could cut it down to 3ft next spring, pinch out the new growth and all the side-shoots very often, and try to make a dense mat of stems on the trellis, from which it can make a renewable crop of long flowering stems. But I bet the Solanum would refuse to be contained. Could you not let it run up into a tree? Myself, I would either let it romp, or have the thing out.

Q: My new garden is a tangle of trees which the previous owners allowed to grow together. Can you recommend a book on pruning? - Mr H. Stamp, Towcester

A: For a comprehensive guide to pruning look at the RHS’s Pruning & Training, published by Dorling Kindersley. If you want to concentrate on trees, read The Pruning of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers by George E. Brown and Tony Kirkham. When Faber published Brown’s book in 1972 it became every tree-lover’s bible, and in 2005 it was updated by Tony Kirkham and re-released by Timber Press.

Good old Timber Press (01476 541080; www.timberpress.com). Who else now, apart from the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens, publishes monographs for gardeners (as opposed to botanists) on individual genera? Where else would an enthusiast find a book solely on witch hazels, hardy gingers, impatiens, ceanothus or viburnums? Some of their books may have an American slant, but it’s still a wonderfully useful list.

Q: Last summer I took some hydrangea cuttings in a big pot but they did not get planted out. They are still together in the pot and I fear the roots will have locked together. Some of them are coming out of the bottom of the pot. Is it too late to separate them and plant them out this season? Must I wait until the leaves fall? - Mrs B. D. Treves, Essex

A: You will probably get away with it if you soak and then tip out the whole potful, pull the plants’ roots apart gently and pot each one up, watering thoroughly for a few days and standing them out of all wind and out of all direct sun until they cease to wilt. A cool, shady porch would be ideal. Put a perforated plastic bag over them for a day, just until the roots are drawing water again. To reduce wilting, you can snip off 50 per cent of the leaves, or shorten the larger leaves by half. If the tips of the stems shrivel irrevocably, pinch them out. Plant them out in the sun after three or four weeks, taking care not to disturb the rootball again.

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