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Q – Can you suggest and bulbs, flowers or shrubs that rabbits will not devour?

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Christine – See what plants are surviving in your neighbour’s garden and plant those quick

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Matthew – They don’t touch euphorbias in my experience - the milky sap is an irritant

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Eric – Apple tree’s

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Q – I have a 25 foot (7.6 m) columnar juniper ‘skyrocket’ which seems to be coming to the end of its natural life. What would the panel replace it with for similar effect? It is a walled garden and needs to remain narrow only up to 4 foot (1.2m).

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Christine – Amelancier anifolia ‘Obelisk’– gets up to around 20-foot-high (6 foot) and would not get to 4 foot (1.2m)

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Matthew – An upright cherry called prunus ‘spire’. Or a ‘Fastigiate ’juniper or blue arrow (Juniperus scopulorum).

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Q – What is the best use of spoil from a ground out root of a conifer tree?

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Pippa – Don’t mix too much into the soil as it does use up some of the soils natural nitrogen content and that would need counteracting. I would consider getting rid of some of it. Incorporate some into a compost but you would need a lot of other material going in as well.

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Q – I love sculptural allium (‘ornamental onions) in my borders – but they don’t seem to repeat beyond a year or two. Can you recommend any variety’s which might have greater longevity or any tips on how to get them to last for longer?

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Christine – Deep planting helps – much deeper than suggested to about 6-9inches (15cm-23cm). As soon as they finish flower don’t allow them to go to seed but remove the fading flowerhead as that often helps.

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Pippa – They may be getting too wet over the winter which may cause root loss and maybe bulb loss. Get a lot of horticultural (not builders) grit as I am convinced it would be winter wet setting them back.

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Q – Part of my garden adjoins a river – what native planting would look natural here and survive the slightly tidal setting and sometimes hard frost

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Matthew – Yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus) – it will thrive in wet soil. I would plant with that flowering rush Burtomus umbellatus.

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Pippa – Marsh Marigold

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Christine – some of the Cornus (Dogwood) to give some anchorage for the plants.

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Q – Some friends of mine have a gleditsia tree (honey locust) which has outgrown its original space. Is it possible to cut through the large branches to reduce to its height by 2 or 3 metres without damaging the tree?

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Pippa – You will need a professional tree surgeon or arborist

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Matthew – and you might need to get permission and advice

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Q – Any suggestions for roses, clematis, or some other climbers for a bed that has been created by a half-fallen apple tree. I would also appreciate suggestions for a low hedge to encase the area and be attractive to insects and other wildlife?

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Matthew – Romantic rose climbers such as ‘Madame Alfred Carrière’, ‘White Cloud’, or Ìý‘Wollerton Old Hall’

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Christine – I would go for the Potato vine either the white or the ‘solanum crispum’ (Chilean potato tree) or ‘Actinidia kolomikta’ (Variegated-leaf hardy kiwi). All of the annual climbers things like the °Õ³ó³Ü²Ô²ú±ð°ù²µ¾±²¹â€™s, ²Ñ²¹²Ô±ð³Ù³Ù¾±²¹â€™s, Ìýcup-and-saucer vine (Cobaea scandens).

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Pippa – Perennial sweet peas, annual sweet peas – they are magnets for pollinating insects. Clematis montana ‘Freda’or clematis ‘Polish Spirit’.

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Matthew – Don’t plant a hedge, plant lavender instead or Teucrium (Germander), or Nepeta (Catmint)

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Christine –Step Over Apple Trees

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Q – We have 2 chestnut trees in our garden, and they have the canker – what is the future of these trees?

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Pippa – Have a really good look at it and see if it has black damp patches on the trunk or if it has the leaf minor which is less serious.

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Matthew – With canker nothing can be done

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Q – We were given a truffle tree for the future generations to enjoy – what would the panel choice as a heritage tree or shrub for the garden?

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Christine – I would go for a deciduous tree – a larch relative Pseudolarix

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Matthew – A Bramley Apple Tree

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Pippa – An Oak tree

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Eric – For a smaller space I would go for a Rowan Tree