Ask Gerry

Both last year and this year, my mother's Sweet Pea has a small fly inside in the middle each Sweet Pea flower, and she does't like giving small posies as gifts any more. What is the reason for these flies appearing and how should they be destroyed? Thanking you.

I have an Echium of about 1.20 metres in my garden which shall flower next year. How canI protect it from frost? It will only tolerate up to minus 3 Celsius as I read in one of my books. I heaped some earth around its base and popped a huge plastic bag over it as minus 5 are forecasted for tonight. Oh fright! Would a horticultural fleece do a better job or even bubble wrap?

A friend told me she wanted to tidy her garden and cut her lilies down as they looked very uglyafter flowering. Now she is worried that it might have been wrong and would damage the plants. As I have no lilies myself I could not answer her. The lilies are the ones with leafs directly on the flower stem.

see photo enclosed that are growing in a hanging basket Can you tell me what they areI know one is a geraniums but the not sure what they are

Hi Gerry, see enclosed flower yellow and orange Can you let me know if u know the name of it Thanks Francis

Can you tell me what this flower is? It look like a shamrock 3 leaf with yellow flowers. Not sure if it a real flower or a weed

Photo enclosed Can you tell me if it a weed or a flower? It has blue bell type flowers and green rubbery leaves Francis Sean Donoghue

Should a lupin plant which I have had for a number of years have started to sprout by now or is is likely to be dead. There are no shoots visible.

This year i had a lot of daffodils, and very few flowers, i am wondering should i put some fertilizer on now, last year i waited a long time before tidying them up, it was early May, when i cut them back. What kind of fertilizer should i use?

I bought 2 Agapanthus plants at a garden centre 4 years ago and I planted them in garden and had 1 flower on each the 1st year but only had green leaves and no flowers since,could you tell me reason for this and what I should do to get flowers on them as they are lovely plants.

I have a number of Erysimum (Bowles Mauve) plants. Should these be trimmed back to ground level or just pruned and will they grow back again?

I have 2 agapanthus plants growing with 3 years but have no flowers on them, I had 1 flower the first year but nothing since only green leaves,what is the reason for this.

I have several trays of sweet pea in the green house at present, they are about 6 inches in height, i also have a polytunnell, and wonder should i transfer them there, will they keep growing ,and should i put them in to larger pots, i read about a trial being done , some sown in april, and the rest in Oct. and the latter were the best .

I have had some good success this year with poppies and now have several withered stalks with seed heads. Should I collect the seeds and plant them or should I leave them to reseed naturally? If I should collect and plant, when should I do this?

Could you please identify this beauty which "appeared" in my garden some years ago. Evergreen "hairy" green leaves and dandelion like small orange flowers?