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Q – I have a passion for cut flowers from the garden and I wonder if the panel can suggest varieties that will keep their looks through a long, wet summer?

Christine – Things like Moluccella laevis – Bells of Ireland – beautiful plants with green spikes and papery green flowers.Ìý

Bunny – Mathiasella bupleuroides – lovely green brack to it, grows to about a metre high, and very hardy. Grew from April right through to Septembers.Ìý Dahlias are brilliant, they don’t start at the beginning of the summer but I’ve got a Blackjack at the moment that is lasting very well.

Chris – I would start with Aquilegia crysantha – strong yellow, tall flower, with a nodding head.Ìý Later in the season, hybrid anemones are very good and are happy to bob around in the wind.Ìý Acanthus mollis too.Ìý Also, look into the wet areas of the garden – the LiguleriasÌý the Rodgersias are very handsome.Ìý Don’t ignore the ferns either – plants like Metusia has wonderful, feather-like plumes.Ìý And Geranium palmatum if you want lovely cerise flowers from May onwards.

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Q – ‘Allotmenteers’ are very interested in biodiversity and we’re concerned about invasive weeds.Ìý Round my allotment there is a lot of Himalayan balsam – is it possible to compost this?

Bunny – I would worry that if they are flowering or setting seed that if you put them in your compost you’re unlikely to get high enough temperatures to kill the seeds off.Ìý I would chop the roots off too because they would probably grow too.

Chris – If you’ve got them in an allotment situation – get a mower or a flail or a scythe and keep them trimmed right down at grass level and then you can compost.Ìý But only if heavily trimmed.Ìý If there is any sign of flower then forget it.

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Q – I’ve a fine crop of apples this year and some are badly cracked – we’ve had a wet summer so I don’t think it’s a lack of water – why is this?

Christine – I think it’s a combination of them having been very dry and then been very wet and the skin has just split under the pressure

Chris - There is sign of scab too

Bunny – I think you just need to hope for better weather next year!

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Q – We have a Mount Etna Broom in the garden which has been there for at least forty years and I’m anxious to propagate it soon.Ìý Tips please?

Chris – Anything that is going to succour naturally or produce plenty of shoots from the base – the best thing to do is to mound up the earth around it, give it a small rise in earth level around the crown of the plant and you’ll find that if you do that it will regenerate from the base that you can take cuttings from.Ìý Or you will find that the plant will rejuvenate itself.

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Q – I used to have a lovely herbaceous border but this summer is has been ravished by escapee lambs which seem able to trip even the most secure fences.Ìý We’re on heavy clay soil, well mulched with manure and can grow most plants.Ìý Are there any sheep-proof plants that would still give some colour in late-July and into Autumn?

Bunny – I don’t think they exist!Ìý You need to get your fences sorted I’m afraid.Ìý

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Q – For the last two or three years my Silver Birch, Snow Queen and Jackmanii have been affected by an orange fungus.Ìý My raspberries have also been affected – is it the same disease and should I give up growing raspberries?

Christine – This is a rust.Ìý It is very common when the weather is as up and down as it is here.Ìý The key thing to do with the birch is to rake up the leaves when they drop and destroy them, don’t compost them.

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