The house of Tesselaar insists that locally we need to put tulips and hyacinths into a paper bag and into the crisper of your fridge for six weeks prior to planting in late April or early May, so that the soil is cool. That creates a gentle break to their dormancy. Potted bulbs need to be kept in a cool spot until foliage grows to 10cm tall and then move to a sunny spot. Fertilize only at planting time and after flowering.

Common faults with planting bulbs are that novice gardeners try putting fertilizer into the planting hole, which causes foliage burn or if using organic pellets can create the ideal conditions for fungal basal rot on daffodils in particular. Best use just water-soluble fertilizer in the twice-yearly application. Also, purchase and plant at least 5 of any variety, since the speckled effect of lots of varieties in small drifts is not that imposing.

If your curiosity was aroused by the “Ponytail” item in this column recently, you may be interested to know that Heynes Nurseries on The Parade at Beulah Park, have Nolina recurvata (syn. Beaucanea recurvata) and Nolina stricta (its much rarer relative) for sale in several different sized containers from 2 year olds to 8 year olds.

Tree Dahlias are starting to bolt to the heavens, so that’s when they need feeding or else their autumn-winter show will be a bit dismal. The respond best to watering with seaweed or kelp extracts on a fortnightly basis and a slow release fertilizer that’s high in potassium and if you use organic pellets use them sparingly!

Annies’ Vincas that I recommended to you a few weeks ago are now sturdy little flowering tufts about 15cm high and as wide, so it’s feeding time for them too. I used Phostrogen controlled release this morning and in a few weeks when that response is to be seen, they will get seaweed extract too. The alginates in seaweed and kelp products crib a few months of autumn, so that warm climate plants don’t get the early onset of winter and stop flowering.

This is a good time to strike conifers from cuttings. Pull short side shoots (10-15cm long) with a heal and place 20 to a 12cm pot of six parts sharp sand to one part of copra (peat substitute), covered with a plastic bag and sealed with a rubber band. No need to ventilate. Water by immersion.

Place container in a shaded spot, not on full sun! Variegated conifer cultivars are seldom propagated from cuttings, since they root too slowly. Those are grafted onto green rootstocks of the same species. Also with conifers and most shrubs, if you take the leading tips of the plant your progeny will have strong tip-dominance, so if you want low shrubs or compact forms, then take only laterals for your cutting material.

If your curiosity was aroused by the “Ponytail” item in this column recently, you may be interested to know that Vadoulis Garden Centre at Galwer, have Nolina recurvata (syn. Beaucanea recurvata) for sale in 15cm (6”) pots, as 2 year old plants that are a good buy, if you want a potted plant that will last 40 years!

It’s time to prepare a patch for Sweet Peas. Select a spot in full winter sun and erect a support of at least 3 metres tall, then dig the soil and top dress the surface with garden lime at the rate of about 100 grams per square metre. Then into the rows that you will plant your seed 15cm apart line out superphosphate at the rate of 30grams per running metre and cover with a low mound of 5-10cm high. Into that mound you plant your seed 3cm deep.

Do not use any other fertilizer as being a legume they make their own and any copper compounds added could kill your plants. If the soil is dust dry, water a week before planting, however if slightly moist do not water until the Sweet Peas emerge. If you have seed left over from last year, that should still be OK to use, as the seed remains viable for 4 or 5 years once opened from the packet.

This rather mild and humid summer has caused havoc with many low rainfall native trees and shrubs. Hard to believe that too much rainfall or cool conditions, causes problems, but the scale insects have gone ballistic this year, especially on trees like the “Coral Gum”, Eucalyptus torquata, as well as the small round coccid scale that stains your fingers cochineal red went squeezed.

Treatment on large woody trees is not really an option, but withdrawing any additional water certainly is. The extra water causes soft lush growth and that is perfect for the scale or psyllid to colonise. The black sooty bark is a fungal condition, also caused by too much water and high humidity as well as poor air circulation. All of which should give you some ideas as to control in future.