DID you happen to watch the four episodes of The Autistic Gardener on Channel 4? What a brilliant programme – not only because it educated us about the autistic spectrum but also because it was highly entertaining.

The characters of the ‘autists’ came through loud and clear and each one had his or her connection with plants and gardens. Alan Gardener (real name) was an inspiration and a very talented garden designer.

The same cannot be said of a certain other ‘garden makeover’ programme which rates itself very highly. Now I know that the people who get their garden ‘done’ have real needs and real stories, but there is something nauseatingly worthy about the whole tone in my eyes. I look upon them both and decide which one I learned more from and also enjoyed. The clue comes when you realise that you have not looked at the clock once!

The other programme I really enjoyed was Carol Klein’s Garden Odysseys in which she looked all too briefly at four well known and well loved garden plants: the rose, the tulip, the iris and the water lily. I wished that these had been longer as I felt that there was far more to say and show but it was nice to see Carol in her own right and not tagged on to anyone else’s ego.

At the garden centre, we have had a few people ask about their hydrangeas as they have not flowered. This could be for a couple of reasons depending on the type. The cone-shaped flowering paniculata types need to be hard pruned each spring as they produce their flowers on new wood. The lacecaps and mopheads of the macrophylla types flower on old wood. This means that pruning is confined to the removal of dead flowerheads down to the top pair of strong buds in spring, along with the occasional removal of an old stem right to the ground. If you have pruned too hard and a lot of new growth has resulted, there will be no flowers for a couple of years. Watering is another problem. Even though the ‘hydra’ bit of the name does NOT refer to water (as in hydro) as many think, the plants do not like to dry out so if the spring is dry they may not form flowerbuds.

The other thing to mention is colour. Blue hydrangeas are blue because: they are of the blue variety to start off with; they are grown in acidic conditions (as in ericaceous compost around these parts); they have hydrangea colourant (aluminium sulphate) applied regularly; they are watered with rain water; they are fed with the correct feed similar to the ones used for camellias and azaleas. A pink one cannot be changed to blue but a blue can very quickly revert to a rather muddy brown/grey. White stays white no matter what.

Have you noticed how much ragwort there is about? This is a pernicious weed and one that is very dangerous to some animals, particularly horses. Farmers are obliged to remove it from their land as, although horses and cattle would not eat it in its fresh state as it is so bitter, once it has been cut and harvested in amongst hay, it loses its bitterness but not its dangers. On the other hand, it is also almost the prime source of food for the cinnabar moth which is in ‘rapid decline’, and the national flower of the Isle of Man. Makes you look at things in a whole different light!