GQT at Home: A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Questions and timecodes are below. Where applicable, plant names have been provided.

Q – I have heard that you should leave parsnips in the ground till the first frost, but how much longer after that, and where should I store them?

(1 minutes 46 seconds) 

Q – How do you grow a skirret plant?

(5 minutes 10 seconds) 

Christine –

Dahlia

Bob –

Salsify

Scorzonera

Matthew –

Mertensia maritima, Oysterplant

Q – I would like to grow a shrub to use in my flower arrangements. Do the panellists have any suggestions for shrubs that could cope with having stalks chopped off regularly?

(8 minutes 44 seconds)

Matthew –

Pittosporum tenuifolium,‘Wrinkled Blue’

Pittosporum tenuifolium,‘Irene Paterson’

Christine –

Elaeagnus ebbingei, ‘Gilt Edge’

Elaeagnus ebbingei, ‘Quicksilver’

Q – Should I wrap my lemon tree up against the cold? Do I need to take the wind chill factor into account?

(12 minutes 7 seconds)

Bob –

Grape

Feature – Matt Biggs visits the team in charge of growing the Christmas tree for Windsor Castle

(14 minutes 17 seconds)

Nordmann fir

Q – What plants do the panellists love at this time of the year?

(21 minutes 22 seconds)

Christine –

Poinsettia

Amaryllis

Hippeastrum

Christmas cactus

Hyacinth

Winter-flowering cherry

Q – Can I transplant my Corkscrew hazel?

(22 minutes 30 seconds)

Bob –

Corkscrew hazel, ‘Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick’

Hazel, ‘Cosford Cob’

Hazel, ‘Red Skin Filbert’

Matthew –

Hazel, ‘Red Majestic’

Q – Can the panellists recommend seeds that can be sown at Christmas and ready for action by early July?

(26 minutes 46 seconds)

Bob –

Leek

Onion

Christine –

Spring onion

Radish

Tomato, ‘Tumbling Tom’

Tomato, ‘Cherry Falls’

Matthew –

Liriodendron tulipifera, Tulip tree

Q – How do I overwinter a tibouchina plant?

(30 minutes 6 seconds)

Matthew –

Tibouchina urvilleana

Feature – Chris Beardshaw shares the folklore of that familiar festive flora, the holly or ilex

(30 minutes 34 seconds)

Q – Since moving my orange tree into the conservatory for Christmas, the oranges have started growing with knobbles on them. I wonder what has caused this…

(36 minutes 44 seconds)

Q – Have the team ever found a partridge in a pear tree?

(38 minutes 56 seconds) 

Christine –

‘Snowdrop tree’