Some herbaceous perennials are best propagated just after flowering. This includes the familiar bearded iris, whose chunky rhizomes lie flat on the soil. Have a look and you will see that some of the rhizomes bear young fans of leaves at their ends, but no flowers. Take an old carving knife and cut cleanly through the tissue to leave a length of rhizome and a fan of leaves. Use a fork to tease the severed joint gently from the soil, dust the cut surfaces with sulphur and press the new piece into cultivated soil so that it's barely covered.
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Alan Titchmarsh: 'It’s all too easy to become swamped by the ‘to-do’ list, but give yourself a little time to savour the moment'Easter is a turning point in the calendar, says Alan Titchmarsh, a 'clarion call' to 'get out there and sow and plant'.
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Rodel House: The Georgian marvel in the heart of the Outer HebridesAn improving landlord in the Outer Hebrides created a remote Georgian house that has just undergone a stylish, but unpretentious remodelling, as Mary Miers reports. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
