Gardeners' Question Time

Our experts tackle your queries, from sticky lemon trees to wilting olives, straggly Swiss cheese plants to worm-cast woes

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Pippa Greenwood

One of the top experts on pests and diseases, Pippa gardens using organic methods.

Matt Biggs

Matt trained at Kew and has been gardening professionally for more than 30 years.

Matthew Pottage

Matthew is Head of Horticulture and Landscape Strategy at The Royal Parks.

Q How can I bring lasting colour to a sunny front garden on London clay?

Sam Brown, London

A MATT B SAYS First, improve your clay soil by forking in plenty of homemade compost, so you can grow a wider range of plants. Suitable options include cheerful, ever-reliable geums, such as vivid orange 'Totally Tangerine', bright red 'Mrs J. Bradshaw' and deep yellow 'Lady Stratheden'. Deadhead them to extend their flowering season.

Roses also like clay. Try the shrub rose Bring Me Sunshine, whose apricot blooms get paler with age. Interplant with alliums, such as 'Purple Sensation', putting gravel in the planting hole to improve drainage. Hardy geraniums would thrive here too, including long-flowering violet-blue Rozanne, and heucheras are an ideal edging - try 'Green Spice', whose silvery-green leaves have bold purple veins.

A MATT P SAYS As you're in London, which has much milder winters than most of the UK, I would suggest you take a trip to a large garden centre and check out their range of hebes, or woody veronicas. Their evergreen foliage provides yearround interest, while the pretty flowers are good for pollinators.