Hi, My purple flowering bananas have gone all winter outside despite our hurricane force December and January storms. I decided to bring them in at the first sign of cold damage to the leaves, but the leaves still show no sign of cold damage and it is now spring. Anyone else in the UK got bananas through the winter outdoors which don't usually manage it? Chini Champa has overwintered outside too this year, but I am near the coast in Devon. I think it did reach -1 C one night!

hello Cynthia....well i will try and answer your questions the best i can!.... A yard to us in the UK is generally considered to be a small area outside your back door,usually covered in concrete with little plant life(maybe the odd weed) A garden in the UK is considered a plot of land,of any size, that has some form of organized plant life growing in it A cottage garden is alittle harder to explain,as its usually a larger plot of land,much like the average size you have in the US,that is crammed with as many plants as you could hope to find!... On a general note,it is so sad to see over here that all these new houses that are being built have such small gardens and seem to be packed so close together..im so jealous of all the gardens i see on this forum with so much space!..i hope this helps alittle!

GardenNerd - I certainly do get seeds posted out to me. I am about to try a few (fragrant) exotics that I got off eBay (you know, the kind that take months and months to germinate and have to be taken in and out of the fridge and kept at ridiculously constant temperatures for certain periods of time, etc. Will let you know how I fare with THOSE!). The nurseries out here do have a great range of things, don´t get me wrong, it´s just that they provide very little in the way of information and when you are a novice, like me, it´s a little daunting. That´s why I love gardenweb! Thanks for your help - I´ll ask my UK contacts to keep an eye out for (fresh!) bulbs in B&Q. I see I am "teaching my grandmother to suck eggs" with the four o´clocks suggestion. They were a revelation to me as I had never in even heard of them. But then, as a newbie, quite a lot of this gardening lark is a revelation... Happy gardening Almeria

+1 Julian. Foxes will do pretty much whatever they want to, regardless of any scent or deterrent. They know full well they're capable hunters, so don't worry too much about other canines or felines. Motion activated lights might work, but prepare to be annoyed if you set them sensitive enough to pick up a fox. That will also catch rabbits, passing cats (who really won't care that much), and strong winds. Eventually the animals get used to it, realize that nothing bad happens, and start to ignore it. Motion activated sprinklers will deter the cat, and probably the fox. Since the event is unpleasant, it should continue to work. Liquid Fence, or a similar product as I'm sure there's one in the UK, tends to deter rabbits and other herbivores, but carnivores are more likely to ignore it or use it as scent cover. For problems with rabbits (I have them most years), I use a spray-on homemade solution directly on the plants they eat. It works beautifully and is completely non-toxic to animals, people, insects, plants, and aquatic life. It just tastes terrible to rabbits. If the turf is intact, put it back down and water it well, keep it damp for about two weeks to give it time to re-root, and then back off on the watering. Grass is really much more resilient than we give it credit for being.