Although the Wisley-based RHS gardening advice service receives
relatively few enquiries in January there is still much to do. By
April we will be very busy indeed and to get ready for the rush we are
updating and extending our advisory problem profiles and checking suppliers, particularly of pesticides as these tend to change frequently, and gardeners are unsure what insecticides, fungicides or weedkillers are available.
All our enquiries are recorded on a database, imaginatively called the Advisory Management Tool
which automates the process so that we can efficiently handle
eye-watering numbers of enquiries, and it also records what we have
done.
In
2008 we answered more than 57,000 enquiries from RHS members. Only RHS
members can seek one-to-one advice from our team of experienced staff -
find out more here.
We also answered another 16,000 at RHS flower shows. Any visitor to our flower shows may seek advice from the advice desk at the show, of course (next one is the February RHS London Plant and Design Show).
All visitors to the RHS website can browse our advice profiles, calendar of what to do, and the Plant Selector and Plant Finder. The only restriction is that full access to the RHS Plant Selector is for RHS members only.
In advising gardeners it is not all give - we learn a lot about what gardeners do and what they want. For example the Advisory Management Tool
can tell us what plants people want advice on. This helps us choose
which advice profiles to prepare, what Help and Advice pages to publish
in The Garden, identifies areas where we need to do research and the information is passed on others in the RHS to help them do their work - the book publishing arm for example.
Fruit and vegetables
are much more popular now than in recent years, and we feel that the
rise in interest in enquires for box, yew and lawns reflects more
people making new gardens after moving house following the recent
housing boom. Unfortunately potato blight and box blights are also involved here:
Top twenty plants in 2008 (Position over last ten years):
1. Apple (3)
2. Rose (1)
3. Prunus - especially choosing good ones (5)
4. Acer (maples, especially Japanese maples) (2)
5. Rhododendron (8)
6. Tomato (9)
7. Pear (not ornamental pyrus) (55) - Unfortunately pear rust is involved
8. Clematis (4)
9. Plum (12)
10. Camellia (7)
11. Viburnum (18) - especially Viburnum beetle
12. Wisteria (10)
13. Box (19)
14. Magnolia (6) - especially how to prune them
15. Raspberry (21)
16. Lawn (23)
17. Hydrangea (11)
18. Orchid (17)
19. Potato (42)
20. Yew (40)