Special feeds for special plants

For some plants, ordinary feed just isn't enough. Orchids, for example, need magnesium and other trace elements; even fuchsias are particularly greedy feeders which need more potash than the average soil can provide while they're flowering in late summer and autumn.

For plants like these, buying a feed that's specially formatted to suit their needs is a shrewd move. You'll ensure that those nutrients which your soil can't provide are there when your plant needs them.

As well as specialist orchid and fuchsia feeds, in our garden centre we have fertilisers formulated for acid- lovers like rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias, full of the iron and magnesium they need to avoid leaf yellowing and produce those explosions of flower in late spring.

Citrus like lemons, limes and calamondin oranges enjoy a high-nitrogen food in summer, when they're in full growth, but like to switch to a more balanced feed in winter, to help keep them healthy and avoid premature leaf fall.

Also available in our garden centre are high-phosphate feed for free-flowering African violets, root- strengthening potash rich feeds for bonsai trees and low nitrogen feeds for slower-growing cacti. Please ask the staff in our garden centre in Athlone for more information and advice about specialist feeds for your plants.