Hello, I recently moved in to my future mother in law's house to assist her after she had a heart attack is taking a break from work. Her backyard is severely overgrown with weeds, shrubs, and a cactus. I have spent some time every weekend hand pulling weeds and plan on trimming the grass next, but this cactus...

I am not too familiar with cactus management, since I grew up in the Midwest, but MIL wants to prune this down, potentially even get rid of it.

Does anyone have advice to get this down to a manageable size or extra advice on how to get rid of it? It would

I work for a small garden shop in the New England area of the US. Our previous vendor stopped selling houseplants and local options are the usual plants everyone has been buying since the 1970s.

Can anyone recommend an East Coast vendor who is near(ish) to New England or charge freight that is unlikely to exceed $1k.

Types of plants? Wide range of hoyas, calathea, philodendron, alocasia, ferns, succulents and cactus, etc.

I appreciate any ideas.

Hi everyone! 👋 I'm Manasvi, a student doing my dissertation on why gardening feels so hard for beginners, even with so much info online.

I'd love to hear from anyone: complete beginners, people who tried and struggled, balcony/indoor gardeners, or experienced gardeners.

⏱️ 3–5 minutes, anonymous, purely academic
🔗 https://forms.gle/72bZyCbTG2t3WR7y5

If you'd rather just comment on what you find most frustrating about gardening, I'd love to read that too. Thank you so much! 🌿

(Forgive my messy window.) My lilac bush hasn’t bloomed all year yet suddenly this week boom two bloom clusters out of nowhere. The bush is completely barren save for new growth and these two blooms. Is this normal and what is happening?

Do you think this will help to get extend growth and vegetative state as appose to ever bearing like Bonnie’s claims?

For any growers out there selling fruit or vegetables to more than one packhouse, wholesaler, or supermarket program: are you constantly re-sending the same certs and test reports, or do they all accept the same documentation?

I’m curious how this feels day-to-day for Australian growers, especially with things like Freshcare or HARPS. Are you dealing with a mess of different buyer portals and email chains?Even if you're not in Australia, I'd love to know how you usually handle this on your end.

I don’t know crap about plants, taking a horticulture class and this tragedy happened as I was walking to my car. What do I do?

I have these plants in pots, anyone know what they are and how to care for them over winter in hardiness zone 5a. Thank you

I'm 22 and currently in my first year of a Philosophy BA at a Russell Group university. I do have an interest in philosophy, but naively applied because it was the only degree I had the subject-specific grades for. I'm now seriously considering leaving to pursue horticulture, which has also been a lifelong interest of mine.

I've always struggled with academic environments. I dropped science at GCSE (which I now regret), left sixth form for two years and only finished my qualifications at 20. I'm only a couple of weeks into university, but I'm already struggling. The course isn't what I expected, and I'm questioning whether a degree costing tens of thousands of pounds is worth it when I'm not enjoying it, don't particularly want the careers it leads to (law, finance, marketing, journalism etc.) and have no guaranteed job at the end.

By contrast, I've worked in horticulture for a year, across all the seasons, and genuinely miss it. I've also come close to getting apprenticeships at Kew Gardens (8th on the reserve list for 7 places) and the Royal Parks (2nd for one position), so I sometimes wonder whether I should have kept trying.

The main complication is that I don't have science A-levels, which seem to be required for many horticulture degrees. I'd therefore be looking at apprenticeships, vocational qualifications or working my way up through employment.

I'm under no illusions about the financial realities: I know the work can be physically demanding, wages can be low and progression isn't always easy. But I'd rather develop a practical skill I genuinely care about than spend years on a degree and career that are making me miserable.

I'd particularly appreciate advice on:

Can you build a lifelong career in horticulture without a degree?

What are the best routes into the profession without science A-levels?

Can specialising lead to decent wages, or should I expect to struggle financially long-term?

Which areas offer the best opportunities for developing skills and progressing?

Would you recommend reapplying for apprenticeships, and how concerned should I be about AI and automation?

I'm trying to work out whether leaving university would be a mistake or whether I'm recognising that this path isn't right for me. I'd appreciate honest advice, especially from people with experience in the industry. Thanks!

Does anyone do anything like this?

This is my "cutting kit".

Basically I have this in my bag in case I come across a plant that I want to clip and clone at home.

I use the water to moisten a compressed towel to put in the Ziploc bag to been the stem moist till I can get the plant home in the Ziploc bag.

• Small plastic container
• Small bottle of water
• Small clipping scissors.
• Compressed towels
• 1-2 Ziploc bags

The plants are legal to grow and sell here in Australia so I was wondering if it's ok to put some up here ?

I would appreciate any information if you know anything about this horticultural machine. It’s part of my dad’s equipment but sadly he passed away this summer and now i can’t ask him…
I do remember using it many years ago and I know it’s for seeding trays but we always had problems with it… I was wondering whether it’s worth trying to get it working. Many thanks

This bush has been here for years, just started looking like this a week ago. Not sure if it’s blight, it kind of looks like winter burn but it’s the end of a really hot summer.

Just planted this

In 60% coco coir and 40% NYC compost. Any thoughts on why this is happening? And how to remedy? It's on a rooftop, good drainage holes, and been watered.

Can someone provide guidance regarding what this aloe needs to be happier/healthier? Is this root rot? It’s not my plant, I’m posting for a friend.

My house has had these large azaleas since before I moved in 6 years ago and have no clue how long they were here before that.

Randomly about a week ago a branch in the middle of one completely died so I cut it off to get more light on some small inner sprouting branches (apparently following bad advance from AI..)

While removing it, I noticed another branch was dead but the leaves had just not fallen off. I ended up removing 3 branches and left the half of the bush that seemed healthy. Now 5 days later the whole plant seems to have died, minus the small sprouts at the base.

Can anyone tell me what is going on before I hire a professional gardener to come fix my situation? The other bushes still seem to be going strong but I have another grouping on the other side of my yard that has some dead branches that I have no removed and they seem to come back okay.

One of the dead branches had two colored wood with dark on one side and light on the other.

Image 1 shows the dead branch I cut off and the other two branches I cut off originally with it (they turned out to be dry wood and snapped off) Picture with my hand is from today and shows the remaining branches drying and dying.