Greenfingers on the buzzers

ARE YOU SITTING comfortably, fellow gardeners? Then let me present you with the annual Irish Times Christmas Gardening Quiz. We have a couple of tricky questions, but if you’ve been reading this column during the year, you’ll be able to answer them in an instant.

Our main prize – which will go the first all-correct entry drawn from a hat – is a gift voucher for €300 from Mr Middleton Garden Shop, Mary Street, Dublin 2 (also online at mrmiddleton.com, and by mail order catalogue, available from 01-8603674). The winner will be able to choose from among thousands of products including bulbs, seeds, plants, tools, wildlife supplies, propagating equipment and other interesting garden items. The next three correct entries will receive a year’s subscription (10 issues, worth €46) to the Irish Garden magazine, Ireland’s best-selling gardening publication.

You could still be a winner even if you don’t get all the answers, so do send in your entries anyway.

1. Which one of these vegetables is not perennial: globe artichoke, asparagus, courgette, seakale?

2. The words “timely Soviet” are an anagram for what two seasonal plants?

3. What plant has been described by poets as “solitary firstling” (Alfred Lord Tennyson), and “vegetable snow” (Thomas Tickell)?

4. Which one of these plants has a traditional Yuletide connection, Ilex?, Rumex, or Ulex?

5. What is the name of the designer who won the “best show garden” award at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show?

6. Aphids are considered pests because they a) eat holes in leaves, b) suck the sap from plants, or c) leave footprints on petals?

7. The common foxglove attracts bees with long tongues, true or false?

8. What is the genus of the plant in the photo?

9. What do these plants have in common, seasonally speaking: Hamamelis, Chimonanthus praecox and Jasminum nudiflorum?

10. Which of these is not a geophyte: aster, bluebell, crocosmia, tulip?

11. Colony collapse disorder (CCD) afflicts what important insect?

12. Which one of these irises blooms in winter: I. ensata, I. pseudacorus, I. unguiculata?

13. What famous Irish garden is bordered by Lough Veagh?

14. What do the following plants have in common: Acer davidii, Actaea racemosa, and Fritillaria meleagris?

15. The oldest living tree in the world is about 4,900 years old. What is its common name?

16. Where is the above tree to be found?

17. The arched hedges in the photo are in a famous Northern Irish garden. What is its name?

18. Which of these is not a friend to the gardener: ground beetle, centipede, spider, whitefly?

19. What influential Irish-born gardener and writer first published The Wild Garden in 1870 – a book which had two new editions published this year?

20. The wood of Sitka spruce is used in the nose cones of Trident missiles, true or false?

21. The nettle is the food plant for the caterpillars of three Irish butterflies. Name one of them.

22. What is the name of the Irish-born patron saint of gardeners?

23. What characteristic do these plants have in common: Berberis ‘Helmond Pillar’, Juniperus ‘Skyrocket’ and Taxus baccata ‘Fastigiata’?

24. One of the above three plants originated in Ireland. Which one?

25. Holly, witch hazel and rhododendron all have cultivars called ‘Christmas Cheer’. True or false?

26. What is the name of the American landscape architect who designed the public space at Grand Canal Square in Dublin?

27. Arrange these seeds in order of size, smallest first: broadbean, chilli pepper, sweetcorn.

28. What famous Co Laois garden was designed by Edward Lutyens?

29. ‘Widow’s Friend’, ‘Bloody Butcher’ and ‘Irish Peach’ are varieties of what plant?

30. What famous Irish garden was designed by Tassa Eida for the British horse-breeder Colonel William Hall-Walker?

31. Which of these is a fictitious pest: cotton fly, mealy bug, woolly aphid, wireworm?

32. What plant parts are sometimes described as recurved or reflexed?

33. Which of these plants supplies the most nectar for bees and butterflies: Eupatorium, Miscanthus, Phyllostachys?

34. Name the person who will be taking over as the main presenter of BBC2 television’s Gardeners’ World programme next spring.

35. The petals of which one of these plants is not edible: chives, monkshood, pot marigold, viola?

36. If a flowering shrub blooms on last year’s growth, you should prune it in early spring. True or false?

37. The ornamental French-style herb garden in the photograph is in a garden in Cork. What is the name of that garden?

38. At what stage in a plant’s life cycle is it vulnerable to the fungal disorder known as “damping off”?

39. The pale green seedheads in the photo belong to what plant?

40. What does the term “June drop” mean?

ENTRY FORM

To be in with a chance to win, answer as many questions as you can and return them with the entry form below to:

The Irish Times Gardening Quiz, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2 or by email to jpowers@irishtimes.com (no attachments, please).

ENTRY FORM

Name: .........................................................................................

Address: ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Daytime tel:...........................................................................

Evening tel:............................................................................

Email:.......................................................................................

Completed entries must be received not later than first post on Monday, January 10th. The answers and winners’ names will appear in the Gardening column on January 29th.

Employees (and their families) of The Irish Times, and their agents are not eligible to enter. Cash will not be given in lieu of prizes. The prizes are strictly non-transferable. Only one entry per household. The judges’ decision is final.