Care Guide

All our products come with a care guide specific to your order. Here are our general care details for all our products. You can also apply this advice to all your plants!

Position
While we all have an idea for the perfect plant for a particular spot, plants have their own ideas. So it's worth taking a few minutes to understand where your chosen plant prefers to be. Choosing the right plant for the right place means your plant will thrive. First is to understand where it lives in the wild, woodland plants are likely to enjoy damp soil and dappled shade, while those flowers you spotted on a holiday in the med will like bright sunshine and dryer conditions.

Watering

Getting watering just right can seem tricky, and most people over water rather than under water. So before you go in with the watering can, check the soil, if it's damp to touch, leave it, no need to water today. If it's dry, give it a drink. A good soak once or twice a week is far better than a sprinkle every day, and saves you time too! In very hot weather, hanging baskets dry out very quickly, as there isn't much soil in them, so do give these a check daily if it's been a hot dry period.

Deadheading

This simply means snipping off the dead flowers once they're past their best. Deadheading not only tidies up your display, but also encourages more flowers.Use a sharp pair of scissors or your fingers and pull off spent flowers to the next set of leaves (node) below. 

 

Pests & Diseases

We're not the only ones who enjoy our flowers, and while we actively encourage bees and butterflies to our gardens, other creatures are less welcome. We do not advocate the use of pesticides here at Red Kite, so here are a few alternatives:

Green Fly / Black Fly / Aphids
Spray with a mild solution of soapy water and rub them off with your fingers (use rubber gloves).
Spotted a ladybird? Gently reposition her/him on your affected plants as they eat aphids.

Slugs and Snails
The gardeners nemesis! There are lots of things to try, and it is best to use these in combination with one another. 

Apply a copper ring around plants or use copper tape around pots.

Crushed egg shells, sand or grit is uncomfortable for them to slither over.

Hand picking them off plants in the evening. 

Beer traps. Submerge a container into the ground with beer in the bottom attracts them and they fall in. Must be emptied daily.