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RHS website - does anyone else find it unusable?

13

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  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Re the requirement for "well-drained moisture-retentive soil":  that sounds impossible, but when you consider that a lot of herbaceous perennials originated in sloping meadows (think lower Alpine slopes full of flowers...), it makes a lot of sense.  Harder to replicate in the average garden though.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I admit I don’t understand how something can have sharp drainage and be moisture retentive. I suppose it means that water does not pool and the plants never sit in a puddle. Personally I don’t find the terms any more useful than “partial shade”. 
  • Chris-P-BaconChris-P-Bacon Posts: 943
    I can't remember the last time I accessed it. Far better horticultural websites available IMHO.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I find the site much slower than most when it loads which I suspect is down to the ISP that hosts their website and not BB connection speeds.
    As mentioned previously it's annoying when almost every plant in their database needs the mythical 'moist but well-drained soil' 
    I do like to buy plants that have an AGM though so often reference it for that info.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    And they have useful things like lists of plants for pollinators too so it's not all bad.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,360
    edited May 2022
    Sorry to get all pendantic, but I don't think I've ever seen 'moisture-retentive, well-drained' as an RHS requirement (but if you can find one, I'll accept I'm wrong). They tend to have the following:
    Poorly drained (ie: wet)
    Moist but well-drained (ie: need moisture but don't like to sit in the wet)
    Well drained (ie: quite dry)

    As @Liriodendron says, most plants will be happy in the 'moist but well-drained' situation because of where they've evolved and because plants do need both water and air and if they're not adapted to cope with excessive amounts or excessive lacks of either then they need both, whether or not we find it hard to provide. It also usually means they will tolerate quite a wide range either side of that. And if they will tolerate more of one extreme than the other, then they indicate that by saying 'Moist but well-drained, well-drained', for instance. 

    It may seem contradictory, but I don't think it is. And it may seem too vague, but again, we all know that the same plant will perform differently for each of us based on a unique combination of location, climate, microclimate, position, growing medium, aspect, etc etc. so anything more specific would probably be misleading.
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
     Apricots flourish in deep, fertile, moisture-retentive but well-drained soil”

    https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/apricots/grow-your-own
  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,360
    Aha! I accept I was wrong - I tend to use the Plantfinder for plant info, rather than the chattier general sections, and I don't think that is used there (I suspect it's a database vs an article format, but I don't know).Though you have reminded me that when I do chance upon something in one of those sections I tend to search for the plant separately in the database for growing information, and I suspect I started doing that due to the lack of clarity in the other sections in comparison. Which is in itself a problem! 
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I agree the RHS offer lots of good aspects. I like that they have finally come over to some gardening for wildlife after pushing against for decades. I’m sure the shows are great, though I have not been. I didn’t personally give the magazine o the best, too full of ads for me. 

    One total waste of time is the “plant stockists” listing. I really don’t know why they have it or keep it on. Nurseries or shops may have had that plant for two months six years ago. No help at all and misleading to suggest they still might have it now. They never do, in my experience. What benefit to anyone? 
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Sorry @Fire, but I disagree. If you are looking for a rare plant, there may only be 1 or 2 nurseries that stock it, in which case the plant finder can be very useful.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
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