We moved about this time last year and found this strange plant growing near our boundary. The next-door neighbours have a bird table nearby and see quite a few wild birds.

We moved about this time last year and found this strange plant growing near our boundary. The next-door neighbours have a bird table nearby and see quite a few wild birds. We do not recognise this flower. I enclose a basal leaf, buds which turn into small leaves and 'flowers', which have now appeared. Could you please tell us what it is?

Mrs Stimpson, Beccles.

I am pleased to say that you are not growing some hallucinogenic drug in your garden but a rather more common native hellebore - helleborus foetidus, or the stinking hellebore.

The nodding, green cup-shaped flowers are flushed or edged with purple and up to 2.5cm across. The flowers are borne in clusters from late winter to early spring. The leaves do look like a giant cannabis leaf, being palmate and deeply cut. The leaves are dark green or sometimes grey-green and quite thick and leathery. This is an evergreen, almost shrubby perennial that has an unpleasant odour. The plant can cause skin irritation and care should be taken when handling this plant, which can reach a size 75 by 60cm and grows freely from seed.

I have enclosed a leaf from my aspidistra, which I have been growing in my lounge for the last 10 years. It has been growing quite happily together with ivy in a large deep old-fashioned type white sink.

Until now it has grown profusely but this year it has developed brown spots on the leaves. Could you suggest anything I can do to solve the problem please.

Mrs J Dove, Attleborough.

The problem with your plant is a fungal leaf spot which is causing the brown spots and this is not helped by the fact it has outgrown its container.

The fungal leaf spots are usually seen as circular grey or brown areas developing on the leaf. These spots can sometimes join together, causing large areas of the leaf to die.

Leaf spots are unlikely to kill the plant or do much damage other than to look unsightly. The leaf spots are a symptom of the greater problem of the plant being old and pot-bound.

The way to control the leaf spots is to remove all the affected leaves and put them in the bin rather than the compost heap. The use of a suitable fungicide will also help to control the problem. The fact that the plant is pot-bound is also a problem and it would be worth either putting it into a larger container or splitting the plant and only putting the healthy bit back in the sink it is in now. Feed it regularly with a good houseplant food to help it green up and keep it growing well.

I would be grateful if you could tell me how to keep my amaryllis bulbs. I have several - I get them to leaf but no flowers. What do I have to do to get them to flower for this year?

Mr J Smith, Attleborough.

The amaryllis hybrids are properly known as hippeastrum, which means horseman star. Amaryllis has long been a popular plant as it flowers easily and produces big and showy trumpet-shaped flowers which brighten up any dark corner of a room, especially in winter. The flowers can be as large as 15cm and the stems 30-50cm.

There are many varieties, some are slightly scented, particularly those with white flowers. Popular varieties are Red Lion (red) and Orange Sovereign (dark orange). Another example with a sweet fragrance is Apple Blossom in tones of pink and white.

Amaryllis are best grown at a temperature of about 20C and in a bright location. Water generously during the growing and flowering period, and feed monthly even after flowering. The amaryllis usually flowers well provided it is given the right conditions. To get your bulbs to flower you need to keep on watering and feeding the plant for about six weeks after they should have flowered. Then reduce the watering until about September, then stop watering. The leaves should die back during this time of their own accord. Put the plant somewhere dry and frost-free and in spring the bulb will put forth shoots. Then you should start watering and feeding again. The bulb has to be quite large before it will flower so from a small bulb split from a mother bulb it may take as long as five years to reach flowering size.

Is it a good idea to give my daffodils a feed of fish blood and bone when they have finished flowering? Does this go some way to prevent blindness the following year?

B Nixon, Brookville.

Daffodils look their best if planted in groups of about 10 bulbs, or mass planted at random. They should be planted with the nose of the bulb 4-6in below the surface of the soil and at least 6in apart. Plant anywhere in the garden in a free-draining situation, avoiding total shade and close proximity to south-facing walls where the soil temperature is likely to become uncomfortably hot for the bulbs.

After flowering, the leaves should be left untouched for as long as possible as they are building up energy within the bulb for next year's flower. They should be left for six weeks after flowering and, as a general rule, nothing should be cut down before June 1. Daffodils should be left as long as possible before mowing or trimming off. Where they are annoyingly untidy a compromise can be made by trimming anytime after May 25, after which little damage will be done to the vigour of the stock.

Feeding the daffodil bulbs from time to time with potash fertiliser, sulphate of potash or wood ash (about 2oz per square metre) is beneficial but little or no nitrogen is required. Fertiliser is best applied in autumn or very early spring.

A top-dressing of potash applied in the autumn from time to time is beneficial, especially where nutrients are leached by drips from over-hanging trees.

Fish blood and bone is high in nitrogen due to the blood content and is best left for newly-planted shrubs and other border plants. Straight sterilised bone meal should be fine for the bulbs.