Q. What herbs, flowering plants, and succulents can I plant in my north-facing window in Islamabad? I am quite new to gardening but very enthusiastic. Also, please suggest some indoor plants for the same room.

A. Most herbs prefer a decent amount of sunshine, but you may find the following suitable: lemon balm, parsley, chives and mint. As for flowers, you may like to try peace lilies, phalaenopsis orchids, and both pink and yellow forms of oxalis. Most succulents do surprisingly well in north-facing, low-sunlight locations, especially if they are protected from cold winds. For indoors, a selection of plants with attractive foliage is your best bet. These include: Spider plants, money plants, snake plant, peperomia, calathea, begonia rex, lucky bamboo, cetenathe, maranta, fittonia, Swiss cheese plant, rubber plant, parlour palm, dieffenbachia, tradescantia, zebrina and asparagus ferns. It is a good idea to have more indoor pot plants than you actually have space for, keeping the extra ones in very light shade outside and, once a week, rotating say six of those indoors for six that have been building up their strength outside from good exposure to natural light.

All your gardening queries answered here

Q. My husband has been posted from Lahore to Islamabad, so we will be moving soon. I want to take most of my extensive collection of pot plants with me to our new home. How best to transport them and will plants used to the Lahore climate be okay in Islamabad?

A. Moving lots of pot plants is tricky and expensive and, unfortunately, there is bound to be some accidental damage along the way. You will need covered — not open — transport, otherwise the wind generated while travelling on the motorway will wreak havoc on them. Each pot should be tightly packed with bhoosa [chopped straw], sheets of strong cardboard or something similar, to prevent it banging into the adjacent pot and breaking them both. Tall plants with many leaves should be secured inside protective sacking. Pots should be packed to prevent them from sliding around or falling over as the road surfaces are far from smooth. If the weather is reasonably cool, transporting the plants in early morning or in the late afternoon is ideal. If temperatures are high, it is best to move the plants after dark. Under no circumstances, transport your precious plants during the heat of the day. Otherwise, tightly packed and covered as they will be, they run the risk of being baked alive! Not knowing exactly which species of plants are involved, I cannot, with any certainty, say whether or not they are climatically suitable for Islamabad.

Q. Do you have any information about hybrid willow trees, and if they can be grown in the Gharo-Dhabeji area in Sindh? What are they called here? Where can I get saplings or do I need to import them?

A. A hybrid willow is a cross between Salix alba and salix matsudana. Incredibly fast growing and grossly thirsty trees, the species is not climatically suitable for your location and requires very different soil conditions too.

Q. I brought some bushes of blackcurrants, raspberries and gooseberries from Germany almost two years ago, and planted them in my Lahore garden. Initially they were fine, but they have not grown in size, the leaves keep going mouldy and falling off and they have not given any fruit. Some of their branches have also dried out. What should I do to improve their health and make them bear fruit?

A. Blackcurrants, raspberries and gooseberries need a winter chill period of at least 8 weeks, with temperatures below 7°C, before they will successfully bear fruit. Lahore does not get this kind of winter weather. These fruit bushes are also prone to mildew when grown in unsuitably humid conditions, hence the mouldy leaves. If you have a relative or friend residing in the more climatically suitable, mountainous north, give the bushes to them before they die off completely.

Q. I saw a YouTube video about propagating rose cuttings by sticking them into a potato and planting that. Does this really work or is it fake news?

A. It will work, but you are also liable to get unwanted potatoes competing with the rose for space, nutrients and water. The reason it works is that the potato holds moisture, which encourages the cutting to form roots. A better method is to plant rose cuttings directly in soil/compost and keep them properly watered.

Q. I live in Bahawalpur, and want to make a landscaped garden in front of an office building. Which type of perennial shrubs and plants should I use? This is a project assigned by my university teacher and I need your help to fulfil the requirements.

A. Please do your own research as it is you, not I, who is studying for a university degree!

Please continue sending your gardening queries to zahrahnasir@hotmail.com. Remember to include your location. The writer does not respond directly by email. Emails with attachments will not be opened

Published in Dawn, EOS, February 13th, 2022