Gardening Crossword
by Eddie James
(gardening theme with a mixture of straight and easyish cryptic clues)

Across

A winter flowerer, which, we hear, has green-brown hue (10)
8/24 Engaged girl’s popular summer bedder (4,6)
10 This weed can irritate the unwary gardener! (6)
11 Down-to-earth propagation technique? (8)
12 AA Travel can supply shrub with hollyhock-like flowers (8)
15 One sign of a worm and the French build a fortification! (6)
16 Half-hardy annual held by Jane, me, Sian (7)
17 White powdery coating of fungi, harmful to plants (7)
19 Hilda a variety of this showy perennial! (6)
21 Collection of stony figures in a formal garden (8)
22 Tool for the pushy sort of weeder? (5,3)
24 See 8
26 Small island hidden by arabis leaves (4)
27 Like leaves of e.g. Euonymus fortunei 'Silver Queen' (10)

Down

Deciduous tree – spread on the brassica plot? (4)
Footwear ruined by hose! (4)
Rhododendron, strictly speaking (6)
Heavy, sticky soil (4)
One Ribes variety is Candytuft! (6)
Modest countryside home giving its name to an informal type of garden (7)
Just one of Van Gogh’s famous bloomers! (9)
13 Summer bedders make a mug stare (9)
14 Heather – or another girl (5)
15 This eastern country helps make mulch in abundance! (5)
18 Deciduous shrub: the species gracilis has pure white flower clusters (7)
20 With which rocks may be spotted (6)
21 Asher’s broken trimmers (6)
23 A source of honey, some chives (4)
24 Vegetable grown to win prizes in Staffordshire? (4)
25 Holly’s in Brazil, exploring! (4)

Solution
Copyright © E. James 2001.