Read the latest from the garden of our gardening editor, Roger Fox:

I've won the battle with the possums which attack my Camellia sasanqua blooms each autumn - I'm sure thousands of gardeners will be fascinated by this piece of news! Admittedly, my plantings are not very extensive. I have two short hedges, each about 4m long and 3m high. But those of you with similiar compact shurbs might like to try my idea for keeping the possums away ...

After using various sprays to stop the possums, I decided the only sure approach was a physical barrier of some sort. So I went to a landscape supplier and bought several metres of an extremely lightweight weedmat - it looks like a sheer black fabric and weighs next to nothing.

I cut a length which was slightly longer than the hedge itself, stuck a wire hook in each corner, and ran it from one end of the hedge to the other. While it left a few of the top-most flowers still exposed, the main display was ‘wrapped up' and left untouched by our marauding marsupials.

Of course, there is one down side - you have to be disciplined enough to hook it up each evening and take it off each morning. But I reckon that's a small price to pay for enjoying an intact autumn flower display.

And if it all sounds like too much work, try spraying the unopened flower buds with one of the bitter-tasting possum deterrents, such as Poss Off. Just remember to reapply it after rain (if you're lucky enough to be getting any!).

Good luck!

Roger

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