Gardening: cuttings

Greenacres, which supplies a wide range of gardening sundries, recommends its liquid sulphur as a treatment against black spot. I have never treated mine, preferring to choose varieties that have an inbuilt resistance, but sulphur is a known and effective fungicide. Ironically, it was the Clean Air Act that increased the incidence of black spot on roses. Sulphur pollution was reduced dramatically and the spores of black spot multiplied with joy. The manufacturers recommend doses at three-monthly intervals in autumn, winter and spring. 500ml (enough to treat about 10 rose bushes for a year) costs pounds 9.50 from Greenacres, PO Box 1228, Iver, Bucks SL0 0EH.

Conservation work has been going on for several years at Leighton House in Holland Park Road, London, to restore the richly evocative interior of the house, as dilettante artists saw it in 1885. Now, with the help of a grant from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, attention has turned to the fine garden, where Lord Leighton once strolled under swoony pergolas of roses. To coincide with the restoration, the Friends of Leighton House have arranged a series of winter lectures on garden themes. Next Tuesday, Christopher Wood, an expert in Victorian paintings, will talk about Painted Gardens, watercolours of the late Victorian and Edwardian era. Tickets (pounds 8 to include wine) are available from the Curator, Leighton House Museum, 12 Holland Park Road, London W14 8LZ (0171-602 3316).