Some of our most loved shrubs are acid loving, lime haters – Rhododendrons, Camellias and Pieris are ericaceous and cannot stand to be grown in alkaline soils.

In Helensburgh and the surrounding areas, the soil is most often on the acidic side of neutral but if your soil pH is alkaline or neutral you will need to lower the pH to allow these plants to grow.

A quick soil pH test (available from most garden centres) will give you the answer.

A result below 7.0 indicates your soil is acidic and greater than 7.0 is an alkaline result. 7.0 on the nose is considered neutral, but it’s not all that common to have completely neutral soil pH. Ericaceous plants thrive in soils with a pH between 5.0 and 6.0 but most other garden plants grow best around 6.5 so unless your planning on filling your garden entirely with lime haters, you may want to grow ericaceous plants in a separate border or pots, where possible.

Sulphur dust is the most commonly used acidifying material.

Your soil structure will determine how much material you will need to adjust the pH.

Sandy soils have a much lower cation exchange capacity than heavy clay soils. This techy term means that clay soils are much better at absorbing and releasing nutrients than sandy soils but this also means that clay soils will need more acidifying materials to successfully alter their pH. It’s important to remember that altering soil pH isn’t a one time thing. More material may need to be added at some point as nutrients are leached out of the soil or taken up by plants.

If your lime haters are no longer growing so well or are looking a bit poorly, a good dose of ericaceous fertiliser, a drink of water and an acidic mulch might be enough to bring them round.

But if the leaves are yellowing (more formally known as lime induced chlorosis) you’ll need to get to the root of the problem to decide on the best course of action.

Magnesium deficiencies can be common in ericaceous plants.

It can be spotted by yellowing between the leaf veins (interveinal chlorosis) coupled with reddish brown leaf colouration and defoliation.

If you suspect magnesium deficiency, you’ll need epsom salts to right them. Iron deficiencies can present similar symptoms to magnesium deficiency but the leaves of an iron deficient plant will become completely chlorotic eventually, veins and all. If this is the case, you should apply chelated iron. With a little understanding and the right loving, ericaceous plants will knock your socks off.