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I grow almoost all of those on my slightly Alkaline soil ??

To add to Heron's comments, my raspberries thrived in my alkaline soil, pink and white hydrangea do just fine on clay of all forms and skimmia, conifers and berberis are tough old birds that will put up with just about anything.

If you need to put Magnolia on an alkaline soil I know that Stellata is a good one - not sure about the others. The winter flowering heathers are best for lime, which leaves Orchids and Pieris. Dont know about them.

Having said all that well done to you hijuju for posting cos it's really good to get a discussion going about these things, and boo to Miracle Gro for fibbing!

SussexSarah I had a Peris two Magnolias a Photinia and one of those shrubs with purple berries, all were in pots as I was told that they prefer acid soil. On further advice and observation I've gradually planted them all out and they're all thriving. The Magnolias are Stelarta and a lovely pink one called Leonard Messel. I wouldn't even think of planting a Rhodo though I believe there is now one that will tolerate Alkaline soil. Last week I took a big risk as I had an Acer in a pot which suffered in the extreme winter, I planted it out in a shady spot usind ericaceous compost but most of all I used that Micro-fungus stuff.....I've got fingers and everything crossed !!! I think that unless you've time to give them lots of attention, shrubs can get stressed in a pot and would be better off taking their chances in the ground.

One year our neighbours old Magnolia would not leaf up properly after flowering. I talked him into having half a bag of the stuff you bought to give it a go as he was so upset it would die. It perked up really well and has never looked back. He has been in the nursing home and away to the garden in the sky but the magnolia goes on.My little conifers by the steps, low ones, have just a bit on the foliage in springtime, especially the thuya. It makes the new growth more profuse and showy . I am wary of using too much fertiliser,withoutproof that plants are short of some vital element, that's why I water as little as possible onto the ground.

When I first moved into this new house I was really confused - there are the occasional chunks of chalk in the soil - the stream at the bottom runs right off the chalk downs and yet I have a number of rhododendrons and acers and camellias - totally odd.

However, talking to specialist woodland gardeners they seem to think that when you have forest soil (and some of ours is - really peaty in places) the oddest plants can cope with a spot of lime - so I am determined to help build up the organic content of the soil and see if that will help combat the alkalinity - must say some of the camellias on the more clay soil looked unhappy earlier on in the year but not too bad. I did give in though and give them an ericaceous feed but the rhodos in the woodland part have had nothing. I find it all slightly baffling.

It maybe that forest soil is pushed away from alkaline by the rotting down of leaves and the camellias quite like that. I put any leaves I gather up from a large hazel leaf fall under the camellias nearbye. The leaves can be about 2 foot high under the Camellias. They have all gone now ,as if they were never there. A few feet away 2 other camellias do sometimes have some yellowed leaves, no matter what I do. All very strange.