October 2015 News from the Nursery

With lots of sunshine and the moist ground from the rain in August, the gardens are looking very good for the beginning of October.
Hardy Fuchsias are looking splendid – they have a very long flowering period which is only brought to an end when the wintery weather comes along.
Also looking good are the late perennials like Asters and Sedums, great for the insects like moths and bees, which are so important in the garden.
Astelia banksii and A.nervosa Westland are useful evergreens for containers to give winter interest. They require good drainage and a sheltered spot – happy in light shade.
For those looking for really low ground hugging plants, check out Leptinella sqalida 'Platt's Black' or the slightly taller grass Seseleria caerulea with its striking silver-green leaves.
Thinking small and compact – Sarcococca hookeriana humilis the mound forming ''Winter Box'' will give you evergreen foliage and lovely sweet fragrance from the small white flowers in winter. They will thrive in shade.
We now have a new crop of Hydrangeas varieties available. Plant them now for long lasting flowering displays next year. Easy to grow, just remember not to prune all the shoots back at the end of the year. Some older branches can be taken out to ground level when the plant is well established, to encourage new shoots to form – but in moderation!
Now is also a very good time to plant evergreen hedging. We have a nice selection of Buxus including the plain green B. sempervirens, B. sempervirens Elegantissima with bright white variegation and the dwarf B. sempervirens Suffruticosa for edging or a low neat hedge.
Finally can I recommend the much under used Bupleurum fruticosum. This lovely evergreen shrub has blue-green leaves and umbels of tiny yellow-green flowers for months through the spring and summer. These are followed by equally attractive seed heads. It makes an ideal companion for the herbaceous border or as a stand alone specimen. It also makes a good wind and salt tolerant hedge.

December 2014 News from the Nursery

Yesterday the last day of November, I had a wander around the garden and jotted down all the plants in flower. I finished my list on a grand total of 43. These included hardy Fuchsias which go on flowering until the weather goes wintry, for example F. glazioviana and F.hatschbachii. The same goes with Salvias, shrubby and herbaceous. Lavender stoechas Papillon was a surprise, but I suspect the four flowers just coming out will get damaged by the cold weather forecast later this week. Several Rosemarys were looking good like Rosmarinus officinalis Prostratus and in flower, as were the Vincas (good for winter tubs) and Coronilla valentina glauca.The lemon in a pot will have to go into a tunnel now and be fleeced when the cold snap arrives - no doubt some of the flowers it has now will be lost.
When fleecing plants like the evergreen citrus don't forget to remove it in the daytime if it warms up, to stop any mildew forming. This also saves the plant being starved of light and so weakening it. Do not over water.

The weekend weather here was amazingly mild 15ºc on both days and no wind. I did some tidying and dug out a couple of plants, because it was so mild. I was surprised to find many active ladybirds which I found a new sheltered home for. It just goes to show that the tangley plant which we think is unsightly is just the job for beneficial insects.
We have a large Myrtus communis (Myrtle) in the garden and it is heavily laden with its wonderful black berries. I have cut some for the house. I am not the only one who likes them – the Blackbirds and a shyer Song Thrush are also enthusiastic! Nearby a large red leaved Berberis has been stripped of its berries in the last week by the birds, including our Blackcaps.
We thank you for your custom in 2014 and wish you a good Christmas, New Year and 2015. Do not forget our Gift Vouchers for gardening friends – something to spend in the new year when things start to look up again.

April 2014 News from the Nursery

If your soil has dried out after the prolonged wet weather it is now a good time to lift any grasses that need splitting and replanting sections with lots of new shoots.

We have had several conversations with people who have lost Lavenders that were newly planted late last year. We always think it is best to plant early in the season, so that they are well rooted in and settled before autumn and winter wet and cold weather.

The sales of hedging plants have been very good this spring. Many people are not replacing fencing panels, as they were being blown over the following week!

In this business we are always looking to have plants ready for the coming season, so at the
moment, before they are potted on we have in 9cm diameter pots :Sedums for late summer / autumn.
Penstemons for summer and autumn.
Geraniums
In 2 litre pots we have Libertia ixioides Tricolor, which has fabulous dark foliage and white flowers which are just in bud.

March 2014 News From The Nursery

The sun is now beginning to have some strength and quickly warms up greenhouses and tunnels. To stop plants undercover getting soft and drawn up, make sure to have plenty of ventilation during the day. The newly emerging growth will be susceptible to frost damage, so keep some fleece handy if a frost is forecast.

Some plants seem to have come through all that the winter weather can throw at them without turning a leaf. One such plant that always catches my eye in the winter garden is Euphorbia mellifera. This large Euphorbia needs a protected position out of cold winds, except in mild areas. The leaves are unscathed and lustrous green. In May the reddish brown flowers smell deliciously of honey.

Another shrub that tolerates everything, including gardens by the sea is the double flowering gorse (Ulex europaeus Flore-Pleno) they have are just coming into flower and will soon be scenting the air with their coconut fragrance.

Many evergreen plants in our area are showing signs of wind burn and salt damage. The large Luma apiculata Glanleam Gold in the garden is looking very scorched on the west facing branches. This is damage which we get when the wind is fierce off the sea, it looks pretty terrible until the damaged leaves fall off and new ones come through. Don't think you have to remove branches or shoots as it is unlikely to have killed anything into the mature wood – just be patient and look the other way for a few weeks!

February 2014 News from the Nursery

There is no disguising the reality of our prolonged wet and windy spell of weather. Due to the mildness of this winter, we have not had to take plants in because of the cold freezing the compost solid, but more to dry them out and reduce root death from waterlogging.
Thankfully unless a garden is flooded, once in the ground the roots cope well with wet spells. When exposed to extreme windy conditions and wet soil, shrubs and trees can be blown over and need straightening up, firming in and re-staking where needed. Cover any exposed roots and its a good idea to check tree ties.

Any herbaceous and grasses not pruned down are now looking rather the worse for wear and need cutting down before the new shoots emerge and get damaged in the process.
Some plants like Helleborus orientalis, Pulmonaria Blue Ensign and Sissinghurst White are coming into flower, what a welcome sight they are.

I can't wait to start splitting things up and getting on with potting, but I must confess the miserable weather puts a damper on things.

There are plants that bring scent as well as colour into the garden at this time of year like Coronilla valentina glauca, with its deep yellow clusters of flowers, flowering for months and giving wafts of its fruity scent. Planted in a sunny position it really performs.

My clump of Iris unguicularis has been good this year and due to the battering weather I have been picking the flowers. They last well in water and can be picked in bud and then they unfurl indoors.

I have been writing these notes to the background noise of a chainsaw, as another casualty of the weather is dealt with. A large Hawthorn, which made a bushy tree prized by us as part of the sheltering boundary on the windy westerly side of the nursery. We now have a gaping hole in our defences and a favourite nesting site for our birds is no more. We do fortunately have an inner defence of some Griselinia littoralis, which we will allow to grow up higher in front of the gap.
In coastal areas Griselinia is much used as it is tolerant of salt air and windy conditions. Its smooth, glossy lightish green leaves always look good. Another storm proof hedging plant for coastal and other areas is Elaeagnus x ebbingei, which has a darker leaf – silvery underneath and small highly scented flowers in late summer.
The large growing Fuchsia riccartonii is also very tolerant of coastal and other windy conditions and although not evergreen gives good shelter as it filters and slows the wind down as well as flowering for months.

December 2013 News from the Nursery

We would like to thank all our customers for the orders they have sent us during the year – much appreciated in what has been a challenging year for sales. Can the weather for 2014 be any more challenging – I hope not!

At the moment, as I sit at the kitchen table writing this, we are having gentle December weather, light wind – dry – and on the verge of sunny. Ideal for doing jobs that would be unpleasant in rain or snow. The blackbirds, many are new arrivals from Scandinavia and Germany, insist on scratching and pecking all the old leaves out from under my Bay Laurus noblis onto the path, which will become slippery when wet. I think I shall brush them up and tuck them behind my Camellias where they can root through them for food without making a mess. The annual invasion of continental birds have eaten lots of the berries in the garden. We do still have some autumn colour on deciduous plants, but leaves are falling quickly as we have now had a few frosts.

The evergreens are becoming more noticeable now and proving their worth in the winter garden. There still plants that flower in these winter months that give fragrance above flamboyance.
Sarcococcas are very fragrant and prefer shade. Viburnum x bodnantense Dawn have flowers on and off for months and smell good. Correas which are selling well are unfortunately not fragrant but have nice neat evergreen leaves and flower over a long period – they need a position out of cold drying winds, but are well worth growing. They can also be grown in a container for a cool conservatory or sheltered porch.

Rosemarys are also plants that flower intermittently through the winter and early spring months. We have Rosmarinus officinalis Haifa starting to flower now. This is a low growing variety for trailing down walls and banks or over a big pot. Rosemarys need sun and good drainage.

For a Christmas gift to a gardener who would like to browse our site and chose their own plants, we have our Gift Vouchers. Delivery can be arranged for when the recipient is ready to take the order.

Happy Christmas and A Prosperous New Year

November 2013 News from the Nursery

To say its wet around the nursery would be an understatement and we have more forecast in the form of weather fronts approaching from the Atlantic. Because plants in pots are more prone to staying too wet we have been taking some into tunnels with net sides with plenty of ventilation things like lavender, agapanthus (which also get root damage in pots from hard frosts) some of the Salvia's we grow also have to be taken in for the winter. If they were planted in a well drained sunny site in the garden they would be fine and shot away in spring but being in a small cold pot on a windy exposed nursery bed is quite different. So we put Salvia Phylis's Fancy and Wendy's Wish inside and some of the shrubby ones like Pink Blush and Christine Yeo if we have room, as they get so battered on the outside beds, if we don't have room we prune them down when they make new growth and they quickly regenerate. Last winter I lost my Salvia Wendys wish, it was shooting out from near the base in spring and then was killed by late very cold weather. This time I shall try and remember to protect it with fleece or mulch over the shoots.

The gales of late have unfortunately broken some plants down that would have normally given many more weeks of interest in the garden. Herbaceous and grasses might look better if damaged and askew to be cut back now. Any shrubs that have had damage should definitely have broken shoots/branches removed cleanly. Trees might require professional attention especially if any danger of damage to property.

Ensure planted up tubs have a space between ground level to allow water to drain away. Buy pottery feet from garden centres or improvise with stones or pebbles or half bricks for large containers.

Apart from it being a bit wet and windy now is an excellent time for planting as the ground is warm. Use boards to avoid compacting soil if working on the borders. The plants will develop a root system over the autumn and winter and grow away quickly next year.