January 2013 News from the Nursery

We would like to wish you a Happy New Year and hopefully an easier year in which to garden.

All quiet here at the Nursery, although we have been sending out plants this week, much to our surprise! We thought no one would be thinking of plants with all the wet weather we have had. What do we know! However it is nice to plan and look forwards and not back. The weather is very mild and some plants are beginning to break out into green buds. I have been tidying up Lonicera’s this morning and the leaf buds have burst.

For sheltered mild coastal gardens the Correa’s are good now with flowers varying from white to green and pinks.

Lonicera winter Beauty is in flower now and for some weeks to come – nice to pick bits for the house.
Chaenomeles speciosa Nivalis is all in bud and will soon be covered in large white flowers – again nice to pick for indoors.
The Jasminum nudiflorum are in flower and make an excellent wall shrub.
Looking forward to spring the Ribes are a useful addition to the garden. We have nice sturdy plants of Ribes speciosum and Ribes odoratum as well as the more unusual Ribes x gordonianum.
The Viburnum's are looking good especially the Viburnum tinus Eve Price they are in bud/flower and would make an empty tub look good for the rest of the winter. The Viburnum tinus Lucidum (also in bud/leaf) is a larger growing variety and makes an excellent wind break.
For spring delight plant a Viburnum sargentii Onodaga the new leaves are a coppery colour with flattened heads of white flowers to follow. Upright grower.
To liven up empty containers plan evergreen grasses like Uncinia rubra or the arching Carex testacea. Trouble free and don’t mind being blown about. Colours look good in the low winter sun.