"November comes and November goes........

.......With the last red berries And the first white snows.  

With night coming early, And dawn coming late, 

And ice in the bucket And frost by the gate.  

The fires burn And the kettles sing, 

And earth sinks to rest Until next spring."

 -  Elizabeth Coatsworth

Aster (Symphyotrichum) pilosum var. Pringlei 'Monte Cassino'

This is a very floral blog post with the last hurrah of colour from the nursery as we close up our 2021 season. Its been a very busy year, with many new customers and our regulars coming back frequently to see what new plants we have added to our stock list and what new gardens we have created. Never more have I become aware of just how amazing a following we have developed in person in the nursery or on line on social media in the last year or two. We have been through some trying times with covid,  disasters in the nursery and personally. The support and care has been amazing and not something I ever expected but it has been so much appreciated, especially in October this year when we were continually beset by disasters. 

Aster (Symphyotrichum) novi-belgii 'Marie Ballard'
and Aster (Symphyotrichum) pilosum var.
Pringlei 'Monte Cassino'

Aster (Symphyotrichum) pilosum var.
Pringlei 'Monte Cassino'

Helianthus 'Ms Mars

Helianthus sunflower 'Mongolian Giant'

Fagus sylvatica Atropurpurea Group

Helenium 'Chelsey'

Aster (Symphyotrichum) novae-angliae
 'Herbstschnee'

Echinacea purpurea 'Brilliant Star'

Scabiosa caucasica 'Perfection Blue'

Cornus alba 'Sibirica'

Cornus alba 'Sibirica'

Rhododendron Azalea deciduous 'Satan'

Heuchera 'Blackberry Jam'

Eupatorium maculatum Atropurpureum Group 'Gateway'

Rosa rugosa

Sedum spathulifolium Atropurpureum Group

Berberis thunbergii f. atropurpurea 'Red Chief'

We are gradually tying up all the loose ends to do with the fallen tree. I can't fault our insurance company, they have been great in getting everything sorted, payments made and covering almost everything. The remains of the tree still standing will be taken down in the next week or so as its too much of a risk to leave and the rest of the fallen tree will also be removed. We re-potted all the plants, piled up loads of broken pots, trays, tables and debris, skip hire next. The roof of the office will get fixed when the roofing company schedule us in. We have the use of one of the farm polytunnels over winter so all the young plants that were in the crushed tunnel are again undercover. The best news is that because I knew the make of the greenhouse, turns out they could sell me the replacement parts for the pieces damaged in the tree fall. So the frame has been reconstructed and I'm just waiting on the replacement glass being delivered and I can get that fitted. Meanwhile the plants are all back in and it is wearing a very fetching temporary plastic covering and bubble wrap though we are fortunate the weather has been unseasonably warm so far. So my greenhouse will live to grow again

With all the uncertainty of the Whitmuir Farm sale I've been holding off finishing planting up the new Winter Garden. Then last week in a fit of what the hell and I need something positive to do I decided to plant it up anyway. After all, if we have to move, what's another 30 plants to dig up Although the Winter Garden won't really be seen by anyone in winter it will have lots of colour and interest all year round and lots of flowers at the back end of winter / beginning of March when we open again for the next season.

A lot of people have been asking me what happened with the farm sale. In all honesty it became the least of my worries after losing Bracken nearly two weeks ago. The closing date came and went on the Tuesday, eventually on the following weekend we had to go and ask what was happening. They had three offers, all of which were rejected. The plan seems to be to leave it on sale for another month and if there are no other offers take it back off and put it back up next spring / summer, which then delays an outcome by another year. There is also talk of not selling for another 2 years. After all the stress of the past few months not knowing what is going to happen with the farm sale and the impact it may have on Quercus, you can imagine we are fairly (ok very) frustrated. We have great plans for Quercus expansion but really can't invest money and time doing that when we don't know whether our future is secure at Whitmuir or not. As a businesss owner it is very frustrating to actually hold a thriving business back when it could achieve so much.

So the reality is we are still living in limbo unless I win the lottery which is also unlikely.

Today I spent some time doing root cuttings of Echinops. This is a great way of producing more plants, especially as Echinops plants can be quite slow to bulk up. These roots were from some plants I have been potting up.

Firstly use the fleshier parts of the roots and cut them into approximately 10cm lengths. Remember to keep them the right way up (though plants will sort themselves out in the end). Next half fill a pot with compost (I used a 3 litre pot) and stand the root pieces, top end upwards around the pot. once you have placed the pieces of root, fill the rest of the pot and water. Make sure to label them and put them in a corner of your greenhouse or polytunnel over winter. Give them an occasional water and hopefully in spring there will be lots of new shoots appearing and so lots more plants to bulk up your planting or give away to friends

There are many herbaceous plants that easily propagate this way including Papaver orientalis, Japanese anemones and Acanthus.

This IS an exciting photo. This is the new glass for my greenhouse delivered today by Lothian glass, which means by the end of the weekend I will have a fully functioning greenhouse again, I'll get the bubble wrap on and the heater on and we are good to go for winter and closing up. Good timing as temperatures are about to drop next week. Being able to save my greenhouse and keep it going has been a bright spot in the last few weeks. Long live Robinsons greenhouses and many thanks to The Greenhouse People for all their help and the replacement parts, this 30 year old greenhouse will live to see many more years.

After a day of glazing and fettling we are almost there with the greenhouse. Bubblewrap and heater on tomorrow and we are good to go for the winter weather thank you David for yet again dealing with my greenhouse it must be love, either that or the divorce papers are in the post

All the autumn colours on our last weekend of 20

Aster (Symphyotrichum) novae-angliae
 'Badsey Pink' and Cortaderia selloana 'Pumila'

Cortaderia selloana 'Pumila'

Gentiana sino-ornata

Miscanthus sinensis 'Malepartus'

Sedum (Hylotelephium) 'Herbsfreude'

In the last weekend we got the greenhouse re-glazed, the bubble wrap up and the heater on. All ready for winter now and just in time before the temperature drops. Tender plants in the polytunnel and covered in fleece and other tenders are in the shade tunnel covered in a plastic cover and more fleece.

All ready for winter now

Well that's all Folks for 2021! Can you believe its the end of October already? I can't. Thank you so much to all our customers who visited the nursery and gardens this year, who purchased from us and all the support and positive encouragement through the year and especially in our more trying times this year. Its all very much appreciated. We are off for a much needed break and then will be back and forward doing all the winter jobs needing done. As you know I'll be on our social media chatting about plants and gardens

Take care for now

big thanks from Rona and David x

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