Glorious Spring, flowers, plants and gardens abundant with growth

 I honestly don't think I could squeeze another plant in the sales area. Its never looked so good and so colourful (that blue sky does help though). The shrub tables are filled up, the seasonal tables are full, everything is full. I might need to make more tables for the annuals that are due to come out the polytunnel!

Seriously though, there are some choice, gorgeous plants now for sale. Lots of great trees, shrubs, herbs, alpines, water plants, climbers (6 new varieties of clematis in stock), grasses, rhododendrons and Azaleas, heathers, perennials, roses, fruit plants including trees and blueberries are now in stock, plants for shade, some great Hellebores in 3 varieties, pots, compost and garden sundries.

We are open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm.

See you soon

Heuchera and Festuca

Festuca and heathers

Sunset or sunrise? Its up to you First painting for a while and probably be a while until another but I really needed to sit down and unwind tonight.

A busy day on Thursday in the nursery then a 2 hour drive to take my broken laptop through to the family tech guru middle son Jamie. Tea with him and Natasha, a wander around their garden handing out advice and planting new plants I took them, a look at all the DIY they've done in the house and a look at the failed laptop. Home via a diversion, another 2 hour journey, but great to catch up and hopefully some files retrieved off the laptop.

Quercus plants travel far and wide to new homes

Work in the nursery continues a pace. Seedling are being potted up in the polytunnel by Sam and she's been doing lots of cuttings too, prop is almost a full time job in the nursery. Propagated plants going into the farm tunnel at one and and plants propagated last year coming out and being potted to go in the stock beds. I'm still working through the stock beds, tidying, potting and labelling. Its looking so much better, still a way to go. The dry weather continues, so watering is also a major task at the moment.

Chaenomeles speciosa 'Nivalis'

Highlights from the nursery and gardens this week

Clematis alpina 'Willy'

Clematis alpina 'Willy'

Clematis macropetala 'Markhams Pink'

Clematis macropetala 'Markhams Pink'

Lysichiton camtschatcensis

Lysichiton camtschatcensis

Lysichiton camtschatcensis

Narcissus 'Hawera'

Papaver atlanticum

Spiraea x arguta

I love when a colour combination comes together. This wee border is all about orange, white, yellow and deep purple. Starting in mid April with the Narcissus 'Thalia', then the Tulips, while the origano and Lysimachia joyfully clash their foliage colours together. Euphorbia joins in the riot, ending with Euphorbia griffithii, Solidago and Crocosmia in late summer through to autumn. A year of colour in a small border -

Orange yellow planting cornucopia border:

Bergenia ‘Bressingham White’

Euphorbia amygdaloides ‘Purpurea’

Euphorbia ‘Fireglow’

Heuchera sanguinea 'White Cloud'

Lysimchia ‘Fire Cracker’

Narcissus 'Thalia'

Origano vulgaris 'Aurea'

Smyrnium perfoliatum (Chiltern seeds)

Tulip ‘Apeldoorns Elite’

A warm sunny day was perfect for emptying and spring cleaning the greenhouse. The Pelergoniums have moved out for some fresh air and a good soak. All the tender display plants have moved out into the display area for summer. The plants that will be for sale have been moved out from under the benches into the space I’ve made where they can get better watered and more sun. The grape vine has been tied back up and everything had a goos brush done and water. The night temperatures are to be good for the next week onwards so I’ll leave the Pelargoniums out for a few days to breath, Everything has been fed and top dressed with fresh compost. Here’s to summer.

Bulbine frutescens

Aeonium 'Zwartkop'

Echivera

before

Emptied and waiting for new trays

Exotics out for summer

In between house chores, food shopping and Maisie's check up at the vet we managed a wee walk along the Tweed on Monday. The cherry blossom is gorgeous and lots of wild flowers out too. The cherry blossom was a joy to see and I've felt much better in the past week or too, but some potentially worrying news today means I need to work extra hard to stay positive.

Cardamine pratense, Lady's smock or
cuckoo flower

Sunlit woodland flowers - again its been a while since I had time to paint but I'm pleased with this foray back into sunlit woodland landscapes

On Tuesday we visited Culzean Castle gardens and grounds. We were lucky with the weather and enjoyed a wander. Its a lot of years since I was last here and I'm sure its changed a lot. Plenty of colour to see and its all dog friendly, so Maisie had a great time. Bluebell woods at Culzean, an unexpected highlight. The scent was amazing there were so many. FInished off with a a walk down to the beach below the castle and some sea swimming for Maisie. Then off to Kilmarnock for dinner with Ben. Here are a few highlights. I'll be doing a blog on our visit later.

Bluebell woods at Culzean

Belated birthday dinner for eldest son Ben

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