Its that time of year, when we are super busy and I am behind in blog writing, and all sorts of things. I won't mention the ironing pile lol. We will get there, mean time the nursery and gardens look great, the propogation cycle continues, plants out one door in the tunnel, seeds and cuttings in the other.
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Iris 'Katherine Hodgkin'
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As snowdrops go over along come the wee Iris reticulata to carry on the show. The netted iris is a native from eastern Turkey to Iran, but cultivated widely in temperate regions. It gets its name from a fibrous net surrounding the bulb. They are small growing to 15 centimetres (5.9 in), with greyish green narrow, ribbed leaves, and flowers of yellow, blue or purple with an orange blaze on the falls, appearing in early spring. They are hardy, but prefer a well-drained sunny position in soil which dries out in summer. Here are a few I have growing at home and in the nursery.
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| Iris 'Natasha' |
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| Iris 'Pauline' |
Plants with history - Clematis alpina 'Willy' – This plant was partly bought because my Dad Bill, was often called Willie or Wullie depending on the broadness of your accent. I bought it to plant on a fence in my last garden in 2001. It grew in amongst an Actinidia, the pink flowers contrasting nicely with the green, white and pink leaves of the Actinidia. It is now planted on the fence at the entrance to the nursery and I have cuttings ready to take home to my new garden where I will again plant it next to the Actinidia I planted last year on the back garden fence. As with all alpine and macropetala Clematis they are hardy, tough and can cope with a good hair cut when they outgrow their space. Delicate, pink flowers with a darker eye show up well against dark-purple foliage in early to mid-spring and again followed by fluffy seedheads. Best in light shade. 3.5m.
We have been making the most of some lovely dry, milder early spring days here in the nursery this week. The sales area is filled up and looking fab ready for the weekend, the birdies are singing in the hedge and there is frog spawn in the wildlife pond. Isabel spent today putting out all the point of sale signs, including the new ones I posted about at the weekend, so there is lots of info for customers to read and tap into when they visit. I have started the next big nursery job - spring cleaning the stock beds. I got all the V's done today, yes I do start at the end, there is a logical reason for that (not just my back to front left handed brain lol). This involves scraping and brushing the beds, weeding, feeding and top dressing all the plants, making sure they are labeled and ready for sale and then bringing out the new plants propagated last year and potting them and inserting them in the appropriate place in the stock beds as I go. On a lovely day like today its very enjoyable out in the stock beds with my mobile potting station on a trolley. Seeds are popping through already in the tunnel and small nursery dogs think they should be allowed on the trolley too!
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The stars of the nursery garden this week. We are so excited to be opening at the weekend for 2024 and sharing all these wee gems and and all our plants for sale with you.
Things to look out for when you visit the nursery -
New for 2024 - our looking good in the garden this week test tube feature, 5 plants looking good and for sale in the nursery each week. We have restocked with cards from local artist Marianne Hazlewood featuring her beautiful botanical paintings New for 2024, our garden and gardening guide leaflets, free to pick up in the nursery to accompany you on your walk around the gardens and nursery. A different one each month we are open. lots of heathers, perfect for early bee food and colour in the garden.
Thank you everyone who braved the cold weather (and rain today) this weekend, to say hello, have a chat, buy some plants and have a walk around the nursery. Its great to be open again and as you know if you've visited before, the garden just get better and better as the year goes on as does the range of plants.
I've already got to T in the stock beds (staring at the end of alphabet) just in case you think I'm on some super fast caffine or something lol. Plants are starting to come over from the tunnel every day where they've been propagated over winter and will go into the stock beds or sales area. We've also started this years propagation (its never ending). Isabel sowed mouse vurnerable annual seeds 2 weeks ago (they go on the benches in the tunnel so the mice and voles can't get them) and Fiona finished the annuals and started the massive pile of perennial seeds to be sown yesterday. Its great to have Fiona back again this year at the weekend, propagating plants and helping customers and keeping me sane (ish) with our chat and banter. Today I was potting up hellebore seedlings from the garden, the next generation of hellebores that will be for sale next year or most likely the following year. They need that time to bulk up to a sellable size. So as always, as quick as I make space in the tunnels, that space is filled up again with our happy healthy plants propagated here in the nursery. David has also started the path through the scented garden, listing the old slabs and cement underneath, ready to begin the new path.
A day off is never a day off when you run your own business but we try to mix it up with some time out. I had a garden consultation up in the wilds of the Hawick hills today, so we had a lovely run over the remote hills of Tushielaw and Craik. The garden was interesting and right up my speciality garden street, exposed, remote, wild and beautiful with a natural river and a water fall in the garden, whats not to love about that. After we went down to Hawick and had a a walk through Wilton Park and a lovely lunch in the dog friendly Pavillion Café before heading home. Back to work tomorrow as spring is 6 days a week for me.
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