Embracing Autumn colours, autumn tasks and garden visits

I spent most of last Tuesday in the front and back garden, getting it back under some sort of order, its been a while since the gardens had proper attention. A good tidy and weed, some cutting back, the greenhouse tidied and watered. Thanks to David for cutting the grass meaning I could get on with tidying and get it all done.

Some photos from the back garden.

In th efront garden at home this week

The Coll Collection, No 2. Driftwood

My Uncle Andy was responsible for my love of the sea and beach combing. From a small child he'd take us out on the beaches around Dunbar, searching for rocks, shells, drift wood, anything that could be useful.

When he and Jean moved to Coll nearly 20 years ago, Uncle Andy would spend a lot of his time on the island beaches, sussing out which were best for driftwood, useful things and seaweed for the garden. Many of the constructions and things he built in their island garden came from the beach.

So here is Uncle Andy, Jean and Robbie the dog (who sadly died earlier this summer) on the beach with a useful bit of drift wood

The colour continues in the nursery gardens with the bronzes, reds, oranges and purples ushering in autumn. Softened by plumes of grass flowers and studded with berries there is still plenty to see and enjoy, and of course most are available to buy.

For looking good in the garden this week I've chosen 5 different

Miscanthus flowers. A good way to see all the subtle differences

by putting them together.

Over the past three weeks we’ve been painting the front of the hoose, the final job which finishes off the renovation of the front, until we have saved up to replace the ancient double glazing. Two coats later, all the patches, cracks and varied colours of dirty cream covered and looking much refreshed. With small dog supervision and having to wear sunglasses to paint it was so bright, glad to get this big job done while the weather lasted. Now just to do the two sides, one of which I did start to finish off the tub of paint!

Lots of fabulous autumn colour in the sales area this weekend. If your garden needs an autumn boost of colour consider the wide range of autumn flowering perennials we have in stock or a shrub with great autumn tints. The Parthenocissus, witch hazel and Euonymus are looking particularly good.

Trees still have 20% off, a perfect excuse to plant that woodland you've always dreamed of.

Still a few water plants with 20% and bulbs are are arriving soon.

Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm, see you soon

Another busy week and autumn definitely arrived this week, last week it was warm and sunny this hello autumn, not that I’m complaining, autumn is my fav. The autumn colours in the gardens and nursery are ramping up so if you are planning on buying plants for autumn colour, now is the time to do so as you can see which plants have the best colour

BULBS are on their way, I’m as frustrated as you are they are not here yet, as it leaves us a lot less time to sell them before we close and make our money back! I am really hoping they arrive this coming week, I know a few customers have been asking

Isabel, Fiona and I been working hard going through the list of plants needing propagated for next years stock. Crates of cuttings are filling up in tunnel 2 and the new field stock beds are also filling up quickly. No pressure on David to get tunnel 3 and 4 finished then. He is making excellent progress and I am always hugely grateful for all this hard work he does for the nursery

We were sad to say goodbye to our volunteer Erin who was with us over the summer, she was a great help and good company too. This week we had Shannon join us, she is looking to retrain in horticulture and as Isabel will agree, Quercus is a great place to learn with having the gardens and nursery we can provide a wide range of experience in horticulture

I’ve cut back the poor sweetpeas, they were not a success this year which was disappointing as we usually get a good show, some years you win, others you don’t, such is gardening. I tidied the sweet pea trough so its ready for the spring bulbs. The stock beds also got a weed through and tidy, the weeding is endless this year, I am sure we’d get twice as much done if we didn’t have to weed

On Wednesday the rare Ajuga pyramidalis we have been propagating and growing for Borders Forest Trust were collected by Andy and will be planted in their sites at Gameshope and Carrafran which is hugely exciting

We had our ever popular annual Border Design workshop on Saturday which was fully booked, hopefully it was helpful to all the attendees and thank you to them for buying plants afterwards too. We have several workshops coming up with spaces, you can book on our website on the nursery shop page

Trees still have 20% off and there are a few water plants left with 20% off too

See you next week

SPRING BULBS HAVE ARRIVED.......... Roll up, roll up, get your spring bulbs here (she shouts in her best market trader voice...not lol)

At last our bulbs have arrived and they will be out when we open tomorrow (Wednesday morning at 10am) We are doing our usual fabulous and ever popular pick and mix. Buy however many of each bulb, they are priced individually, so you are not limited to pack sizes A very eco friendly way of shopping, no plastic packs, no waste, just pop them in a paper bag you can recycle and get them planted when you get home

See the photos below for all the varieties we have in stock this year.

Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm

See you soon

A lovely day in the Lake District visiting Holehird Garden which is run by Lakeland Horticultural Society. It was a lovely time to visit with all the autumnal flowers and foliage turning golds and reds. There was the odd shower but it made for great photos over the Lake District hills and Lake Windermere. We had a take away coffee from the Visitor centre as we walked around and David is concerned over how many plants he can now name If you are an RHS member (me) you can get in free, otherwise a suggested donation of £6, which is well worth it. We then drove up to Ambleside where we had a walk around, saw the Bridge House and lunch in the pub, where Maisie was as usual very well behaved. MOre about Holehird in another blog.

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