Spring with a sprinkling of winter

As I write this post tonight about pond plants now in stock the irony of the rain hammering down outside is not lost on me. At least we know the plants are well watered as are we gardeners.

We have marginals, oxygenators, aquatic plant baskets, aquatic compost and these lovely fritillaria in flower, the bees love them so great for planting to encourage our wee buzzy friends

So if you are looking for pond plants pop along and see us. Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 5pm and bonus Easter Monday too.

Its great to have Isabel back this week and hopefullly we can power on with the stock bed tidy up and all the potting needing done.

Our sales area is full of fabulous plants ready for Easter weekend. There's lots in flower through the nursery gardens and even more plants waking up after winter. Enjoy a wander and then shop for the plants you saw on your walk around.

We are here to help with all your garden and plant queries, shop in our wee shop for lots of fab vases, pots, seeds and so much more gardening bits n pieces and are stocked up with peat free compost, outdoor pots and metal garden sculptures and plant stakes.

Hamamellis (withchazel) were really popular earlier in the year and we have two lovely orange varieties left, once they are gone their gone until next March

Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 5pm and Easter Monday as a one off treat.

See you soon

Been meaning to visit for a while?

We're on your to do list?

Looking for hardy tough plants that stay out all year at 850 feet above sea level.

Looking for a different inspiring garden built around challenging conditions (clay soil, wind, wet soil, shorter season, north facing, high up on the side of a hill.

want to visit a plant nursery with knowledgeable staff who love to help customers choose the right plants for their gardens

looking for unusual plants, old garden favourites you rarely see any more or a large range of ornamental grasses and herbs?

Here are some of the many many lovely things customers have said about us to encourage you to visit.

If you have visited why not share in the comments why you love Quercus or leave us a review on google or here on facebook, it helps people see us in searches and know they are visiting somewhere worth visiting.

What with the weather over the past months, honestly its been so wet and cold for what feels like whatever and I’ve been so busy with the nursery I’ve hardly had any time in my own garden. I’m trying to enjoy the spring flowers as I dash in and out to the car but really need soe dr warm weather just to spend time and potter there in the evenings and work through the to do list….

Its a long one but bare with me, its story time

No one ever tells you when you start to run your own business that’s its like riding a roller coaster EVERY HOUR of EVERY DAY (I don’t like roller coasters). That actually its preferable if you are an adrenalin junky (I’m not) If it’s not the weather, it’s the economy, if its not that the roads closed for repairs or we get hit with yet another storm, or its too wet, too sunny, too dry, there’s too much water, there’s not enough water. A batch of propagation has failed and you have to start again, plants die and there’s no obvious reason why, they are living things, they just do. The admin is endless, and gets worse the bigger the business, I after all am all about the plants not complicated forms and weird financial formulae.

Then there’s marketing, hoping people see you, hear about you, come visit, buy things and come back, maybe they will tell their friends, but what if they don’t see that advert and don’t get me started on that fickle beast social media, when it works it a great way of reaching people but when it doesn’t and the algorithm changes and you have no idea what works this week, next week or when ever. You joints ache, your muscles beg for a day off, your brain decides enough is enough and goes into forgetful mode. Your body is telling you’ve worked this outdoor game too long in all weather, I mean 40 years, I’d have been out long before that if I’d committed a crime.

BUT would I have met all the amazing people who have become dear friends over the last 11 years of owning Quercus, would I have turned my life around and achieved something amazing when I was told I was useless. My careers adviser at school said all I was fit for was working in a shop (I mean I kind of am), but its my own shop where I get to create an amazing space for people to enjoy after a wide ranging career in horticulture. Would I have inspired people to give gardening a go, plants plants they never considered, helped people achieve their garden goals, absolutely not.

Would I have become confident and learned so many new skills (including all that dreaded admin), got to try out many garden design ideas and share them with others in our Quercus gardens? What if I hadn’t taken that leap of faith and bought the nursery and turned it into an amazing thriving inspiring business, what if what if what if. I used to laugh years and years ago when people said I should have my own nursery and yet here I am.

Don’t get me wrong, some days, quite a few days, I want to run for the hills. But when we have a great day with lots of lovely customers, helping them achieve their garden goals, when the Quercus team pull together in the sh*ty weather and have a laugh, when I help the team by passing on my years of knowledge, when I drive home exhausted but knowing I am absolutely in the right place doing the right thing then it is totally worth it.

I never had a career plan, I took job opportunities that appealed as they came along (you can read all about it on our website) I wont bore you here. All of that has added up to now and 40 years on from that first Easter job in a local nursery I can say despite the good and bad of each job its been amazing. If the very quiet shy 15 year me could see where she would be 40 years later she would never have believed it. So the moral of the story is, make the leap, give it a go. After all how do you know you can fly if you’ve never have the courage to jump?

PS this was not the post I set out to write and Isabel will be wondering what happened to the weekly round up I said I was posting tonight (the pictures will do the talking for this weeks round up) I just wanted as I do to very quietly celebrated the beginning of my horti career at Conifox Nurseries at easter in 1986! Ah the eighties were the best time to be a teenager but that’s a whole other essay.

The grass stock beds spring clean finished

Isabel putting new propagation in tunnel 3

My helper

Newly potted plants headig to the stock beds

Easter Sunday snow

Whitmuir creme egg cookies

It was cold apparently

First stock bed finished

Foggy start to the day

Tuesday and a great afternoon and evening through in Irvine celebrating eldest Ben's birthday with Cheryl and all the dogs. A walk on the beach ice cream and enjoying the warmth and sunshine then dinner before heading home.

Love my wee family

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