Hello everyone
Just a few words this time to say how much we have enjoyed welcoming customers back to our nursery. Thursdays and Fridays have been quite busy (though thankfully not the madness of the past two years) and plants are beginning to perk up after the decidedly cool spring. Some varieties aren’t available by mail order but we have nearly every product at the nursery.
We have just sent a small group of plants off to the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show and hope that another couple of weeks of slightly warmer weather will bring out the best in them. Nearly all of our plants are grown outdoors, which makes them hardy but a little slower to look their best. Natural swimming ponds remain very popular and we have supplied several large projects recently. We are always on hand to offer advice but please do ask before the construction starts, not after you have completed it!
The issue of woodland ponds has come up a lot lately and this will be the focus of a more detailed article shortly. In brief, woodland ponds are very challenging; not many water plants grow in such locations and the large amount of leaf litter creates it’s own problems. Ponds are always best sited in a sunny and open location.
The first few water irises are coming into flower, which we always connect with summer just around the corner. While these beautiful plants can be repotted now, don’t divide them until after they have flowered. At the moment they are producing foliage and flowers but few roots, so if split now may fail to re-establish. After flowering the plants switch to producing new feeding roots to make use of nutrients in fresh areas and the old roots cease to function as anything other than anchors.
That’s all for now, lots of cuttings to take and plants to repot, hope to see you soon
David and Ruth