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Our spring flowering bulbs are now in stock - check out our range of Alliums, these are essential plants for the early summer border.
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Camassias are ideal for naturalising in a damp border or meadow, and look lovely en masse, flowering in April and May
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You can plant bare root bearded irises now, for beautiful large flowers next year. 'Party Dress', pictured above, is one of our favourites.
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And here is another favourite 'Black Swan', with dark purple, almost black falls. Bearded Iris need full sun and a free draining soil.
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We've decided in this newsletter to show you a little bit about some our nursery operations, such as mail order, plant fairs and plant propagation.
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Here are some plants being prepared for a mail order. As far as possible they are sent in their pots, upright in the box, caned and packed with newspaper to protect them against damage in transit, and to maintain some air around the foliage.
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All ready for collection, these plants will be with our customers within 24 hours. Most of our packaging can be recycled or reused, we are working towards using 100% recyclable materials.
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Here are seedlngs of Carissa macrocarpa, a frost tender evergreen plant from South Africa (its common name is 'Natal Plum', though the fruit are inedible). Its main feature are the delightfully scented white flowers. We hope to have some small plants of these for sale soon. |
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We grow a lot of ferns from spores. Here are spores from a Polystichum frond laid on a piece of paper. As it dries the spores are released, they are then sown on the surface of some sterilised compost. Months later there will be lots of baby ferns to be pricked out in clumps. There can be billions of sporelings, so it's slightly impractical to prick them out individually!
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We attend several Plant Fairs in East Anglia, here is our stall at the Suffolk Plant Heritage Plant Fair at Helmingham Hall in Suffolk. These are hard work (very early starts for most of them!) but we enjoy getting out and about and meeting gardeners and other nursery owners. These are an excellent way for you to meet and get advice form the people who grow your plants.
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Last but not least - please consider hedgehogs, and try to cater for them in your garden.
- You may well have hedgehogs in your garden but not be aware of them!!
- Be very careful if you're tidying up, many hogs are injured or worse by strimmers, and nests can all too easily be disturbed by a bit of over zealous tidying.
- Bonfires pose a real hazard, if you must have one rebuild it to an adjacent area before lighting, and check carefully for any nesting/sleeping/hibernating hogs as you do so.
- Only feed with non-fish based cat or dog food. DO NOT feed mealworms, peanuts or sunflower seeds, if you feed the birds with these place a tray underneath the feeders to catch any spillage and remove before nightfall.
- Leave shallow dishes of clean water out.
- Leave holes in fences so hogs can roam.
- Make yourself a cup of tea and take a few minutes to study more essential information given by the expert people who rescue and restore to health injured or sick hogs, such as our local rescue, Poppy's Creche, Make sure you know how A. to recognise when a hedgehog needs help, B. how to give it the correct immediate care and C. where to take it should you find one.
- I keep a book mark to this excellent page on my 'phone, so I have the information to hand.: Find a hedgehog rescue
As gardeners we can take a vital role in halting the decline of these wonderful creatures.
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Don't forget we're always on hand for any questions you may have. Just visit our website for our contact details www.shrublands.co.uk or ring us on 01473 657012
Happy Gardening!
Gill and Catherine
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