The Nursery News

Keeping you up to date with the latest news of what is happening on the nursery, announcements, etc.

16 May 2013

We expect to be busy around the Bank Holiday on 27th May  We will be working, as usual, but we won't be able to send plants out on that day. That really only gives us the following day (Tuesday) to dispatch and if we can't handle all our orders, we might need to delay dispatch until the following Monday. Gosh, that will be June 3rd! 

12 May 2013

We have made a few changes to the website. The first you may notice is we have added 'Customers also Bought' to most plants. We still have more pages to do and we haven't gauged how accurate it is yet. But at least it makes the pages more colourful!

We have also tweaked information about delivery. We have had a few customers confused about paying the correct delivery amount so I have tried to make it clearer when you go through checkout. We have also taken the opportunity when doing that to alter how we charge for larger deliveries (32 to 64 plants). We weren't charging enough and we were losing out. We still charge you less than we actually pay for delivery and our delivery charges are very low compared to other nurseries.

Still on the topic of deliveries, we have managed (just!) to get every order out on time, even after a very busy week and losing a dispatch day on the Monday bank holiday.

Finally, a Thank You to everyone who has ordered and especially to those who have taken the trouble to let us know how we are doing. It means a lot.

10 April 2013

New collections added. We have added a new Economy collection - a collection of 10 easily grown plants at a very good price and the same top quality. We have also made an important change to our existing 12 plant collection - you can now ask us to supply a collection of 12 plants suited to, for example, seaside gardens, late summer flowering, dry conditions etc. - whatever you wish. Full details in our Collections section of our Plant Shop.

Orders are now being despatched regularly - every Monday and Tuesday.

24 March 2013

I now wish I hadn't remarked about the weather in my last update - winter has returned as you will no doubt be aware. The weather has delayed a few orders from going out but we will catch up as soon as the weather improves. I'm confident that the vast majority of our plants will emerge unscathed. We have just enough snow cover to keep outdoor plants protected from the biting easterly winds and the low temperatures, although below freezing day and night, aren't too severe. Spring will come and probably in a rush. 

5 March 2013

We have an extensive range of top-quality alpine plants ready for sale. The past winter hasn't been too unkind and our stock has over-wintered well. The weather in recent weeks has been ideal - cold, with night frosts (but not too severe) and with bright, sunny days. Alpines love this weather. 

Some early Saxifraga are nicely budded and will flower soon - like Gold Dust, Boston Spa and the Sax. oppositifolias. Our mossy Sax's also look good - tight, hard, little plants that will be covered in flowers in weeks to come, unlike most that you will find in garden centres where they tend to be soft and bright green but with only a few flowers. And our 'silver' encrusted Sax's have over-wintered outside with hardly a mark on their leaves.

Some Primulas look especially good - P. warshenewskiana are well-budded even though they are just emerging, similarly P. juliae and Primula 'Johanna'.

We check stock daily and the website updates automatically as orders come in, so unless is says 'Sold Out', that plant is available. No doubt something will slip our attention of course but we will deal with that when it when happens.

Orders are now coming in steadily (Thanks to all who have ordered!) and we have generally managed to dispatch the Monday or Tuesday following receipt of orders, as planned. We haven't lost a parcel yet (or rather Parcelforce haven't) and we haven't had a single criticism about our plants - and we fully intend to keep it that way!

27 January 2013

Another year and most of the winter has passed. As I write this, the sudden thaw of recent snows is happening. Thankfully, we were spared from the harshest weather - it doesn't often happen, but we have missed most of the very heavy snow and severe frosts of the most recent spell. Please note (as the 09 Dec. post below) that orders could be delayed if the cold returns.

Some plants are preparing for spring - some of the early Saxifrages are nicely budded. They do like a bit a snow cover. As the days lengthen we expect  further signs of new growth. But, 'As the day lengthens, the cauld strengthens', as they used to say. Never mind, spring always appears, sooner or later.

09 December 2012

Winter deliveries. We are happy to accept orders throughout the winter but please be aware that there might be some delay in receiving your order if the weather turns against us; we will keep you informed. We are inspecting our stock daily and some varieties might have to be temporarily 'Sold Out' if their condition deteriorates - a bit of mould, rodent damage or if the plants just look a bit iffy. Some days we feel we are just fighting with Mother Nature! 

28 October 2012

Autumn is still with us but winter is trying to push in. We have had a few good frosts and some drier, sunny days. It's a nice time of year. Many plants are now getting ready for winter - dying back, getting harder or dropping leaves as they need to survive. Much of our time is now spent moving plants into their winter quarters and they get trimmed and cleaned up as they go. It is slow work but very necessary. It allows us to thoroughly inspect every plant and I can say that we will have some superb plants in the spring. Those same plants are still available to purchase right now but orders are becoming infrequent now. However, our website statistics show we are still getting lots of visits to the site every day so we are looking forward to a busy spring 2013.

2 October 2012

Our offer of No Minimum Order has proved very popular. It has allowed customers to buy only that one variety they have been looking for or to try our service and see how good our plants are. We have received some very kind comments about our plants and our service - thank you, all. No Minimum Order will continue for now. 

Our stock levels are all good. Almost all varieties are available now but some things may have to be temporarily removed (and will show as Sold Out) if their condition becomes such that we wouldn't be happy selling them. They will reappear in spring.

Summer has given way to autumn but the rain continues. We have decided to start moving some plants into their winter quarters - this is earlier than we would like but the plants have been sitting in wet compost for weeks and (frankly) I'm amazed they look as good as they do. We potted some plants on the 6th June and have never needed to water them! But enough is enough, and inside they will go.

Autumn is a good time for planting. Yes, the weather is getting gradually colder but the soil remains relatively warm - warmer than it will be in March. And even though some plants are dying back above ground for winter, their roots are still very active.  

24 August 2012

Yet more varieties have been added to our list - we now have an excellent range of plants to offer. As a special offer to encourage you to try our plants, we have introduced a no minimum order offer for a limited period. You can order a little as one plant if you like but we still have to charge £5.95 postage. For any reasonable order £5.95 is an amazing deal - most nurseries charge much more than this. This charge applies to all of mainland UK.

21 August 2012

More varieties were added to our list today and we expect more will be ready in the next week or two. We are still waiting on most of our Phlox varieties - they just need to grow a little more before we will be happy to sell them. We could hurry them along but they will be better if left to develop slowly.

The nursery is filling up again as we continue potting plants. Most of what you see in this area is ready now. I always like seeing the nursery looking like this but I'll be happier when spaces appear!

 4 August 2012

Our order and dispatch systems are working well. Varieties shown as 'Sold Out' are starting to become fewer as plants grow and become ready to sell - but my, it's slow. I don't think I can remember such a poor summer. Perhaps August will bring us some sun and some warmth? On the plus side, conditions are ideal for planting (in most of the UK) - the soil is warm and plants will establish quickly.

17 July 2012

Our Plant Shop is open at last! I hope it all works. We have tested everything we can to make sure it does but no doubt we shall have teething problems. Please bear with us if we do.

We still have bits of the website to complete - we still have some plants to photograph and lots of little bits here and there to tweak - but we have to start somewhere. We hope the website will be successful and evolve as we have lots of ideas. Above all though, we are plant growers, not web designers or marketing experts and we want you to be happy with any plants your buy from us.

3 July 2012

Not long to wait now! We are nearly finished completing our Plant Shop and hope to launch very soon. We still have some details to sort out (you know, the important little bits one can never foresee!) but we really are nearly there now. We have had a rough count - about 150 varieties will be ready in a week or so, with more to follow each week until September when we should have most (if not all) varieties available.

23 June 2012

The site is building up nicely. Most of our plants are now listed and most are photographed - we are still waiting on Campanulas, Sedums and other summer/late summer plants to flower so we can get nice images of them.

I have loads of propagation and potting done (and more to do, of course) so the nursery is quickly filling up again. I have payment providers for the site and parcel couriers arranged but the 'Buy it now' function in our Plant Shop remains switch off for now.

We now hope to start selling plants in July - a fairly good range at first with more varieties to follow quickly as they grow.

May 2012

The hard work starts!  We are currently building our online Plant Shop. It's a huge task - photographing plants, making notes on plant descriptions and learning new IT skills. And at the same time still growing plants and running our normal nursery business.

A good amount of work has already been done on growing plants - that's the easy bit for us - but our website and online shop will take a while to complete. We hope to start taking orders in August 2012, perhaps earlier. We already have lots of plants listed which you can see and read about in our Plant Shop, but the 'click to buy' function is switched off until we are all ready to go. We hope this gives you a taste of what's to come.

Please check back and see how we are getting on.

Also, have a look at my Grower's Blog and see what I'm up to.