Newsletter

Summer 2021

Once again we have experienced all the seasons during the last couple of months, veering from wintry cold to super-hot then flooding. The gardens however are loving all the sun and rain and, if you haven’t already updated your containers and borders, now is the time!

We have a huge variety of plants and shrubs in stock now and shortly to arrive; here are just a few tasters:

Tree ferns – These are coming all the way from Australia and are all sustainably sourced and certified (never buy any that aren’t). You can grow them in a border or in a container and are a fantastic way to create drama in your garden. They should be arriving here at the end of August and are in a range of sizes from 1ft through to 6ft and multi-stems. As we only have a limited supply, you can reserve one with us and we will contact you when they come in. Try putting them with Cannas, Banana plants and Melianthus major for a lush tropical feel.

We still have tomatoes in good sized pots and in hanging tubs. Herbs are going strong and also now come in useful larger pots; keep some mint in a pot for your Pimms or Mohito! Fruit trees and soft fruit have been very difficult to source this year and there are only a few patio fruit trees left in stock now. We hope that next season things will return to normal and we will be able to stock our larger range.

Our herbaceous perennials and shrubs are looking fabulous; we defy you to come in and not take something home! There are so many varieties of Salvia, Scabious, Gaura and others at the moment – many of these will flower their socks off all summer with a little deadheading. There are many perennials for shady areas - come and browse the tables for a few ideas. Larger pots of grasses have started to come in and are beautiful swaying in the wind and in combination with ‘prairie-style’ plants such as Echinacea, Achillea and Helenium.

The paniculata Hydrangeas are now budding up nicely; they have beautiful flower heads in cream, green and pink. You may need to prop them up if you are going for a larger headed variety such as Annabelle and we have some very useful rusty plant supports just for that purpose.

There are some good sized climbing rose frames in, now covered in glorious buds and flowers. Plant them now and you will have roses all summer in your garden or patio.

We are making sure that we always have a lovely selection of colourful and interesting plants in smaller and cheaper pots for container and border quick fixes. Just decide on your colour scheme and go for it! If you need any help with suggestions, do come and ask one of us to point you in the right direction.

The shed is continuously filled with beautiful house plants, indoor pots and all the associated sundries, including specialist feeds and composts.

Come and see the fire pits from Kadai and Garden Trading – wonderful for those balmy (or freezing?) evenings in the garden. Kadai come with both a high and a low stand so that you can sit around the fire with a drink and then move it up to the higher stand to barbeque. Then surround yourself with flaming garden torches and festoon lights! We still have some bistro furniture sets from Garden Trading – very handy and completely foldable sets in three colours.

We are loving our St Eval range of candles in tins, terracotta pots and stoneware which can be reused time and time again. We have a distinctly summery feel to the scents at the moment, of course! Come and try out our range of hand sanitisers by Puritx in three delicious scents. They are full of Aloe Vera so that your hands don’t dry out; you’ll find you’re using them just because of the gorgeous smell! They come in large bottles and a small handy sized one for bags and pockets.

Look out for a range of houseplant-based greetings cards by the very talented artist Lara Uztekin. We are excited to be supporting new young artists such as Lara and hope to be expanding our range soon.

We are excited to be stocking a brilliant new range of fertiliser and mulch by Rocket Gro which is made on a farm in Somerset. Their peat free products are a natural by-product from the farm’s biogas plant. They feed renewable gas and electricity back to the grid and now they are nourishing our gardens with their nutrient rich plant food ‘Plant Fuel’ and soil improver ‘Magic Mulch’. Ask us for different ways to use these amazing products. On the peat-free front, we are also currently stocking Dalefoot’s Wool compost, Lakeland Gold and Vegetables and Salads compost (with added Comfrey).

Lastly, some very sad news. If you have been a regular visitor to the garden centre over the years you will undoubtedly have bumped into Basil and Mittens, our much-loved cats who lived to the grand old age of 17. Mittens passed away earlier this year and sadly we lost Basil too recently. They will be missed by all of us who work at the garden centre and by our customers.

We look forward to greeting you again at the garden centre very soon!

Rob and the Team