Newsletter

Autumn / Winter 2022

We are hoping for a better than usual autumn display this year and a walk amongst the brightly coloured trees will help to clear our minds. Nature has a wonderful way of putting our worries and concerns to one side, even if only for a short while. It’s traditionally the time we begin to tidy up our gardens but please remember that birds, insects and animals enjoy using all the seedheads and broken bits of wood and detritus as food and habitat. Apart from that, dried plants and grasses look lovely when frosted. However, do clear fallen leaves from your lawn as this can lead to dead patches.

Plants and trees

We will continue to have our regular plant offering, albeit on a slightly smaller scale at this time of the year. You may find it’s time to replace the plants in your containers; try pansies, violas, cyclamen and other plants such as calluna. They mix well with a backdrop of a heuchera or an evergreen fern.

For some early colour and scent in 2023, try Hamamelis ‘Arnold Promise’ with its glowing yellow citrussy-scented flowers. Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ is a large shrub that has scented flowers from autumn to spring and gives you a little pop of colour when there’s not much else going on; you can also cut branches to use in the house for both plants.

We have a small selection of both ornamental and fruit trees; the soil is still warm and they will have time to get their roots down by spring. There is Prunus (Cherry), Betula (Birch), Amelanchier and Sorbus (Rowan) amongst others. Prunus ‘Amanagowa’ is a very useful columnar tree suitable for a small garden or corner.

Indoor plants

We always have a small selection of houseplants at this time of the year and there are lots of amazing terrariums already made up which will make lovely Christmas presents. We also stock all the ingredients you need to make your own.

We will have some gift sets of Plantsmith products which are really useful presents for houseplant addicts. As usual, we always stock composts, feeds and accessories for indoor plants.

Gifts and home

Our little shop will be turning Christmassy very soon, with decorations and lights – cute little felt characters as well as classic baubles. We will have some beautifully packaged scented candles and diffusers from Canova and a small range from True Grace. As before, individual coloured dinner candles will be available to dress your table, also gorgeous little silver or coloured glass tea light holders to create an atmospheric glow.

There will also be lots of other Christmas gift ideas such as boxes of Italian La Florentina soaps - Pomegranate, Grape Seed and Garden Olive.

We are stocking Niwaki tools again this Christmas. The Hori Hori has proven to be one of the most popular tools amongst gardeners, also their snips and smaller shears make brilliant gifts for your gardening friends and relations.

Christmas trees

It seems like summer has only just finished but we start taking pre-orders for Christmas trees from 1^st November! We think that the quality of the trees was the best they have ever been last year with very little loss of pine needles and perfect shapes. Some customers have stayed with us for years, and we always really appreciate our loyal clientele supporting our small business. We always buy premium grade trees, unlike many other sellers on street corners.