Good morning to all.

Great week of strong sales of fabulous looking really strong stock. Don’t miss out, get stuck in!

A bit cooler this coming week, but that’s fine with us, we don’t want things to get to far ahead, as long as the sun pops out from time to time to keep up the spirits and it doesn’t get too wet again.
Printer drama yet again on Monday morning. A whole week of faultless printing came to an end at the moment of peak demand as usual. Same fault as before so all the new bits installed hadn’t really cured it. Finally phoned the company who supplied it who gave me a direct line to the manufacturer technical support. I rarely call for help (I am male) as a new printer is usually cheaper than a call out and mend, or I can’t understand the instructions! But this time it was cured in 30 seconds. A loose lead feeding the info to the black drum, just pulled it out and pushed it in again, brilliant. What a relief and another tool to add to the ‘turn it off and on again’ toolbox.
Last weekend when everyone else was of out at the garden centre I managed to very successfully road test this year’s birthday gift, picking up two big bags of debris from a few hundred yards of the roadside around the nursery. I always think I will find lots of nursery rubbish but there was very little, it was nearly all discarded packets and bottles from the passing traffic over the last year (since I last went up and down the road). I do get some funny looks as I stagger about in my disheveled state and hi-viz vest, I suspect they are wondering where my minder/warder is. The planned metal detecting didn't happen so no treasure to cash in, we will have to rely on the bumper plant sales to come this season.
Very moving parts of Sports Relief last night, some real reminders of how lucky we are in this country and how desperate things are in other places around the world. To see kids and their mothers breaking rocks for road stone with hugely inadequate homemade hammers is scary and then add in the medical challenges and casualties of poverty stricken areas and you wonder how we can be so blind to so much of the worlds poverty issues. Emergency aid can be fantastically effective but we need to sort out some fairer trading if they are to help themselves out of their predicament. Perhaps we need to be asking more questions about all the stuff we import and buy at super cheap prices, there is a big cost somewhere along the line. At least using hairy pots is helping out one small community in Sri Lanka, the extra cost to us of a handmade pot goes a long way over there.

Availability

Inspirational flower and bud appearing on many lines as well as healthy spring foliage bursting forth elsewhere.

Polemonium Heaven Scent are coming into their own with a delightful bushy show of bronzy green foliage and the very first signs of the early flower shoots beginning to appear. A spring stunner.
The dwarf Doronicum Leo are showing bud, fresh and chunky.
The little Allium cowanii have buds showing and the other varieties are strong and chunky, perfect for planting out.
Bergenia Sunningdale has big chunky buds but very few left. Also in stock is the new small variety Dark Damsel showing bud. Very showy and looking fab at the moment are both varieties of Anemone blanda.
Our new dwarf spring daffs are up, budding and chunky, although I only have a few. The Tenby Daffodil (obvallaris) are showing colour on short strong stems as are the multi-headed Quail and the white Thalia.
The ever favourite and long flowering Erysimum Bowles Mauve looks absolutely fantastic, bushy and budding strongly, first colour just beginning to show. Even better than last year’s stunners.
The first flower stems of the Aquilegia Winky range are shooting up carrying numerous flower buds. Strong and good looking.
The Barlow range also looking very strong, with flower shoots imminent. The super dark Barlow Black is always a favourite. This seasons Euphorbia’s are looking fantastic, especially the purpurea, robbiae and martini.
Pulmonaria EB Anderson (dark blue) and the delightful pale blue of Opal are both looking colourful but only a few left. The decorative comfrey (Symphytum) are showing good early flower colour.
Pulsatilla rubra is budding well and showing good colour with the purple vulgaris and Alba not far behind.
Both Brunnera vatrieties are producing their first spring buds and blue flowers, looking perky.
Digitalis and Lupin ranges are all looking mega fresh and vigorous all raring to go. The digitalis wouldn’t look out of place in a 3li pot, there are so strong.
Both Armeria maritima varieties are also starting flower shoot production, always a popular, neat, pot full.
Ajuga Chocolate Chips are producing lots of flower shoots, just a week or so from showing full colour. Joyous yellow blooms and bud on the Caltha, but only a few available.

Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries