Good morning all.
A good soaking here this morning stopped the garden drying out too much! Power tripped out again during the lightning but soon restored. Makes you feel a bit vulnerable at times, the irrigation controller needed resetting and the rather sensitive trips on the water pumps checking. It’s a good job we are on site 7 days a week.
Another very busy week, lots of orders and a visit from a new bank manager (good timing, just when we had no time for much of a polish up). I received an image of the new bamboo skewer sample made for our potential new labels yesterday, looking great. The first label designs should be seen early next week so we will get a good idea of how it could all come together. You can never tell with designers, will they come up with something shockingly good or shockingly inappropriate? Naturally I am anticipating the former. I suspect the shocking bit will actually be the cost. Assuming it comes together we will have a sample to show off at the National Plant Show later in June.
Swallows fledged today, now flapping about the yard with mum and dad, just three in the first brood, but I suspect they will lay again soon. House Martins still pitching up and not even settled in yet, although they tend to go for just the one brood.
Hat Fitz and Cara on tour, ‘outback country blues’ this week’s favourites. Just brilliant, get out there and see some live music. www.hatfitz.net/ There is apparently more to life than nurseries, just not much time or money left to do it. Can’t remember their names very well at the moment so Mary, Mungo & Midge works as an alternative for me.
Availability
Astilbe varieties are now showing beautiful colour, looking fresh bushy, feathery & vigorous, at the top of their game. Coreopsis Sunfire, Sunray and Corey Yellow have plenty of bud nestling in fresh green foliage. The feathery foliage of Zagreb is also now supporting early buds.
Lots of Hemerocallis varieties are just beginning to bud up as summer approaches.
Plenty of colour and loads of bud on all of the bushy Salvia varieties this week, great pot full’s of colour. The shorter Sensation series all look brilliant, although very few of the white form left now. The dark stemmed taller Caradonna variety is very dramatic and becoming increasingly popular with trendy garden designers.
Another trendy one is the Echinacea which are all now in bud, although not a huge number left. Get them while they’re hot! While we are on the trendy train, the shorter Verbena bonariensis Lollipop are strong and shooty, not far off flower.
Strong, short, fresh stock of Digitalis Dalmation are just starting on flower production, ideal just now.
Fresh stock too of the Digitalis mertonensis, purpurea Sutton’s Apricot and p. Alba. Just ask if you would like them in flower. New Leucanthemum varieties to us (Lacrosse and Banana Creme) are showing their first signs of flowering, as are the pretty pale yellow Broadway Lights and white Snowcap.
A couple of new additions for this summer are a range of hardy fuchsia’s which are wonderfully bushy and budding up nicely now and there are a couple of new dahlia’s who’s dark foliage and bushy habit look great, flowering just around the corner. Verbascum Primrose Path, a stunning short yellow variety, has just started to show flower stems, a great plant.
Achillea’s are showing their first colour, including the new delightful compact Desert Eve series.
The traditional Dianthus, the garden pinks, are also in bud, the new ‘Scent First’ (SF) series are compact and as the name suggests fantastically scented with some lovely colour combinations. Some of the slightly larger classic varieties Doris and Hayter White are also strongly in bud.
Catananche are coming into strong bud now, their delightful papery blue flowers just a moment away. We have a few of the pretty white form as well this year which are also in bud.
The more unusual Oxalis triangularis are up and displaying their vibrant purple foliage with the f irst pink flower buds appearing, and now the red buds of Iron Cross are poking through its two tone foliage too.
Another unusual plant is Limonium (Sea Lavender) is throwing up strong flower shoots above its rosettes of flat leaves.Platycodon Blue is very strong this year with first buds appearing. A great, deep blue stunner.
Still plenty of buds and the odd open flower appearing on the Centaurea dealbata, stonking plants ready to roll. Erigeron Azure Beauty has buds opening. The short Sea Breeze varieties looking verdant with bonkers numbers of buds.
New batches of bushy Lupins, fabulous, Delphs and Hollyhocks (Alcea) also raring to go but won’t hang around long.
Edibles
We are having a play with a couple of new strawberry lines to us, Toscana and Roman, both with strongly coloured red/pink flowers and long flowering and fruiting seasons. They are just starting to flower now and looking great.
Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
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