Hairy nuptials

Morning all,

A lovely run of weather is hopefully freeing up the wallets and credit cards of the great gardening public for you all. We are certainly very busy and hoping we can claw back a dollop of all that lost turnover over the rather disappointing early spring. There seems to be a bonkers amount of coverage on some wedding stuff this week (my invite must have got lost in the post) and with the FA cup this afternoon I hope it doesn't put people off getting out and taking home some more plants. At least the weather looks like holding on for a while yet so fingers crossed.
I can't believe we are about to have another bank holiday but here it comes. I suppose we might be busy again as everyone  stocks up, good news really I know, but pre-bank holiday tension is building here as we wait and see what the next few days unleashes. If you could get your orders in fairly promptly that would be great, I can then get my panic done over a shorter period and get everything organised as best we can. We do have a few peak workload challenges coming up with a temporary shortage of trolleys, shelves and boxes but with luck it will all work out fine.
When I manage to lift my head and look further than the contents of our tunnels I can see some fantastic greenery, the hedges and trees round here are looking fab. A real fresh spring look to everything, the birds are singing and the sun is shining what a great time of year. The swallows are here but nesting somewhere else rather than the usual donkey shed and a few house martins are swooping about but not as many as we usually get which is a bit of a worry. OK head down again and back to the potting team.

Long distance customers
Just a reminder to anyone receiving deliveries from us via Bleach of Lavant that when you manage to accumulate 60 or so empty boxes could you please stick them on a pallet and wrap them ready for us to arrange for their collection. Just drop us a line and we will get a pallet carrier to pop in and bring them back to us. It's not an ideal scenario I know, but we do try to keep deliveries fairly local if we can, so that we can collect the trays ourselves when we make the next delivery which means we get plenty of uses out of each trays and we don't run out , but I can't resist the lure of a keen customer.

Availability highlights
Achillea Paprika is now showing flower shoots as are the last few of the Moonshine. First signs of bud now appearing on the compact Dessert Eve varieties too. The dinky little flowers of Dianthus deltoidies Alba and Flashing Light are about to burst open, don't miss out. The garden pinks Dianthus are mostly in bud and starting to smell delicious. We have a few of the taller old favourites, Doris, Gran's Favourite and Haytor White as well as the more compact Scent First range. The massively popular Erigeron karvinskianus Stallone is sprouting flower buds, probably a couple of weeks away from colour but full of promise.
Summery yellows are coming out now with several Coreopsis in bud. Our Incarvillea have burst into bud, not many left so don't hang about.Summer arrives with bud appearing on the Rhodanthemums and Salvia Hotlips showing the odd flower. Campanula carpatica Alba bud has also made it's summer debut, I nearly missed it. Difficult to miss once they open, bright large white flowers on compact plants. Most of the other Erigeron's are producing bud now. Subtle cream flowers of the pretty Foam Flower (Tiarella) are showing nicely with plenty of bud to come.
The compact Alchemilla erythropoda Alma are coming in flower. Great ground cover with tiny subtle sprays of yellow flowers. Most of the Polemoniums are now in bud, Bambino Blue is the most compact one and looking really strong. The others have plenty of shoots bursting forth.The pink flowers of Armeria maritima are back on the list with a fresh batch smiling in the sun, still some white available too. Astilbe's are suddenly all there and coming into bud. Looking great. All the knockout dwarf Leucanthemum are holding swelling buds, not long before they start to open. Two pale yellows Broadway Lights and Banana Creme, the white frilly Lacrosse and the bright white of Snow Lady and Silver Princess. Erysimum are looking fantastic with plenty of chunky growth and bud in all the varieties still available. Big bold blue flowers are about to appear on the Stokesia. It always surprises me how big they are. Hostas are shooting through now, a fab range from our own home propagated stock. The over-wintered Digitalis are looking strong and chunky with flower spikes appearing.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.