Crikey, that was a nuts week. I can't believe it's the weekend already. Lovely weather and some potentially busy gardening weeks coming up have created quite a bit of momentum. All very exciting and eventually great for the cash-flow, but the planned activities for the end of the week didn't get very far. Potting only just got started today and tunnel clearing to make some clean space had a couple of hours. Even that got interrupted by taking the team off for an hour or so to recover the tunnel that blew off in the wind of a couple of weeks ago. I was sorely tempted to leave it uncovered and press on with the potting, but the plants in there are still potentially a little vulnerable to a heavy frost and we are not out of the woods yet. The frost won't kill them but they just won't look quite as perfect as we would like and we can't have that. In the end the weather today was just too good to miss so up it went. Naturally the perfect sunny and still conditions instantly picked up into a gentle breeze, just enough to move the sheet about while fitting. It always happens, just as we get the roll unwrapped.
Took a couple of hours off last Sunday to meet up with some old friends for a walk in the sunshine around a couple of villages near Didcot. 10 miles was a bit more than I had bargained for, but the weather and views were great and the beer on route very restorative. Saw an amazing number of Red Kites, including one rabbit festooned hillside where 14 were wheeling about, just brilliant, although perhaps not for the rabbits. Also heard Chiffchaffs and saw a Wheatear, now just need to catch sight of a swallow or two to really get winter behind us.
Availability highlights
Got a nice surprise on my walk round this morning, the Camassia cusickii are in bud, be quick, they won't be around for long. The ever-giving Salvia nemerosa varieties are all coming into or are very close to bud. Compact and attractive they will repeat flower through the summer especially after a tidying hair cut of the old flower stems. The leaf aroma is not my favourite but you can't have everything!
Dicentra spectabalis are now up and showing bud. Surprisingly tough for such a fleshy exotic looking plant. We have a few of the delightful pale pink Bergenia Dumbo in stock, It is an unusual deciduous variety which produces large fleshy Elephant Ear leaves in the summer. It's still quite small now and a few flowers are present.
The attractive grey leaved Achillea Moonshine is producing bud now, it will be a little while before they are big enough to colour up, but they are full of promise. The earliest of the Campanula are coming into bud now. We are sadly out of the Takion White now for a week or two, but we have a very nice batch of the Takion Blue. Brunnera have emerged looking strong. The pretty blue 'forget-me-not' flowers are appearing now. Both the green form and the stunning variegated batch are looking smart. although selling through fast.
Our own sourced wild primrose (Primula vulgaris) are still going strong and still producing fresh buds and flower. Primula denticulata looking good, with big fat buds bursting through the compost surface and colour now in evidence. The last few spring flowering Pulmonarias are showing lots of bud now with most now showing pretty opening flowers. The ever popular Erysimums are looking fabulous as we get into spring. All looking very smart. Colour showing on most varieties now as the first flowers begin to open.
The bright ray of sunshine that is Doronicum Little Leo is throwing up as we speak. Fat little flower buds are bursting through and the odd bright yellow petal unfurling. Masses of bud on our Ajuga Chocolate Chips, looking full of spring vim and vigour. Burgundy Glow is close behind. Pushkinia are up and showing pretty colour. We only have a few left, but the Dalmation series Digitalis are starting to elongate their flower stems in preparation for flowering action. They are always a bit earlier than the larger hybrids which are still looking very strong.
Iphieon are showing the occasional bud, it spreads nicely making a good groundcover and it flowers here repeatedly through the spring and summer. The deep violet spring flowering and super scented Viola labradorica are looking great after their winter haircut. Plenty of flower bud to come and a strong colour already showing. Euphorbia purpurea are looking great with short strong arching stems producing their early spring display of yellow bracts over the purple foliage. E. robbiae are following close behind. Do watch out for the milky sap which is an irritant.
The Pulsatilla are here, they are just bursting through and the almost the first growth to emerge are the spring flower buds. I've not got huge numbers yet but if the weather doesn't get too harsh they are going to romp away. Stonking chunky Lupins on the list this week, having been cut back over winter they are now leaping into strong growth. Most of the Dianthus Scent First varieties are carrying flower bud already, a neat habit and full of promise.
Have a great week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
No comments:
Post a Comment