Hairy Peach

Morning all,

Hope all is well and you didn't suffer too much in that heat wave. It certainly broke here today with heavy rain from dawn to dusk and much cooler temperatures. I would normally be much happier in this sort of weather if it hadn't been quite so wet. Thankfully the winter work we did on completing the tunnel side drains paid off, with very little flooding of beds although the tracks did get a little river like at times. However I'm going to have to do some work on my wardrobe as I was inadequately protected for the excess damp around me. The only waterproof kit I had on that worked was my over-trousers, so I got wet from the top down and the bottom up until in the end it all met in the middle. The holes in the soles of my trainers (last pair of usable shoes in the house that are not for 'best') acted as a pump injecting water quickly into socks and lower leg and the ex-waterproof coat with its specially designed 'blow off' hood that stays on for about 10 seconds or falls over half you face, deposited water in from the top end. Time to tough it out and head out for a trip to the shops I think.

Super busy week on sales again, another record for that week number. Also a record week for young plant stock coming in with about 15% of the entire years plants arriving in one go. A big part of that was our first import that we had to register on the government Peach web site. Caroline had done all the preparation over the winter, watched all the training videos etc, so it was all going to be so easy. 5 hours later we gave up we couldn't get past the first page, web help no good, help line unreachable, other growers who we called who had used it were most helpful, but still no positive result. In the end we just sent the info to our Plant Health Inspector, who was the one who needed to know the plants were coming and she sent round a new inspector within hours. It turned out the website had fallen down and wouldn't work, but no-one thought to put any notification out there. Good job we are not busy and had 5 hours to spare.

Wooden Box shortages

Same old story for this spring, we are still desperately short on our wooden display boxes, it is still very hand to mouth on whether we get through each day without running out, so any returns are gratefully received. Thanks.

Availability list highlights

Loads of plants ready to go and more bud and flower than you could shake a stick at! So please do take a look at the attached list. With so much bud and colour sales should be flying with a bit of luck.    A few special highlights to note are;

Lavender Spear Blue, very bushy with loads of bud and the odd flash of colour, just perfect for those smelly lavender sales. New hardy Gerbera range in 5 lovely colours, just fab, real impulse plants and flower for ages. Limited numbers this year. Dainty Lewisia Elise in flower already. Flowers all summer in a range of pastel colours. Two Oxalis varieties up and flowering, Iron Cross with two tone leaves and red/pink flowers, triangularis with deep purple foliage and contrasting pretty pale pink flowers. Both impressive.

All the Hemerocallis varieties are producing flower stems and bud, no colour yet, perfect to go now with loads of promise. Osteospermum Tresco Purple has been selling like hot cakes. We have several batches potted and bud is well on show.

A late potted batch of Gallery range Lupins are showing great chunky growth and are producing flower bud. Not many in stock so don't hang about on these. Lovely crop of Catananche with flower stems extending and tight bud showing. Papery blue flowers to come soon. Lots of bud and some colour on our ranges of compact Leaucanthemums, Salvia nemerosa and Coreopsis. Summer favourites the Gaura are all coming into bud, a nice range of colours and good bushy stock.

Our Dianthus have been in bud a while now and the first flowers are now beginning to open. All varieties are well scented. The compact Campanula's are budding up now, about to show off their summer displays. Our two forms of Erodium have lots of tiny open flowers dotted over the plant surface with plenty of bud to follow. Still loads of bud on the Scabious range, which flower for such a long time, although numbers are a bit tight.

We are trialling a range of patio Verbena this summer which are showing loads of colour, great if you want to make a colourful impact in your plant display, but numbers are limited as this was only a trial. Other colourful impact plants on trial this summer are compact Helianthus (very dwarf Sunflower!) and the Helichrysum Nevada range with its impressive display of papery flowers.

There is plenty of stock overall but numbers of some lines may be still limited, so there could be one or two substitutions in the orders to make up numbers. If you prefer we can still do a selection of our own choice of the herb and/or perennial range again and will take your guidance on any lines you don't need.

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries