Find out what the propagation and garden teams have been up to this week.
Weekly catch up with garden & propagation
POSTED 22nd January 2026
Propagation Team
A little sunshine on Monday was sadly soon forgotten as grey skies and rain swept in for the rest of the week. Undeterred, or only ever so slightly, the growing team pushed on, as preparations continue for the action packed months ahead.
Holes! That was the goal for Pete and I this week. Our standoff area, a waiting room of sorts, for plants biding their time before making their way to your gardens, the call of a new home. This area gets a lot of use! A many a boot traverses the paths set out upon the membrane, and with such use there's a certain amount of wear and tear. This, as well as several environmental factors can leave holes, great dips in the earth beneath the membrane. Water pools, leaving soggy boots, and if not attended, potentially soggy roots. So, off goes the membrane, over comes the sand, a bit of muscle, and voilà! A safer, healthier environment for us and our plants.
Cathy has been propagating some Polypodium x mantoniae 'Cornubiense', from a lump Miya dug up from one of our stockbeds. This is a pale green, evergreen fern bearing overlapping, delicate, finely-cut, lacy looking fronds, together with the occasional more simple frond. It spreads slowly via a creeping rhizome making excellent ground cover which looks particularly good during the winter months. It's also a sterile fern which holds and Award of Garden Merit.
A few recent releases have arrived on our website this week, such as several varieties of potted galanthus. G. elwesii var. monosticus 'Marjorie Brown' is possibly my favourite of these, with it's large flower and glaucous leaves. Ferula communis and Ferula tingitana 'Cedric Morris' are also up for grabs, the latter being a shorter form of the giant fennel, with glossier more defined foliage than F. communis.
Elsewhere, Emily has been creating a blank canvas on our nursery and will soon be lending her creative prowess to a host of updated displays which we cannot wait for you all to see! Pete has been picking and packing a flurry of winter sale orders (which you can still take advantage of now.) Whilst Mel, Tina and Annie have been brainstorming new ideas to the logistical side of the propagation operation. And finally, we had our first 'compost drop' of 2026, a ritual of sorts, which left no doubt in our minds and lower backs... the world is waking up!
Garden Team
After finishing off our laurel pruning and creating a new dead hedge from last week's task, we tidied up the vine on the nursery, Vitis vinifera 'Spetchley Red', taking it back to a very simple framework as it grows giant tentacles so vigorously each year.
It was then on to cutting back in the Scree Garden, where Tulipa springeri, Tulipa turkestanica, Crocus tommasinianus and Muscari armeniacum (Pink Form) were poking their heads out of the gravel. We cut back flower spikes, spent hours delicately trimming libertias and stipas, and felt our eyes go dizzy with micro weeding.
It's all about anticipating what the garden might be like in a few months time, when plants have launched themselves into growth. With that in mind we thinned out poppies, dug out weedy euphorbias, and unwanted self-seeded Verbascum bombyciferum.
It was also time to prune the climbing rose on the wall of the house. Scott expertly shared his knowledge of rose pruning, finding new leaders to tie in and cutting back extras to a bud. Although it looks sparse now, the rose will be producing more leaves and flowers from its rejuvenation.
Slowly, step by step we're tidying up areas, ready to be topped up with gravel. It's been on your hands-and-knees type gardening in the rain this week, but it's always a joy working together as a team and enjoying every little sign of spring.
Many thanks.
Shona