Find out what the propagation and garden teams have been up to this week.
Weekly catch up with garden & propagation
POSTED 18th July 2025
Propagation Team
It's full steam ahead right now! Annie and Sean have been teaming up this week, starting by splitting some Geranium macrorrhizum 'Album' -noted as head of horticulture Steve's favourite geranium. Flaunting shell-pink flowers which contrast well with deep coral-coloured calyces and long protruding anthers and pistil. This geranium is fully hardy, evergreen, at home in full sun, part shade and even full shade. The possibilities are endless!
Sean and Annie also put together a new 'dry loving' display on our nursery. Comprising of many plants which manage to thrive in our local semi-arid conditions without the need for additional watering, such as Salvia 'Blue Spire', Oenothera lindheimeri, and Verbena bonariensis, to name a few. We hope for all those visiting us it can assist with inspiration for your home plantings.
What's in the propline? (It's like pipeline, but with the word prop in it!) We have some super bits growing on as well as just starting off in their growing journey. In the prop house, Santolina chamaecyparissus, Teucrium ackermannii, and Euphorbia pithyusa are just a small selection of some of the many plants who are mustering their strength in order to be potted on.
Kathy and Lelia have been stalwart at the potting benches. A good selection of 2 litre shrubs are currently putting down roots and filling out. If you want to support wildlife, especially butterflies, Buddleja crispa is a great choice for a sheltered, south facing spot. It's commonly known as the Himalayan butterfly bush for a reason!
In the 1 litre department there's an abundance of treasures growing on, such as Salvia lavandulifolia. A usefully compact salvia which sports a real abundance of purplish-blue flowers. Get this in light well draining soil and under full sun for it to truly thrive.
Elsewhere the team has been hard at work caring for our broad range of plants, with new varieties becoming ready and appearing on both our nursery and our website every day. Whilst the stockbed team have been busy wielding spade, rake and snips to keep our stockbeds looking beautiful, and more importantly viable and practical. They've done a magnificent job!
Garden Team
This week we’ve been giving the Gravel Garden some well needed love and attention. The hot and dry weather lately has made a lot of plants go into autumn mode prematurely. Some plants like nepeta and certain origanums we can give a hard cut back and they should sprout back and create new little mounds - a little rain would give them a boost so we’re crossing our fingers for that!
Origanum laevigatum ‘Herrenhausen’ has been a show stopper this week, absolutely covered in bees and butterflies! Stipa tenuissima tends to get a bit floppy this time of year as it’s covered in seeds, so we comb our fingers through to collect seed for propagation and take a bit of weight of the tops.
Origanum laevigatum ‘Herrenhausen’
We spent a day giving a big clump of gorse, Ulex europaeus ‘Flore Pleno’, a hard cut back as it had outgrown its space and needed a bit of a refresh. We also took out a big dying cistus which was debarked by mice in the winter and it hasn’t recovered, so we made the decision to take it out. It will take us a week to get through the whole Gravel Garden, cutting back spent and floppy perennials and weeding as we go; a time consuming job with a big impact, and it will look perky and fresh when we’re done!
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