Weekly catch up with gardens & propagation

Propagation Team

It's been another beautiful, sun cream heavy week over in production, so let's get right to it and tell you some of what we've been up to.

The highlight must be the wonderful Chelsea inspired display which Emily, Hollie, Annie and Mel created on the nursery. You can find a full plant list of what was used over on the Beth Chatto Blog, but if you have chance, come see it in person!

There's lots of exciting plants popping up right now in both the seed tunnel and the propagation house. In the seed tunnel the aptly named Foeniculum vulgare 'Smoky' which will eventually reach heights of about 1.5m, is growing on well. Once planted, its smoky-bronze foliage creates a stunning contrast against yellow flowers in the summer months.

Another exciting update to share/show has to be Emily's echeveria and graptoveria scales which, as you can see, are forming small 'baby' plants on their tips. Absolute magic! I'll make sure to keep you informed of their progress.

Sean has been hard at work over on the stock beds. He's been lifting miscanthus, including M. sinensis 'Poseidon', which for anyone who has tried it, can be a pain in the back to dig up. Sean spent an afternoon dividing and potting this incredible grass, which can tower at 2m once established.

A special mention now for Ben and Ned, our superb estate team, who have been working on a portable irrigation system to use on both the nursery displays and compost areas. Not only will this help keep our compost and plants healthy, it allows us to be much more efficient in our roles. Brilliant!

Elsewhere, plants are being dutifully cared for, picked and packed for your orders, which we are so thankful for.

Garden Team

It has been another spell of almost unbroken sunshine in the garden this week and looking back at our recent rainfall records, it's interesting to note that apart from a brief shower in mid April, we haven't any significant rain since the start of March.

It's our final week working with our intern Marlene and the team have spent most of it in the water garden, weeding, edging and pruning.

Extra focus was given to our rejuvenated shade beds this time because last autumn we dug out lots of symphytum that was dominating the space. However it is easy to leave remnants behind, and now that they have begun to re-emerge we are able to remove it before it gets a foothold once more.

Also it's important to closely maintain newly planted beds like these and weeding them throughly is an opportunity to identify the seedlings we find and leave room for the recently planted perennials to establish.