August 2022 - News from the Nursery

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View this email in your browser Phlox paniculata ‘Argosy’ flowering last summer… New Plants and News from the Nursery…finally! It’s been a long time coming but I finally have my new computer system in place (the old one broke down after 11 long hard years of dedicated service). Of course new technology means I am now having to learn some new ways of operating…including a new newsletter platform which has been great for stretching the brain cells! So, welcome to my August 2022 Newsletter. You will see that I am now sending them out via Mailchimp, a service designed to make these things happen a little more smoothly, both for myself and you the customer. As you previously signed up for my mailing list your email has now been added to my Mailchimp subscriber list. If you no longer wish to receive emails from Seaflowers Nursery then please use the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page. Thanks so much to all of you lovely gardeners and plants people that continue to subscribe and read all of my news and ramblings…your support is very much appreciated. What have I been up to…Despite the lack of newsy emails over the past few months, I have been very busy in the nursery. We installed a new 9 metre tunnel house, a project which I swear I never want to do again, but it is fabulous now that it’s finally up. In between pretending I’m a ‘hotshot tunnel house builder’s apprentice’ I have been doing loads of seed sowing, pricking out, digging, dividing and potting-up. There are new plants everywhere I look and plenty more yet to come to. I absolutely love this part of my job - bringing new plants into the world. There’s something so satisfying about watching the first baby leaves emerge from their seed casing, a place that they’ve been encapsulated in for however long before they were specially chosen by me to bring to life. Potting them up and watching them grow to a saleable size is an achievement I never get tired of. Another task that happens here throughout autumn, winter and early spring here is digging and dividing perennials. It’s another way of making more plants, and unlike some seed-grown lines the new plants are identical to the mother plant, which is essential when you’re dealing with named cultivars of such things as Phlox, Heleniums and Asters. Cuttings is another way of ensuring this, which is what I do with many of the Salvias for instance, but there’s a lot of herbaceous perennials that can only be increased by division. So you see, there is always so much to keep me busy, and that’s without even mentioning all the thinking that goes on (honestly, if you could see inside my mind somedays…my thought processes can get very creative when it comes to plants…I even think about them in the middle of the night!). Bulbs…This year has been so wet that I was unable to dig any of the bulbs I normally would before they started sprouting, so apologies to anyone waiting for the winter bulb list, there will not be one this year. I am hoping to find time to pot a few up now that the soil is a little drier, so there may still be some available a bit later on. What’s coming…Despite the extraordinary amount of rain we’ve had over the past few months, there is also much discussion within gardening circles about water-wise or drought tolerant plants. Over the past few years I have been gradually adding to my repertoire of these plants, which I find useful not only for their low water requirements, but also because many of them are highly attractive to all sorts of pollinators, providing them with food and shelter at various times throughout the year. So this year you will see plants become available of such things as Epilobium canum spp. canum, Nepeta nepetella ssp. aragonensis (both pictured below), Felicia echinata, Salvia candidissima (not to be confused with S. canariensis var. candidissima), and a wide range of the usual and highly popular suspects - Verbena, Gaura, Salvia and Agastache species and cultivars to name a few. Above left: Epilobium canum ssp. canum (syn. Zauschneria) Above right: Nepeta nepetella ssp. aragonensis New plants… Today I have updated the website and added a number of plants which are ready for sending out to customers. Some are new varieties I haven’t grown before and some are old friends which keep coming back every year due to their popularity and usefulness in the garden. You can purchase plants via my website (click on the link below) or you can email me to order and I will reply to confirm your order depending on what’s still available. Some lines sell out super fast and others at a more sedate speed…below is the list of what I’ve added today, but there are other plants listed in the online shop as well. Not everything on the website has a photo so please read the description and then perhaps look on the internet for online photos. Achillea ‘Autumn Sunrise’ Anthericum liliago Dicentra eximia ‘Alba’ Digitalis ferruginea Digitalis purpurea ‘Pam’s Choice’ Eryngium planum ‘Silver Salentino’ Helenium ‘Red Wonder’ Iris unguicularis ssp. cretensis Pelargonium longicaule (few) Phlox paniculata ‘Alba Grandiflora’ Phlox paniculata ‘Argosy’ Phlox paniculata ‘Dusterlohe’ Phlox paniculata ‘Vintage Wine’ Polemonium kiushianum Salvia ‘Shangri La’ (S. moorcroftiana x S. indica) Online Shop I really hope you’ve enjoyed reading this newsy email and that it has arrived in your inbox looking as I intended it to. As with any new technology there may well be a few hiccups along the way, so please if you spot something that needs fixing then do let me know. It is a pleasure to be able to provide you with something a little different to grow in your gardens throughout the year, so thank you for continuing to buy my plants and support my small business. Take care, may the sun keep shining and the plants keep growing… Kate Copyright (C) *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*. All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|**|LIST:DESCRIPTION|**|END:IF|* Our mailing address is: *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|**|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|**|END:IF|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe