Shire Plants Blog
Independent Nurseries
For more than 30 years, Royal Horticultural Society's Plant Finder has been a record of the hundreds of thousands of plants available in cultivation in the UK and, importantly, the nurseries that stock them.Ahead of next week's release of the 2019 ed...
[ Read More ]Lovely Primula 'Quaker's Bonnet'
Primula 'Quaker's Bonnet' - a very old English Primula which was nearly lost to cultivation but has recently been rescued and we're happy to include it in our offering. Beautiful and a strong grower, so a fine garden plant.View in the shop
[ Read More ]Hollyhocks
Hollyhocks have adorned country gardens for centuries and no traditional cottage garden would be complete without them. These days they also have a useful role to play in adding vertical interest to contemporary designs and have featuring in recent s...
[ Read More ]Mail Order Plants
Some of the plants for the current batch of orders waiting to be packaged up to go to their new homes and sporting our smart new labels.
[ Read More ]Spring on the way
Some photos of early signs of spring from around the site. The frog was sunning himself underneath a polytunnel door. No frogspawn evident in the pond yet, although the frogs are very verbal so presumably it won't be long!
[ Read More ]Doronicum x excelsum 'Harpur Crewe' (Leopard's bane)
Walking around the nursery today, I spotted this amazing plant in flower. Looking at it you would think it should be flowering on a hot sunny day in July, not February! Admittedly it was in a polytunnel so it was flowering a bit earlier than usual, b...
[ Read More ]Spotlight on: Perennial Wallflowers (Erysimum)
Mention Perennial Wallflower and most people think of the ubiquitous 'Bowles Mauve' but there are many other varieties available, offering a wide range of colours and sizes.In the 12th century, Troubadours would wear a sprig of wallflower to signify ...
[ Read More ]Brazen Hussy
I love the contrast of the bright yellow flowers against the dark brown polished leaves of this celandine, which look metallic in certain light. A perfect plant to brighten up the late winter/early spring months.This variety was discovered by the lat...
[ Read More ]'New' apple and pear varieties
73 new varieties of apple and pear trees discovered growing in old orchards and gardens in Wales. I wonder how many more are dotted around the UK waiting to be discovered? Sadly, many old varieties of fruit trees and plants are being lost as the corp...
[ Read More ]Willow cuttings
Love the lime-green, yellow, chocolate-brown, orange and red colours of these willow (Salix) cuttings. All being well, these plants will be available to buy later in the year.
[ Read More ]Spotlight on: Celandines
Celandine are one of the delights of early spring and among the first plants to flower in the countryside. They are delightful little flowers and true harbingers of spring.Perfect for under trees, shrubs or alongside hedges, they can also be used in ...
[ Read More ]Sowing Seeds
Today has been a day of seed planting. November may not be the obvious month for planting seeds but there are two good reasons for sowing now.Firstly, seeds that have been collected this season from plants that don't store well, need to be sown strai...
[ Read More ]Exciting Foxgloves
Continuing on from our earlier 'Spotlight on Foxgloves' post, today we have added six additional exciting varieties to our offering.Digitalis cariensis trojana - a beautiful and rare foxglove from Turkey which has creamy white with coffee coloured st...
[ Read More ]Autumn Planting
One sign of a serious gardener is that they haven't yet put away their trowel and are eagerly planting hardy perennials, shrubs and trees in the knowledge that they will see the benefit next year.Autumn is the time of the root and is one of our busie...
[ Read More ]Of Mice and Toby
The winter battle begins...Polytunnels hold a dual attraction for mice: protection from the elements and plenty of delicious food sitting conveniently on the floor (our young plants).We deal with them using humane traps, trapping them and taking them...
[ Read More ]Spotlight on: Foxgloves
The native foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, is one of the most familiar of our wild flowers and its association with man is long and complex. Digitalin, which is extracted from it, is a powerful poison and an important drug in the treatment of heart com...
[ Read More ]Spotlight on: Everlasting Sweet Peas
We love Sweet Peas but they are a bit of a bother. Because they are annuals we need to sow seed each year, find a suitable place to plant them, feed them and train them up suitable netting. By late summer they’re looking tired and are giving up the g...
[ Read More ]Bonking Grass
Bonking GrassThis excellent little plant has just been added to our range. Bonking Grass is not yet widely known in the UK but we expect that to change due to its versatile nature and beautiful flowers. Its name is rather a talking point too!
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