Despite wet weather across most of the country, Lavender plants are selling like they are going out of fashion.   These tough, drought tolerant plants are wonderful additions to every garden and in my own garden at home I recently replaced an old and slightly woody Lavandula angustifolia (English Lavender) with lovely little bushy Lavender Hidcote plants, planted at 4 per metre and which, in just the one week since I planted them, have increased by about 50%!    The leaves are very heavily scented – really noticeable when you are taking them out of pots and manhandling them.   I had a couple of spares so they’ve gone in nice terracotta pots on my terrace steps and I expect them to completely fill the pots within a few weeks.

This year, as well as the staple 1.5L pot size we also have 5L pots for those looking for bushier more mature specimens and we have small but beautiful quality cell grown plants which are ideal for those with a little more patience than budget.  They should still flower this summer and if not this summer then definitely next summer.  At the other end of the spectrum, we’re also patiently waiting for some mega 10L pot specimens to be ready – just a couple more weeks hopefully.  They’ll be real statements.

The key with all Lavenders is to plant them in dry soil or plant them in such a way that rainwater will run away from the roots (on little soil mounds).  Other than when you first plant them, they need no watering unless we have a really long dry spell (imagine Lavender growing in Provence and you won’t go far wrong).

The photo shows my kitchen window which will be surrounded by Pyracantha when it’s fully mature (just coming into flower) and the little Lavender plants in a slightly wibbly wobbly row (which won’t matter when they expand a bit more) and the spares in pots on the steps.    Behind the bench is a Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata Atrovirens) hedge which was 60cm in 2L pots about 3 years ago – and is now very bushy and dense because we’ve trimmed it a little.

June

Festive Greetings from all the team at Hedges Direct – and thank you to all our customers who have planted new hedging in 2011.

We’re in full swing with pre-order despatch

We’re settled into the new nursery that we moved into during the summer – and we’ve now sent almost all the bare root and root ball pre-orders (ordered by customers from July onwards, despatched at this time of year when the plants are dormant).

We don’t like it when customers are asking “when will I get my order” but it’s inevitable in early November as we despatch 4 months worth of bare root and root ball orders in two or three weeks.

Hedge orders prepared for Despatch

As well as a challenge for us, it’s a challenge for our carriers who dedicate more of their capacity to us at this time of year– both Parcel Force and Ainsworth and Martin have been absolutely brilliant this year.

Our full time despatch team is supplemented with temps (who have all been excellent) and even “the management” get their hands dirty at this time of year.  Paul Shipley, our MD, even worked the Sunday of his birthday!

So, after working 7 days per week of long hours, we’re delighted to say that it’s only a handful of small complicated orders that are still waiting to be despatched – and now we can catch up with the steady stream of orders that have been coming in throughout early November.

It’s been a very good season for us – thank you to all the customers who pre-ordered – and thank you to all our suppliers for pulling out all the stops for us – and an especially big thank you to all our despatch and sales teams who have (as always!) been marvellous.

Welcome to Rick and Steve who join our despatch team in readiness for our busy autumn and spring seasons.  They both have a wealth of nursery experience and anyone who receives a pallet from us will see the skill they employ to ensure that their plants reach their recipients in great condition.

There are definitely more haws on the Hawthorn this year

The hedgerows look positively red with a mass of haws (Hawthorn berries).   I put it down to a very mild spring which allowed the blossom to stay on the Hawthorn plants for longer than in a windy spring.   There are old wives tales that lots of berries in the hedgerows means we are in for a bad winter (nature’s way of laying down a food supply for the birds) so let’s hope that particular old wives’ tale doesn’t come true this year.

We’ve just come back from a holiday in North Yorkshire and spotted this wonderful topiary hedge in Filey.  Well done to the homeowner who obviously spends a lot of time on the boat – a very standard Privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium) species but shown at its best here.   Privet is really good for front garden hedges because it is pollution tolerant and probably 1 in every 20 front gardens has a Privet hedge but none quite as wonderful as this one.

Privet hedge shaped as a boat

“Funnily enough it’s my birthday in June.   One of my birthday treats was a garden tour of a marvellous garden with lots of Box and Yew hedging.

The head gardener giving the tour gave some marvellous advice on how best to trim Box hedging.   Hose the hedge with plenty of water before you start and keep dipping the shears in a bucket of water every few clips – or do it in the rain!   Apparently, the wet edges heal much quicker, reducing the amount of brown edges that are so common when Box is clipped.

Box hedging plant close up image

In late June, Box hedging begins to look a bit fluffy so if you can be bothered, it’s a good time to trim it and it will keep it looking tidy for most of the summer – though it will need to be done again in late September.   Or the lazy gardeners can just leave it until September – I quite like it looking fluffy!”

“Cast not a clout til’ the May is out.”   This Anglo Saxon saying means that you shouldn’t remove a layer of clothing (clout) until the May blossom (Hawthorn) is out.   Trouble is – we’ve had the warmest, driest April on record and the Hawthorn has been in blossom for weeks already.

Hawthorn hedging in blossom

Two terrible winters followed by a very hot dry early spring is the last thing that young plants need.   It takes several years to establish a new hedge so the first couple of years of weather matter a great deal.

We can do nothing about the heat and very little about the cold (protection with mulch is the only thing) but we can do a lot about the lack of rainfall.

Get out there with the hose at least a couple of times a week and really drench any plants that have only been planted in the last couple of seasons.  We know it’s a pain but, barring proper irrigation, it’s the only answer”

It’s 28^th April today and it hasn’t rained here once this month.   This is potentially disastrous for everyone who planted new hedging during the Winter/Spring season.

Plants that are recently planted do not have roots going deep down into the damp sub-soil and unless they are watered plentifully (ie a watering can on each plant) and regularly (daily if it’s warm, every two days if it’s cool), then the plants will just not be getting enough water to sustain them as they try to put on spring growth.

By the way, always water in the early morning well before the sun comes up, or even better, the early evening after the sun has gone down.   Otherwise, it will just be evaporated by the sunshine and the soil will be dry as a bone again within hours.

Once a plant is fully established, it doesn’t really then need to be watered.   Here’s a photo of the Lavender planted in our garden at home last April – so it’s only a year old and yet it looks really vibrant – it hasn’t been watered at all and is doing magnificently despite the driest February, March and April for over 50 years.

English Lavender hedge

Root balls and tall pot grown/tall bare root plants are the most in need of water.   The taller the plant the harder it is to get established and the more it will suffer if allowed to dry out.   You really do have to absolutely drench them when first planting – empty a whole bucket of water into the planting hole and let it drain, then plant, then add another bucket of water before the final addition of the last layer of top soil.   And then they need to be drenched regularly –   You just have to be a bit careful not to apply so much water that the roots rot or become waterlogged – and particular care is needed with Yew which likes plenty of water in the first few seasons but doesnt like to be sitting in wet soil – so a little less water a little more often and make sure it’s draining properly.

June

I would think that most gardens have a Potentilla.   It’s not a much loved species but it’s ever so common, most usually yellow flowering.   We have the yellow but we also have pink, tangerine and white flowering varieties.   Here’s a photo of the white flowering Potentilla – a lovely, pure colour.

Flowring Potentilla

If there are any gardens out there with only the yellow or even without a Potentilla, you should put this right straight away   The only drawback to the species is that it’s deciduous – but that’s so often the case – those species with the biggest show of flowers or berries are very often deciduous (there are flowering and berrying evergreens – see website or phone the helpline for details).