David Austin Rose Special

Weeds and Waistlines, Signs of Spring!

How can I be sure that this is spring?
It is warmer, yes. The beautiful but icy grip of the Scandinavian anticyclone is loosened.

It is dry, surprisingly so and distant hills have smoke patches every day as estates start the moor-burning season. It keeps the fire services busy and hopefully will be finished before the grouse and other ground nesters start to build.

No, the real reason I know is that my muscles ache and I have the oddest twinges. Such is age and a soft winter.

My waistline is definitely broader and after about 15 minutes of wheel barrow and lifting work, I am starting to think about the next tea break.

This last winter I suddenly decided after years of neglect, that my family needed cake. Well yes, I can still bake, but it will have to stop!

Definitely time to get out and stay out.

Spring also brings that restlessness that sees every messy corner and cobweb. A brisk walk around, shows up the leaves that have not been lifted, the jumble of pots in odd corners, and the grassed up areas you meant to deal with last July.

The corners no-one is supposed to see, where the dead pots lurk and the Jabberwocky jabbers

And look under the leaves of Epimediums or winter green ferns and there is my old friend ground elder and yes, the dandelions and bittercress have gained volume over this last week.

 

 

Overwhelmed and slightly panicky…it must be spring . The only defence is to lift your eyes and enjoy the hazel catkins, the first primroses and the wonderful snowdrops.

However, time to spring clean….If I can find the energy!

Margaret

Old Fashioned Primroses

It is cold. After a wonderful sunny March as is often said “We have paid for it!!”
Cold nights, freezing dawns, cold days, five degrees….rain….lots of it…and snow on the tops, and sometimes even at our lower level.
You wake to a skim of snow that thaws over the morning.

It is the young birds that worry me. Birds nested early and enthusiastically in March. I hope they can keep those babies warm.

Plants just slow down. After a fast start, many spring plants seem almost to be suspended slowly opening their flowers and holding them close to retain a little warmth.

This year there has been markedly increased interest in the old fashioned primroses, one of our specialist groups of plants.

Primula Wanda

Primula Amy Smith

What are old fashioned primroses? Well they are cultivated primroses, often of some antiquity, all good garden plants and hardy.
Most are singles, some are wonderful old doubles and some are polyanthus form. 

This month, April, I am canvassing the villages around Loch Ness in my bid to be re-elected as the Local Highland Councillor, I am often looking over walls into gardens as I am going around.  I see lots of old primroses; they are the ones that have survived for generations, passed from mother to daughter, neighbour to neighbour.
I see Wanda, that great old magenta primroses, an old yellow polyanthus and recently a lovely pale mauve pink primrose, whose name no one seems to know.

Primula Lilacina Plena

Look across the range of primroses we sell, and you see some wonderful old varieties.
These plants do not have the zazzle colours, red, orange, yellow & pink that you can buy in supermarkets and garden centres, but they do have quiet subtle charm.


I have more than one favourite and the plants do look different from year to year.
This year, the pretty Amy Smith with soft pink flowers on dark bronze foliage and Lady Greer, which has dainty Polyanthus heads of biscuit yellow.

And of course then there are the doubles, how could I garden without the old alba plena and the glorious Quakers Bonnet, lilacina plena, but they really are another story and a wonderful one at that.
 Margaret

Plant of the month - Primula Auricula

Plant of the month - April
Primula Auricula

We have a wide collection of these extraordinary little plants.
Intense colours and subtle dustings of farina make them unique and exquisite.
Hardy, easy to grow and guaranteed to delight.
£4 - £6 each

If you too love Auricula and have some photographs squirreled away on your computer, consider adding them to our 'Auricula Addiction' group on Flickr.

Secrets of the selling beds

BEHIND THE SCENES AT A FAMILY PLANT NURSERY

No. 1 - SECRETS OF THE SELLING BEDS

We run the bathroom tap all winter to ensure the pipes do not freeze, (don't panic, it is our own water source, we are not wasting a drop, but it does still stress out Australian friends when they visit and watch all that precious water gushing endlessly down the drain) so when the day comes when we can turn off the tap and feel with 95% confidence that it will not freeze again that night, why then, it must be about time to begin the season and start to fill up the nursery with the plants that have spent the winter cosy in their poly tunnel homes.

The frosty winter of 2010 hit us hard, very hard, and we lost a lot of great stock plants that had come through many winters before. We have learned from our mistakes, and this last winter we invested in more bubble wrap, fleece and polystyrene insulation to ensure we were doing all we could to protect the plants if the thermometer hit -15 once again.
Thankfully it did not and with a relatively mild winter, the losses were far less.
Another change we made, which turned out to make a marked difference, was simply moving certain plants between poly tunnels to conditions that seemed to suit them more. For example, I took all the Bellis plants from the smaller tunnel, to the larger airier tunnel and they have thrived on it, preferring to have more air flow around them and less of a tight environment.

We have also been lucky to survive without a great deal of mouse damage, and more sadly; with the loss of West in November; there was no vizsla damage either. His horticultural impact was never intentional; it is just inherently tricky to bury a venison bone underneath a tray of crocosmia without there being a few casualties.

So, we walk the stock beds and select what is to be first out into the nursery, then hoist up some trays of plants and take them to the shed; which is marginally warmer and has marginally more chocolate hobnobs than the poly tunnel; and there we do any required weeding, cutting back, removal of old foliage and generally ensuring it is looking its best before sale. Some plants will at this stage get potted up to a larger size to go back to the tunnels for sale later in the season.

A new label is written out by hand for each plant, (yes, by hand, we are still old school, and unless the original seedlings came with some snazzy coloured labels, we still get hand cramp from writing out ‘Persicaria affinis campanulata £3.50’ fifty times) and then I channel my inner Theroux to write up an evocative label to describe the appearance of the plant, explain its growing habits, soil preferences, size etc.

Being eco-conscious, we recycle and reuse many of our pots, labels, trays and other materials necessary for running a nursery, and in this we are ably assisted by Shelia our fabulous employee, who dedicates her own time to collecting and cleaning off plant labels for re-use. (We also have a collection point where customers are encouraged to bring in all the plant pots they have accumulated over the years, we will use what we can and pass on the rest for further recycling.)

After the prettification step, the plants go out onto the nursery selling beds. As the nursery has grown, so to have the number of tables, and we now have a substantial amount which require yearly winter maintenance by means of a scrub down with a wire brush to remove the grime and moss, followed by a fresh layer of special varnish which protects the wood from rotting and prevents moss growth. A very tedious task I'm sure you can appreciate, so one I do my best to delegate.

Now comes an attempt to delve into the psychology of the plant buyer - look into my eyes, you are feeling an irresistible urge to buy 17 meconopsis.

We do not have a bag of tricks like the evil genius's at the supermarkets, and i'm not going to give everything away, but we have been known to watch customers out the corners of our eye to see which routes they take between the tables and which areas are the focal points, or 'hot spots'. Into these spots I position those plants that are looking particularly great, are in full flower, or which are enjoying a season of fashionable popularity.

Next out, some complementary plants - texture, colour, size, planting conditions - all come into play when laying out the table.
Delicate marking displayed at eye level for maximum appreciation, big pots on the ground so they don’t have far to fall on the windy days. Climbers not too close to the trellis or you will never be able to untangle them........

Then a few more mind games - the removal of a couple of pots from each tray, (A full tray is too intimidating), position the descriptive label at a readable angle and job done.

Smoko time?

GUEST POST BY HAMISH DAVIDSON

The Boiling Pond

Like the GilbertWhite of Abriachan, I crept stealthily up the path towards the pond, camera switched on, lens extended, fingers hovering expectantly over the focus.
I was down-wind, I had deliberately neglected to put on potent midge repellent lest it disturb the still morning air, I was wearing my most woodland-blending combination of greens, greys and browns, surely this time they would not see me coming!

 

SPLAsh SpISH SPlarg Gloop ShLUuop splOSH

bugger!

Once more outwitted by frogs, 16 frogs to be more accurate (at last count), the newest and most endearing residents of the pond.

(I promise they are in the photo somewhere)

They moved in last week and since then the water has been boiling with their activity, there are now several big patches of frog spawn floating like translucent sago pudding, yet despite my best efforts, my attempts to sneak up and photograph them as they lounge on the banks and leaves have failed, and all I am confronted with are 32 big eyes on teeny frog faces peeking up at me.

One of my winter jobs was the transformation of what Margaret termed "The Quaking Bog" into something that once more resembled a wildlife pond.
So with a set of waders, a spade and a look of steely determination in my eye, I went forth and did battle.

January/February is the best time for you to tackle your ponds, as it is when you are going to cause least disturbance to wildlife which is at its lowest ebb in the winter months, and also when you are best able to divide your pond plants before they start to grow away in the spring.

The rapid flow of water through our pond, (connected to a fast flowing burn) brought with it a great deal of silt and other detritus, so I had to dig a great deal of content out, to return the pond to a depth of 3ft, restoring it to a suitable environment for wildlife and readying it for fresh planting in the coming months.
If you own a stand-alone pond which you refill/refresh/pump or otherwise oxygenate, you will probably have far less content to clear out as there will only be the fallen leaves and rotting plant material to deal with, however it is still a job that should be done tri-annually to benefit the health of the pond.

Here are a few tips to help you in your endeavours: 

• Waders are a great investment - Digging out a pond from the bank is near impossible and you are like as not to strain your back, and receive no sympathy from friends and family as "You should have known better."
  Also, a welly boot, once full of sludgly mud, tends to be more of a hindrance than a help and may lead to you becoming wedged in the gunge in the very centre of the pond, having to perform a complex manoeuvre where you use the spade to lever out one foot so you can make a lunge for the bank, leaving the other welly behind in its new watery home, where it looks at you smugly while you sit and wring out your socks.
• Stop the flow of water into your pond while you are cleaning it, and if possible drain out most of the water to make your job easier.
  I would imagine that if you have fish, transferring them elsewhere at this stage would be a pretty good idea.
• As you dig out the contents of the pond, shovel it all onto the bank and leave it there for at least a few days, so anything that has been living in the murky depths can wriggle its way back down into the water.
• Once the silt is wriggler-free, you can move it elsewhere.
  I have used ours to fill a new bed which I will plant with Primulas later this year.
  You may have to mix the pond contents with compost and additional feeding depending on the level of nutrients - I will be adding manure and leaf compost to ours.
• Dig deep to get out the roots of all the plants you do not want in your pond. In our case, reeds, rushes and grasses which would, if left, invade the whole pond area.
  You can keep a small patch of reeds for your wildlife if you like, but there are plenty of alternative plants which wildlife love and which are easier to keep under control.
• Divide your lilies, irises and other abundant pond plants, plant them elsewhere, give them to your neighbours, sell them, donate them, barter them..... just ensure you leave enough for oxygenation and habitat.
• Hold off on re-planting with new plants until after the last of the hard frosts.
• Ensure your pond has at least one gradually graduated side, so frogs, toads, newts and other wildlife can get in and out easily.

Best of luck with your own ponds, they are such a great addition to your garden and as well as providing an environment for animals and insects to live, breed and feed, they give many more birds and animals with a place to drink and bathe.
Our own wee Scottish food chain contains damselflies, dragonflies, water boat men, pond skaters, whirligig beetles, caddis flies, water snails, frogs, toads, ducks, a visiting heron......  and recently observed, the lesser-spotted mud-encrusted Scotsman.

Written by Donald
Frog graphic from the fabulous Graphics Fairy

Little drops of green & white

Does any flower give more hope than snowdrops!

Pure white modest flowers with a chaste beauty, that belies there tough nature.

There they are each January, bravely emerging between the fallen leaves and ivy tendrils.

They are of course hardy, but they are not the fastest of bulbs to colonise a woodland or river bank.
Where you see drifts of snowdrops you are looking at decades or even centuries of growth.
Such plantings are some of the loveliest sights you will see.

Snowdrops are often found in burial grounds, and such plantings must be for hope and memory.
I have seen snowdrops in well kept town cemeteries and on wind blasted burial grounds full of old graves, and they always stir the heart.

In Drumnadrochit, a village close to Abriachan there is a very special area of woodland at the confluence of two rivers, called the Cover.

The Rivers that flow through the Cover to Loch Ness have regularly flooded in the past and have brought down plant material from gardens.
Hence we have had Japanese Knotweed (thankfully, hopefully eradicated now) and raspberry canes, but the one intruder I think is wonderful is the Snowdrop

Undisturbed under the trees they have multiplied and now give a lovely show each year.

I was there on Sunday, a lovely mild day with the feel of the approach of spring.

For anyone with a new house and garden, wait for the first January, February and see if you have snowdrops if not, then buy some, and as with tree planting it is for the next generation.

Winter woodland walk

Since we have returned from New Zealand I have walked through our garden and woodlands most days. 
It is usually late afternoon before I start up the hill, well wrapped up against the cold with fleece and my wonderful possum hat from New Zealand.

Daylight is drawing out markedly now. I am still finding the mornings very dark, but the evenings are stretching nicely and it is now well after five before it is dark. Hoorah!

This late afternoon light is special.
We are having a quiet cold spell just now and the light on Loch Ness is great.
I always think of Loch Ness as steely grey and it looks wonderful, arctic cold glinting in moonlight and mirror glass calm by day. 

December was very wet and the footpaths are still greasy in places
The last of the leaves are brown and damp and the air is heavy with the humus smell of woodlands.
Bark and branch dominate the foreground, with pockets of dark holly and Blechnum spicant; the elegant hard fern; on dry banks.

Of course snow drops are through and the garden looks well, temperatures have not been below -4.  Fingers crossed.

M

Rose Discoveries - Beauty in a Shattered City.

If you know Christchurch as we do, it is very sad just now to see the cleared sites and demolition work that followed the Earthquakes earlier this year. However, walk down to Hagley Park, their botanic gardens and it is thriving.
In Mid December we walked into their rose garden and I was blown away. I am still seeing images of the garden in my mind's eye.
Usually, I walk into a rose garden and what do I  see? Well it can be lovely , but all too often the garden can be dry soil, defoliation, spotty yellow leaves far too much bare earth
Not an enthusiast then?? Well all changed now. Christchurch showed me how it can be done,

Look at these arches, look at these red reds.  Let me share some photographs with you.

What you don't get in a photograph, is the shimmering sunshine and the scented air around some of the rose beds...just lovely

Many Happy Returns

Large bed of  "Many Happy Returns"   white, pink bud.
It was the white roses that made the most impact. Fantastic.

Molly Kirby

Molly Kirby...a sizzling orange, clean shiny foliage.

A bright yellow bed of " Casino"

Casino.

The red voluptuous "Ingrid Bergman"

Ingrid Bergman

The roses were all looking wonderful. Why?
1.  Well New Zealand has a kinder climate. Christchurch has milder winters and hotter summers that we have in UK, and certainly more than we have in Scotland.
And Roses love warmth. We sometimes forget that and wonder why we lose rose bushes, particularly Hybrid teas in a bad winter. At Abriachan we only grown shrub roses and climbers as others just can't take the cold.

2. The roses looked well pruned and well fed. Like all plants that you want to see bloom on the new growth you have to ensure they are well fed. Blood fish and bone or dehydrated Chicken manure are my favourites, followed by tomato feed to get lots of blooms.

Nancy Hayward

3. New Zealand breeds many of its own roses and they were well chosen, but there were also very good looking David Austin varieties and old well known varieties such as "Compassion" and "Iceberg"  They looked great so I believe they are using good clean material for propagation.

Just wonderful. No wonder they call Christchurch the Garden City

The Badger and The Bees

The Buzz from the Hive

Autumn and time for the beekeeper to relax a little, take stock of the honey crop and start to prepare the bees for the winter. However, there were one or two surprises in store for us yet at the Abriachan hive; never a dull moment with bees.

Pressing the Honey

In September there was an outbreak of American foulbrood in Inverness-shire, the beekeepers worst nightmare.
This is a virulent disease that decimates the developing larvae, will eventually wipe out the colony and is highly contagious.
As with foot and mouth, the infected hive, with its bees is destroyed and a standstill order placed on the apiary until further inspections are carried out.
Bees have a flying range of three miles and along with many others, we were within range of the infected apiary.
So we had a tense week while we waited for the Government Bee inspector to call. Thankfully we were given a clean bill of health.

A more recent threat to the hive has been of a larger and hairier kind.

For the first time the gardens have played host to badgers. Not only have they found the flowerbeds attractive but unfortunately the hive too and Don found it tipped right over and the roof removed earlier this month.
Even with the hive strapped up and weighted down with boulders, there has obviously been a return trip, as the metal mouse guard that covers the entrance (yes, mice love hibernating in hives!) has been ripped off in an effort to reach in side.
All is quiet at the moment but at list the intruder has inspired this years label for the honey jars!

AbriachanApiary 2011

(This Guest Blog written by our wonderful bee keeper Rebecca)