We are, and always will be, a specialist nursery that aims to provide quality plants for long term effect. We do not grow our plants for an instant impact.
Over many long years I have found (as indeed have many others before me), that not overly cossetting young plants for speed of production and sale produces a plant that will almost certainly perform better over the longer term in our gardens. Match this approach with the ethos of Right Plant Right Place and as gardeners we have a formula for long term success.
Fast of course is an increasingly used word and is applied to everything from travel to deliveries and to food. However as most of the world goes in one direction there is frequently a counter movement. For example there are plentiful restaurants offering ‘Fast Food’ – while more recently we now see others offering ‘Slow Food’. Mostly with a significantly different approach to the style and production of the food they offer their customers. I asked my phone (courtesy of A.I.), what it thought about slow food and along with various descriptions of the slow food movement (slowfood.org.uk for example), there were numerous articles on slow living and even slow gardening. Perhaps we are beginning to realise that fast, quick and instant are not always the best or only solutions for key aspects of our lives.
Horticulturally there will always be occasions where instant impact is required. Take for example our exhibits at the world famous Chelsea Flower Show. We spent some time and effort in producing a stand that was as near as possible to ‘instant’. Aiming for the highest degree of perfection for the single moment when the judges arrived. Our displays had to be ‘perfect’ for a short while and then, like all such exhibits, once the show was over the stands were dismantled and the magic was gone. Exciting as they were to create, and undoubtedly successful in terms of PR and public profile, they were also expensive, resource heavy and very short term. Our gardens should be the opposite – if for no other reason than we want the magic to last.
I have always loved and been fascinated by plants. So for me a garden is as close as I will ever get to being in my ‘natural habitat’. A garden is a place to grow plants, to learn, to enjoy the associated sights and sounds and smells and of course offer a place for our wildlife to share. For many of us, and certainly for myself, a garden is even more than this. It can be a haven of tranquillity and offer a space where we can just ‘be’. Just being in the company of plants and in the places where they grow quite simply calms my soul – and offers a powerful antidote to the pressures of the modern world. In order to achieve this essential element of wellbeing gardens are places that need to last, to evolve slowly over a period of time and not to have an instant, artificial or short term solution imposed on them.
It is said that there is nothing new in gardening and this is perhaps true of the slow approach which in many aspects mirrors a traditional approach to gardening – where time and understanding, process and patience are seen as more valuable than instant and quick. I have come to firmly believe that gardening is primarily about process rather than result. If we take time to understand and invest in the process of a garden, its needs and opportunities, then we will almost inevitably achieve a long term and satisfying result. If we concern ourselves purely with achieving short term results then our satisfaction is likely to be equally short term.
As gardeners we have everything to gain by taking the ‘slow’ long term view. And it is with this long term ethos clearly in mind that we approach the growing of our plants that we supply to our customers.
Our key aim is to produce plants with a healthy crown and good roots. While foliage and flower is what we all enjoy it is the crown and root system that long term produces the growth we want.
We have grown in peat free composts for over 20 years. The nature of our compost allows us to grow on a wet and dry regime where the plants are effectively ‘stressed’ which helps produce a tough and hardy plant ready for the rigours of garden life.
Plants are grown with minimal protection in one of our two growing fields rather than being forced under glass or tunnel conditions for speed of growth.
We produce over 90% of all our plants from our own sources. Apart from any environmental advantages this allows us to control quality and ensure plants are correctly named.
Our plants are grown mostly in 9cm or 2 litre sized pots which are generally quite large enough for successful planting. Our new pots are now square (rather than round) which amazingly do seem to produce a better root system.
A good number of our plants are routinely cut back during the growing season in order to produce a plant that will have the best chance of performing well once planted out. This technique is useful to help keep our taller plants more compact but trimming back works equally well on smaller plants which will respond with new fresh foliage.
We lose nothing by adopting the slow approach to our gardens and plant choice – and in fact have everything to gain. We can all get excited by new or interesting plants we might see at a nursery or garden centre – and why not – plants are endlessly fascinating. But I have found that the greatest amount of gardening satisfaction comes from thoughtfully chosen plants growing under conditions they can tolerate or even enjoy. Happy plants are much easier to maintain, last longer and perform better.
What is not to like?