Posts by Emma Emmerson
Christmas is Coming at Woodside
Christmas wreath making is well under way here at Woodside, the Christmas trees are coming in this week and we are now taking orders for groceries from the shop for the festive season.
Christmas Wreath making
We are busy making Christmas wreaths for all our customers that have pre-ordered and we will be making extras for sale in the plant centre. All our wreaths are by hand and machine using fresh branches of fir and holly, all on a metal base. They are either tastefully decorated or left plain for you to decorate yourself if you wish.
Our small wreaths are usually used at the cemetery and are either decorated with natural pine cones or artificial white Christmas roses and are £18 each.
Our large wreaths all have a bow in a variety of colours and designs, and can either be decorated with pine cones for a natural look, or with decorations known as “picks”. The large wreaths with cones are £25 each and with picks are £28 each.
If you’re looking for something even bigger and brighter we also make some XL wreaths, and decorate them with a bow and picks – this deluxe version is £40.
We try to have plenty of wreaths available to buy in the plants centre, but sometimes we just can’t make them fast enough, so if you’d like to order one please give us a call on 01835 830315.
Wreath-making workshops
If you fancy making a wreath yourself, we still have spaces on our wreath making workshops the week after next. We have 4 sessions available:
- 12th December 10am – 12.30pm
- 12th December 1.30pm – 4pm
- 13th December 10am – 12.30pm
- 13th December 1.30pm – 4pm.
Each workshop costs £35 per person including all the materials needed to hand make and decorate a wreath, plus a cup of tea or coffee and a mince pie. All you need to bring is a pair of secateurs and gloves. I would also recommend wearing warm comfy clothes.
If you’d like to attend please book your place on 01835 830315. You can also buy a place on this workshop as a Christmas gift – just let us know when booking.
Christmas Groceries
We are now taking bookings for Christmas groceries from our shop, including frozen meals, fruit and vegetables, luxury goods, gluten free products, frozen whole pheasants, frozen local venison and homemade bread. You can see our list by clicking HERE, and we have plenty more that isn’t listed too. Don’t forget we are open every day 10am – 4pm right up to and including Christmas Eve, so do come in and take a look.
Nordmann Christmas Trees
Our cut Nordmann Christmas trees are arriving this week, ready for those of you that want to get your tree up on the 1st December. Our trees are all the non-needle drop variety, and will look good for ages – even when it’s time to get them down in January. We also have Christmas tree stands, lights and decorations, so hopefully everything you need to get your home all Christmassy.
As usual, for all enquiries, bookings and orders as well as tearoom reservations, please phone us on 01835 830315. As we are very busy we don’t always have the time to check emails or social media, so please pick up the phone and give us a call.
Christmas Dining Dates Announced
We are pleased to be able to announce our Christmas dining dates at Woodside for you to pre-book and get them in the diary. Why not treat yourself or a friend for Christmas with one of our meals?
Our December dates are as follows, and the menus for our Christmas Lunch and Christmas Afternoon Tea are below:
Monday December 4th – Christmas Lunch in the Birdhouse Tearoom at 1pm
Tuesday December 5th – Christmas Lunch in the Birdhouse Tearoom at 1pm
Thursday December 7th – Christmas Afternoon Tea in the Birdhouse Tearoom at 3pm
Monday December 11th – Christmas Lunch in the Birdhouse Tearoom at 1pm
Tuesday December 12th – Christmas Lunch in the Birdhouse Tearoom at 1pm
Thursday December 14th – Christmas Afternoon Tea in the Birdhouse Tearoom at 3pm
Friday December 15th – Christmas Evening Kailyaird Restaurant in The Birdhouse Tearoom at 7pm
Monday 18th December – Christmas Lunch in the Birdhouse Tearoom at 1pm
Tuesday 19th December – Christmas Lunch in the Birdhouse Tearoom at 1pm
Thursday 21st December – Christmas Afternoon Tea in the Birdhouse Tearoom at 3pm
All these events and meals require to be booked by phoning us on 01835 830315.
Christmas Lunch in the Birdhouse Tearoom
Available Mondays & Tuesdays in December 1:00pm.
BOOKINGS ONLY
Classic prawn cocktail and seeded bread
Warm goat’s cheese and tomato tartlet
**********
Traditional turkey lunch with roast potatoes, stuffing, pigs in blankets, braised red cabbage, seasonal vegetables and gravy
Cranberry, mushroom and brie Wellington with potatoes, seasonal vegetables and vegetable gravy
**********
Christmas Pudding and custard
Chocolate and raspberry roulade
Choice of ice cream
£26 per person – Please book on 01835 830315 with your menu choices
Please let us know if you have any food allergies or intolerances when booking
Christmas Afternoon Tea
Available on Thursdays leading up to Christmas at 3:00 pm
Bookings only
Or you could enjoy a deluxe Christmas Afternoon Tea.
It consists of:
*Smoked salmon sandwich
*Pigs in blankets
*Home-made chocolate brownie
*Christmas scone
*Homemade mince pie
*Homemade Florentine biscuit
*Tea, coffee or a cold drink
£16 per person.
Please note that our standard Afternoon Tea for Two Vouchers cannot be used to pay in full for this deluxe version!
Pre-order Christmas Trees
Pre-order Christmas trees and our real handmade Christmas wreaths at special discounted “Early Bird” prices now until the 21st November.
You can pre-order cut Christmas trees, we are using the same Scottish supplier of cut Nordmann Christmas trees as the last few years – and even better news is that we have managed to hold prices the same as last year too. Pre-ordering saves at least £5 on the regular price, and allows you to tick off a job done from your Christmas “to do” list!
This year our pre-order discount covers potted Christmas Trees too. These are real growing trees that can be planted out in the garden after use, or potted up into a bigger pot to use again next year.
Our handmade wreaths, made from real local foliage, are increasing in popularity year on year, and we sometimes struggle to make enough for all our customers. By pre-ordering you guarantee that a wreath will be freshly made here at Woodside by our own fair hands, and ready to collect on your chosen date. Smaller wreaths are usually used on graves, and the larger ones are for hanging on your door, but the choice is yours.
The price list for all our pre-order Christmas deals is available by clicking HERE or just pop into Woodside and ask about our prices.
Please phone us with all orders on 01835 830315 and have your card details handy for payment. Telephone only please – we are unable to take orders by email. All pre-orders need to be with us by 21st November.
Christmas Shop
Still on a Christmas theme, our plant shop has now been transformed into our Christmas shop, with all the display items in the tearoom available for sale. Our available products includes, candles, decorations, crackers, artificial flowers, wreaths and garlands, and Christmas lights. We’re really pleased with our Christmas displays this year, so do come in and take a look, and be inspired.
Borders Organic Gardeners Apple Festival at Woodside
October 7th & 8th, 10am – 4pm
Following last year’s success we are delighted to welcome back our friends from Borders Organic Gardeners for the annual Apple Festival, we have a great weekend planned for you. BOG have elected to raise money for their nominated charity at this event, which this year is the Borders Forest Trust, and there will be opportunities for you to make a donation if you wish. Entrance to the event and car parking is all FREE.
Highlights for the weekend include an amazing display of over 100 named varieties of apples which will be in our polytunnel, over 50 different varieties of fruit trees for sale, and the opportunity to bring in your own apples for juicing. If you do bring in apples, please make sure you also bring a container to put the juice into for taking home! Baking fans may also want to bring donations for the home baking stall which is raising funds for Borders Forest Trust – whole cakes, tarts and loaves only please.
The Birdhouse Tearoom will be selling a delicious range of apple themed food and drink, and our baker, Sue, will be very busy over the next few days preparing all the home-baked items.
The full list of activities, information and stall holders is below, and as you can see we have different attractions on both days, so you might want to visit Woodside more than once this weekend!
Our car park is likely to be very busy, so we will have volunteer car parking attendants to assist you – please look out for them as they will help you to park. If you are fit and able, it would help hugely if you could park at nearby Harestanes, just a short walk away, which would leave more car parking at Woodside for those not able to walk that distance. Anyone parking at Harestanes can of course drive up to Woodside to collect purchases. Queues may form at Woodside as you wait for a space to become available, so please be patient with our car parking assistants while they find you a space.
Here is a full list of all the varieties of fruit trees that are for sale, with the quantities available – CLICK HERE. As you can see some of the varieties are only available in limited numbers, so if you want to reserve a tree from the list please phone the shop on 01835 830315. If you’re having trouble opening the list, just contact the shop by emailing emma@woodsidegarden.co.uk and we’ll email you a copy.
BOG Apple Festival at Woodside 2023
10am – 4pm Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th October
Display of named apples
Borders Organic Gardeners Book shop
Apple juicing
Borders Organic Gardeners information stall
Apple trees and other fruit trees for sale
Apple themed food and drink
Fun Activities – “William Tell”, Guess the Weight of the Marrow, Apple Peeling Competition
Home Baking stall
Saturday 7th October
Greenknowe Honey – Beekeeping and Honey Bee Products
Northumbria Basketry Group – Promoting basketry and related crafts
Borders Forest Trust – Local Woodland Charity
Laprig Valley – Local producers of single variety apple juice
Central Borders Red Squirrel Network – Helping to conserve and protect red squirrels
Lyne Organics – Makers of organic home fragrances and toiletries
Half a Hedgerow – Handmade garden art, growing frames and decorative items
Abundant Borders – Teaching people how to grow their own food in a sustainable way
Scott Barden Workshop – Painting signs for bee-friendly gardens for children and families
Story Telling – Nature themed stories for children and their accompanying adult
Sunday 8th October
AnneWhiteArt – Sales of original prints and cards by local artist
The Wildlife Information Centre – Local Environmental Records Centre
Crailing Community Orchard – providing produce and activities in the community
FirstLight Trust – Charity supporting Armed Forces and Emergency Services vetarans
Red Kite Services – Pond Dipping activity in the Woodside pond from 11am – 2pm
Greenknowe Honey – Beekeeping and Honey Bee Products
Northumbria Basketry Group – Promoting basketry and related crafts
Borders Forest Trust – Local Woodland Charity
Laprig Valley – Local producers of single variety apple juice
Central Borders Red Squirrel Network – Helping to conserve and protect red squirrels
Lyne Organics – Makers of organic home fragrances and toiletries
Half a Hedgerow – Handmade garden art, growing frames and decorative items
Please tell your family and friends about this event and lets make it another successful event at Woodside.
Bareroot hedging
Our bareroot hedging price list for winter 2023/24 is now ready!
I know it seems a bit early to be thinking about winter planting, but it’s always good to plan ahead, and we’ve already had quite a lot of people asking about bare root hedging plants. These are plants that are supplied without pots or compost over the dormant season – usually November to March, and it’s the cheapest way to purchase hedging plants.
You can see our price list and order form by clicking HERE or come into the plant shop and collect a paper copy. We are happy to take orders over the phone, in person or via email.
Please note that payment is required with your order, as we order these in specially for you, and that plants will be available from November 2023 – February 2024. We will contact you when your order is ready for collection.
For a really useful guide to hedging plants, and how to plant them, you might enjoy this RHS article
For any other queries please call us on 01835 830315.
Time to Plant Soft Fruit Bushes
Autumn is a good time to plant soft fruit bushes and our delivery has just arrived.
Planting conditions are perfect just now with the ground warm and moist, so why not make the most of the weather and use your time to plant soft fruit bushes? We source all our plants from a renowned Scottish grower, and always select varieties which should do well in the challenging climate that we experience here in the Scottish Borders.
Our selection includes:
Blueberries – Blue Crop, Brigitta, Jersey and Hortblue Petite (a dwarf variety suitable for pots). Don’t forget that Blueberries enjoy acid conditions, so plant with ericaceous compost and feed with ericaceous fertiliser.
Blackberry – Merton Thornless
Blackcurrants – Ben Connan ( a very frost tolerant early variety) Ben Sarek (an early variety with compact growth suitable for smaller spaces) Ben Tirran ( a late variety) and Cassimma Black Marble ( NEW to Woodside and probably the largest fruiting blackcurrant of them all)
Redcurrant Jonkheer Van Tets – a strong growing, early cultivar with flavoursome fruits
Gooseberry Hinnonmaki Red and Hinnonmaki Green – both compact varieties suitable for pots or small spaces, and both with excellent mildew resistance
Jostaberry – a very vigorous thornless blackcurrant/ gooseberry hybrid.
Loganberry and Tayberry – blackberry/ raspberry hybrids
Honeyberry – Boreal Beauty, Boreal Beast and Boreal Blizzard – members of the edible honeysuckle family these tasty and nutritious fruits are very hardy and easy to grow. They do need a pollination partner though, so plant two different varieties for fruits.
Rhubarb – Traditional and reliable favourites Victoria and Glaskins Perpetual
Raspberries – three NEW potted varieties to choose from. Bundles of traditional raspberry varieties will become available later in the season
RASPBERRY Groovy 5L
A new patio raspberry that is ideal for growing in a pot on your patio – excellent as both a fruit producing producing and ornamental plant thanks to is dwarf habit and golden yellow foliage. A primocane variety which means it produces bountiful crops of large sweet red berries in the first year.
- Height & Spread: 150cm x 75cm
- Crops: July onwards
RASPBERRY Bonbonberry® Yummy® 5L
This new compact raspberry variety is exceptionally easy to grow and maintain. It is naturally dwarf, growing to just 50cm tall making it perfect for container planting on the terrace, balcony or patio. Bears bountiful crop of large sweet juicy red berries from July. The canes are thorn-free, which makes for easy picking. Yummy is a primocane variety which means that it bears fruit on the same years growth meaning that you’ll get fruit in the very first year! Easy to maintain, requiring just a little prune to remove old canes once they are older than 18 months. Plants should be planted in a patio pot 1 plant per 20 litre pot or 3 per 40 litre pot.
- Eventual height and spread: 50cm.
- Crops: July.
RASPBERRY Sweet Sunshine 5L
Sweet Sunshine’ is a breeding marvel, an extremely heavy cropping, compact, raspberry with deliciously plump and juicy fruits formed on short, thornless canes from June to August. Suitable for growing in large pots and perfect for small growing spaces and is a primocane variety
- Eventual height and spread 100cm x 50cm
- Crops: June to August
For all enquiries please pick up the phone and speak to us (or leave a message on the answerphone) on 01835 830315. Emails and messages on social media may get missed.
Dining in the Kailyard is Back
We are really pleased to announce the re-start of our evening meals at Woodside, which we brand as the Kailyaird.
Forthcoming dates are:
August 25th – see menu here
September 22nd
October 20th
November 17th (this will be a lunchtime to avoid you having to come out in the dark!)
December 15th – Special Festive Menu.
Unless indicated otherwise, all meals will be served at 7pm.
The menu for each will reflect the season. Once the menu is finalised it will be published as an event. Please book in advance with your menu choices by calling 01835 830315
It’s Not All Plants!
We love our plants here at Woodside, but we do other things too!
Vintage Garden items
Last year we started sourcing and stocking vintage garden and shed items, and we are well stocked with interesting bits and pieces from 50p to £2500, so plenty to suit all budgets!
This week I’ve collected some gorgeous late-Victorian salt glazed troughs, I’m reasonably good at remembering to put photos onto Facebook, so please follow us if you want to receive regular photos of items that catch my eye. We have also got a section here on the website for our antique and vintage items – now we’ve passed the May and June madness I’ll be able to spend a bit more time getting it up to date.
Our search for vintage and antique items takes us throughout the UK, but we are always very happy to source items closer to home, so if you want us to do a shed or garden clearance for you, just get in touch. Also if there is a particular item, for example a sundial, that you’d like us to look out for, just let us know and we’ll see what we can find….
New Range of Curry Pastes
We also retail selected food items in our plant shop, including our own home-made frozen meals, fresh bread, fruit and vegetables. We have recently started stocking a new range of curry pastes, which are made in India with traditional Indian ingredients. These differ from other sauces and pastes in that each one has it’s own distinct fresh flavours, and don’t all just taste of gloopy spicy curry – I’m sure know what I mean! Choose from 8 different flavours, all £4.50 each:
Butter Chicken (Highly recommended)
Goan Curry
Chicken Curry
Karahi Curry (Also highly recommended – quite spicy, but tasty too)
Rogan Josh
Chick Pea Curry
Tikka Masala
Tandoori
Serve them with our giant oven baked naan breads, and that’s a meal sorted!
Perfect Planting Conditions for Hardy Perennials
This rain has been wonderful for our gardens, with the plants drinking it up and putting on lots of growth after a hot dry spell.
Now we have perfect planting conditions, it’s a good time to fill your garden with gorgeous hardy perennials. We have lots of new plants this week to choose from including a beautiful selection from award-winning Howard Nurseries that have just arrived.
Here are some of my favourites – there are plenty more!
Actaea Chocoholic – this used to be called Cimicifuga and is a lovely tall dark leaved perennial with delicate looking flowers
Brunnera Dawson’s White – this is a really good variegated form, with blue flowers
Calamagrostis Karl Foerster & Overdam – two really nice varieties of grass, perfect for prairie planting schemes
Eryngium Jos Eijking – this is probably the best of the blue Sea Hollies, and is the one we grow here in our garden at Woodside and is much admired. Lovely to look at and irresistible to bees
Eupatorium Baby Joe – a compact form of Joe Pye Weed, with attractive purple flowers in late summer/autumn that are good for the butterflies
Geum Pink Petticoats & Totally Tangerine – two of the very best Geums, that have good strong colour, and flower for weeks throughout the summer.
Heleniums – fantastic late flowering perennials with daisy-like flowers, to give later interest in the garden. We have 4 varieties – Red Jewel, Wesergold, Moerheim Beauty and Short and Sassy
Persicaria – really good ground cover perennials that are easy to grow and have quite showy flowers too. We have four varieties of these – affinis Donald Lowndes, amplexicaulis Annes Choice, amplexicaulis Blackfield, and bistorta Superba
Sedum Herbstfreude – sometimes known as “Autumn Joy, this is probably the best of all the border Sedums, flowering quite late in the summer and persisting into autumn, providing a late food source for pollinating insects.
Other highlights
Look out too for packs of Lewisia and flowers for rockeries and alpine troughs, Rhodohypoxis in a variety of colours, Ophiopogon nigrescens (known as the “black grass” but not a grass at all – it’s actually a member of the lily family, and they’re just coming into flower now), Nemesias in three different colours and much, much more.
As you can tell, I’m very excited about our current range of plants and I very much recommend a visit to Woodside to fully appreciate the choice that we have. All our plants are container grown and can be planted all year round, and, as mentioned, planting conditions are now absolutely perfect with the warm weather and lovely rainfall.
Slugs
Remember that slugs like the rain too, so don’t forget to protect plants with slug pellets! We have a good range of eco-friendly slug pellets in the plant centre.
As usual, if you’d like anything reserved, to book a table in the tearoom, or have any questions, please call on 01835 830315. Emails and social media messages may go unanswered as none of us like computers – we much prefer plants!
Tender Plants for Conservatories and Sun Rooms
Our polytunnel has been transformed into a stunning space displaying tender plants for conservatories, sun rooms and patios. Most of these plants will live outside quite happily over the summer, to give your garden a lush, tropical feel, but will need to come indoors for the colder months.
Tender Plants
Here are some of the plants we have available:
- Gloriosa with shocking pink blooms
- Hoya bella, (Wax Plant) a house plant with sweetly scented white flowers
- Plumbago – a blue flowering climber
- Aloe Vera – an easy to grow plant with healing sap
- Cannas – exotic blooms suitable for pots and patios
- Mandervilla – a subtropical vine with stunning flowers. We have 3 varieties Classic Red, Flamingo Pink, Classic White.
- Zantadeschias – in a choice of colours
- Passionflower – really big bushy plants standing around 3ft in height, full of flowers and buds. Three varieties – Clear Sky, White Passion, Violet Passion. £59.99 each
- Citrus trees – Lemons and calamondins, both carrying fruit £52.99 each.
Garden Plants
There are plenty more garden plants available this week. My personal favourites are:
- Flower Carpet Roses in 6 different colours
- Penstemon Sour Grapes
- Hosta Sting – a new variety with white stems, upright growth and good variegation
- Agastache Blackadder – a great plant for pollinators and attractive too
- Persicaria affinis Superba – one of the vey best ground cover plants which flowers from spring, through summer and into autumn.
- Hemerocallis – I love Daylilies. They are really easy to grow and keep producing blooms throughout early to mid-summer. We have 6 varieties – Night Embers (dark red double flowers), Summer Wine (pinky red), Charles Johnston (cherry red with green throat), Golden Chimes (rich gold), Stafford (deep red with orange throat) and Stella de Ora (crisp clear yellow)
- Alstroemeria – choose from Husky (speckled orange), Sundance (speckled yellow) or Indian Summer (bronze leaf and orange flowers)
As usual this is just a quick taste of what we have available. Don’t forget we also stock garden furniture, water features, decorative garden ornaments, birdbaths, pots and statues, garden vintage and antique items and much more, so do come in and take a look.