Posts by Emma Emmerson
Bedding Plant Bonanza
We have a bedding plant bonanza for you this week with lots of colourful bedding plants to brighten up your gardens, patios, window boxes and containers.
Here’s what we have to offer you:
Argyranthemums (Crazy Daisies) in a choice of colours £4.99 each
Callibrachoas in both single and double flowered forms in a good choice of colours including popular orange shades. Just £2.99 each or “Mix & Match” with any other £2.99 bedding – 6 for £15
Bacopas are back in stock again – we thought we’d seen the last of them, but another batch has become available, also another batch of bright cheerful Bidens. All £2.99 each, “Mix & Match” 6 for £15. We’ve some special varieties of Biden available too – the BEE series – very attractive flowers and ferny foliage. These are in bigger pots and are £3.99 each
We also have a batch of trailing Nepeta for hanging baskets and troughs – a really pretty variegated foliage plant with long trails, and one of the best and fastest growing trailing plants around.
Our “Shades Carry Packs” are back in stock again – packs of 6 plants in Blue Shades, Hot Shades or Pink Shades. No need to worry about plant selection or colour schemes as the choice has already been made for you! We’ve also got Upright Fuchsia Carry Packs and Non-Stop Begonia Carry Packs. All Carry packs priced at £14.99 each.
We’ve got a good selection of “Trixies” again. These are pots of three plants planted as one, and you can simply plant into a container or basket to give an attractive display of flower colour all summer long. These are the perfect choice for novice gardeners as the hard work has already been done – just plant and enjoy! Don’t forget to regularly feed and dead-head all your bedding plants to keep them looking good right up until the first frosts of the autumn.
Pre-Planted Troughs
If you can’t be bothered to plant up your own containers, or want to give one as a gift, we also have a selection of planted bowls, troughs and hanging pots priced from £19.99. These are planted with a selection of bright and cheerful bedding plants, to give a welcome splash of colour to the garden or patio.
Chocolate Cosmos
This incredible plant for chocolate lovers is now available at Woodside for the first time this year. Attractive foliage is topped by deep maroon cup-shaped flowers which smell strongly of chocolate. They look really effective planted in a pot either just on their own or mixed with other plants, or you could mass plant in the garden for a showy, scented display. They are not reliably hardy for overwintering (although the green-fingered amongst you may be able to succeed) so are best treated as a bedding plant, with overwintering a lovely bonus if it happens. Our plants are in 1.5 litre pots, so are a good size already, and are £7.99 each. Hand over a full loyalty card and you can purchase 3 Chocolate Cosmos for £20.
House Plants
We now have houseplants in stock at Woodside, including the famous award-winning Streptocarpus from Dibley’s nurseries. Other plants include Begonia Rex, Spider Plants, Wandering Sailer plants, and Zantedeschias. So there’s no excuse for you garden to be prettier than your house this summer!
Mini Garden Festival – 9th June
Our next “Mini Garden Festival” is this coming Wednesday, 9th June.
We will be welcoming back Helen from Tinnisburn Plants , a small family run nursery from Dumfries and Galloway. Half a Hedgerow from Kelso will also be exhibiting their garden obelisks and ornaments once more. We are also hoping that we will be able to offer Streptocarpus from indoor plant specialists, Dibley’s – fingers crossed that the delivery arrives in time! The event will run from 11am – 4pm.
Last month we had an issue with parking with everyone turning up early – don’t panic, there is enough stock for everyone, so please don’t feel you have to attend in the morning as there will be plenty of plants available all afternoon too! If the carpark is full, please be patient – we will fit you in as soon as we can.
This week in the Plant Centre
The plant centre is bursting to the brim with plants, so there is still plenty on offer if you can’t make Wednesday. We have our best range of shrubs yet – look out for
Cistus (Rock Rose) corbariensis, purpureus and Snow White, Olearia haastii, Ozothamnus Silver Jubilee, Skimmia Kew Green, Spiraea arguta (Bridal Wreath). We have so many perennials in stock that some are being temporarily displayed on pallets, highlights include:
- Anemone Wild Swan – a much sought after perennial with white flowers and a distinctive blue back to the petals
- Geum Totally Tangerine – probably the best of all the orangey geums with good vigorous growth masses of flowers
- Geranium Pink Penny – a really pretty hardy geranium and one of the longest flowering varieties available
- Digitalis luteum – a perennial foxglove with small creamy yellow flowers
- Brunnera Jack Frost – one of the most popular silver leaved Brunneras with delightful forget-me-not type flowers
- Euphorbia characias wulfenii and robbiae – we’ve been waiting all season for these to come in stock and they are selling fast!
- Persicaria bistorta Superba – a magnificent perennial with candy pink spires of flowers held above vigorous ground cover foliage.
We have also received a new delivery of bedding plants and vegetable plants for you to squeeze a few extra into your garden.
Hardy Geraniums and Rosemary
We have a lot of new plants in stock for the weekend including hardy geraniums and rosemary, which many of you have been requesting. Even though the weather is disappointing we are very busy in the plant centre with new arrivals of soft fruit, hydrangeas, bamboos and our biggest range yet of bedding plants.
Hardy Geraniums
We’ve been struggling all season to get hardy geraniums in stock. A combination of a cold spring slowing down plant growth and a reduction in production both in 2020 and this year due to lockdown, has lead to plant shortages. However we’ve now managed to get some hardy geraniums for you to enjoy – choose from Johnson’s Blue, sanguineum Album and Brookside. Next week we’re expecting even more varieties to come in. Sign up for the regular emails for up to date stock information.
Herbs
So many of you have lost herbs this spring, with almost all local gardeners saying they have lost their rosemary plants. This weekend we will have another batch of Rosemary available after being without for a couple of weeks. Other herbs include Basil, Mints, Tarragon, Lemon Verbena, Thymes and plenty more.
Water Gardening
We have a good range of water plants currently in stock including oxgenators, marginals, bog plants and water lilies. Our beautiful selection of water lilies includes pygmaea varieties for small ponds and larger varieties in a range of colours for larger ponds.
We also stock barley straw pouches for clear water, aquatic compost and baskets for re-potting water plants, and aquatic plant fertilizer for feeding existing plants.
We’ve just had another delivery of coldwater fish – our selection now includes: Goldfish (Comets), Blue or Golden Orfe, Shubunkins and new this week Koi Carp and Ghost Koi. We also stock a good range of fish food, fish treatments and nets for catching them up.
Latest Plants in Stock
We are an independent plant centre, so we like to treat our customers to some specialist plants – ones that will make their garden stand out from their neighbours. We also stock plants that will survive our Scottish weather – very important given the recent late cold snap. Here are a selection of the more unusual varieties we currently have in stock:
Japanese Maples
These beautiful little trees will enhance any garden and look good in pots, as well as in borders, near water features and in oriental inspired plantings. Our plants are coming into leaf and are hardened off so can cope with the current cold weather.
Acer palmatum varieties:
- Emerald Lace
- Trompenburg
- Dissectum
- Enken
- Osakazuki
- Jerre Schwattz
- Red Feathers
- Bloodgood
- Garnet
- Katsura
- Acer conspicuum Red Flamingo
- Acer shirasawanum Aureum
- Acer shirasawanum Jordan
Bamboos
Gorgeous full potfuls of plants. We have four varieties available just now:
- Fargesia angustissima
- Fargesia Rufa
- argesia robusta Pingwu
- Fargesia Jumbo
Water Lilies
If you are visiting our new aquatics department and are wanting to plant up your pond, we also have good choice of water lilies for both large and small ponds
- Gonnere (White)
- James Brydon (Red)
- Marliacea Chromatella (Yellow)
- Mrs Richmond (Pink)
- Odorata sulphurea (Yellow)
- Pygmaea helvola (Dwarf Yellow)
- Snow Princess (White)
- Vesuve (Red)
- Xiafei (Red)
- Attraction (Red)
- Charles de Meurville (pink)
- Sioux (Pale Pink)
- Albatross (White)
This is just a small selection of the range of plants we have in stock, so please come and browse, if you are not sure we are always happy to advise you.
Pond Supplies
One of the most rewarding garden features is a pond, and we now have everything you need to build a brand new one, or to improve an existing one. Enjoy the sound of running water with a fountain or waterfall, encourage wildlife with our range of plants and water treatments and relax watching your ornamental fish.
Pond Supplies
As previously reported we now have an aquatics department here at Woodside. We stock the Oase range of pond pumps to suit a range of features, from a solar powered pump for small ponds and barrels, to large pumps to create a stream or waterfall, and everything in between. We sell Gordon Low Greenseal liner by the metre, so you can buy as much or as little as you require to suit your design. For existing ponds we have a range of water and fish treatments including organic barley straw pellets to keep your water clear. Look out too for “Water Bombs” which are a bacteria filled capsule which will kickstart your filter system to create a healthy habitat for pond fish and wildlife. We’ve just had a fresh delivery of water plants, including water lilies and oxygenators to enhance your pond.
Ornamental Fish
NEW for this weekend is a range of pond fish, including Sarasa Comets, Golden Orfe, Shubunkins, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench and Goldfish, and we also sell fish food to keep them happy and well fed! Garden lighting helps you make the most of your evenings in the garden and our range is suitable for submerging in the pond or for lighting up other garden features. Stephen is our resident expert in all things aquatic, and he is happy to take appointments for you to come in and discuss your requirements. – just phone in first to check his availability.
We are looking forward to a very busy Bank Holiday weekend with plenty of plants in stock and the tea room open. If you want to book or want to speak to Stephen please call us on 01835 830315.
Due to limited internet access and spending time with our customers at Woodside we may miss any messages via social media. If we don’t answer, just leave a message and someone will get back to you.
Tea Room Re-opening on 26th April
You will be delighted to know that the tea room will re-open for sitting in on the 26th April in line with the Government timetable. Due to social distancing measures we will have limited capacity within the tearoom, so we are happy to accept bookings for indoor seating from the 26th onwards. There is plenty of space outdoors for sitting in the garden, and we have spread out the picnic tables to give you all more room. You can also bring your own folding chairs if you wish.
Take Away Service
In the meantime our tea room is open for takeaways, so you can enjoy soups, sandwiches, cakes, traybakes, scones, and hot and cold drinks, as well as daily specials such as pork pies or quiche. As the takeaway service has been so popular, we will continue be continuing to offer this service to customers even when the indoor space is open.
Tea Room staff required
We are looking for a new member of staff to join our hard-working tearoom team. Ideally we would like to recruit someone with cafe experience, but more important is the ability to quickly adapt to learn new skills, good customer care qualities, flexibility to work any days required and a cheerful manner. You’ll need to be available to work regular shifts which will include both some weekdays and weekends, and have a willingness to cover for holidays and staff sickness. A good level of fitness is also a requirement – you’ll be on your feet all day! If you are interested give me a call on 01835 830315 for a quick chat with either myself or Helen and we’ll take it from there. If we are busy, the answerphone will pick up – please do leave a message with your name and number so we can call you back.
Aquatics Department Now Open
We were delighted to be able to open to the public again on the 5th April and to be able to launch our new aquatics department in the walled garden area. You can now buy pond pumps and filters, coldwater fish food, pond plants and oxygenators, pond treatments and pond lighting. Pond liner should be in stock by the end of this week and coldwater fish will be available later this month.
Birdhouse Tearoom
The tea room is now open for takeaways, so you can enjoy our delicious cakes, scones, traybakes, soups and sandwiches with hot or cold drinks.
We have some plenty to tempt you in the plant centre too: roses, peonies, rockery plants, trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, herbs, climbers, seeds and much more. Don’t forfet our stoneware, including statues and bird baths or our Errington pots and planters for added interest in your garden this summer.
Grocery Store
Following the success of our grocery shop over the last 6 months, we are now committed to keeping this opne daily. Items include fresh fruit, salads and vegetables, frozen ready meals, lentils, split peas, organic stock cubes, naan breads, curry sauces, dried fruit, nuts, free range eggs, local honey, dried mushrooms, brioche baguettes, oatmeal, polenta, semolina, gnocchi and much more.
Remember that we get freshly baked sourdough bread every Wednesday and Saturday.
We still have to stick to the rules regarding Covid-19, so please:
- Wear a face covering in all indoor areas
- Maintain 2m social distancing
- Sanitise your hands on arrival
Please be patient with us – you may have to queue during your visit as we will be limiting the amount of people in at any time. We also have two new members of plant centre staff, a new till, new products and a new lay-out, so things will take a bit of getting used to!
We are very pleased to be welcoming you back to Woodside, and we hope you have a relaxing, enjoyable and safe visit.
Garden Centre Opening on 5th April
Good news at last! The Garden Centre will be re-opening on 5th April, so we are now busy making sure that your return to Woodside will be the best possible experience. We have been busy unpacking new stock for some weeks now. To allow us to fully prepare, the call and collect service will be ending on 31st March. However the grocery shop will be open every day, including all the Easter weekend. From 5th April we will also be offering a takeaway service from the tea room for drinks, cakes, scones, sandwiches and soup. Our summer opening hours of 9:00am to 5:00pm will also start on 5th April.
Garden centre stock
We are delighted to be offering an extended range of potting shed essentials this summer – these include the new range of bamboo pots and seed trays – an excellent sustainable alternative to plastic plant pots that will last approximately 5 years and are then compostable. Another new product are the Vigoroot planters – these are fabric planters that enourage vigorous rooting, helping them be resistant to harsh weather, pests and diseases.
We have also had a delivery of pots and planters from Errington, Reay and Mims and it will be so much easier for you to chose the perfect pot once the garden centre has re-opened. Last year we introduced a range of Green Man wall plaques which were so popular we have extended the choice this year.
We have some excellent starter shrubs in stock as well as rockery plants, bedding plants, bulbs and seed potatoes.
If you would like to receive regular updates on new stock as it arrives, plus offers, please sign up to the newsletter.
Ornamental Trees For Sale
This coming week is a big one for us as Spring arrives and new stock of plants are arriving daily. I’ll be sending out emails as and when stock arrives, so if you would like to receive this information please sign up to the newsletter if you haven’t already done so.
The current varieties of ornamental trees for sale are listed below. Please note some trees we only have 1 per variety, so once its’ gone that’s it. Our garden centre is temporarily closed due to Government Covid Restrictions, so please phone in all orders on 01835 830315 and have your card details ready.
Acer griseum £44.99 (Paperbark maple)
Acer pensylvanium £44.99
Amelanchier Snow Flakes £44.99
Amelanchier Ballerina multistem £125.00
Betula dalecarlica £54.99
Betula jacquemontii £54.99 (White stemmed Birch)
Betula Snow Queen £54.99
Castanea sativa £44.99 (Sweet Chestnut)
Cedrus deodara Klondyke £49.99
Fagus Dawyck Gold £65.99
Fagus Dawyck Purple £65.99
Ilex argentea marginata £42.99 (self-fertile female holly)
Ilex aquifolia £42.99 (Common holly)
Ilex Handsworth New Silver £44.99 (self-fertile female holly)
Malus Crimson cascade £49.99 (Weeping Crabapple)
Malus Golden Hornet £39.99
Malus Gorgeous £49.99
Malus Indian Magic £49.99
Malus Royalty £49.99
Physocarpus Diablo (tree form) £52.99
Prunus amanogowa £49.99 (Flagpole Cherry)
Prunus avium £44.99
Prunus padus £44.99
Prunus Hokusai £49.99 (Classic Japanese Cherry)
Prunus Jaqueline £44.99
Prunus Trailblazer £44.99
Prunus tibetica £44.99 (Snalebark Cherry)
Sorbus aucuparia £49.99 (Native Rowan)
Sorbus Croft Coral £49.99
Sorbus Eastern promise £49.99
Sorbus Glendoick Spire £49.99
Sorbus Red Bird £49.99
Sorbus Sunshine £49.99
Sorbus Rose Queen £49.99
Special Offer Alnus glutinosa were £44.99 now £29.99 – last years stock and needing to be planted out.
Also in Stock
We have had a new delivery of seed potatoes and onion sets. For vegetable and flower seeds please ‘phone us with your list and we will put together your order.
We have a full range of compost and fertilisers for you to start preparing the garden for spring.
To order any garden centre item including trees, compost and seed potatoes please call 01835 830315 and have your card details ready for payment – we can then make a timed appointment for you to safely collect your order. We cannot accept orders via email or social media – phone orders only please.
**Please don’t just turn up for garden centre items- we cannot serve you at this time and there is no access to the plant centre**
Spring Flowering Bulbs
Add some colour to your life with our spring flowering bulbs – £2.50 each or any 5 for £10.
- Anemone blanda Blue
- Chionodoxa luciliae Blue, Pink or White
- Crocus Cream, purple, or yellow
- Dwarf Daffodil Rip Van Winkle, February Gold, Jetfire, Minnow or Tete a tete
- Daffodil WP Milner
- Fritillaria uva vulpis or meleagris (Snake’s Head Fritilliary)
- Hyacinth City of Haarlem (Primrose yellow), Delft Blue, Miss Saigon (violet purple) or Pink Pearl
- Dwarf Iris reticulata Cantab, Harmony or JS Djit
- Muscaro armeniacum (Grape Hyacinth)
- Scilla white or blue
- Tulip Calypso, Candy Prince, Flair, Kikomachi, Purissima, Purple Prince or Tarda.
- Winter Aconite
These are all suitable for planting directly out into the garden or into pots and tubs, or you could bring them indoors to brighten up your home.
New spring flowering bulbs this week
- 6 pack of dwarf daffodil Tete-a-Tete £5.99
- Carry packs and pots of bluebells – £4.99
Compost Update
In stock now:
- Multi-purpose Compost with Added John Innes £6.99
- Ericaceous Compost £7.99
- Tree and Shrub Planting Compost £7.99
- John Innes Numbers 1,2 & 3 £4.99
- Standard growbags £3.25
- Organic Farmyard manure £5.99
- Decorative Mini Bark £6.99
- Dalefoot Wool Potting Compost £7.99 (Peat Free)
- Dalefoot Wool Double Strength Compost £8.99 (Peat Free)
- Dalefoot Wool Tomato Compost £7.99 (Peat Free)
- Dalefoot Wool Compost for Salads and Vegetables £7.99 (Peat Free)
- Dalefoot Seed Compost £5.99 (Peat Free)
- Dalefoot Lakeland Gold Claybuster £7.99 (Peat Free)
New Horizon Peat Free Multi-purpose Compost will be with us next week, so we can take advance orders for that. If you have already ordered this, we will phone you to let you know when it comes in.
As all Scottish Garden Centres are currently closed to visitors, please use our Call & Collect service to order all bulbs, plants, seeds, seed potatoes and compost –
01835 830315