Gardening

Following many requests from customers we now have house plants for sale here at Woodside.

We are now proud to stock plants grown by the award-winning Dibley’s Nursery, based in Wales, who specialise in Streptocarpus (Cape Primrose) plants, along with a range of other easy to grow but interesting house plants. They are regular exhibitors across the UK at RHS Flower shows (all of which are cancelled for the year), and have won an astonishing 26 Chelsea Flower Show GOLD medals.

Cape Primroses for sale

One of their most popular and spectacular Streptocarpus is “Polka Dot”, pictured above, and we are pleased to have these available along with a selection of other named varieties. Streptocarpus are fairly straight foward to grow, and can be addictive – once you start collecting you can’t stop – so be warned!

They do best on an east or west facing windowsill, which avoids the hot middle of the day sunshine, and should be watered sparingly being careful not to over-water. They readily produce plenty of showy flowers in a variety of colours, many with attractive markings.

Foliage Begonias

Dibley’s are also well known for their foliage Begonias, and we have a good selection of these available, as named varieties. These make excellent houseplants and have a wide range of different foliage shapes, patterns and colours to give all year round interest to your house-plant display.

We’ve also got Curly Spiderplants (Chlorophytum), and an unusual Tradescantia called Bridal Veil which is a trailing plant with masses of white flowers and curious leaves with purple undersides. Both of these are suitable for hanging pots as they have a lovely trailing habit. Finally, we also have Nematanthus in stock, which is an attractive evergreen houseplant, sometimes known as the Goldfish plant, although I have no idea why – perhaps one of you can enlighten me!

We have been really busy replenishing stock this week after record sales. We now have a good stock of roses for sale. We have dealt with the same rose suppliers for about 20 years now, both here at Woodside and at Floors Castle Garden Centre before that, and these are the best quality roses I’ve seen over those 20 years.

Roses for Sale

Here is a list of the varieties of roses for sale this week:

Bush Roses: Arthur Bell, English Miss, Fairy Rose, Peace, Shelia’s Perfume, Rhapsody in Blue, Sunny Sky, Sweet Honey, Timeless Cream, Timeless Pink.
Patio Roses, suitable for tubs and small spaces: Flirt, Flower Power, Little Sunset, Our Dream, Raspberry Royale, Silver Wishes, Sweet Dream,
Flower Carpet Roses, suitable for ground cover: Gold, Pink, Ruby, Sunset, White
Classic Shrub Roses: Dunham Massey, Festive Jewel, Frilly Cuff, Grosvenor House, Our Beth, Sandringham, Queen’s Jubilee, Jacques Cartier
Climbing Roses: Aloha, American Pillar, Compassion, Dublin Bay, Galway Bay, Lilac Bouquet, Paul’s Scarlet, Schoolgirl, Sparkling Scarlet, Starlight Express, Zepherine Drouhin

Bedding Plants:

The end of the bedding plant season is almost upon us now, however we still have fresh plants coming in, and this week we have:
Shades baskets kits in Blue, Pink or Hot colours – a carry pack of 6 themed mixed plants suitable for containers and baskets.
Begonia Starshine Appleblossom or Orange – beautiful trailing begonias for baskets or for filling a container. Long lasting flowering period, and performs well even in poor weather.
Calibrachoa and Petunia now available in 1 litre sized pots for quick impact
Tub and Basket Plants, such as Bacopa, Bidens, Salvia, Verbena all now ready in 1 litre sized pots
Osteospermum are available again with their lovely bright flowers, perfect for bedding out in the garden of for tubs.
Dahlia Bishop of York – a good bronze leaved form with rich yellow flowers, good for planting out in the garden and they’ll flower right through into autumn.
All bedding plants are available in limited numbers due to exceptionally high demand, so don’t leave it too long before you visit!

Shrubs:

We have restocked our shrub beds and have some gorgeous plants ready waiting for their new homes! Highlights this week are: Daphne Pink Fragrance, Hebe Champagne and Wiri Cloud, Rhamnus alternus argenteovariegata, Berberis Golden Rocket, Cistus procumbens, Cornus alba Elegantissima and Gouchaulti, Buddleia Buzz (compact) in Ivory, Candy Pink and Hot Raspberry, Olearia macrodonta Major (Daisy Bush) and we have Ceanothus back in stock again. We also have lots more varieties available, but these particularly caught my eye.

Herbaceous Plants:

Plenty available, but looking really good are: Chelone obliqua (Turtlehead), Eupatorium atropurpureaum, Anemone Honorine Jobert, and Anemone Wild Swan, and we have three varieties of Agapanthus – Headbourne Hybrids, Black Pantha and Midnight Star.

Herbs:

We are currently in the middle of the production “gap” that lockdown has induced, so varieties are limited – we have some lovely fresh sages, mints and golden marjoram available, but not much else just now. Hopefully production at UK nurseries will increase again, and we’ll be able to restock soon. I have however managed to source an outdoor grapevine, Merlot, so if you fancy growing your own wine you might want to give it a try!

Finally there seems to be a glimmer of hope that we can re-open soon. Following the First Minister’s daily briefing on 21st May, it seems that a decision will be made on the 28th May regarding the first phase of lifting lock-down restrictions. Included in that first phase is the re-opening of garden centres, and as soon as we get the go ahead we will be opening our gates and welcoming visitors back to Woodside, with social distancing and increased hygiene measures in place. Until then we will continue to operate our phone-in order system, and arrange for customer collections from our car park.

In the meantime, here is a list of bedding plants that we have available now:

Tub and Basket Plants – mixed trailing and upright plants suitable for containers and for hanging baskets. 6 for £12 for a mix of plants
Trailing Fuchsias – suitable for tubs and baskets. These are in 10cm pots and are £2.50 each or 6 for £12 for a mix
Upright Fuchsias – for centre pieces for tubs and baskets and for bedding out in the garden. 1 litre pots £4.99 each of 3 for £12
Heliotrope – beautiful intense blue flowers with rich green foliage. £3.99 each for 1 litre pots
Nemesia – pretty fragrant flowers £4.99 each or 3 for £12 in 1 litre pots.
Osteospermum (new this week) – bright and cheerful daisy-like flowers for pots and for flower beds. £4.99 each or 3 for £12 in 1 litre pots
Trailing begonias – mixed colours £2.75 each or 4 for £10 in 10cm pots
Non-stop Begonia Carry packs (new this week) – six mixed begonias in a carry pack – excellent value at £11.99 per pack of 6
Callibrachoa/Petunias – suitable for tubs and baskets £2.75 each or 4 mixed for £10
Scented Leaf Geraniums – Cola Bottles, which has the unique scent of the fizzy drink. £3.99 each
Bedding Geraniums – packs of 4 geraniums at £3.99 per pack, or 4 packs for £15 (16 plants). Available in White, Red or Mixed
Argyranthemums (Crazy Daisy/ Marguerites) £3.99 each in Red, Pink or White
Hanging Pots – ready planted pots with a hanger at £12.99 each. Either Red Petunias, or Mixed Plants.

Don’t forget we also have Lavender Hidcote available in a handy carry pack – 6 plants for £9.99.

NEW THIS WEEK – Alstroemeria Inticancha. Superb garden plants at £11.99 each.

We also have available a good range of home-grown herbaceous plants as detailed on the previous email, and a selection of fruit trees, vegetable plants, fruit bushes and shrubs, as well as houseleeks, dianthus and a mix of plants for rockeries and small spaces. Deciduous Azaleas still available and looking gorgeous!

Preparations for re-opening

As we prepare for re-opening and work hard to get the plant centre stocked up and made safe for visitors and staff, we are still able to offer a delivery service, but from Monday 25th May our usual delivery charges (based on postcodes) will be applied, as we get back to some sort of normal trading.

Our phone line will be open 10am – 12pm & 1pm – 3pm Monday to Saturday, and 10am – 12pm on Sunday for ordering. The number is 01835 830315. Please remember that the office is unmanned so we can’t accept orders by email, text, Facebook etc – so please phone in.

I’ll give you all information about re-opening, and how this will work for us all, as soon as we have a firm date, but it is likely to be the end of next week. If you want to receive this information via email, please sign up to the newsletter – you will hear any updates from us there first.

It has been difficult getting hold of bedding plants to sell on this year as lock-down came just at the time when young plants across UK nurseries should have been pricked out, and seeds sown, so there is a shortage in the supply chain, and an extra demand from customers who are keen to garden during lock-down. As a result I have been able to get fewer bedding plants in than I would have liked. However, we do have some that are available to order for collection or delivery if you are vulnerable or shielding (details as to how to do this at the end of the plant list.) Here is the list of what is currently available:

Tub and Basket Plants
A fresh batch of these have just arrived and we sell these as a mix of 6 plants for £12. Back in stock are the colour themed basket kits in shades of Blue, Pink or Hot colours. These come in a carry pack of 6 plants and are £12.99 each.

Bedding packs
We still have some bedding packs in stock at £3.50 per pack, or 4 packs for £12. Available plants are:
Lobelia (bush varieties only) packs of 12, blue, white or pink
Gazanias packs of 6
Cosmos packs of 4
Cineraria packs of 6 (limited numbers)
Begonia sempervirens packs of 6
Antirrhinum White packs of 6
Alyssum mix packs of 12 (limited numbers)
Dahlia bedding packs of 6 (limited numbers)
Salvia vanguard packs of 6
Nicotiana Lime Green packs of 6

We also have bedding Geraniums at £3.99 per pack of 4 (4 packs for £15) available in red, white or mixed colours.

Potted Bedding Plants
We have a range on plants grown in individual pots:
Argyranthemums (Marguerites/Crazy Daisies) £3.99 each available in red, pink or white
Begonias – non-stop and trailing begonias are £2.75 each or 4 for £10. Mixed colours
Scented leaf Geraniums £3.99 each – Cola Bottles or Sweet Mimosa
Trailing Fuchsia – £2.50 each or 6 for £12. Mixed varieties
NEW Heliotrope Marino Blue £3.99 Beautiful plants
Nemesia Mixed £3.99 each
Petunias – Petunia Rose Diamond, Petchoa Cherry Imp (this is a cross between a petunia and a callibrachoa) Callibrachoa Magenta, Callibrachoa Pink Carnival) £2.75 each or 4 for £10
Surfinia (Red) Hanging pots – only 4 left £12.99 each
NEW – Dahlia Biship of Canterbury. Not strictly speaking a bedding plant, but needs similar care. This is one of the popular dark leaved forms. £5.99 each.

We also have some carry packs of Lavender Hidcote available – packs of 6 for just £9.99 offering excellent value for money.

Vegetable Plant Update:
We have a good range of vegetable plants available. Perhaps if you can’t get all the bedding plants you want, you could make a creative display with lettuces!
Veg packs: (£3.50 per pack, 4 packs for £12)
Lettuce All Year Round
Lettuce Little Gem
Lettuce Marvel of Four Seasons
Lettuce Green Salad Bowl
Lettuce Red Salad Bowl
Lettuce Cos
Oriental leaves (only a few left)
Cauliflower All Year Round
Cauliflower Romanescue
Cabbage green
Cabbage Red (only a few left)
Brussel Spouts (only a few left)
Calabrese
Purple Spouting Brocolli (only a few left)
Leeks
French bean Goldfield
Climbing French Bean Limka
French Bean Blue Lake
Pea Kelvedon Wonder (only a few left)

Potted Vegetables:
The following are available as individual plants:
Butternut Squash
Courgette Safari (striped)
Courgette Yellow
Chilli pepper
Pumpkin Early King
Cucumber Passandra (mini)
Cucumber Femspot (ridge)

We also have a few hanging pots of alpine strawberries £7.99.

HERBS:
Herbs in a 9cm pot size are £2.50 each or 6 for £12, and we currently have:
Thyme – Archer’s Gold, Common, Foxley, Silver Posie or lemon
Mint – Apple, After Eight, Curly, Spearmint, garden mint, Moroccan Mint
Chives – Common, or Garlic
Fennel – green or bronze
Marjoram – Pot or Sweet
Oregano – Country Cream or Greek
Lawn Chamomile
Dill
Parsley – Curled or Flat leaf
Sage – Purple
Curry Plant
Rosemary
Lavender Munstead or Vera
Tree Spinach
Catnep.
We also have some strawberry plant still available.

In a larger pot size we have the following, priced at £4.99 each, or 3 for £12:
Golden Marjoram
Lavender Munstead
Lavender Hidcote
Lavender Vera
Rosemary Pink
Rosemary Blue
Rosemary Trailing.

How to order

You can phone your order in  on 01835 830315 10am – 12pm, and 1pm – 3pm Monday to Saturday, and 10am – 12pm on Sundays. Saturdays and Sundays are usually the quietest days, so if you’re struggling to get through I would suggest you try then.

Collections are at an arranged time from our carpark, and we also do deliveries free to most TD postcodes for orders over £35 to our customers who are vulnerable and are shielding.

We hope you are enjoying this glorious spring weather, and remembering to protect your bedding plants and tender vegetable plants such as peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes from the frost  – we’ve had a sharp frost the last two nights.

Here is an update on the availability of bedding plants at the moment. It is proving to be a challenge getting sufficient stock in to satisfy demand, as the growing process as been badly affected by lock-down measures, however we have a good selection in stock right now.

 Tub & Basket Bedding Plants

We now have these back available again at £2.50 each or 6 for £12. These are mixed plants and we are unable to pick out specific varieties for you as they have come to us as a mix. Your mix might include Bacopa, Fuchsia, Verbena, Callibrachoa, Nepeta and many more varieties – all looking good and strong and ready to go.
We have teamed up with Scottish Growers Pentland Plants and can now offer colour themed carry packs as a basket kit. These come in the following colours:
Blue Shades
Pink Shades
Hot Shades
There are 6 plants to a pack and they are £12.99 per pack and are looking gorgeous.

Fuchsias
We now have some beautiful Fuchsias in stock. Our upright, bush fuchsias are in 1 ltr pots and are good sized, bushy plants in bud and flower and look amazing. They are £4.99 each or 3 for £12.
Trailing fuchsias are in smaller pots and are £2.50 each or 6 for £12.

Nemesias
These lovely scented bedding plants are also available in two sizes and are in bud and flower and are £4.99 each or 3 for £12 for the larger 1 ltr pot size and £2.50 each or 6 for £12 for the smaller 9cm pot size. These make lovely plants for containers and to fill gaps in the borders.

Marguerites 
These are also known as Argyrathemeums or Crazy Daisies and make quite a large plant, covered with daisy like flowers over the summer months. We have them available in Red, Pink or White, and they make wonderful feature plants in containers and in the garden. They are easy to grow, and reliable to flower, whatever the weather. These are £3.99 each.

Variegated Zonal and Ivy Leaf Geraniums
These are sold as individual plants and are £2.75 each or 4 for £10. Ivy leaf geraniums are the trailing ones and look really good in window boxes and containers – you might have seen them in your travels in France and Italy (in the days when we could go there!). Variegated Zonal geraniums are the ones with attractively patterned leaves, and these make a good central feature plant in a mixed container and also make a good houseplant on a sunny windowsill.

Scented Leaf Geraniums
These have strongly scented leaves and the two varieties (or flavours) we have are Sweet Mimosa and Cola Bottles, which really does smell of the fizzy drink. These look great in pots in a sunny spot outdoors and also do well as indoor plants. Perhaps a good way to get the children involved with gardening.

Surfinias
These are the trailing petunias that everyone loves in their hanging baskets. We don’t have a huge amount available, so once they’ve gone, they’ve gone! Colours are blue, purple or red. These are £2.75 each or 4 for £10.
We also have some red petunias ready planted up in hanging pots – all you need to do is hang them up somewhere, and you’ll have an instant display of flowers. These are looking really lovely and are £12.99 each.

Bedding Packs
We have a selection of bedding plants available in packs, and the current choice includes:
Alyssum in pink or white (12 per pack)
Busy Lizzies (these are a new disease resistant variety) (4 per pack)
Red salvias (6 per pack)
Cosmos in White, Pink or Mixed (4 per pack)
We also have limited numbers of Nicotiana Mix or Appleblossom, French Marigold, Antirrhinum (Snap Dragon).
These are all £3.50 per pack or 4 packs for £12.

We also have packs of bedding geraniums at £3.99 per pack or 4 for £15. There are sold as 4 per pack.

HERBS & STRAWBERRIES
We’ve had another delivery of herbs today, and the smaller pots of herbs are £2.50 each or 6 for £12. The choice includes:
parsley, rosemary, catnip, mints, lavender, pot marigold, sage, artichokes, thymes, fennel, oregano, lawn chamomile, curry plant, alpine strawberry, basil and tree spinach. Quantities are limited to a maximum of 6 per variety when ordering.

As larger herbs for immediate impact we have Lavender Munstead, Lavender Hidcote and Lavender Vera as well as golden Marjoram and Trailing Rosemary. These are all £4.99 each or 3 for £12. Numbers are restricted to a maximum of 8 per variety when ordering.

If you would like larger quantities of herbs please email me on emma@woodsidegarden.co.uk and let me know how many you require and I’ll try to order them in for you.

We also have a few more strawberry plants available at the same price as the small herbs; Hapil, which is an early variety, Red Gauntlet and Alice which are mid-season and Sophie which is a late variety. Numbers are limited and these will sell out soon.
We also have parsley available in packs of 6 at £3.50 per pack, which is excellent value. These are part of our vegetable pack range which also includes lettuce, cabbage, oriental leaves, calabrese, leeks and cauliflower, as well as peas, French Beans and Runner Beans. Most of the vegetables are sold in packs of 12 and you can mix and match packs 4 for £12.

Meconopsis
I think I forgot to mention on the last email that we have Meconopsis sheldonii available just now as a 3 litre pot plant at £8.99 each. These amazing blue poppies do really well in our area, and enjoy a humus rich soil in semi-shade. A “must” for any garden. They associate really well with rhododendrons and we still have some of these available too, which are just coming into flower.

A Reminder

We can only take telephone orders on 01835 830315 10am – 12pm, and 1pm – 3pm Monday to Saturday, and 10am – 12pm on Sundays. Saturdays and Sundays are usually the quietest days, so if you’re struggling to get through I would suggest you try then. Home deliveries may take up to two weeks, but we now have a collection service too – which is usually available the next day, please let us know when you order whether you can collect or are shielding and need the delivery service.

Once again, thank you for your continued support.

With no update on when we will be allowed to open the garden we have consulted with industry colleagues and the police and can now offer a collection service for all orders.

This means that your order will be ready much quicker, and will free up our vans to deliver more efficiently to those shielding. Just let us know when you place your order whether you would like delivery or collection. Collected orders can often be ready the next day (subject to volume and demand), while deliveries can take up to two weeks.

If you have already placed an order and are waiting for delivery but would now rather collect please call us after 4pm on 01835 830315 and leave a message on the answer phone clearly stating your name, address and contact number and we’ll let you know when you can collect. Collections are from our car park, and collection points are well spread out to ensure we comply to social distancing guidelines.

All orders are still be ing taken by  phone  01835 830315  between 10am – 12pm, and 1pm – 3pm Monday to Saturday, and 10am – 12pm on Sundays.

Saturdays and Sundays are usually the quietest days, so if you’re struggling to get through I would suggest you try then.

Updated on 21st March

Woodside is OPEN and busy with people stocking up on gardening supplies. We’ve just had new deliveries of vegetable seeds and compost – so come in and get stocked up. Seed potatoes are selling fast and I’m trying to get more in to cope with increased demand.

For those of you who are self-isolating or who feel too vulnerable to come in please do phone us to discuss your requirements and pay over the phone. If you are unable to come in and you live within a 10 mile radius of Woodside (and because I live near Kelso, the whole of the Kelso area) we are now operating a FREE delivery service. Charges apply outside these areas, but if I can tie in several deliveries then I’ll bring down the cost. Of course we are happy to post out smaller items for you for the price of the postage. Just call on 01835 830315 and we’ll do our best to help.

Tea room

Our tearoom is currently OPEN but for take-away only. We will be serving hot and cold drinks, sandwiches and cake.

It is “business as usual” at the nursery site near Kelso with bedding plants coming on ready for the season ahead. Yesterday Stephen and I pricked out around 3000 Kelsae onion plants – so at least we’ll have plenty of onions to eat! These will be ready next month, and again we can post these out or arrange to have them delivered to you.