news
Pitcher Plants for sale
I am pleased to announce we have a NEW collection of Sarracenias, otherwise known as Pitcher Plants, for sale. These are carnivorous plants for indoors, although they will be quite happy being outdoors over the summer. They love water, so should always be standing in a tray of water – preferably rainwater and like plenty of sunshine without getting too hot. A bright window sill is ideal for them. The plants trap and digest flies in their trumpets, and this rather gruesome habit seems to make them very appealing for many people to grow! Of course they are beautiful too, with lovely different shades of greens, purples and pinks, and often with really attractive marbling effects.
Orchids
We also have a collection of Orchids in stock just now from a new grower we are using. Again, these are for indoors, and the plants we have are showing lots of flowers – perfect for a gift, or just to spoil yourself.
Patio Cyclamen
For the garden we have the first of the season’s patio cyclamen ready now, in a bright and cheerful range of colours. These are good for autumn colour and will really brighten up your tubs, pots and baskets. They enjoy cooler conditions and will cope with a few degrees of frost, so are ideal for filling this “colour gap” in the garden that many of us have just now. Bring indoors for the winter, and keep dead-heading them and they should keep going for weeks – they are much better value compared to a bunch of flowers which you’ll get only about 10 days from!
Soft Fruit Plants
New stock of soft fruit plants arrived last week. These are unpacked, priced and ready for their new homes! They are likely to sell quickly, so if you need any reserving, please phone us on 01835 830315.
Mid-August Highlights in the Garden Centre
There are still some lovely plants available in the garden centre to give you autumn or all year round interest in the garden. We have also had a new delivery of stoneware, benches and have been on another successful search for vintage garden items. Here are some of the highlights:
Plants of the week:
Japanese Anemones – these lovely late summer flowering perennials are easy to grow and come back year after year
Euphorbias – we have a good choice of these just now, which offer year round foliage interest.
Heucheras and Heucherallas -these are gorgeous evergreen perennials offering excellent value for money with all year round interest, and will grow happily in beds or in pots. We have a good range of foliage colours available.
Hydrangeas – enjoy a lovely display of late summer flowers with our range of Hydrangeas. These plants have gained enormous popularity in recent years, and the much looser blooms of the paniculata types are a far cry away from the formal ball-head flowers we used to see, and much more suited to more cottagey type gardens.
Zero Maintenance Benches
Many of you have been admiring our composite zero-maintenance three seater benches that we had delivered earlier this year. They have sold well, with one going to Ancrum Bowling Club and others finding new homes in situations where maintenance of a traditional timber bench would be difficult. We are now pleased to be stocking the 2-seater version, in the same range of great colours – Green, Blue, New Teak and Stone Grey, and we also have the full range of colours available again in the 3-seater size. 2-seaters are £475.00, and 3 seaters £575.00, and with no sanding, painting or oiling required they really are zero-maintenance.
Stoneware
We’ve also had new deliveries of stoneware from both of our major suppliers. These have been on order since last autumn, so we’ve been waiting quite some time for them! Our new stock includes some designs we’ve not had in before, as well as some popular lines that we’d sold out of, so do come and have a look. Products include a new range of Fairy Doors, Green Man Plaques, Birdbaths, Toadstools and a wide range of statues to suit all sizes of garden and budget. I know it’s a bit early yet for the “C” word, but they really do make lovely Christmas presents!
Vintage Garden Items
My favourite items from last week’s haul are: Vintage Belgian metal rubbish bins, which would make great storage for birdfood or petfood, a really pretty Ransomes lawn mower (pictured and in exceptional condition for it’s age), an unusual brass watering can, an assortment of vintage metal pumps (also on the photo), and my favourite of all – a French snail collecting tin.
We nearly always have a good range of proper stone troughs suitable for rockery and alpine plants, in a range of shapes and sizes. Do come in and have a look at what we have, and remember that we are refreshing the range all the time, as we source more vintage items from sales, fairs and auctions. These are all attracting a great deal of interest, and we are managing to pick up some items for customer requests, so if you’re looking for something in particular just let us know and we’ll try to source it for you.
Aquatics Department Open for Summer 2022
We launched our Aquatics Department for the 2022 season over the first weekend in April. New this year is a range of lovely indoor water features, and these can all be found in our new purpose-built aquatics shop. We are well stocked with pond plants, cold water fish, pumps, filters, pond liner, fish food, pond treatments and water features.
We have a good range of marginal pond plants and water-lilies, as well as moisture loving plants for bog plants. A few oxygenators are available too, although it is still very early in the season for these and more will be available in due course. Our new season range of coldwater pond fish is also now ready with some gorgeous fish including Goldfish, Koi and new this year are some stunning Diamond Sturgeon.
It’s still very early in the season and more exciting stock will be coming in over the coming weeks, including a good selection of oxygenating plants.
Also Available in early April:
* A new selection of “wind rockers” – charming garden ornaments that “see-saw” in the wind
* Herbaceous plant supports for perennials such as Paeonies, Delphiniums and Lupins
* Attractive wall brackets, suitable for hanging baskets and bird feeders
* Ornamental garden panels, in a “ready to rust” finish
* Garden obelisks for climbing plants
* Beautiful indoor “ladies faces” planters
* New display of Artwork in the Tearoom by Wendy Patterson
….and more.
Check our Facebook page for images of some of our new items by clicking HERE
We also have a great range of plants in stock just now – Ceanothus and Buddleias have arrived today, and we have a good selection of Heucheras, Herbaceous Perennials, Rhododendrons, Fruit Trees, Spring Pansies and Violas, Seed Potatoes, Onion Sets, Dahlia Tubers, and much more.
Our new compost area is almost complete and is now partially open and we have also had another delivery of used large black plastic tubs for £5 each, suitable for growing potatoes, veg and large plants. This will probably be the last batch of these – so don’t miss out.
More for your Vegetable Garden
The weather continues to be discouraging for the vegetable garden, but to give you something to look forward here’s a taster of what we have in stock just now ready for spring:
Seed Potatoes
An increased range of varieties are ready now, for chitting and planting out in March/April
First Earlies – Caledonian Pearl, Epicure, Pentland Javelin, Rocket, Duke of York, Sharpes Express, Organic Colleen
Second Earlies – Carlingford, Charlotte, Estima, Harry, Maris Peer, Nadine, Nicola, Sarpo Una, Lucera, Wilja
Main Crop – Caledonian Rose, Cara, King Edward, Pink Fir Apple, Organic Sarpo Mira, Salad Blue, Mayan Rose, Blue Danube, Allouette
By my reckoning that makes 27 different varieties to choose from!!
Onions and Shallots
We have the following varieties:
Onions – Stuttgarter Giant, Centurion, Hercules, Snowball, Sturon, Red Panther, Red Baron, Karmen
Shallots – Biztro, Golden Gourmet, Mikor, Red Sun, Yellow Moon, Mehnir
These are all suitable for planting outside now. Read our guide to planting onions here.
Vegetable Garden pre-packs
Now is a good time to plant all sorts of vegetable tubers and roots, and we have the following available now:
Rhubarb Red Champagne and Rhubarb Valentine
Jerusalem Artichoke
Globe Artichoke
Asparagus Pacific Purple
Horseradish
Vegetable and Green Manure Seeds
We now have a full range of vegetable seeds and green manure seeds for sowing either in seed trays, or directly into the ground, depending on the variety. Our range includes;
10 different varieties of Green manure, plus 2 mixes, – Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Crimson Clover, Field Beans, Grazing Rye, Phacelia (highly recommended for bees) Mustard, Winter Tares, Trefoil, and White Clover.
A great range of vegetable seeds, including Aubergines, 6 different varieties of beetroot, Leaf beet (Chard), Brocolli, Brussels Sprouts, 14 different varieties of Cabbage, 11 different varieties of Carrots, Cauliflower, Courgettes, Cucumbers, Kale, 12 different varieties of Lettuce, Onions (including Spring Onions), Parsnips, 11 different varieties of Peppers, Radish, Salad Leaf, 22 varieties of Tomato, French Beans, Runner Beans, Broad Beans, and Peas.
Hopefully there is something to tempt you there!
Compost and Gardening Accessories
It’s been a very hectic lately with boxes and boxes of deliveries coming in, we now have our full range of fertilisers and garden treatments now in stock. We are pleased to be stocking a wider range of “Grazers” products this year, which are an organic, harmless option to help reduce damage to plants caused by deer, pigeons, rabbits, slugs and snails, and caterpillars. We also have a new range of Growing Success “Safer Gardening” organic products to help solve garden pest and disease problems – Fungus Stop, Bug Stop and Rose Guard. Our range of slug and snail controls are all organic.
We have a full range of weedkillers, including glyphosate free options, and well as a new range of lawn care products, including grass seed, lawn weed-killer and feed, weed and mosskillers.
Most of our compost is now in stock (please bear with us while we build our replacement compost area) with the full Dalefoot range of Wool Compost arriving. Unfortunately they are unable to produce any Ericaceous compost again this year, but we do have the Westland Ericaceous Peat based version available.
Add the ‘Wow’ Factor to your Garden
We’ve just returned from a trip to Europe’s biggest antiques fair at Newark where we were rubbing shoulders with the film crew of BBC’s Bargain Hunt.
We managed to source some vintage and unusual items for you to buy from our garden centre. Our very own “Star Buy” is undoubtedly the carved kingfisher perched on a log which we bought off the very first stall we came to. This probably dates from the 1950’s and could well be a one-off carving for a commission. It is much bigger than it looks from the photo, standing 3ft tall, so would make a real “wow” factor statement in the garden.
Vintage Items
Other purchases we made include a rare French greenhouse watering can, vintage Chinese rice/well buckets and an unusual French grain measuring bucket. The buckets could all be used for various purposes; such as holding magazines or kindling, for standing a pot plant in or just as a decorative item for the house.
For the garden we picked up a beautiful pair of vintage roosters, standing over 2 ft tall, a very disgruntled looking vintage bulldog and a small cast iron pump. An old Indian laundry trough we sourced would be great as a water feature or small pond. The pair of vintage French bistro chairs, and two wall sconces in the form of an oriental looking ladies face are also lovely. Look out too for vintage tattie baskets and plant labels.
Modern and Stunning
We also picked up some other items that are modern, but gorgeous, such as a stunning copper bowl with an aged verdigris finish which Stephen is already imagining as a cascading water feature, and a beautiful finial roof tile with a decorative hawk, which could be mounted in the garden as a feature.
I’ve taken some photos on my mobile (below) but do come in and see them for real, as my photography skills and phone are both limited in their abilities!
Hopefully you can come in and see them, just ask and I’ll show you around our latest purchases.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Onions, shallots and potato sets now in stock
Onion sets and shallots should be planted as soon as the ground becomes workable in late winter or early spring, and we have plenty of varieties in stock now for you to choose from. You may remember last year that we couldn’t get enough to satisfy demand – hopefully that won’t be a problem this season and there will be enough to go round.
Onion Sets
Centurion – one of the earliest to mature and has excellent yields.
Hercules – a mid-season variety, slow to bolt and excellent to store.
Karmen – a bright red variety with good storages
Pink Panther – a pink French onion suitable for early plantings. High yields and good storage.
Red Baron – a popular red skinned variety with good sharp flavour for salads
Snowball – probably the best white variety with a mild flavour. Excellent for pickling.
Sturon – a best selling mid-season variety with reliable yields and stores well.
Stuttgarter Giant – another popular variety with golden skin and good yields.
Shallot Sets
Biztro – a slightly spicy flavour
Golden Gourmet – our best selling variety with a mild flavour
Mehnir – a French banana shallot with a copper skin and mild, sweet flavour
Mikor – a red French variety with a sweet flavour perfect for cooking
Red Sun – a mild red shallot
Yellow Moon – excellent disease resistance
Potato Sets
The annual Potato Day at Springwood Park in Kelso has once again fallen victim to the Covid pandemic and will not go ahead this year. We are hoping to organize some sort of alternative outdoor event at Woodside if we can.
In the meantime we have secured a range of “Taster Packs” of some unusual potato varieties for you to try. These are available just now, but it is still to early to plant outside, so store in a cool, frost-free dry place until you’re ready to start chitting and planting.
Our current potato varieties are:
Carlingford – a second early suitable for containers. Very reliable and resistant to scab
Caledonian Rose – a red skinned variety with yellow flesh and good eelworm resistance. A reliable maincrop variety
Blue Danube – this is bred by the Savari Research Trust which produces varieties with natural disease to blight and viruses. This is a high yielding maincrop variety with blue skin and white flesh
Sarpo Una – another Savari variety with excellent blight resistance. This is a reliable second early variety for salad potatoes or leave to mature for baking potatoes
Alouette – a blight resistant main crop variety with a red skin. Award winning variety for it’s flavour
Harry – a second early with white oval tubers and yellow flesh. Good for roasting, mashing and baking
Heidi Red – a maincrop variety with long tubers with red skin and flesh. Good for salads
Lucerna – a second early with high yields and excellent flavour. Considered one of the best for baby new potatoes
Mayan Rose – a maincrop variety with a red skin and yellow blotches.
Salad Blue – a vigorous maincrop potato with distinctive blue flesh with floury texture. Good all-rounder
Our “Taster Packs” are £2.49 each for a pack of 10 tubers.
Other Vegetables available now:
Globe Artichokes
Jerusalem Artichoke Fuseau
Asparagus Pacific Purple
Rhubarb Red Champagne
Rhubarb Valentine
Christmas Shop at Woodside
The Christmas Shop at Woodside is open, with by far our best seasonal display in our plant centre shop. If you’re ready to start thinking about Christmas, then Woodside is the place to visit.
We have a good range of Christmas decorations and gifts ready now, and plenty more iare arriving each week. We’ve got really unusual items (such as the quirky “Debon-haire” pictured above) suitable for creating your own festive display, or for giving as presents. You can get a taste of some of our display in the pictures below, but there are lots more to see in the shop, including a stunning range of dried fruit kits for making your own decorations, children’s stocking filler toys, luxury boxed food gifts, tealight holders and more.
We are also pleased to be stocking a new range of pop-out advent calendars, cards, stickers and gift wrap from a company called Roger La Borde. These designs are simply stunning and are wasted on children!! They also have the advantage of being flat and lightweight for posting.
Potted Christmas Trees
Our potted Christmas trees will be arriving soon, and we’ll be taking orders for these from the 23rd October. These are all living pot grown trees suitable for planting out or potting up into larger pots after Christmas, and are a sustainable and eco-friendly option. It’s only 6 weeks until our cut trees arrive – I can’t believe I’m saying this – and we can also take orders for these. As usual we’ll be making our own real foliage Christmas wreaths this year, although we won’t be running a wreath making class this year for various reasons. We plan to re-introduce this popular workshop next year.
 The quirky “Debon haire” |
 Roger la Borde Christmas sticker labels |
 Roger la Borde Pop & Slot advent calendar |
 straw effect reindeer |
 Resin fairy on mouse |
New Plants in Stock
A new delivery of autumn & winter bedding plants has just arrived, including pansies, violas, bellis, wallflowers, primroses and polyanthus. We’ve also got a fresh batch of mini cyclamen, perfect for a cool spot indoors or a sheltered outdoor position, as well as larger flowering midi cyclamen for indoors. We’ve had a new batch of Pieris, Christmas Roses and the stunning white Japanese Anemone Honorine Jobert in this week and our Amarylis bulbs have also just come in.
Autumn Tree Planting
With darker evenings and farmers busy harvesting, our thoughts are turning to autumn tree planting. Autumn is fast approaching, it is my favourite time of year and a busy one for gardeners.
The late summer and autumn are the perfect seasons for getting trees established. Here at Woodside we bring on some of our own trees from British sourced stock and also work in partnership with Frank P Matthews tree nursery – a multi-award winning nursery which supplies top quality container grown trees to many UK planting projects. As you can see from the photo, this is a huge operation consisting of propagation greenhouses and polytunnels, nursery beds and fields and fields of trees. The lake you can see to the left of the photograph is their reservoir for all that watering.
Autumn Tree Planting Tips
We are now taking advance orders for autumn trees and if you click HERE you will open our list of container grown fruit and ornamental trees that are available this autumn. I’ve indicated rootstocks when appropriate for fruit trees, and pot sizes for the ornamentals, as well as the price. Some of the items are available just now, and the rest will be due in late August/September. If you would like to order a tree from the list please call 01835 830315 and have your card handy to make a payment. Alternatively email me emma@woodsidegarden.co.uk with your order and leave your phone number so we can call you back for payment. We’ll then phone as soon as the trees are available for you to collect, or we can arrange delivery.
Don’t forget to:
- stake and tie to secure your trees against wind damage
- feed trees with bonemeal
- help the roots establish with Rootgrow
- use planting compost for sites with poor soils
- use tree guards if you are plagued by rabbits and hares.
Autumn and Winter Bedding
Autumn and winter bedding plants will be arriving at Woodside soon, along with our biggest range of bulbs yet – lsign up to our newsletter to receive the latest updates.
Job Opportunities at Woodside
We are currently recruiting for these two job opportunities:
Kitchen Assistant
Working a shift pattern of 3 days on and 3 days off (with flexibility to do extra shifts when required). Duties include preparing light lunches, making sandwiches, icing cakes, baking scones, making soups and quiches, clearing tables, washing dishes and cleaning.
Plant Centre Assistant
A part time position to include some weekend work. Duties include till operations, customer care, answering phones, plant maintenance, off loading deliveries, pricing up goods and everything else involved in a busy garden centre. Multi-tasking abilities essential!
Both positions require excellent levels of fitness. If you are interested, call Emma on 01835 830315 for a chat. If I don’t pick up the phone, just leave a message.
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.