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.
Self Contained Water Features in Stock
New this week (w/c 8th August) are some lovely self-contained water features.
We’ve had quite a few requests for self contained water features this summer after launching our new aquatics department. We are delighted to be able to bring you a range of water features that are easy to set up, with no mess and no difficult self-assembly. Two of the features are solar powered, so you don’t even need a handy electrical socket for them.
Here is a selection but you’re best to come and visit to get a better idea of size and quality. They all come fully boxed, with easy to follow instructions and would make an ideal feature for gardens, patios and sunrooms.
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Amalfi Water Feature |
 Chatsworth Solar Water Feature |
 Cascade Solar water feaure |
Gorgeous new plants
We had a day off on the 11th and had a busman’s holiday visiting a wholesale nursery and filling the van with gorgeous plants to bring back to Woodside! There are some real beauties for you this week including:
- Agastache Crazy Fortune – a beautiful variegated form
- Agastache Mango Tango – unusual tangerine flowers with a hint of blue
- Evergreen dwarf Azaleas in pink, orange and white, and a lovely variegated one too
- A collection of Euphorbias – Ascot Rainbow, Ascot Moonbeam, Black Pearl, Silver Edge and Purpurea
- Some gorgeous Heucheras – probably the best we’ve had so far this year Can Can (purple leaves) Kassandra (warm amber leaves) and Venus (greeny bronze leaves)
- Malus Candy Mint – a disease resistant pink flowered Crab Apple
- Prunus Weeping Yoshino – a gorgeous weeping cherry with pinky-white flowers in spring. This is one of the best shaped weeping cherries I have come across, and we have just 2 available.
There are very small numbers of some of these plants in stock and they are likely to sell fast. To avoid disappointment please give us a call on 01835 830315 to check what we have in stock and to make a reservation.
Gardening In August
Whilst most of you have been enjoying your garden in the sunshine over the last week or so, we have been planning our stock for the rest of the year. In the gardening business we always seem to looking at least three months ahead, which is why I am busy placing Christmas orders. (Sorry!)
Many gardeners will also be thinking about what they would like to improve for next year and will be planning for colour throughout the year. Here are a few things you can do in your garden now and over the next few weeks to increase the enjoyment of your garden.
- Plant potatoes ready for Christmas – we have in stock both Charlotte and Pentland Javelin seed potatoes which can be planted now for you to harvest home-grown new potatoes on christmas morning.
- Sow autumn and winter bedding plant seeds such as pansies, wallflowers and sweet williams – seeds available in the plant centre
- Sow green manure seeds to improve the fertility of the soil
- Plant some conifers – we have a new delivery of conifers from specialist growers Golden Grove. These plants offer great value for money with year round interest
- Feed your garden – quite often when Stephen and I are answering questions to do with garden plants under-performing it seems that a lot of gardeners don’t realise that plants need regular feeding. With the weather set to break soon (maybe later today?) now is a great time to get some feed into the garden. It’s not difficult to do and usually involves scattering handfuls of granular fertiliser onto your borders, or watering fertiliser into pots and containers, so no heavy digging required! Feeding now will enable plants to build up strength and vigour before autumn and winter set in, which will in turn improve performance and growth next year. Our current range of fertilisers includes Growmore, Bonemeal, slow release granules, TopRose and more. Just ask for advice when you visit.
- Plant spring bulbs in autumn – these will be coming into stock in August and into September. Planting in autumn will ensure a riot of colour next spring.
Photo credit: Photo by mostafa meraji on Unsplash
Foraging Experiences at Woodside
We were delighted that guest forager, Jonathan of HartyCulture, led foraging experiences as part July’s mini garden festival. We are hoping he will be joining us again in September, so I thought you might like to read his summary of the day’s sessions.
Foraging Experiences in July
“We had great fun on our voyages of discovery and they were enjoyed by young and old alike. We hardly had to leave the car park with so much there to discuss and digest.
We started off with the wild Geranium family, finding a few varieties of cranesbill, which is handy for anyone with radiation poisoning, heavy metal toxicity or sows scouring. The pineapple weed was as popular a surprise as ever, with one lady aptly asking, “What was it called before they discovered pineapples?” I didn’t and still don’t know, but we then spotted some escaping apple mint, which saved face. Great crop of edible hogweed, which we didn’t touch due to potential photo toxicity. Their broccoli heads were mainly out and the cumin replacement seeds will be ready to harvest soon. The ground elder is starting to flower, which brings it into the danger zone of umbellifer confusion with hemlock; however the celery like, unstained grooved stems of the goutweed was safely sampled by all.
Disappointingly, there weren’t too many nettles, but I rattled on about their many benefits anyway; sure the Red Admiral has to lay her eggs somewhere after floating up from the Med. Nevertheless we found some supertall ones down by the stream along St. Cuthbert’s way, which would be great for cordage. Masses of marestail, great for so many things. We haven’t run out of oil yet, there’s 500 million years of giant equisetum during the carboniferous period to thank for that, however I suspect Emma wouldn’t object to a pet dinosaur keeping it under control. It’s high levels of silica perfectly compliment the bone knitting properties of the comfrey, flowering among the bees buzzing in a corner near the white willow, which is good for everyone and nearly every ailment.
The beech leaves have gone well chewy and was disappointed not to find any porcelain mushrooms growing on the fallen ones. Loads of yew down the woods, which is exciting in chemotherapy and the brave had their heads blown off by green wild garlic seeds. Wood avens in abundance for those with mouth ulcers. Found my first wonder violet among the hazel and lime trees. Some huge wellingtonias, great for totem poles and a sweet chestnut too.There was so much on offer: St. John’s wort, green alkanet, hedge woundwort, common nipplewort, wood-rush, flowering currant, Leopard’s-bane, burdock, ladies mantle, even primrose, which we resisted sampling due to scarcity.
However there was no scarcity of wild strawberries, with banks full of them, but we did keep running out of time, which might have made some late for their lunch, but thankfully no one complained of hunger and for those who mentioned friends and family who would be keen to come too, all being well, I’ll be back to Scotland in September, which will bring a whole new element to the harvest.”
Booking for September Foraging
If that report has tickled the taste buds, please sign up to the newsletter to be the first to hear about the date in September.
Numbers will be limited so I reccomend early booking once details have been released.
About Jonathan
Jonathan is usually based in Northern Ireland, so we are very lucky to be able to book his expertise to share with Woodside customers. Established in 2007, HartyCulture is a family-run business based in the heart of the beautiful orchards of County Armagh, Northern Ireland, offering a wide spectrum of horticultural and landscaping services to private, public and third sector clients, with a focus on quality, sustainability and listening to our customers’ requirements. They have also contributed a regular gardening column to the lifestyle magazine “Flavour”, and always enjoy presenting to community and other groups on areas of horticultural interest. Most recently, they have introduced year-round Foraging and Nature Tours in a range of locations across Northern Ireland, where they explore our natural environment during a guided walk through beautiful countryside.
This blog was updated on 16th July to include the July session report.
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.
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.
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.