It’s nice for a change to post about a  good week – the showers are keeping everything ticking along very nicely indeed – plants appreciate this showery weather a lot.

It has been a busy week on the nursery – a lot of propagation of shrubs and perennials by cuttings – the usual potting – and maintenance of all of the sales area.

The very observant among you may have noticed that we are all sporting a new uniform now – from June 1st – gone is the blue and yellow – and in comes a rather smart purple jumper and a really nice light green t-shirt – we all like it – and unlike the previous yellow t-shirt – we are no longer followed around on the nursery by a cloud of pollen beetles!!

The June newsletter has been completed – and if it is not with you now – it will be very soon!!  If you would like to sign up for it – just drop an email to us.

One interesting task this week has been planting up a load of containers of Bamboo for the Salthouse Hotel in Ipswich – these plants always look good in galvanised planters – and the Black-stemmed variety particularly so – they are currently bringing a touch of exotic foliage to their car-parking area!!

It is suprising how the year is moving on – we have passed the longest day – and the soft fruit is ripening fast – we have some very nice potted raspberries available at the moment – both of the summer types and the autumn – they all have raspberries on – at least as long as the staff don’t keep on nicking them!! 

UNTIL NEXT TIME,

RICHARD

Well – maybe not quite – although our nursery newbie David sings come rain or shine – but we are very pleased to see this wet stuff again!

After the driest Suffolk spring in living memory, over an inch of rain has fell in the past week -yes – I know it is not enough for the farmers or water companies yet – but every little does help – and the plants are most definitely looking the better for it.  However, do not be lulled into a false sense of security – you MUST still keep watering newly-planted stuff or it will fail – the rain will not penetrate through foliage or go very deep into the ground at this time of year – so keep on with that watering!  It’s anybody’s guess as to whether this is a blip in the summer – or perhaps the rest of the summer is now going to be wet – who knows – with Wimbledon starting next week -it’s bound to change!

So what’s happening on the nursery at the moment – well after the madness of the Suffolk Show – many of the staff have taken the opportunity to go away on holiday and recharge their batteries.  We have eased into our summer routine of watering, propagation and potting on – ready for the autumn sales.   Liz is busy taking cuttings of shrubs and perennials to repopulate some of our depleted sales lines – Sue is pushing on with potting liners and making the shrub area look beautiful.  David and myself are busy moving through the sales areas on maintenance and potting on of stock  – there is always much to do – it never stops!!

We will be releasing our first e-mail newsletter shortly – this has been somewhat delayed since the original plans – but that has been down to the sheer amount of work involved in preparing for the Suffolk Show – if you want to go onto our mailing list – and learn about what goes on at the nursery – drop us an email!

UNTIL NEXT TIME,

RICHARD

We have done it again!! – for the third year running – we were delighted to be awarded a Large Gold Medal plus Best in Show – and the Perpetual Challenge Cup for our stand at the Suffolk Show last week.

This is a wonderful reward for all the hard work put in by all of the Crown Nursery team – everybody has been involved at some point – from months of planning – to setting out plants – transporting them up to the showground -a week building the stand –  every member of the team deserves a big pat on the back and a huge ‘Thank You’.

I would also like to say thank you to all of you who came and visited our stand for a chat – and for your kind comments – we love meeting our customers in person – and you obviously like to see us!!

To say that this has been a difficult year for getting plants ready for a show is an understatement – but it all came together  – and the end result was superb.

We are still putting the plants away back at the nursery – over 600 were used on the stand in total – we actually ran out of plants at one stage -which has never happened before!!

There are photos of the stand in the office if you were unable to attend the show in person – which shows the whole thing from the inital preparation to the final result.

It may not be Chelsea Flower Show – but for a week it is our version of it – and we are seriously proud of what we achieved!

UNTIL NEXT TIME,

RICHARD