Author Archives: Gaby Heagerty

THE WINTER FRAGRANCE COLLECTION FROM ST BRIDGET HITS PEAK PERFUME!

Did you know? Pollination goes on all year long! Flowering plants have evolved to produce scent to attract any pollinators that may be in the neighbourhood (bumble-bees, butterflies, moths, and bats).

Winter flowering plants are in bloom when honey-bees are not active so must rely on other pollinators, such as bumble-bees, and other flying insects, to move pollen from one flower to another, fertilising the plant. As there are fewer pollinators active in the colder months, scents need to be strong to signal further – which happily is what we humans find so attractive.

On a clear sunny winter’s day these plants come into their own. Best for a path-side, patio pot or under a mature tree, but which to choose?

There are a surprisingly wide variety of ornamental plants that flower at this time of year and many of them pump out stunning scents. We grow a fantastic range of these winter fragrance plants, from Daphne and Hamamelis to Sarcococca and Viburnum.

You’ll find a full list of our Winter Fragrance Collection at the bottom of this blog.

On a sunny day our Plant Area smells fabulous, come on down and have a good nose around our collection.

Sarcoccoca species

Commonly known as Christmas or Sweet Box, this lovely evergreen shrub produces a sweet honey-like scent. Its pretty creamy-white flowers appear from December through to March.

Sarcococca is an easy-grow low maintenance plant, it Thrives in dappled and deep shade, on fertile, moist, well-drained soil. Tolerates a wide range of soils including chalk, clay, loam and sand. And tolerates both Acid and alkaline soils.

Daphne odora

Daphne odora is a sought after flowering shrub for the woodland garden, mainly for the fragrance of its small flowers that bloom in winter. It produces a sweet and clean scent, a bit like jasmine and a little like orange blossom.

Daphne odora thrives on moist, well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter. Prefers mildly acidic soil in a dappled shady spot.

Hamamelis x intermedia Varieties

Common-garden name: Witch-Hazel. Hamamelis is a slow-grow deciduous shrub which flower on bare winter stems. Flowers come in rich shades of yellow, orange and red, and produce a citrus scent from December to March.

Hamamelis thrive in sunny or dappled shady spots. On moist, free-draining, neutral to acid soils.

Do you have a spot for a Winter Fragrance Plant?

Come and see (and smell) our collection for yourself.

To check what we’ve got in stock, give the Plant Team a call on 01392 876 281, we’re happy to reserve a plant if we know you’re popping in.

We’re open from 9 till 5 Monday to Saturday and 10 till 4 on Sunday.

St Bridget’s Winter Fragrance Collection

Daphne odora
Daphne orodra Aureomarginata
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane’
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’
Lonicera fragrantissima
Sarcococca confusa
Sarcococca hookeriana Humilis
Sarcococca ruscifolia
Sarcococca ‘Winter Gem’
Mahonia x media ‘Charity’
Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’
Viburnum x bondantense ‘Dawn’
Viburnum fragrantissima

This list was made by the Plant Team on Monday 30th January.

Availability is limited as we grow plants in small batches.

When a plant is sold out it can be a while before more plants are grown big enough for your garden.

START THE YEAR WITH HAPPY HOUSEPLANTS

We get a lot of questions about looking after houseplants at this time of year. Many people feel the need to fill the gap left by taking their Christmas tree down with other indoor greenery. Houseplants are a brilliant way of adding a calming presence to any room – plus they have lots of health benefits too – perfect for creating a good start to the new year.

If you have a houseplant it should have come with a care label. If it did make sure you have a read to see what amount of light and temperature the plant likes. If you don’t have a label then please feel free to ask one of our team for some advice when you next visit in store.

The main killer of houseplants during the winter is over watering. We often get concerned when the soil looks dry and because we are heating our houses. Whilst you can kill plants from lack of water, during the winter a plant’s watering needs will reduce. To check if a plant needs water put your finger down the side of the pot. If it feels dry about an inch below the surface and if the pot feels light then a water is necessary. If the pot is heavy though, leave it a day or two before checking again. It’s easier to bring a plant back from lack of water than overwatering! Nearly all foliage plants need high humidity levels around their leaves, to achieve this you can use a hand held mister and mist daily or stand your pot in a saucer filled with damp pebbles/chippings. As long as your pot isn’t sat in water your plant will love the moist air that will come as the water evaporates upwards.

If you have a flowering houseplant, remove any flowers that are faded and going over. Whilst a plant is flowering a weekly to fortnightly feed with a flowering houseplant fertiliser is also a good idea.

If you fancy treating yourself to a new plant, looking good in our houseplant section at the moment are:

Chamaedorea elegans

Ctenanthe

Gynura

Spathiphyllum Cupido
Dieffenbachia Compacta
Alocasia Pink Passion

IT’S GETTING COLDER

After a relatively mild start to Autumn it is easy to get caught out by the first frost of the season. When it is not practical to lift and move tender plants to shelter, wrapping them up is the best form of protection.

To wrap your plants there are several methods you can use:

Wrap plant pots with bubble wrap, this keeps the soil and most importantly the roots warm.
Cover your tender plants with horticultural fleece. You can buy fleece jackets to pop over plants (we sell them in the garden centre) or you can create wigwams with bamboo canes and then wrap fleece around it (we sell fleece by the running metre in our garden centre shop). Tree ferns can be protected by packing the trunk in fleece and protecting the crown with a packing of straw. Ensure the area around your tree ferns are well mulched to protect the roots from frost.
If you are not sure how tender your garden plants are then please call our plant team to ask or we recommend the RHS plant finder.

AUTUMN POND CARE

Now is a great time to ensure your pond stays in tip top condition whether it is an ornamental fish pond or wildlife pond.

If you have a fish pond, now is the time to clean any filters or pumps. It is also important to remove any rotting leaves from the water as they can give off noxious chemicals as they decay. Remove any leaves and unwanted debris that have fallen into your pond using a fine net.

It’s also a good time to review the plants around your pond and cut back any overhanging branches. Consider thinning or cutting plants back to allow your pond to get plenty of winter sunlight .

Don’t forget to start feeding your fish wheatgerm fish food pellets once the temperature gets below 10 degrees. If your fish stop feeding, resume once the temperature rises again.

Finally cut off and remove fading leaves and flowers from your accessible aquatic plants to prevent them from decomposing – this will also encourage regrowth next year.

We Are Dog Friendly

We are a dog friendly garden centre. We welcome dogs of all sizes and all breeds as long as they bring their well-behaved owner on a lead!

We recognise that for many of our customers, their faithful friend is a member of the family! Which is why customers are welcome to bring their dogs into the garden centre. So that everyone can enjoy their visit to us, we ask that you keep your dog on a lead and under control at all times, do not leave dogs unattended and please be respectful of others who may not feel the same way about dogs as you do.

Dogs are also welcome in our cafe. Good dogs may also be offered a treat when they go to our shop tills.

The only thing that we ask is that any accident must be picked up and disposed of correctly by owners.

Sow Green Manure This Autumn

If you have a vegetable plot or allotment it’s highly likely that now we are in mid autumn, some of your plot has become bare (fallow) as your summer crops have finished. Rather than leave the soil fallow until spring, we highly recommend sowing green manure seed.

Grown to benefit the soil, green manure can improve soil structure, increase soil fertility and help suppress weed growth. In addition they can disrupt pests and disease life cycles. The type of green manure you need to sow now is winter crop varieties. These winter crops prevent nutrients in your soil, especially nitrogen, from being leached away by winter rains. After a winter crop the soil has been broken down so it will be easier to use in the spring.

How to sow and grow green manure

Sow outdoors by thinly scattering the seed over finely raked soil, which has already been watered. Before the green manure flowers and sets seed, turn it into your soil by lifting it up, turning it over and then digging it into the soil. If a longer period of ground cover is required, then flowering of the green manure can be delayed by cutting plants back (by about a third) when flowers begin to form.

We recommend a Winter Rye or an Autumn/Winter Green Manure Mix which usually consist of Crimson Clover, Broad Leaf Clover, Westerwolds Rye Grass and White Tilney Mustard.

Image accreditation: Krzysztof Golik (2021), Trifolium incarnatum (Crimson Clover) on WikiCommons. Last accessed on 19th October 2022. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trifolium_incarnatum_in_Aveyron_(8).jpg