Gone Potty?!

St Bridget Nurseries' Old Rydon Lane Plant Area Team have gone potty! The staff have planted up a delightful selection of containers for sale. Just some examples are a herb collection, an alpine collection, autumn flowering collection plus many other stunning plants in containers. Both garden centres will plant up any container for you so if you don't see what you are after just ask!

Get into Home Grown...

The bounty of autumn is also upon us, with fruit trees laden down with apples pears and plums. Top fruit and fruit trees are an excellent place to start your home grown collection. Ornamental or edible, Malus (apple) is hard to beat. Malus offer fruit, autumn colour as well as beautiful blossom in spring. There’s a wide choice of trees that are compact in size and resistant to mildew and scab. There are favourite varieties like Cox’s and Bramleys, as well as the more modern varieties such as Fiesta or Sunset. On the ornamental side, Malus ‘Evereste’ has outstanding characteristics as a garden tree including fabulous blossom (light-purple to pink-white) lovely form and attractive orange-red fruits.

St Bridget Nurseries in Exeter grow their top fruit in an open ground field in Exeter. As well as apples you can get cherries, peaches and nectarines, pears, plums, damsons, quince, sweet chestnut and walnuts. Many of the fruits are grown on what is called dwarf root stocks meaning that they won't grow too big and therefore are ideal for small spaces.

The fruit trees will be dug from the field later this autumn so now is the best time to arrange an appointment to make your selection and pre-order straight from the field. Call 01392 873672 and ask to speak to the nursery manager.

September Pond Checklist

If you have a pond now is the best time to cover up your pond with netting before leaves start falling from trees. Before you cover everything up though, remove dead leaves from waterlilies as they die back and thin out submerged oxygenating plants. Also get a net and remove blanketweed and duckweed.

Also move over to a winter wheatgerm feed for your pond fish.

If you would like to find out more about pond care then speak to St Bridget's aquatic team at the Sidmouth Road, Clyst St Mary, Exeter Garden Centre.

PLANT FOCUS: Schizostylis coccinea Sunrise

There are relatively few flowers that begin blooming in Autumn and put on a good show despite shortening days but schizostylis coccinea does!

Commonly known as Kaffir Lily, the plants have linear leaves and upright flower-spikes, each topped by several flowers that open wide like a crocus.

This single species is vigorous and clump-forming. The flowers are scarlet/pink (coccinea means scarlet) and the plant is a native of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland.

To grow well, plant in a fertile moist soil (plants do well beside a pond for example) and shelter from cold winds. You can buy this variety as a herbaceous perennial plant from garden centres like St Bridget Nurseries in Exeter.

Alkaline Soils

My friend recently tested her garden soil using a simple soil tester which she bought from St Bridget Nurseries. The results told her that she had Alkaline soil and so she's ask me what to do about it. My advice with any soil type is unless you want to spend money and time in order to grow something you desperately want it is much easier to accept your soil type and plant plants that will thrive in the conditions.

If you still want a certain plant then try growing it in a pot!

Some soils are unrelentingly alkaline and you can fight it with treatments such as sulphur, watering with vinegar and using acidic mulches but you'll more than likely find it goes back to being alkaline. Therefore plant plants like

Berberis thunbergii, Buddleja davidii, Lavender, Lonicera (Honeysuckle), Mahonia

or herbaceous plants like:

Aquilegia, Cosmos, Geum, Helianthus, Iris, Phlox, Scabiosa

Trees suitable for alkaline conditions include Fagus sylvatica (beech) and Gleditsia triacanthos.

If you're not sure what type of soil you have then buy a simple testing kit to test the pH level of your soil (an alkaline or 'limey' soil will have a pH between 7 and 14)It's easy and fun to do and then you can start planning your garden to work with nature and not against it. For further advice on what plants may be suitable for your garden and to check availability of the above plants call St Bridget Nurseries on 01392 873672.

Spuds!

You should try and harvest all your potatoes by the end of September to avoid them being eaten by slugs! Lift potatoes carefully with a garden fork and try to remove all of them otherwise you'll get some growing next year in a place you may not want them to. Store potatoes in a dark, coo, frost-free place. Natural fibre potato sacks are ideal and are now available at St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres.

September Sunshine!

With the Devonshire forecast looking good for the weekend why not enjoy your garden and invest in a lovely set of garden furniture? St Bridget Nurseries' Old Rydon Lane Garden Centre has a massive garden furniture showroom stocked with wood, metal and resin furniture. You will find everything from a simple garden bench to hammocks, tables, seats, recliners and parasols. Many sets have massive reductions so why not go and have a look this weekend? Don't forget to pick up a Chimenea while you're there to keep you warm outside once the sunsets.

Plant profile: Rudbeckia

The variety pictured is Rudbeckia fulgida sullivantii Goldsturm and is a delightful herbaceous perennial that will add 'Sunflower' like warmth to your garden at this time of year. The variety has a particularly long flowering period from mid-summer to mid-autumn and the first frosts. Flower stems grow to about 60cm high and attract and lovely range of wildlife such as bees and butterflies into your garden.

Plant Rudbeckia in a flower border, as it tolerates light shade, to extend the flowering season late into the year. The Royal Horticultural Society has given this variety its prestigious Award of Garden Merit (AGM).

Rudbeckia Goldsturm is available from St Bridget Nurseries for £5.25 a plant.

Don't forget...

As temperatures drop, pond fish will have a reduced level of metabolism. Now is a great time to buy Wheatgerm food which is better for autumn feeding and colder weather. Wheatgerm food and a full range of pond equipment is available from St Bridget Nurseries' Clyst St Mary Garden Centre, Sidmouth Road nearly opposite Westpoint Exhibition Centre.