SPRING BULBS NOW IN!
A massive range of Spring Flowering Bulbs are now in at BOTH St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres. Bulbs are a great way of dotting colour around your garden and interest at various heights. Plus if you don't have a large garden you can grow many varieties in a bowl either indoors or outside. Simply, pick a pot that is the right size and will complement your chosen bulbs. If you are using a clay pot with a large drainage hole in the base, place a few 'crocks' at the bottom such as pieces of broken pot. Use a bulb compost and fill your container with compost and plant bulbs, making a hole three times the size of the bulb.
Although different varieties can be planted together, bulbs have more impact when the same variety is planted either singly or packed closely together for a bumper show. If you buy a nice deep container you can layer bulbs and stagger your display by choosing varieties that will flower at different times or grow at different heights. One suggestion is to plant your Daffodils and Tulips at a depth of about 8" and then add a layer of compost about 3" deep and then add a layer of smaller bulbs like Grape Hyacinths and Calla Lilies. Top with some more compost and then water well.

You may also want to add some Bulb Booster. This is a new product that St Bridget Nurseries are stocking. Made by the makers of Miracle_gro, bulb Booster is slow release granules that provide nutrients that feed for up to 3 months. They delivers nourishment to your planted bulbs, encouraging vigorous root growth and encourages lush foliage which is required to support more abundant flowering the following season.

For a great start to your floral display, pop in to St Bridget Nurseries Exeter.

LOW IN PLANT MILES

Unlike many garden centres, St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres grow most of the plants they sell on site, which means their plants are suitable for the conditions found in Devon area. They grow all their roses in fields behind the Clyst St Mary Garden Centre and all other plants are grown on the nursery just two miles away behind the Old Rydon Lane Garden Centre.
It also makes their garden centres low in plant miles - as virtually no carbon energy has been used in getting the plants to you.

If you are buying your plants from St Bridget's it also means you are buying from experts as the company has been growing plants in Exeter for over 80 years! Plus they're so confident about their quality, all hardy St Bridget Nurseries' plants carry a 1 year guarantee.
With nearly 900 varieties of shrubs, over 200 varieties of roses, nearly 300 varieties of herbaceous perennials, over 130 different conifers, over 200 different ornamental and fruit trees as well as over 350 types of bedding plants and other seasonal crops - you'll find it all at St Bridget Nurseries Garden Centres!

INSPIRATIONAL!

The award winning planteria team at both St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres have been really busy and have some fantastic plants on sale at the moment. The use of colour, texture, height and scent gives you wonderful ideas that you can re-create in your garden. This picture is of a lavender, ivy and clematis display at the Old Rydon Lane garden centre. It shows how the whites and purples of the flowers complement the rich greens and tone with the beautiful granite plinth and rustic looking sundial. A lavender border would look fantastic beside a driveway or a simple lavender surrounded by small ivy in a beautiful glazed pot would look suitably Mediterranean for a patio or veranda. Brighten up your outdoor space with home-grown plants from St Bridget Nurseries, Exeter.

RED HOT AND GORGEOUS!

Sumptuous velvety clematis glowing deep in rich reds, pinks, purples and blues. Climbing and twinning up to cover many unsightly objects in your garden! Virginia creeper (parthenocissus) and its glorious autumn reds is a great alternative climber to have on offer
Acer palmatum is a fabulous foliage plant that will almost catch fire with colours of red (depending on variety), as the leaves begin to turn. Some, like ‘Crimson Queen’ are compact enough to be grown in large pots which makes them perfect for patios.
Potentilla presents perfect perennial red choices at this time of year. Use the vivid reds of ‘Gibson’s Scarlet’ to colour the ground level of the display.
All the above plants are available from your nearest St Bridget Nurseries Garden Centre. Old Rydon Lane (01392 873672) and Clyst St Mary (01392 876281), Exeter.

SLUGS!

A few days sunshine meant that I was able to get into the garden in full force over the weekend. My tidying up revealed that while I had been sheltering from the rain so too had hundreds of slugs and snails! There were clearly too many for even my greediest of hedgehog friends and so further help was needed in order to protect my plants from being eaten alive!

Beer is a traditional slug trap - simply fill an old tin can with a malty-smelling beer and set them at close intervals around the garden. To avoid killing beneficial ground beetles don't set them flush with the soil. A slug will happily climb, a ground beetle won't. If like me you'd rather enjoy the beer yourself you can use a mixture of flour, water and yeast in traps instead. Remember to mix up a new batch every day or so.

Another environmentally friendly way to catch them is to use the rinds of grapefruit, lemons and even potatos. Set the rinds, upside down in the ground where you've seen the slugs. Early in the morning lift the rinds up and you'll hopefully have a collection of slugs underneath, either kill your slugs (by crushing them) or give birds a treat and place them on the bird table.

Another trick is to use copper. Copper reacts with the slimey path of snails and slugs and gives them a rather nasty shock! You can buy copper wire and tape from your garden centre, like St Bridget Nurseries in Exeter, along with slug traps for use with beer.

Oh and don't forget a pair of gardening gloves - slugs are very sticky to touch!

BOG GARDENS

Sudden heavy downpours, coupled with soil compaction, poor drainage and landscaping with impervious materials will naturally lead to flooding. Prolonged waterlogging can weaken and kill plant roots. We can improve things such drainage using gullies and soakaways but in smaller gardens this can be more of a problem.

If you have very poorly drained soils that are consistently wet, it is generally better to work with nature rather than against it. Some plants thrive in wet, poorly drained soils such as Fothergilla, Euphorbia, Lamium and Trollius but they won't stand having their roots in wet soil all of the time. for permanently wet soils you could design a bog garden. Not only will this work with your soil type but bogs are a haven for wildlife such as dragonflies, frogs and migrating waterbirds.

Despite the name bog gardens can be extremely beautiful. Some good bog plants you could choose from include Filipendula Rubra (Meadowsweet) , Geum x borisii , Geum rivale (Water avens), Gunnera manicata (Giant rhubarb), Gunnera magellanica ,Gunnera tinctoria , Iris ensata syn. kaempferi , Iris ensata Variegata , Iris sibirica , Mazus reptans Alba, Mazus reptans Blue , Mimulus cardinalis, Mimulus Threave variegated , Peltiphyllum peltatum, Rheum palmatum and Sisyrinchium. All of these plants can be found at St Bridget Nurseries' Clyst St Mary Garden Centre.
Also suitable for the bog garden are Astilbes, Hemerocallis, Hostas, Ligularia, Lysimachia, Lythrum, Schizostylis, Tradescantia and Trollius which can all be found in the Herbaceous Perennial Section at both St Bridget Garden Centres.

If you want help planning your bog garden simply pop into your local garden centre, like St Bridget Nurseries, and ask one of the helpful staff.

Let's Be British!

Ok so the weather is letting us down and not exactly how we dream of summer, but let's be British and not let it dampen our spirits. Let's still brighten up our window sills so at least something is cheery outside. This gorgeous display of bright and cheery flowering plants can be seen today at St Bridget's Clyst St Mary Garden Centre and the plants would look lovely in a container on a window sill. Alternatively both garden centres have a fantastic range of colourful containers already planted and at reduced prices. What's more. nearly all of the plants at St Bridget's are grown on their nursery in Exeter so you'll be buying British too!

TREE FERNS

Dicksonia antarctica (shown left) is a fabtastic tree fern for UK gardens. Like most ferns it likes a partial shade to full Shade position. In areas prone to frost plants can be quite tender and so it is advisable to either wrapping the crown with straw, dead fronds or bubble wrap or keep your fern in a pot and move it into a conservatory. The ferns like to be planted in a well drained soil, preferably acidic. You will likely have acidic soil if plants like Rhododendrons and Camellias grow well in your garden, if you're not sure just plant the fren in ericaceous compost.

The thick mass of roots form a trunk, which can eventually reach about 6m (20ft) in the wild. The foliage appears in spring from the top of the trunk, unfurling from the centre to open up into large, rich green fronds. This particular variety has been given the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM), which is for plants of outstanding excellence.

St Bridget Nurseries have lots of ferns in stock along with other unusual and exotic plants such as bananna plants so start your jungle garden today.

SUMMER WILDLIFE

During July and August are great for spotting and attracting wildlife into your garden. As an approved Devon Wildlife Trust garden centre, St Bridget Nurseries can advise you on how you can make your garden Wildlife friendly. Here's a few other tips of what to look out for:

- Butterflies will be a round in large numbers at this time of year, so plant good nectar producers like buddleja and red clover to attract them.

- Bumblebees will be mating with bees from different nests. Young males sleep out at night, often on flowers, whereas young queens return to their nests. Only mated young queens will survive the winter to start new colonies next year. Bumblebees may nest in tussocks of grass or moss, so may use a grassy bank at the edge of your garden. Plant clover and catmint to encourage them into your garden. You can also buy or make bumblebee bee boxes. Bumblebee boxes are about the size of small bird boxes but have two compartments: one in which the queen breeds which is filled with wood shavings, and one where the other bees live. Remember bees are great pollinators for your plants.

- Newts tend to breed later than other amphibians and should leave their ponds by August. Most frogs, toads and newts will stay on land until next spring so create log piles and leave the bottom of hedges undisturbed so they can take shelter there.

Another summer deal at St Bridget's

St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres in Exeter have just put Phostrogen Plant Food on special offer. Not only have their 1kg boxes got an extra 25% free in them (1.25kg box for £3.49) but you can buy 2 boxes for just £5! That's 2.5kg for £5.

Since many of your plants will benefit from a feed now, this is a great summer offer.

ST BRIDGET'S ARE THE GREATEST - IT'S OFFICIAL!

St Bridget Nurseries scooped a total of three awards and were shortlisted for a total of four at yesterday's THE GREATEST AWARDS 2007.

The Greatest 2007 awards were organised by the Garden Communication and Media Company to recognise team success in garden retailing. Throughout the month of June, the general public were encouraged to vote for their greatest garden centres and the votes were received in their thousands. Over 200 independent garden centres were nominated.

Sir Geoff Hurst, England’s 1966 World Cup hat-trick hero presented The Greatest Awards at the National Motorcycle Museum near Birmingham on Monday 9th July. St Bridget Nurseries won The Greatest Planteria Team, a silver award for The Greatest In-store Merchandising Idea plus their Plantsmans Café won The Greatest Garden Centre Catering Team for the South West. In addition, St Bridget Nurseries was shortlisted in the greatest garden centre category and were voted one of the top 20 garden centres in the UK.

Everyone at St Bridget's would like to thank all of you who voted for the company. The entire team is thrilled and it is great to put the West Country on the gardening map again!

SUMMER SAVER AT ST BRIDGET'S

Heathers have just been put on special offer at St Bridget Nurseries. Plants in 9cm pots were £1.49 each or £12.50 for ten.

They are now 75p each or £5 for ten only while stocks last.

Heathers are beautiful dense, low growing evergreens that provide excellent ground-cover. The give colourful displays in both flowers and foliage throughout most of the year. All plants require acid soil conditions, though the Carnea varieties will tolerate some lime. If you live in an alkaline/lime area you can plant heathers in pots or raised borders using ericaceous compost. As plants get to the size you want them to stay at give them a clip to shape and remove daed leaves by the end of March or early April, this also prevents plants getting too woody.

Give your plants space

Good spacing will help to reduce your garden feeling overgrown and crowded. Spacing also allows air to circulate freely around the leaves which keeps plants healthy. If you have a damp garden and have had problems with fungal diseases, one of the best remedies is to take out some plants and move them to a spot with more space as plants close together will spread diseases. Pruning can also give your plants some breathing space. Make sure you prune each plant at an appropriate time. The general rule is if a plant blooms on old wood, prune after it blooms (spring or early summer). If a plant blooms on new wood, prune it in late winter/early spring. Have a look at your plants and you'll soon see the difference.

Sorry for the break in news, I've been on holiday - don't worry like you I also got the rain!

Most gardening tips at this time of year tell us about watering young plants and other water related tasks. Whilst this may not be an issue at present we should think ahead. Although the forecast remains unsettled the great British Summer may come late this year and so why not harvest the rain we are getting now and stock up with water for when it gets hot? My 300L water butt is already full so I'm going to invest in an overflow one. It's surprising when the sun does come out just how thirsty hanging baskets and containers can be and that stored water will soon go. St Bridget Nurseries have a wide selection of water storage aids in their garden centres so pop in and start harvesting the rain!

Go wild in the garden...

Native wildflowers will attract plenty of wildlife to your garden and are unusual additions to borders and contaners. Here are some of the best:

For sunny borders try Lythrum (Loosestrife). Lythrum can grow to 1.2m tall on moist soils so works well at the back of a border, plants are also the caterpillar food plant for two species of hawkmoth.

For a shady bed choose Digitalis (foxgloves) which are good in sun or shade and reach a stately 1.5m when they flower in June. Lamium galeobdolon Variegatum (Yellow archangel or Dead Nettle) can be invasive BUT the whorls of yellow flowers are loved by bees.

For some edible fruit try planting wild strawberry, a mini version of the cultivated variety that look great at the edge of a border.

Wildflowers are easy to grow. Sometimes it is difficult to cultivate from seed but you can get a large selection already cultivated as plants. Have a look in the herbaceous perennial department at St Bridget Nurseries for some great additions. For wildflowers native to your particular location visit the Natural History Museum website at www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/plants-fungi/postcode-plants

Following on...

from the post about garden time savers we previously listed great evergreen foliage shrubs. Today we are going to list great flowering shrubs that will bring colour to your garden with minimum care needs.

- Amelanchier canadensis (Snowy Mespilus)

- Brachyglottis (also known as Senecio)

- Camellias

- Ceonothus

- Ceratostigma

- Chaenomeles

- Erica (Heathers)

- genista hispanica, G. Lydia

- Hypericum 'Hidcote'

- Olearia

- Perovskia

- Potentilla fruticosa

- Spiraea japonica

- Syringa micropylla

- Viburnum plicatum

Plus don't forget scented flowers like Abelia, Lavandula, Mahonia, Osmanthus and Viburmum x bodnatense to name only a few.

The secret is out...

Mrs S. Crowys from Tiverton, this weekend won St. Bridget Nurseries’ Poinsettia Competition.
Poinsettias are traditionally sold in winter as a Christmas houseplant. The showy part of poinsettias that most people think are the flowers are actually coloured bracts (modified leaves) and these can be pink, white or the traditional red.
Whilst very beautiful, Poinsettias do not travel well and are sensitive to rapid temperature changes. Most poinsettias offered for sale in this country have been grown abroad and travelled through several countries to make it to various shops. At St. Bridget Nurseries, however, they grow their own poinsettias to a very high standard locally on their nursery in Exeter. This ensures that customers get the best plants, which have only had to travel two miles at the most to their garden centres. If cared for Poinsettias can give years of satisfaction in the home. In fact at St. Bridget Nurseries, they have customers who time and time again tell them how good their poinsettias are in their homes in mid summer! For this reason, St Bridget’s started the Poinsettia competition and challenged local green fingered gardeners to produce the best looking poinsettia from their Christmas 2006’s purchase.
The competition was judged on Saturday 2nd June at St Bridget Nurseries’ garden centre in Old Rydon Lane by Gordon Newton from Exeter University. Prizes were awarded to plants with the best shape and colour.
First prize winner was Shirley Crowys from Tiverton, and her beautiful red poinsettia was a clear winner. Shirley won £25 of St Bridget Nurseries gift vouchers, which she put to immediate use on buying plants for a new hedge. Shirley said that her secret to success was not using tap water. Instead, Shirley boils her water, lets it stand and cool in the room before watering the plant.

Garden Time Savers

The backbone of any easy-care garden is shrubs. It saves time as you only have to design and plant an area once and it can last for years with little more than the occasional pruning. You want to look for plants that are attractive over a long period of time and ideally non-fussy plants! Choose a range of sizes, shapes, leaf and flower colours for maximum impact. The easiest way to ensure you have year-round interest is to visit your garden centre monthly or quarterly so that you see what plants are in flower at that time.

Today's recommendations are evergreen shrubs. These are shrubs that keep their foliage all year round. Take this list along with you when you go to your garden centre.

- Choisya (variety pictured is Ternata)

- Escallonia

- Fatsia

- Hebe 'Red Edge'

- Hebe pinguifolia 'Pagei'

- Holly (Ilex)

- Viburnum davidii

All these plants are available from St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres in Exeter. Just ask the planteria staff for help in selecting the best evergreen shrubs for your garden, they'll be pleased to help.

They've hatched!

The duck family that set up residence in the herbaceous perennial department of St Bridget's production nursery hatched 5 ducklings on Sunday. The staff at St Bridget's made a small 'pond' made from a large trough and it comes complete with ramp! Here is a photo of Mum taking the kids out for a dip!

JUST IN!

St Bridget's have just put out their home-grown Dahlias for sale. There are three varieties available:

Bishop of Llandoff - an old favourite and a great variety for bedding and borders. It is an opulent plant with dark bronze-green foliage and vibrant vermillion semi-double blooms. 'Bishop of Llandaff' is valued for its late summer colour, which extends well into autumn and is a popular cut flower

Fascination - A half-hardy perennial that grows to 1m tall with divided leaves and semi-double flowers. Strong purplish-pink florets and a red-brown centre.

Moonshine - A golden yellow flower with orange centre. As stunning as a sunflower.

All Dahlias are in a 2 litre pot and cost just £3.99 each.

Squirrels!

Do you find you have problems with squirrels eating all the nice food you buy for the birds? They are very clever animals but I have found that my metal 'cage' like bird feeders keeps the squirrels out despite their best efforts! They may get one or two token seeds but the tits can happily go inside and feast away! There is a huge range of bird feeders at St Bridget Nurseries Garden Centres. You can get wooden ones, plastic ones, seed feeders, peanut feeders, fat balls, fat packs, seeds of all kinds plus these great squirrel proof feeders. St Bridget Nurseries garden centres are in Old Rydon Lane, Exeter and Sidmouth Road, Clyst St. Mary, Exeter.

Osteospermums are simply gorgeous and add so much colour to your garden and planters. Commonly known as Cape Daisy they were originally from South Africa. Osteospermums need a sunny aspect, so a sunny patio is ideal.
Water regularly to avoid the plants from drying out. Keep well watered, especially during the first two weeks after planting and perhaps use water retaining compost to retain some mositure in the soil. For best results, feed your Osteospermums regularly with a general fertilizer such as Phostrogen. This will help promote flowering along with deadheading. Remove wilted flowers on a regular basis to prolong flowering.
Cutting back Osteospermums won't harm them. On the contrary. They will grow new fresh side shoots in no time! Pruning is most beneficial to the so called hardy types of Osteospermum. It's best to cut them back in early spring or in the autumn. Since most Osteospermums are not hardy it is recommended to over winter your plants. Therefore bring your plants indoors or even better, take cuttings and grow more for next year. Osteospermums can be purchased in a variety of beautiful colours. St Bridget Nurseries have many on sale all under £3 a plant.

Long Service Award Winner

At this year's Devon County Show (held May 17th-19th), one of St Bridget Nurseries' staff won a long service award. The award was presented to St Bridget's propagator Gary. Gary has been working at the nursery for over 30 years and was awarded his certificate and glass tankard by the show's president, Nigel Lindsay-Fynn. The long service awards, run by the Council of the Devon County Agricultural Association, are open to men and women who have completed more than 30 years in agriculture, horticulture, or forestry. Gary is one of several staff from St Bridget Nurseries to have won the award over recent years.

VOTE for St Bridget Nurseries!

If you've been impressed with the service you have received at St Bridget Nurseries the staff to win 'The Greatest Awards'? Your vote could win you £50 of National Garden Gift Tokens! There are three categories we that you can vote for: The Greatest Planteria Team, The Greatest Garden Centre Team and The Greatest Garden Centre Catering Team. You can vote online at http://www.gardenradio.co.uk/publicvoting.asp or via voting slips that will be available in St Bridget's garden centres or by sending a text message from your mobile phone. For every text vote, which costs 50p plus normal call charges, at least 23p will go to The Greenfingers Appeal who create gardens for children's hospices. To vote St Bridgets for the Greatest Planteria team, text PLANT ST BRIDGET NURSERIES and send to 87023

to vote St Bridgets for the Greatest Catering Team text FOOD ST BRIDGET NURSERIES to 87023 to vote St Bridgets for the Greatest Garden Centre Team text GARDEN ST BRIDGET NURSERIES to 87023.

It's show time!

It's that time again when all the regional horticultural shows start. Tomorrow it is the opening of Devon County Show at Exeter's Westpoint showground. Exhibiting at the show will be St Bridget Nurseries who are also sponsoring the event. You can see their beautiful display of trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials in the flower marquee. PLUS there is a limited number of plants on sale. For further details visit: http://www.devoncountyshow.co.uk/

Lavender is a really easy plant to grow and a good plant for children to grow.

All Lavenders are evergreen shrubs. They should be treated like a Mediterranean plant with as much sun as possible, especially the more tender varieties. Plant in a fairy dry and well drained soil, preferably sandy, loamy soil. If you have unsuitable soil Lavender look fantastic grown in pots. When flowers turn brown cut them off and cut the whole back back in autumn to avoid too much woody growth. As a general rule the hardiest variety to grow in the UK is the English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia). As a native plant this will also attract lots of wildlife.
Each type of Lavender has a different scent. To us, the best is that of the old fashioned Lavender, – strong, evocative and sweet smelling.
Grow lavender at the edge of a border so that you will brush it as you walk by, this realeases its oils and gives a beautiful welcoming aroma. You can also dry flower heads to create Pot Pourri. St bridget Nurseries grows 16 varieties of Lavender and local residents to the garden centres may wish to grow the variety Lavandula stoechas Devonshire! Prices start from £5.99 and a Lavender is a great choice for the garden of the future.

Beautiful Non-Stop Begonias!

Non-Stop Begonias will assure you a continuous parade of gorgeous sparkling colour for your garden planters and hanging baskets all summer long right up to the frosts of Autumn. They're so easy to plant and grow. Add brilliant colour to any spot where you'll see their special beauty. Enjoy a spectacular colour burst of whites, pinks, yellows, oranges and reds. Non stop Begonias are available from St Bridget Nurseries at just £3.30 each.

Marguerites

With bright and cheerful daisy-flowers, marguerites are tender perennials that flower prolifically from late spring to early winter. With just a small cluster of two or three plants a gap in a border will be lifted with colour and they look fantastic in pots. Plant into a well-drained, well-conditioned soil in a warm, sunny position. If planting in pots the plants may require a weekly liquid feed after 6 weeks or so. To keep flowers blooming, deadhead old flower-heads and some of the stem tops. Move the plants into a frost-free greenhouse or conservatory in the autumn, cut back the stems and reduce watering. The colder it is, the less water they will need. Easy to grow and easy on the pocket. Coloured Marguerites are now in store at St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres. Plants are just £3.99 each.

It's lunch time...

So I'm thinking of my stomach again but hey there is a plant link! The best ingredient for any good meal is fresh food. It's the secret of all the top chefs and one of the most versatile and zesty ingredients you could add are herbs! Easy to grow and fantastic flavour to eat.

There are numerous herbs you could grow in your garden and some of the best value ones are perennial herbs. Perennials live for several years and they grow into larger plants. Herbs you could invest in are:

Thyme - used widely in the Mediterranean and great for flavouring meat, cheese and pasta sauces.

Oregano (also known as Marjoram) - try adding to home-made burgers for your barbecue.

Mint - a great addition for a summer cocktail or Pimms!

Chives - snip onto a salad or jacket potato for some lovely subtle flavour

and Rosemary (as pictured). Rosemary is a traditional accompaniment for roast lamb. Buy some rosemary plants from your garden centre now and place in a sunny, sheltered position in well drained soils. Rosemary particularly likes chalky soils. If you are growing Rosemary in a container then add some grit to aid drainage. Once plants have finished flowering trim into shape. You can pick the leaves all year round , common rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is the hardiest and most used in cooking.

Butterfly Magic!

Adult butterflies visit flowers to obtain nectar. They make use of a wide range of flowers and other sweet substances, such as the juices of over-ripe fruits.
The butterflies most likely to be seen in gardens are the large cabbage white, small cabbage white, green-veined white, brimstone, small tortoiseshell, peacock, comma, painted lady and red admiral, as shown here on a beautiful Lilac.
The numbers of painted lady and red admiral butterflies can vary considerably from year to year since they are migratory butterflies which breed in Britain but generally do not survive the winter.

To help support butterflies in your garden make sure you have lots of plants that attract butterflies and plant them together in clumps. Nectar-providing flowers are also used by other insects, such as bees and moths. Suitable plants include:
Marjoram (Origanum vulgare), Scabious (Knautia arvensis and Succisa pratensis). Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum), African marigold (Tagetes erecta), Ageratum (Ageratum houstonianum), Alyssum (Lobularia maritima and Aurinia saxatilis), Stocks (Matthiola incana and hybrids), Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus), Verbena (Verbena rigida)Wallflower (Erysimum cheiri), Catmint (Nepeta x faassenii), Golden rod (Solidago species), Ice plant (Sedum spectabile - dark red cultivars are less attractive), Phlox (Phlox paniculata), Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus), Butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii, also B. globosa, B. alternifolia),Caryopteris (Caryopteris x clandonensis), Heather (Erica species, Daboecia species, Lavender (Lavandula species) an Thyme (Thymus species) to name ony a few.

The plants listed above will attract the more common species of butterfly, but most are unsuitable as food plants for the larvae. The caterpillars eat leaves and often have a narrow range of suitable host plants often wild plants. Stinging nettles Used by peacock, red admiral, comma and small tortoiseshell. Needs to be grown in a sunny position to encourage egg laying. Prevent seeding by cutting down in mid-summer after the first brood of the small tortoiseshell has developed.
Thistles - Painted lady lays eggs on plants such as welted thistle and creeping thistle.
Cabbages, other brassicas and nasturtiums - Large cabbage white and small cabbage white butterflies.

We know that having an entire wildlife garden is not to everyone's taste as it is commonly seen as too wild and messy but just a patch of your garden left to nature can support hundreds of wildlife species, potentially endangered ones too. St Bridget Nurseries in Exeter is devoted to using nature as a gardener's friend. Both garden centres are approved by the Devon Wildlife Trust so to find out more about encouraging wildlife into your garden, give them a call today.

Bearded Irises

Irises are stunning and very useful upright herbaceous perennials. They come in a wide range of colour range from rich blues to flashy yellows and extraordinary combinations such as butterscotch yellow and violet. Many also have beautiful, intricate patterns such as this stunning Bearded Iris - Kent Pride that came into flower yesterday.
Botanists put irises into two key groups: the rhizomatous, which have rhizomes on or just beneath the soil, and those that grow from bulbs. The first group divides into two further sections, the beardless and bearded (with a distinctive little beard in the flower centre like this Kent Pride). This Iris was bought as a perennial plant for £5.25 from St Bridget Nurseries this year. The garden centre stocks 10 varieties of Iris and then gets bulbs in during the bulb season. It should be noted that all Irises are harmful if eaten - though let's face it who would want to eat such a beautiful flower?

Nursery Tours Great Success

The Tours around St Bridget Nurseries' production nursery were extremely well subscribed to. A total of six tours were held in aid of Children's Hospice South West. Visitors were asked to give a minimum donation of £2.50 for their tickets and so far over £150 has been raised for the charity. The tours lasted 2 hours and were led on foot by St Bridget's Nursery Manager, Jason. We began with a look at how the nursery prepares for its entries into horticultural shows, such as Devon County Show. Next stop were the greenhouses and a look at the bedding plant production unit and propagation techniques. The inspirational micro-propagation laboratory was a particular highlight - plants growing in effectively jelly! The tour then proceeded through the many container plant beds, the potting department and the tree fields. Everyone who attended the event thoroughly enjoyed it and everyone agreed they had no idea how much care and detail goes into producing the plants at St Bridget's. If you missed the tours but would be interested in attending future events at St Bridget Nurseries the send your details to join the company's mailing list - marketing@stbridgetnurseries.eclipse.co.uk

Roses

Usually roses don't tend to flower until later in the month and throughout summer. Gardens, including those at St Bridget Nurseries, are already seeing roses in full bloom. Roses need plenty of feeding if they're to produce dramatic displays, so give them a diet of granular rose fertiliser. A feed now and then another in mid-July should bring a profusion of perfect blooms. Check regularly for pests, blackspot and other diseases and treat appropriately. You can pick up all you need for a local garden centre like St Bridget Nurseries.

PLANT PROFILE: Pulsatilla vulgaris
Common Name: Pasque flower.
Likes a sunny position in well drained soil. This plants grows about 20cm tall and has a spread of 20cm. The pretty spring flowers are followed by fluffy seed-heads. The Royal Horticultural Society has given it their prestigious Award of Garden Merit (AGM) in recogntition of its outstanding excellence. Pulsatilla takes a while to get established and does not like to be disturbed, so plant it in the right spot and leave alone. If happy, plants will self-seed, so leave the seedheads to allow colonies to build up.

Quackers!

This is a photo of a lady duck who has decided to nest in St Bridget Nurseries' Herbaceous Department. The duck couple have set up home between pots of Irises on the nursery. When they leave the nest the couple very cleverly cover their eggs with leaves. Daily they are seen waddling around the nursery and they don't seem to mind staff working nearby, however there maybe a pause in the supply of Irises while the ducklings hatch!

Climbing Clematis

There is something exotic and magnificent about clematis and this variety 'Fireworks' has a real spark! With large, purple flowers that are out now and last until summer flowers have unusual kinked petals, striped reddish-mauve. This large-flowering clematis looks lovely scrambling over a pergola, in full sun or partial shade. To prolong the flowering period plant alongside a late summer flowering clematis. The variety tends to eventually grow to 4m tall and 2m in spread.

This variety like a fertile, well-drained, neutral soil. It is a hardy plant and does not need regular pruning. Removing the dead stem-tips in late February or early March will keep the plant looking tidy. Apply a slow-release balanced fertiliser and a mulch of well-rotted garden compost around the base of the plant in early spring.

New at St Bridget's

Each day more and more bedding plants are entering the St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres from their nursery greenhouses. These dainty little plants are Diascia Little Dancer and Little Drifter.

Diascias are easy to grow, low maintenance plants which flower for an extensive season beginning in spring.
These diascias are particularly prolific and attractive varieties producing bright mid pink and coral coloured flowers which smother a dense, compact mound of foliage.
Diascias are so called because they have two 'spurs' (in Greek - di - ascia,) at the back of their flowers.
These plants are great for fast results in a new gardens or containers and they make a particularly showy display when planted in drifts of 3-5 plants. Can be grown in containers and hanging baskets.

Should be positioned in full sun in a well drained but moist soil.
A light trim after a main flower flush is all that is required to keep a neat habit as well as encouraging further flower production. For best results apply a slow release plant fertiliser.

Rhododendrons and Azaleas

Many people associate Rhododendrons with big woodland bushes but Rhododendrons (and Azaleas who are part of the Rhododendron family) can be dwarf and compact. The one thing they all have in common is beauty - one of the most architecturally pleasing flower heads in every colour imaginable! In Britain flowers appear mostly in spring varying from single bell shaped blooms, to enormous trusses of flowers. Flower colours include white, cream, yellow, orange, pink, red, dark red, mauve, near blue and many shades in between.
Hardy hybrid rhododendrons vary in foliage, flowers and forms but mostly have dark evergreen leaves, present all year. The variety ‘Pink Pearl’ is an old favourite as pictured above. Even if you live in an area where the soil is predominantly alkaline, where it is considered difficult to grow rhododendrons, it is sometimes possible to gain some success by treating the soil around the plants four times a year with an Ericaceous Plant Food.
Dwarf evergreen varieties
These are low-growing shrubs that flower in spring. Numerous flower colours and flower forms are available, the small varieties are very effective when planted in rock gardens and are a good choice for patios, where there is some shade.

Evergreen azaleas

The hybrid evergreen azalea varieties were mostly derived from Japanese plants. Popular as houseplants, and chosen for growing in containers on patios in small gardens, most of these spring-flowering shrubs thrive in semi shade or sun - so long as the soil is never allowed to dry out.
Large evergreen varieties
These rhododendrons grow tall and are suited to woodland settings. The leaves are dark green or they can be brownish in colour. Two varieties that have won the RHS Award of Garden Merit are ‘Purple Splendour’ flowers are purple with black blotches , and R. ‘Susan’ a delicate lilac shade. All these varieties grow to a height of between ten and twelve feet eventually.
Soil Requirements
To grow well, Rhododendrons require acid compost (one that is not alkaline, chalky or limy). It should also be rich in organic matter and not compact. Peaty compost is suitable or sandy loam.
If you live in a chalky area, Rhododendrons and Azaleas look great in pots, just don't stand them in water filled saucers. Plant in Ericaceous compost. Since many rhododendrons are scented it adds to their appeal as pot plants.
Many rhododendrons grow best with some shade during the day. After the flowers have faded, remove unwanted rhododendron seed heads and mulch the ground around the shrubs, this is usually in the summer, to ensure another fabulous display next year.

St Bridget Nurseries, have a wide range of Rhododendrons and Azaleas in their garden centres including the varieties listed above.

Morello Cherry Trees

Look at these beautiful Morello Cherries, so dainty and great for attracting bees and other wildlife. What's more these trees are an early fruiting variety of cherry producing lovely, dark red cherries, ideal for stewing, in August. A popular, self-fertile cherry that is suitable for north facing situations and can tolerate heavy soil. These cherries are currently growing in the fields at St Bridget Nurseries but you can buy containerised plants from their garden centres or order a bare-rooted specimen directly dug from the field next November.

It's Bedding Plant Time!

Finally Spring has sprung, flowers are blooming and that means one thing - it's warming up for colourful summer hanging baskets and containers. One plant to profile is this gorgeous Verbena. Spreading and trailing types look great in hanging baskets. St Bridget's have got two varities on sale this year there is Novalis mixed - an early flowering variety that comes in a variety of bright colours or Romance Mixed which is another early flowering one in a mixture of white, scarlet, blue and rose colours.

A strip of 10 plants is just £1.39.

Awarded beauty...

Look at these fantastic Choisyas. The green leaf one is Choisya Ternata and the yellow leaf one is Sundance. Sundance is fantastic for all year round interest as it's golden yellow leaves really lift a border and both varieties are great for attracting wildlife. The Royal Horticultural Society has given both of these plants its prestigious Award of Garden Merit (AGM).

The AGM is intended to be of practical value to the home gardener. It is awarded therefore only to a plant that meets the following criteria:
- It must be of outstanding excellence for ordinary garden decoration or use
- It must be available
- It must be of good constitution
- It must not require highly specialist growing conditions or care
- It must not be particularly susceptible to any pest or disease
- It must not be subject to an unreasonable degree of reversion in its vegetative or floral characteristics

Look for the AGM trophy cup logo on plant labels.

It's amazing how suddenly nature wakes up. I was strolling around my garden last night and was attracted by the sound and vision of numerous bees on a Pieris and this beautiful Deutzia. The Deutzia (variety gracilis) really stands out in a border with it's beautiful white pom pom flowers. Like all of my plants it came from St Bridget Nurseries in Exeter, you can get the same variety from there for just £6.59.

Unique opportunity

Behind the scenes tours of St Bridget’s award winning horticultural nursery in Exeter will be ‘raking’ in the money for Children’s Hospice South West (CHSW).

The tours are taking place on April 30th, May 1st and 2nd with two tours each day (10.30am and 2.30pm). Visitors will get exclusive access to the working nursery which was named Nursery Retailer of the Year 2006. You will meet the experts from the propagation, greenhouse, herbaceous, container and field grown tree departments. Horticultural techniques and methods will be demonstrated such as micro-propagation, using compost tea as well as making compost and potting a range of crops. At the end of the tour each visitor will get a free goody bag including a voucher to use at both St Bridget Nurseries’ garden centres in Exeter.

A minimum donation of £2.50 is requested for tickets with all the funds going to CHSW. Tammy Flinn, from St Bridget Nurseries, said: “When we have run tours in the past they are always extremely popular. Visitors always comment how huge the nursery is and how they never realised so much is involved in producing the plants they buy from our garden centres. We’ve been growing plants on the nursery in Old Rydon Lane for over 80 years and so this is a great chance to see just how we do it!"

“We hope people will be as generous as possible to support Children’s Hospice South West.”

Tickets are available from St Bridget Nurseries garden centres (Old Rydon Lane and Sidmouth Road, Clyst St Mary, Exeter) or to reserve your place please contact St Bridget Nurseries on 01392 873672

Short of space? Welcome to Vertical Gardening!

Many of us these days live in flats, we may not have more than a small balcony or patio and consider ourselves not to have a garden - wrong! What about the balcony sides and the wall by your door?

This is a great area for growing plants vertically. Starting with the very simple, plants can be trained by inserting masonry nails into the cement of the brick work at separate vertical points and fishing line run between them, this is perfect for growing annual climbers, which won’t become to woody or heavy. If you're looking to grow more perennial plants, use vine eyes (screws with a circular head) and run galzinised wire in between. Then we have the more traditional method of vertical gardening, the use of trellis. Instead of using the usual rectangle trellis, why not be a bit more adventurous, for example, use three circles of trellis (you can cut square wooden trellis pieces into circles with a jig), and pitch them at different heights and spacing.

Again, if space is at a premium, how about some tapestry planting. This is the idea of taking a number of plants and letting them grow intertwined. In the case of vertical gardening, its climbers we are concerned with, so how about the idea of seasonal tapestry planting. We could have winter Jasmine, followed in spring by a Clematis, summer time can be taken up by a plant with a long flowering period, an old Rose would be perfect. Finally, in autumn, lets go for some foliage colour.

This is a great time of year to add instant imact vertically with bedding or patio plants. You can buy flower pouches which are a bit like vertical grow bags. Simply plant with impatiens, pansies, and trailling bedding plants for a wow statement on your vertical wall space.

Wow - I just had to take a photo of this amazing plant. It's hard to find blue flowers but this Abutilon is a beautiful purplely blue and looks fantastic! It's available now in St Bridget Nurseries Garden Centres Exeter.

Houseplants as Easter Gifts

An alternative to chocolate gifts this Easter is a beautiful living gift that will grow and brighten up someone's home or garden. A houseplant in a decorative pot or basket is one great Easter Gift Idea that will last far longer than a chocolate egg or bouquet of flowers. There are so many different and unusual plants to choose from and they come in all shapes and sizes. There are pretty flowering African Violets, Orchids and Azaleas or attractive foliage plants like Marantas, ferns and ficus. For the more unusual why not try cacti or fly trap plants? St Bridget Nurseries have got a wonderful selection at both their garden centres and a fabulous new range of decorative pots that will match every interior decoration, plus St Bridget's offer a gift wrap service. Visit this weekend!

PONDS!

April is a great time to thin out crowded water lillies especially is they haven't been flowering. Lift the plant out of the water and wash off soil and debris then cut off the young rhizomes (horizontal stem of a plant that often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes) from the edge of the plant. Repot these in aquatic compost in an aquatic net pot. Cover the surface with pea gravel and then place in shallow water until new growth appears when it can then be moved to correct depth.

Also don't forget to remove your blanket weed!

For all equipment and further advice visit your local aquatic centre like St Bridget Nurseries, Sidmouth Road, Clyst St Mary, Exeter 01392 876281.

'Big blooms for small spaces' - Dwarf Rhododendron
Dwarf Rhododendrons have stunning colour and big blooms and will put a real swing into your spring garden.
These plants are huge on impact. For Easter why not choose yellow or white dwarfs in a tasteful pot, dress the display up with ribbons as an ideal Easter Gift - or at St Bridget Nurseries they'll gift wrap it for you. Of course you don’t need to stop at dwarf varieties – there are any number of species and varieties of rhododendrons. Easy to grow, reliable and a stunning floral show each year that is deeply satisfying.

Visit St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres today to see what beautiful home-grown varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas awaits you.

WEDDING FLOWERS!

Planning a wedding in or around Exeter? Looking for stunning wedding flowers at non 'wedding' prices? Look no further as St bridget Nurseries have been producing wedding floristry for years. It's not something that is well known about St Bridget's but they have a dedicated florist who makes bouquets, arrangements, bottonholes, corsages, head-dresses - the lot! Everything from an individual consultation to the final floral construction is included in the price and every colour scheme is catered for.

Call the St Bridget's Florist now on 01392 873672.

LOVE YOUR LAWN

Lawns should be treated with the same kindness you over beds, borders and container plants. It's a remarkable plant and getting it to look lovely all year round is not as hard as you might think. April is the start of the growing season and what better time than to give your lawn a feed. Wait for a mild spell and to save you time why not use a combined weedkiller and fertiliser dressing?

April is also a great time to lay turf rolls or sow lawn seed on bare patches.

If you feel daunted by your lawn and live in the South West, why don't you visit St Bridget Nurseries in Old Rydon Lane, Exeter as they are having a lawn advice day. Dennis Lane, Grounds Inspector, of the Institute of Groundsmanship, will be on hand at St. Bridget's Garden Centre, Old Rydon Lane, Exeter on Sunday 1st April to give expert help and advice on all aspects of lawns and turf management. Dennis will be happy to identify weed problems in your lawn or explain why you have bare patches so please bring in samples of the weeds or diseases on your grass.

It's easy to get the lawn of your dreams - just visit St Bridget Nurseries Garden Centres!

Now is an ideal time to divide herbaceous perennials. Not only will you get more plants but you'll get healthier ones too. If you took cuttings of tender perennials last summer now is a good time to start potting them. Cut back ornamental grasses and other perennials. It is best to remove older, dead and damaged leaves from around them too as this reduces disease risk. Deadhead your daffodils while you are at it but leave the leaves to die down naturally as this gives the bulbs lots of nutrients to re-shoot next year. Now is also a good time to start feeding other plants in your beds and borders. A general purpose fertiliser is ideal.

Sit back and relax...

The garden is a place for entertainment and enjoyment, think of it as an outside room that you decorate! With the weather warming up now is a great time to get a new piece of garden furniture ready for the beauty of spring and summer. St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centre in Old Rydon Lane has one of the best selections of garden furniture in Devon and some fantastic offers. This beautiful Nova Aluminium Chatsworth suite is finished in matt black and includes:
1 x Chatsworth 155 x 92cm Rectangular Table
6 x Chatsworth Armchairs
6 x Spice mid range seat pads
The usual price for this set is £ 1071.99 but St Bridget's are offering a £270 saving and selling it for £ 799.99!

St Bridget Nurseries also sells wooden and resin garden furniture including benches, sunloungers, parassols and seat pads. PLUS a new and exciting range of garden games!

You can visit the garden furniture shrowroom at Old Rydon Lane, Exeter, Devon, EX2 7JY 01392 873672.

Helping your garden wildlife...

Don't be too tidy in your garden as undisturbed areas are great for wildlife. These places provide safe daytime hiding places for small creatures and by allowing insects to gather gives a restaurant for birds! Try to minimise the amount of spraying you do as nature will do a lot of pest control for you - hedgehogs eat slugs, birds eat many insects like greenfly and ladybirds eat aphids.

Help provide a little extra food for birds while they are nesting by using a range of feeders including those that hang, bird tables and food on the ground.

Encourage mason bees with specially designed bee boxes available from good garden centres like St Bridget's. Mason bees help pollinate the garden and work harder than honey bees in poorer weather!

Get further advice...this weekend at St Bridget Nurseries' garden centre, Sidmouth Road, Clyst St Mary, Exeter, EX5 1AE; the Devon Wildlife Trust will be there to tell you more about wildlife and the amazing work of the trust. St Bridget Nurseries was one of the first and few garden centres in Devon to be approved by the Devon Wildlife Trust in recognition of the wildlife focus the company offers. The garden centre is open 8am-5.30pm on Saturday and 10.30 to 4.30pm on Sunday.

Things to do in the Greenhouse...
Greenhouses can get very hot very quickly in Spring sunshine and so you may want to think about putting up some shading.
Give pots of amaryllis a high potash fertiliser like Tomorite and start to prick out seddlings that have germinated.
If you brought fuchsias and pelargoniums in over the winter now is a good time to start watering them again to start growth.

WANT BLUE HYDRANGEAS AND GOT PINK?

Most hydrangea varieties are capable of growing flowers in shades of pink or blue it is just the white ones that are always white. It is the amount of aluminium present in the plants sap that gives it its colour. Aluminium is most easily absorbed from acid soils and so you will find it hard to get really blue hydrangeas on limey or chalky alkaline soils. If you have pink hydrangeas in an acidic soil you need to add more aluminium and so buy some hydrangea colourant from your gaden centre like St Bridget Nurseries. Apply it weekly throughout the growing season every year and you should get blue blooms!

DID YOU KNOW?
If you sow poached-egg plants, Candytuft or Californian Poppies among your vegetable plants they will attract hoverflies whose larvae feed on pesty aphids!

BORDERLINE!

If you try and ensure your garden borders are tidy and well weeded now, before the growth surge in April, you'll avoid playing catch up in summer.

Start by cutting down the stems of all hardy perennials that you left over the winter, and provided soil is not saturated clean up any weeds.

Sprinkle a general fertiliser such as organic blood, fish and bone around the roots of border plants and hedging plants. Top dress borders with a thick mulch of peat-free soil conditioner or shredded bark to help retain mositure in the summer and inhibit the growth of weeds.

Got a gap? There's some great new plants arriving in garden centres like St bridget Nurseries at the moment so why not enjoy the sunshine, stroll around the centre have a tea break and then buy a few new plants for those gaps?

MAKE A KITCHEN GARDEN...

It's March and the time of year when our gardens start to wake up. The sun has finally arrived so why not begin to enjoy the garden a bit more? One of the best features of a garden and definitely an allotment is growing things you can eat! The following are just some of the things you can do now to get rewards later!

1. PLANT - Plant potatoes, shallots, garlic and onion sets.

2. SOW - Many vegetable crops can be sown in March especially in mild areas like Devon. Just look at the back of the packets to see what you can plant but sweet peppers and tomatoes are an example plus herbs like parsley and chives.

3. PRUNE - If you have gooseberry or blueberry bushes remove a few older stems from the base.

4. POLLINATE - hand pollinate flowers of apricots and peaches using a fine brush! Don't forget to protect them from the frost either.

Pond care...

With things starting to warm up now is a good time to remove your pond heaters and clean filters. Check your pumps are working and that your UV bulbs are OK. If you have a blown bulb your local aquatics centre, like St Bridget Nurseries on Sidmouth Road, Clyst St Mary, Exeter; will have lots of spares.

The rise in temperature will also cause weed to grow. Apply barley straw to stop algae and for blanketweed it's a simple net and bucket job, although there are several blanketweed liquid controls available on the market.

If you have pond plants, now is also a good time to divide marginal and bog plants before they come into growth.