Spring has arrived,

Even dogs enjoy looking around St Bridgets garden centres with their owners.

Every day there is something else coming into flower at this time of year.

Magnolias, Camellias, Flowering cherries (Prunus) right down to small early flowering alpines.

Every time you visit you will find something that will tempt you, mostly grown on our own nursery in Exeter.

Visit our website to find out more

The children's charity competition didn't disappoint. The gardens raised £62.90 from voting donations which brings our grand total for Greenfingers (making magical gardens for children's hospices) to £146! Thank you to everyone who donated.
The winner of the under 7s was Tom Beynon (age 6) with his lovely traditional garden complete with bench and duck pond. The winner of the 7-13 yr old category was Naomi Sinclair (age 11) with her Easter inspired garden. Well done you two and also to the other children who put so much work in. The school prize went to St Peter's Prep in Lympstone who raised the most money from their collective entries, they win either a tour around our nursery or £50 of plants.
Thank you again to everyone who took part - you're all stars!

Children's "Garden For Mum" Competition this weekend

I'm sooooo excited. I've just collected some entries for our Garden For Mum competition from a local school and they have gone over and above anything I could possibly have imagined. The beautiful miniature gardens have been made in simple seed trays. Children as young as 4 have submitted entries and they are fab, fab, fab!

Remember if you are taking part, the main drop off for entries is this Saturday (17th March) at St Bridget's Old Rydon Lane between 9am and 11am. Your entry will then be displayed for visitors to vote for a winner over the weekend.

PLEASE PLEASE can everyone who visits the garden centre this weekend dig deep into their pockets and donate some coins to your favourite garden entry. All the money donated will go to Greenfingers, the charity who make magical gardens for children's hospices. Additionally, the two gardens (one from the 7-13yr old category and one from the under 7s) who raise the most money will gardening goodies from us plus the school that raises the most money from their combined entries will win either £50 of plants or a tour around our nursery for one class. So by giving a little you will be making lots of children happy!

Entries can be collected from 3pm on Sunday 18th March and prizes will be announced at 4pm.

Watch this space for photos!

Garden Re-Leaf Day - Tuesday 13th March

It's the first National Garden Re-Leaf day this 13th March and St Bridget's are joining in the launch of the new gardening year combined with raising money for the industry charity "Greenfingers" who make magical gardens for children's hospices.

The first event takes place on Tuesday 13th March at 11am and 2pm. For £2.50 (all money going to Greenfingers) you can go behind the scenes and into the propagation departments at St Bridget's Old Rydon Lane nursery (EX2 7JY). You will meet the experts with decades of experience, see how they grow plants from seed, plugs and cuttings, ask questions and pick up tips for your use at home. Plus you will get 2 free growing trays - perfect for your own seeds or cuttings!

The second event is just for under 13s. Make a garden that you think a Mum would like but make it in a seed tray! Be creative and use whatever materials you like. Then bring your entry along to St Bridget Nurseries in Old Rydon Lane (EX2 7JY) between 9&11am on Saturday 17th March. Your entry will then be displayed over the weekend and people will be asked to vote for their favourite using their money (all money going to Greenfingers). The two entries (one from the under 7s and one from the 7-13 yr olds) that get the most votes (raise the most money) will WIN fabulous prizes - Gruffalo gardening tools for the under 7 winner and Gardening Apprentice Tools for the 7-13 yr old winner. Prizes will be announced at 4pm on Sunday 18th March and children can collect their garden to give to their Mum from 3pm that day.

It's all for charity so please support these events. Look at the main website or call 01392 873672 for further details.

Demonstration Event - How to grow seeds from beginners to experts

Saturday 10th March at St Bridget Nurseries Old Rydon Lane (10am-12pm) and Sidmouth Road, Clyst St Mary (2-4pm), Exeter Devon, UK.

Tom Sharples, Suttons Seeds Senior Horticultural Manager, will be doing a demonstration and talk that will cover the following topics followed by a question and answer session:

Sow and grow - how to use the 16 Jiffy 7 propagator and pellets

Speedy Veg sowing for beginners

Seed tapes and mats how it's easy to grow even if you are a beginner

This will be a brilliant opportunity to get all the advice you need and products to get your seed sowing off to a perfect start. Hope you can make it. For more events at St Bridget's Garden Centres please visit the main website http://www.stbridgetnurseries.co.uk/index.cfm/information/noticeboard

Flowering Cherry (Prunus)

Crab apple blossom (Malus)

Tree Fields
If you want to plant bare root ornamental and fruit trees this winter, time is beginning to run out, contact our Garden centres to order as soon as possible, as mid March is about the latest we can lift bare root trees,this is weather dependant and varies according to the season.

We also have a selection of field grown roses still available but for varieties not available in the field we have containerised ones.

Any enquiries contact our garden centres on 01392873672 or email sales@stbridgetnurseries.co.uk

Winter flowering shrubs.

When the weather is cold and wet in January you can still find something in flower in the garden,

Winter flowering Honeysuckle (Lonicera Fragrantissima), Chanaenomeles, Camellias and Hamamelis (Witch Hazel), winter flowering heathers and Sarcococca to name a few all give a great show and some give a fantastic scent as a bonus

With early spring bulbs beginning to flower as well, get out in the garden and visit some of the large gardens open to the public and get some inspiration for your own private garden.

Herbaceous Borders create a great display of colour throughout the year, starting with Heleborous in early spring and the bright yellow of Doronicum, summer perennials such as Lupins and Delphiniums give tall spike like flowers that can be planted in amongst shrubs in a mixed perennial and shrub border, late flowering species such as Anemones, Rudbeckia and Verbena Bonariensis give a mass of colours when others are finishing.
There is something to suit everyone and St Bridget's have a large choice available, so come and visit to see what we have or visit our website for a full plant list including trees,shrubs, and fruit as well as perennials.

http://www.stbridgetnurseries.co.uk/
Tel. 01392 873672

Camellias

St Bridget Nurseries have a large selection of Camellias in stock in the nursery and both our garden centre in Old Rydon Lane and Clyst St Mary.

(see clip below for a selection of colours available)

There is a good range of varieities and colours available, come and visit and make a dreary January / February a lot brighter with colours ranging from white,pink deep reds and bicolours.

There are also some for those special occasions.

Contact us on 01392 873672 or email sales@stbridgetnurseries.co.uk for a full list

Plants for hire

Did you get engaged at Christmas and already trawling through bridal magazines for ideas? Want to be like Will & Kate and have trees lining your church? Well St Bridget Nurseries is the place to go if your wedding is in Devon.

St Bridget's offer a plant hire service where you can hire plants by the day for a small fee. It's roughly 20% of the full price cost to buy plus a small charge for delivery and collection (if needed) but for an exact quote get in touch with your requirements. The nursery team are used to working with themes and have previous experience with "A Midsummer Night's Dream" "Jungle" and "Natural Romantic"! Similarly, plants can be hired for exhibition stands, balls etc with trees, shrubs and planted containers all available for hire. So get in touch with the nursery manager on 01392 873672 or sales@stbridgetnurseries.co.uk

Happy New Year to all our regular readers (and new ones)!
We're all set at St Bridget's for our first ever Winter Sale which begins at 9am tomorrow morning. Not only are there numerous products that have 50% or more off but for the first two weeks we'll take 10% off everything not already reduced. Plus we'll be adding items from the nursery later in the week such as open ground trees and clipped buxus (box plants). Just think you can stock up on presents and bits for the approaching growing season now at bargain prices and with easy free parking we take the stress out of sale shopping!
See you tomorrow!

Brighten up your garden with some winter cheer,

Prunus Autumnalis & Autumnalis Rosea will both brighten up a dark December day giving masses of white or pink blossom when there is not a lot else in the garden giving any colour.

Trees are available in various sizes from the nursery in pots and field grown.

Enquire at our garden centres for prices and sizes available

Christmas Opening Hours
Santa's elves have been playing around in the St Bridget's advertising department and an incorrect opening time was printed for Christmas Eve on a recent Christmas Card. If you received one of these cards we are really sorry. The correct Christmas opening hours are:
Christmas Eve: 9am to 4pm
Christmas Day: Closed
Boxing Day: Closed
Tuesday 27th Dec: Closed
Wednesday 28th Dec: 9am to 5pm
Thursday 29th Dec: 9am to 5pm
Friday 30th Dec: 9am to 5pm
Saturday 31st Dec: 9am to 5pm
Sunday 1st Jan: Closed
Sale Starts Monday 2nd Jan: 9am to 5pm

National Tree Week - Sat 26th Nov - Sat 3rd Dec

To celebrate National Tree Week, St Bridget's are offering you tours of their tree field on FRIDAY 2nd DECEMBER at 10.30am and 2.00pm and SATURDAY 3rd DECEMBER at 10.30am.

This is a chance to see behind the scenes. You will be given a tour of the tree field and see how trees are produced commercially, seeing all stages from newly planted whips to 4 year old standards. We will de-mystify terms of fruit trees such as rootstocks, pollination groups and tree shapes as well as giving you chance to wander the field freely and order direct from the field.

This is a free event but we would be grateful if you could reserve a place by calling 01392 873672 or e-mailing marketing@stbridgetnurseries.co.uk

The event is unsuitable for people with walking difficulties due to uneven surfaces. Tours will take place whatever the weather - please wear wellies or other suitable footwear. Tours will start from the plant information hut at St Bridget Nurseries, Old Rydon Lane Garden Centre, Exeter, EX2 7JY

For the ladies...St Bridget's Clyst St Mary Garden Centre has just taken delivery of some very nice handbags, purses and scarves. They are fab, funky and fair trade.

There are three styles of handbag - Ava and Emily (as shown on model) both £33.50, a pouch bag £19.99 which can be worn caually during the day over the shoulder or across the body or for an evening look detatch the strap and use it as a clutch. Many of the bags have internal zipped pockets, mobile phone pockets and all bags have a delightful spotty reverse or inside which complements the scarves. Available in a variety of colours with matching purses £6.99 and scarves £19.99 these are a must for your Christmas Wish list or pre-Christmas treat!

Apple Festival - Thursday 27th October at St Bridget Nurseries' Old Rydon Lane Garden Centre

Free Family Fun Activities at scheduled times from 10.30 to 4.30 including
Apple Throwing —see how many apples you can throw in a basket in one minute
Apple & spoon race—who can complete our course in the fastest time?
Apple Eating—see how much apple you can eat in a minute—the catch...the apple will be dangling from a line above you and you can’t touch it with your hands!
Treasure Trail—birds love apple trees and to celebrate the RSPB'S 'Feed the Bird Day' we're hiding pictures of garden birds around our garden centre. Find all the pictures to enter our treasure trail prize draw.

There will be prizes for children on all the above activities and no charge to enter. Adults can take part but just for fun!

Other activities and special offers

Our nursery manager, will be offering tours of our tree field at 11am and 3pm. If you missed our tree event last month then this is the perfect chance to learn how we produce apple (and other fruit) trees, find out about apple and other fruit pollination as well as learning the difference between a cordon and espalier! Plus you will be wander the entire tree field giving you maximum choice of tree sizes, shapes and varieties.

Buy/order any apple tree on the day and we will give you a free apple recipe book.

Fill a bag of apples. We've picked all the apples from our trees and certain varieties will be available to buy - simply fill a bag - they're far tastier than supermarket varieties.

and if that wasn't enough we will also have special offers on other apple related products, they're cooking up some delicious apple goodies in The Plantsmans' Cafe (including toffee apples) AND there will be colouring sheets and activity sheets to amuse you while you have a drink.

We will be open from 9am to 5pm as normal on the Thursday, children's activities will be between 10.30am and 4.30pm.
We hope you will be able to join us at St Bridget Nurseries, Old Rydon Lane (access off A379 Rydon Lane), Exeter, Devon, EX2 7JY.

PLANT COMMON NAMES

(Malus commonly known as Crab Apple)

Common plant names and Latin plant names can for some people cause great confusion,
St Bridget’s will over the next few weeks be putting the names of some of the most common plants and giving the Latin names too.
We will start alphabetically

Latin name / Common name
ACER / MAPLE

BIRCH / BETULA

BROOM / CYTISUS

BUDDLEJA / BUTTERFLY BUSH

CALLLISTEMON / BOTTLE BRUSH PLANT

CEANOTHUS /CALIFORNIA LILAC

CERCIS / JUDAS TREE

COTINUS / SMOKE BUSH

FATSIA /FALSE CASTOR OIL PLANT

HAMAMELIS /WITCH HAZEL

FAGUS / BEECH

Tree Field Tours

A big thank you to the many people who have attended our tree field tours over the last couple of days. Your enthusiasm and comments were brilliant.
We had a wonderful time showing everyone around the fields. Visitors saw everything from a recently budded rootstock to maiden trees and then trained 3-4 yr old trees. Many took advantage of our great 'in-field' savings and ordered their trees for the autumn. If you missed out on the event but are looking to buy trees then please call the office on 01392 873672 or e-mail sales@stbridgetnurseries.co.uk to arrange a private tour and information to help you select the best trees for your garden.

Trees


If you have that special place in your garden for a tree, St Bridget’s have something for every position, whether it’s a centre of a lawn, back of a border or a screen there is a tree that can give you colour in the spring with flowers, autumn colour and some trees will give berries and fruit too.

Birch have smaller leaves so do not give to much shade and you get the various coloured barks.
Prunus (Flowering Cherries) give a lovely display of flowers in spring from white through pink to nearly red.

Two more lovely trees are Acers Drummondii and Crimson King they have lovely foliage for most of the spring and summer, Drummondii has big cream and green variegated leaves and Crimson King deep purple.
If you want to plant, a tree this autumn / winter why not come and pick the one you want, from St Bridget’s tree field.
Ring to make an appointment or for a full list of trees contact us for our price list, and plant something in your garden this year that will give pleasure for years to come.

Devon Grown roses.

St Bridget Nurseries Ltd grow all their own roses here in Exeter.

Order your Bare root roses now for delivery / collection From early mid November.

For a full list either call in to one of our 2 garden centres , email sales@stbridgetnurseries.co.uk or call 01392873672.