Our growing year

September

Our gardeners clear Cannas, Chlorophytum and Dahlias from the flowerbeds and rest them in the Nursery over winter. We move the smaller plants from the Exotick Collection back under glass.

October

Winter bedding is planted out. Larger Exoticks like Citrus plants come back to the glasshouses.

November

Some winter bedding is kept in reserve in case plantings fail. We wash and disinfect the empty glasshouses.

December

We order seed for summer bedding schemes and start sowing plants such as Eucalyptus which takes six months to grow. We pot on the perennial cuttings we took in August.

January

Cannas are split and potted in a warm glasshouse. If we’re short of any tender perennials we take extra cuttings.

February

We're sowing seed weekly to stagger the task of pricking out seedlings. Some plants take several weeks to germinate. Others need pricking out 5-7 days after sowing.

March

Trays of plug plants start to arrive from specialist suppliers. Plug plants reduce some of our risk and cost in germinating seed and allow us to reach target plant numbers more accurately.

April

50 trays a week of plug plants are arriving and over 6,000 seedlings need potting on each week.

May

The glasshouses are full and planting out begins by the third week of May. The Great Fountain Garden team leader orders the plants she needs from the Nursery and we pick them out and deliver them by tractor each day.

June

We're delivering bedding plants every day throughout the gardens. By the middle of June all the Exoticks are outside in the Orangery Garden and Privy Garden Terrace.

As the glasshouses empty, they are washed down and disinfected and the Nursery Team starts thinking about winter bedding again.

July

The Nursery's growing year begins with perennial wallflowers.

August

We are busy producing winter bedding with Bellis, Myosotis and Polyanthus. We're also taking cuttings of tender perennials such as Abutilon, Heliotropium and Pelargonium.