THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY

What a fantastic SPRING we are having this year! Have you ever seen plants looking so good?

A combination of constant night temperature - and a cold period in January have set fair to produce a WONDERFUL SHOW. Here at the nursery, we are still incredibly busy, with many people in a LAST-MINUTE RUSH to get their plants in before the ground get's too dry.
Those of you who came to our SPRING OPEN DAY last Saturday - thank you very much for your kind comments on how good the nursery looked - they were very much appreciated!! Considering the weather forecast, we were incredibly lucky to have sun for most of the day - and it does make a big difference - all that hard work seems just that little bit more worthwhile!!

Attention now begins to turn towards our stand at the SUFFOLK SHOW - this will be at the end of May - and always occupies a lot of time. We have been planning and setting aside plants since the end of January - but even then, you are never actually sure what is looking good until the last moment.
On the subject of looking good - early May is LILAC TIME - and this is proving to be a good year for them - two of our favourites looking good at the moment are 'Firmanent' - with a lavender blue single flower and delicious scent - and the dwarf 'Palibin' with a reddish-pink flower. One particularly nice shrub now flowering in the 'impulse area' outside the office door is a seldom-seen shrubby Honeysuckle - LONICERA SYRINGANTHA - a delicious little plant - I often feel it would be equally home listed as a member of the Daphne family - it has small glaucous-blue leaves and the most HEAVENLY-SCENTED clusters of fresh-pink flowers. Yes, I know you have never heard of it! - most people have not - but it is one of those gems that should not be missed at this busy time in the garden.

On the tree side - the MALUS - THE CRAB APPLES - are still giving a good show. The purple-leaved varieties such as LISET and RUDOLPH are particularly good - and one of our favourites - 'VAN ESELTYNE' is just sumptous with buds like inflated hot-air balloons! Oh, and did I mention that Prunus 'SHIROFUGEN' is looking great - with long stalked clusters of soft pink flowers that hang from bronze leaves??

I think I need to stop now since I am starting to drool at the thought of all these lovely things!!
Until next time,
RICHARD

P.S. = REMEMBER THIS IS A BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND - SO DUE TO LOCAL PLANNING RESTRICTIONS, THE NURSERY IS CLOSED FROM SATURDAY TO MONDAY INCLUSIVE.