THE CURSE OF THE BLACKTHORN WINTER

Hello - well it has happened again!! What you may ask is he on about this week? - I am talking about the old Blackthorn Winter. The Suffolk countryboys always say that when the Blackthorn or Sloe is in flower - the weather is cold. In hedges everywhere - the white blossom is appearing - and we have had a nagging cold North-easterly wind - and chilly old nights - all week long.

It is a strange - but true fact - that whether the Blackthorn flowers in late March as in most years - or as this year 3 weeks later than normal - in 9 years out of 10 - it will be cold when it is in flower.

Luckily - it only flowers for 7-10 days - so hopefully this chilly wind will not last long.

So - here on the nursery - another busy old week. A lot of customers are very busy getting their final trees and shrubs into the ground before they really start to grow away. It loooks like being another vintage year for blossom - the photo above is of another impressive tree at the moment - or often seen as a bushy shrub - that is AMELANCHIER CANANDENSIS - the SNOWY MESPILUS. This is a tree or shrub that is much more widely seen now - it is creeping into many of the council plantings - and for good reason. It has much going for it - superb spring blossom which contrasts beautifully with the bronze young leaves - edible berries in June - and superb orange and red autumn colour - no wonder it is so popular!! The tree form we have is AMELANCHIER 'ROBIN HILL' - a slightly pinker blossom - but it is definitely a tree and not a shrub - nice and straight - but not too big for a small garden.

We are busy potting on a lot of potential new FRUIT items for next season - we have selected and potted on new CORDON APPLES and some of the larger rootstocks that are in demand at the moment. These will be grown on - and hopefully some of them will be available for sale in the autumn.

We still have ASPARAGUS CROWNS for immediate planting - along with potted SOFT FRUIT - SUCH AS RASPBERRIES - GOOSEBERRIES- RHUBARB - BLACKCURRANTS - and FIGS.

On the shrub front - the girls have been busily restocking the shrub sales area with all sorts of lovely items - there are some superb CLIMBERS coming through the system - the new growth on the HONEYSUCKLES is really coming along. We also have some nice CLIMBING HYDRANGEAS about to go out on the sales area - it is a busy and wonderful time of the year with new growth pushing on - it is just that it would be nice if this horrid cold wind would go away since it is devastating on the new growth.

There are many nice shrubs about - but one of our favourites is in full glory now - if you think all of the FLOWERING CURRANTS are pink or red - or smell of cats - then you are in for a surprise!! There is a cracker - a little -known plant called RIBES ODORATUM - THE BUFFALO CURRANT. (SEE THE PHOTO OF THE FLOWERS ABOVE) This has yellow flowers - not red - and it has a WONDERFUL SPICY SCENT - these are followed in some years - by BLACK BERRIES - so with the glossy shiny foliage as well - you have a highly desirable shrub - I think everybody should have one!!

A lot of customers coming into the nursery this week - are asking about winter damage to their EVERGREEN SHRUBS. I mentioned this once before - with the harshest winter weather for 30 years in Suffolk - many of the evergreen shrubs are still recovering. In my own garden - there have been lots of broken branches and twigs - and twisted stems - on the evergreens where the snow and ice has been bearing them down. A little snipping here and there will sort those out - but other less sheltered areas have seen people lose plants completely.

While it is not surprising that sub-tropical plants such as Yuccas and Cordylines have perished - some gardeners are telling us that they have lost large specimens of Viburnum tinus and Mahonias even! I think that it is worth waiting until the end of May before condemming anything totally!! It may well resprout - but until the weather changes totally - they will remain in dormancy - so give the poor old things a bit longer!!

UNTIL NEXT TIME,

RICHARD