News and going's on

Spring 2008 

My goodness it's June today and I've realised that April's news hasn't been written up yet. April is officially the start of busy time. So I'm cheating this month and condensing April and May into a 'Spring edition'.

Busy is not the word for it, it's more like a stampede of busyness or maybe an avalanche of busyness. All at once the days get warmer and longer, the visitors start to arrive at the nursery, orders start to come in from this website and a small matter of zillions of plants demand some attention. This has all been a bit of a sharp learning curve, last spring we started with only a few thousand small plants now in the space of 12 months we've created a bit of a monster!

But the plants all seem very happy as do the customers, who have been most complementary. It really has been so rewarding to see the reaction of the visitors to the nursery. I know it sounds corny but the value of their feedback and their referrals to others is far beyond anything we expected, and it really does make the hard work worthwhile. (Warning - more cornyness) It does definitely drive us to do better, to improve and increase not only our range of plants and but also our knowledge and experience in looking after the plants.

The website has kept us very busy with enquiries and orders. There are few more challenging experiences in life than finding cardboard boxes to fit all the odd shapes and sizes that make up the plants in the nursery. I'd like to thank all those intrepid people who have braved the unknown and ordered plants online. If you want to see what our customers thought of the service and the plants have a look here.

I must make mention of Emma. Emma is Nige's wife, which I think deserves a special mention in itself. But more so for the help she's been since she started at the nursery in Spring. Her help has been absolutely invaluable. I think a womens touch is never to be underestimated. A big thanks to Emma.

So while Nige and Emma have been keeping all the plants happy and the customers feeling loved and appreciated, I've had the chance to put my feet up and... No no such luck I'm afraid. Between juggling looking after the three young super energised, high octance, excitement machines that are my children, I've been installing a drip system. After that hot spell in early May we found that mornings and evenings had become super time-consuming watering marathons. So in an attempt to spend our time more effectively and also to give the plants a more consistent drink and also to save water I'm going through the nursery adding drippers to each plant and creating spaghetti junctions of pipework in hard to get places.

We've added a couple of new articles regarding care for plants, one is on how to prepare olives, yes in the Costa del UK we do get olives on our olive trees. And also how to best to look after bougainvillea. I know bougainvillea is not very hardy but it's such a striking, beautiful plant, it's worth the extra work come the cold weather.

I'm still struggling to find an image that has any relevance to the above ramblings so I have decided to show a nice picture of Dora the Explorer as I know that will appease my youngest daughter (most aptly named Storm) long enough for me to finish this.

March 2008 - No not spring at all.

I blame myself, I'm sure if I had stopped going on about the weather it would of been sunshine all the way. But instead we've had snow, 4 different types of rain, sleet, antarctic blasts, hail and other unnameable precipitation, and that was just Easter! Nevermind.

But on a brighter note, we've had a whole heap of plants come in. I must pay tribute to those that load these trucks they must have the patience of angels. We unloaded many hundreds of plants last week (21st) and there was barely a scratch on any them. In fact, the only scratches were on Nige and I. We've now gone into arid plants, varieties of yuccas and agaves. It's now not uncommon to hear stifled screams and gasps of agony coming from the nursery. I, a perennial short wearing fellow have been forced into jeans in a vain attempt to combat the armour piercing spikes. But for all the involuntary keyhole surgery thats been involved I do still absolutely love them. They have this wonderful geometry in their arrangements that is just so eye catching.

Along with these we've got some fantastic plants olives, acacias, grevilleas and more palms. Nige and I have really really been delighted with all our new additions. It's really great to see the range increasing with such high quality plants.

(Note: I've just noticed this is the second month in succession that I haven't used a snappy picture to associate with this month's news. Please don't be overly concerned by this. As soon as inspiration happens upon my rather infertlie imagination, I will promptly insert something.)

February 2008 - Surely, not Spring already

I know, I know forever the optimist, but for us in the south, its been a wonderfully sustained spell of clear, warm sunny weather.

It is amazing to see how the plants respond to the lengthening days, particularly sunny days. It really is a transformation from one day to the next, you can literally see the deepening hues of green, the vigour and vitality returning.
We really have tried this winter to test the hardiness of our plants, we do get caught out occasionally but on the whole we're very much encouraged by the hardiness of the tender plants. Some of the grevillea for example have been out all winter and have responded fantastically.
The idea this winter was to gain as much first hand experience as possible regarding the hardiness of our plants, which in-turn allows us to better advise you on your plant selection.

January 2008 - Happy new year

Well it's stiil pretty quiet, but one of the positives has been to see how well the outdoor plants have coped with the cold weather we've had. At times in December it reached -6C in the nursery and we havevn't suffered any casualties. It's great for us, who are new to this to be able to confirm in our own minds the hardiness of our plants, not just rely on what 3rd parties say.

Spring is fast approaching and I feel like a anxious child, awaiting santa. It will be the first opportunity for the majority of our plants to flower as mature plants, and show us what they can do. At the nursery we have a polytunnel full of different coloured bottlebrush, and it will be a spectacular show come March/April. You are officially invited to come down and have a look.

On top of that we've got all the propagated stock coming through, our babies are braving the winter wonderfully and will be potted up ready for Spring. And on top of that we have our imported plants coming in from Spain and Italy. This year we are really trying to increase our supply to garden designers and landscapers, so we have some really large architectural plants coming in. Not only does this transform the nursery into our own private Eden, but it also makes it a fantastic place to be working.

December 2007 - It's winter already

Well the nursery seems very quiet, a lot of the jobs we really enjoy doing with the plants are drying up, a lot of time now is spent tidying up and doing the things that we didn't have to time to do in the growing season. It's a little bit boring really.

September 2007 - Autumn is here

Children are back at school, the nursery is back to being a plant nursery.
The propagation tunnel doesn't exactly resemble the Amazon but progress is steady if not spectacular. We've had a couple of good Autumn shows which will hopefully help sustain us through the our first Winter in plant nursery world.

August 2007 - Propagation

We are first timers at propagation, and it's proving to be a really interesting and rewarding task. It's great work creating all these new little babies, but like any expectant parent it's full of anxiety and anticipation. Is it too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too early, too late?????, we wait with baited breath. Also regarding another type of baby, it's school holidays, so there are three little one's to amuse each day. Wonderful nursery helpers they are (sometimes).

July 2007 - Official complaint

I have lodged an official complaint with regard to the horrible weather we've had so far this summer. It's most inconsiderate bearing in mind that one of the main benefits of our plants is that they are drought tolerant!. Next year we're growing rice.

June 2007 - Just a little thing

Well it's only small but I thought I'd mention it. We won a contract with our local council to provide them with a variety of palms along the seafront. They're now planted and enjoying the view, the council are delighted and maybe we've entered the world of wholesale to the trade. To think of it if you are trade, and are interested in some low maintenance plants that give unique character then get in touch.

June 2007 - Getting out in the big world

Well to spread the word regarding our wonderfulness we have attended some Garden Shows around the South East. It started off being a little daunting but thankfully we've both really enjoyed putting ourselves out there, talking about our plants and explaining why we are choosing to stock these types of plants (see first news item if you've missed this).
We've had a great response and have received a lot of interest in the plants we are selling, and also the price at which we are selling them. We've figured one of two things are happening, either (1) We're new to the game, we've set our prices too low and bankrupcy is sure to ensue, or (2) the other guys selling similar plants are being a bit creative with the pricing gun. I know its asking a lot as I know you're busy but have a look around, and compare our prices to that of the competition.

May 2007 - Learning fast

Our Australian and New Zealand natives have come on really well. We enlisted (blackmailed & bribed) the help of family members so now all the plants have been repotted on and are growing strong.

We've also given into temptation and ordered and now received a load of glamorous exotic plants from Spain and Italy. Palms, succulents, grasses, spiky things, and hard to pronounce things are all in stock.

April 2007 - I think we're getting somewhere

Throughout a very soggy February we managed to unravel, decipher and erect the giant mechano set that is a polytunnel. We installed irrigation and put down groundcover just in time (well not quite) for our order of plugs to arrive from Australia.

February 2007 - ehh... this is harder than I thought

After much deliberation deciding which plants to grow, and how to grow them. After desperate searching around finding land to build our nursery. After working out which polytunnels would best suit our needs. After carefully researching which composts, pots fertilisers, irrigation etc would most benefit our plants. We were ready to start.

October 2006 - Athelas Plants is formed

Brothers in law, Matt Barfoot and Nige Hewitt, are the founding members of Athelas Plants. Both are new to the plant nursery world with Matt having a background in horticulture and Nige, having just left the Royal Air Force after 25 years, being a keen gardener.

Firstly, to clear up the origin of the name, 'Athelas', as some of you will know it is a plant from Tolkien's Middle Earth. The Athelas plant had magical healing properties if applied by a King. Unfortunately neither Matt nor Nige are Kings, so you will be choosing one of their plants on their good looks alone.

"We have started this family run nursery to grow plants that are water efficient and low maintenance as well as being exotic."

The idea came from Matt's experience of gardening with the water restrictions in the dry conditions of Sydney, Australia, by simply watching and learning how the native plants could flourish and tolerate such conditions. On returning to the UK, Matt found there were similar dry conditions here with the introduction of water restrictions, more so in the south of England.

About the water efficient bit. We would like to say our plants are drought tolerant, but we don't want to imply they will never need watering. All plants need some water! The plants are native to Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, as well as the Mediterranean.

About the Low maintenance bit. Life is just too busy for a lot of us! For example, Matt has 3 children and a hamster and both he and Mrs Matt work and have no time to fuss around in the garden. So they decided to grow plants to cater for busy people who like to see a tidy, presentable garden, but don't always have the time to spend making it so. The low maintenance bit will become especially relevant during a dry spell as you won't need to worry about hosepipe bans, water restrictions or water meters.

With our plants it's not a case of just fighting to keep them alive during summer as our plants flourish in dry conditions.

Exotic. We don't really like the exotic tag; it conjures up images of jungles and rainforests. Our plants apply to neither. Our plants are ornamental exotic plants. We grow plants that bring individual character to pots, patios, courtyards as well as in the garden and beyond.

Of course it's no good having these wonderfully different water efficient, low maintenance, plants if they drop dead the first sign of a cold snap. We make sure that all our plants have frost hardiness up to at least -4°C, some up to a lot more. Of course conditions local to your area, even to your garden, are unique, so only you will know what will work for you. We have put together a chart of the UK roughly broken up into regions of 'frostiness'. Each plant is labelled to show which region it will best be suited to.

Our plants will offer you something different, something you possibly haven't seen before, but there is more to them than their good looks. Our plants will offer you unique character and real vigour when everything else in your garden is flagging.