It doesn't matter whether you have a huge garden, a modest garden or just a pot on a windowsill, growing plants is good for your soul. Elaine and I have been planting and rearranging our garden for thirty six years. I always used to just collect new plants and plant them where they would do well, shade, sun, wet, dry positions, never any thought as to a more 'holistic' picture. Elaine on the other hand has a feel for the larger effect by placing plants with 'sympathetic' foliage together and awareness of complimentary colours, I now bow to her abilities in this field and just make sure that the plants are given the right conditions at their roots.

The pageant of our garden flowers has begun, even this early in the year with snowdrops opening, Hamamelis mollis in full fragrant blossom and Hellebores erupting all over the place. So many of the plants we sell are invisible at this time of year, but below the soil surface roots will begin to stir if we are favoured by the warm west wind, whose God was Zephyrus to the ancient Greeks. At times like these where financial gloom is on every news report and in every paper isn't it wonderful to get 'The Spring' as a free gift. It's still firmly winter but the anticipation for the first breath of spring is full of excitement.

We will once again be selling plants at Bury Court, John Coke's garden at Bentley in Hampshire, along with Marina Christopher of Phoenix Perennials, and John Graham of Steventen Road Nursery. Bury Court is a wonderful garden full of beautiful grasses and delicious perennial flowers, entry is £5 and we give gardening talks at each opening. We are there on the last Wednesday of April, May, June, July, August and September so one can watch a great garden as it grows and changes from spring through to autumn. More info on http://www.plantsmansdays.co.uk/.

If you are travelling far please phone or email first if you want specific plants which may be unavailable at that time, we don't want to disappoint you. If you wish to collect an order please give us 48 hours notice to get it together for you.

Finally let us raise our watering cans to the free joy of the seasons and the simple pleasures that our gardens give to us.

Happy planting,