News last updated on 06/06/2021
We are COVID-secure and remain open
Following the latest Government guidance, we are pleased to announce that our Plant Centre remains open. Social distancing and safety measures have been reaffirmed and can be viewed on our 'Visiting Us' page.
Please read our safety measures before visiting for further information.
May Newsletter Welcome to our newsletter for June. This month we will be sharing some exciting news about the expansion of the production Nursery and how we are celebrating Children’s Gardening Week at Olivers Plants. Childrens Gardening Week 29th May - 6th June
Meet the Team!
We think it’s important for you to meet the people who make all the things we write about in the newsletters possible!
Oliver Wass
Director
When did you start the company? I started selling plants from a stall outside our house around 1997/98 aged 10, then at car boot sales from 2001. I went on to sell my plants at farmers markets and shows from around 2004 and opened the Plant Centre in 2006.
What inspired you to want to work in horticulture and start your own business? I enjoyed growing plants and started with French Breakfast Radish and Webb’s Wonderful Lettuce. I then moved on to growing Dahlias by which time I had the growing bug!
What’s your favourite plant/area in your garden? Kitchen Garden.
Do you have any additional hobbies outside of work? I have not had a vegetable garden since I left home 15 years ago but I now have a walled kitchen garden in progress which will no doubt take up any spare time I may have along with my two young boys Harry and William.
Plant Centre
To celebrate Children’s Gardening week we will be holding our free sunflower growing competition (See above for details). We also have a fantastic set of children’s gardening tools available to encourage your little helpers to get green fingered and out in the garden!
As for many of us working from home is now the new norm and likely to stay that way we wanted to stress the importance of bringing the outdoors in with the addition of houseplants. We have a wide range of houseplants for all sizes and budgets from Peace Lilies, Cacti and Succulents, Orchids, Palms and many more. Houseplants have many benefits besides their aesthetic value, they can help purify your air, increase your productivity and some can even improve your quality of sleep, as many of us continue to work from home there is no better time to reap the rewards that indoor plants have to offer. Our expert Rosanne has years of experience looking after houseplants and is always happy to advise customers on which plants are best suited to their needs. If you’re new to houseplants we highly recommend Zamioculcas (ZZ Plant) or Sansevieria (Mother-in-laws tongue) as they are both tolerant of a range of conditions and relatively robust.
We have a vast range of aquatic plants available at the Plant Centre and on our webshop. Planting ponds is an excellent way to support local wildlife such as frogs, birds and insects like dragonflies. It provides them with a habitat and somewhere to shelter from predators. Plants such as Vallisneria (Eel Grass) and Elodia (Waterweed) are fantastic for oxygenating ponds and helping to filter out harmful algae and deposits. If you’re unsure about what plan to choose visit our webshop where they are broken down into marginal plants (ideal for planting in shallower water on the edges of ponds), submerged plants (like to be planted in deep water) and floating plants (sit on the surface of bodies of water such as waterlilies).
Production Nursery
At the Production Nursery plans are well under way for the expansion of our glasshouse this summer. We will be increasing our indoor space significantly in the coming months. This will enable us to divide the glasshouse into various zones, which allows us to have greater control over the growing conditions such as temperature, light and humidity. In these separate growing areas, we will be able to ensure that each crop has the optimal conditions for maximum growth and quality.
Last summer we installed a new 750,000 litre water tank to store rainwater and surface water run-off which has meant that our irrigation system has used purely harvested and recycled water this year, helping us to reduce our impact on the environment. We highly encourage our customers to reduce their water consumption by harvesting rain water and grey water, not only is it environmentally friendly but also a more economical way to water your plants (it may also help you to appreciate the rather wet weather we have been experiencing lately!).
Our whole range of perennials are now available at the Plant Centre and on our webshop, including later flowering plants such as Geums and Salvias which are ideal for extending the season of interest in your beds, borders and containers as they will continue flower through to early autumn.
Black Horse Cafe
We are pleased to welcome everyone back into the Black Horse Café! Our indoor seating area is ventilated and Covid-secure. We also have two outdoor seating areas, one of which is heated. Booking is advised.
Thank you for reading our June Newsletter and we look forward to updating you again next month!
Olivers Plants
Wishing you all
A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
from the team at Olivers Plants.
We appreciate your continued support through what has been a challenging year and are looking forward to 2021!
We have decided to close over the festive period and will be reopening on the 4th January 2021 to give our hardworking team a well-deserved break, we look forward to seeing you when we reopen!
November Newsletter
Welcome to our newsletter for November. As the Autumn season progresses, we now turn our focus to Christmas preparations, which are gaining pace.
Production Nursery
The Production Nursery have been taking advantage of a slightly lighter workload to complete crucial jobs such as weeding, tidying, and potting on. Any shrubs that have been left over from the Summer, such as Hydrangeas, Buddlejas and Spirea, have been potted on form 3 litre pots to 5 litre pots and cut back ready for next spring.
The two litre perennials that have been grown from plugs have been cut back and weeded ready to be sent to the Plant Centre in Spring. During November the alpines that have been grown from seed and cuttings will be transplanted into 9cm pots again ready to be sold at the Plant Centre in the Spring.
Whilst you have been buying and planting your bulbs at home we have also been doing the same at the Production Nursery, the range we are growing includes; Crocus, Iris, Snowdrop and Narcissus bulbs to increase our selection of potted bulbs available in the spring.
Our Primulas will be available during November at the Plant Centre but first they require a little bit of maintenance, we begin by cleaning off any unwanted leaves and moving them onto capillary matting so that they can be watered from underneath, this helps to keep the flowers looking good. The primulas are spaced out across the matting to allow generous air circulation and minimise the chance of the Primulas developing any fungal diseases.
During the month of November, we will also begin to take soft-wood cuttings from our stock plants including Saliva, Verbena, Gaura, Lavender and Penstemon. The cuttings are planted into watered plug trays and placed in the propagation house, the propagation house is lit by LED grow lights which produce specific wavelengths of light that are utilised by the plants for optimum growth. The cutting are then covered with a clear plastic sheet to reduce transpiration (water loss), this covering is removed on rainy and overcast days to avoid the cuttings becoming too moist. Taking softwood cuttings is an excellent and cost-effective way to propagate your favourite plants and is easy to do, follow our Facebook group Gardeners Corner for our top tips on cuttings at home.
Plant Centre
This month we’re very excited to tell you about our new houseplant room at the Plant Centre. This area was purpose built to provide the optimal conditions for healthy, happy houseplants with thermal covering for insulation and full of bright natural light.
The new larger houseplant area is able to accommodate more houseplants including the Orchids, Peace Lilies and Monstera. We believe it’s imperative to have plants in your home as they are incredibly beneficial in many ways, especially as more of us are spending more time in our homes and even working from home. Plants such as Zamioculcas, Peace Lilies and Aloes have excellent air purifying qualities by removing toxins from the atmosphere. We have easy to maintain houseplants for those that aren’t particularly green fingered and there is always someone to advise which houseplant will suit that certain spot you have in mind, be it in the living room, bathroom or bedroom.
We’ve been reorganising the Plant Centre for the arrival of our bare root hedging, and will be doing so again in late November for our Christmas trees! November is the perfect time to plant your shrubs, bare-root and root-ball hedging as we mentioned last month, orders can made via the Webshop or you can come in and have a browse.
This month we have invested in three new printers for the Plant Centre and Production Nursery not only are they faster and more efficient, but they also help us to reduce our wastage. The new printers will now only print the exact desired number of labels, the new layout of the labels looks more professional. Our stick in labels, and new clip on labels, are still kerbside recyclable as well.
November brings the preparations for Christmas at the Plant Centre as we begin to make wreath bases ready for decoration and businesses begin putting their orders in for Christmas trees!
A large selection of roses will be available from the middle of the month as it’s the perfect time to plant them before growth resumes, just avoid planting when the ground is frozen. It’s a good idea to condition the soil with some manure before hand to increase the nutrient level. Be sure to take a look at our Facebook group Gardeners Corner where we have shared our top tips on Rose pruning!