Cuttings and Little Larford

Vitamin C for rooting cuttings

This morning i was busy in the pottingshed taking cuttings off various herbaceous perennials ready for one of our plant sales. These included Persicaria 'Red Dragon', monarda, geum rivale  and erysimums like the one above. However, instead of using rooting powder as i normally would i have tried something a little different. We went to a talk/demonstration at our local gardening club last month given by Brian White, a very good pelargonium nurseryman, and he swore by vitamin C for taking cuttings. His argument for vitamin c was that he reckons the cuttings root twice as quickly as those treated with rooting powder. So to that end, i have taken half our cuttings without vitamin c and half with to see if there is any considerable difference between rooting times. We will have to keep you posted on this one...
This afternoon, i took a phone call from a friend of ours we call John the baptist. Being at such a loose end because he couldn't get on his allotment he suggested we go and see another very good friend of ours and a jolly good grower who lives out in the country amongst five acres of woodland along the banks of the river Severn. Some of you may well recognise his cottage from various gardening magazines or you may have even visited this place yourself:

Little Larford Cottage

Looking up the drive to the thatch

This charming little thatch cottage is called 'Little Larford' famed for its 'Tuliptime' where thousands of visitors would flock on their open days as the garden became home to over 10,000 tulips, planted amongst sweeping herbaceous borders. And this all belongs to Derek Walker, a very good friend of ours for a nuber of years. He is an ex nurseryman who has been involved in the trade all his life before selling out to the Wyevale chain. Derek is on o those guys who you very rarely meet these days; he is a true gentleman. Unfortunately Derek and his wife Lyn no longer open their garden to the public but you can still see photos of his garden published throughout various gardening magazines and on the internet. It alwaya a pleasure to go over and visit Derek and you rarely come away empty handed. In fact, today John the Baptist came away with a compost bag full of tulips for naturalising in his allotment!

Derek buy at work