Wow!!! It's gone!

Our new website is fully up and running! Choose plants by colour, height, where they'll grow best etc. Free delivery on orders over £40 in February. Lots of info about the gardens and nursery too. A relaxing browse for a wet Saturday :-) www.bluebellcottage.co.uk

A bare root Geranium 'Patricia' with lots of new shoots and healthy roots

A crate with about 40 bare root Geranium 'Patricia' packed vertically with compost between them

Once they are trimmed, we pack them neatly into crates and put them in our unheated polytunnel. We'll pot most of them up, but some will be on our website soon for sale as bare root plants. Here's a bare root Geranium 'Patricia' and how it looks packed in crates :-) All peat-free of course :-)

With 14,000 bare root plants to deal with, it would take too long to pot them up - some would start to deteriorate in their boxes. So we unpack them all straight away, trim them and pack them upright into crates. This keeps them healthy until we can pot them up. Here's Tina trimming Angelica gigas.>

Been a busy week but good to see all the signs of new growth. Excited for the growing year ahead!

A celebration of the Cornflower A wrote a blog a while back asking the question whether anything could beat Cosmos in the cutting patch and I stand by that but not far behind are the fabulous Cornflowers. Resilient, productive, b…

New blog for @higgledygarden.bsky.social

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What to sow in February Little chinks of brightness are appearing, its just that little bit lighter in the mornings and evenings, you can garden till 5pm on sunny days here now. The birds are really starting to sing again…

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A brief guide to sowing sweet pea seeds on a boat. *First step is to sort out tea and snacks. I went very trad…Yorkshire tea and Digestives. It’s not going to wow the towpath maidens but it’s a sensible and well rounded combo. Jus…

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A little posy with Cosmos 'Purity', Phlox 'Cherry Caramel' and 'Creme Brulee', Origanum, Lysimachia clethroides and Ammi visnaga. Can't wait to start picking flowers again.

So gorgeous 😍

A collage of close-up photographs of frost-covered leaves, highlighting intricate vein patterns and delicate ice crystals. The images showcase a variety of leaf shapes and textures, with muted hues of brown, blue, and green. Some leaves appear flat with clearly visible veins, while others are curled or layered, emphasizing the natural beauty of frost in winter.

The beautiful, muted hues of frosted leaves photographed last weekend. #DailyBotanicalBeauty #nature #joy

Some beautiful blues The most depressing day of the year? Blue Monday, usually the third monday in January, and this is when, supposedly, we are at our least happy, the Christmas sparkle has gone, when pay day feels an…

Celebrate the beautiful blues that you can grow in your cutting garden on this Blue Monday

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What to grow in your new cutting patch I’m not a florist or a professional flower grower I just grow on a small scale and just for me (and my family and friends) but its become a bit of a passion. There is nothing nicer than going…

New blog post on @higgledygarden.bsky.social blog. What to grow in your cutting patch. Introducing you to a few categories of flowers, the show stoppers, the supporting cast and the fillers/foliage, to give you a good range for cutting and arranging.

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The Cornus was aglow at RHS Bridgewater today. Look at that red!

Grasses in the paradise garden at RHS Bridgewater

Seedheads and grasses at RHS Bridgewater

Agapanthus seed heads in the paradise garden at RHS Bridgewater.

The tones of brown and beiges on the perennial seedheads and grasses in the paradise garden at RHS Bridgewater today. Looking a bit other worldly in the mist and murk in Salford.

Thanks Mike

Yes I love that one. Ruby Eclipse

Perfect!

Even more of a reason to love The Detectorists.

Sunflower 'Ruby Eclipse' in a floral arrangement, pale pink flowers with cream edges, with Phlox 'Creme Brulee', Ammi visnaga and Nicotiana affinis.

Sunflower 'Valentine' in a floral arrangement with Helianthus 'Lemon Queen', Inula hookeri, Nicotiana 'Starlight Dancer' and Bupleurum falcatum.

Sunflower 'Vanilla Ice' with Zinnia 'Envy, Sedum, Ammi visnaga, Eupatorium, Hydrangea and Amaranthus Red

Sunflower 'Red Sun' with Cosmos 'Apricotta' and 'Purity', Ammi visnaga and Sunflower 'Ruby Eclipse'

Needed a change from all the monochrome snowy scenes today and what better to do that than a sunflower! Some of my favourite varieties.

Yes same over here. They are extremely invasive. It is an offence to plant or allow to grow in the UK. These are escapees growing along the canal.

Frozen canal near Pennington Flash

Snow covered paths near Pennington Flash

Snow covered paths

Snow paths looking across to Pennington Flash

So Pennington Flash #parkrun was cancelled this morning and I think I can see why! Walked there instead along the canal, which was well and truly frozen.

Thank you 😊

Gosh very different!

Icy cobwebs silhouetted against pink sky

Frozen spiders web on greenhouse

Frozen fennel seeds head

Frozen flower stalk in meadow

Love how the frost crystallized the cobwebs and seedheads. An even colder night last night. Hoping we get a bit of a thaw today 🙏

Red sky above garden this morning

Frosty raised beds in cutting garden

Wintry back garden this morning

Fennel silhouettes and trees against morning sky

The garden was aglow in pink this morning. Chilly start to the day and never really got warmer!

Winter low sunlight through trees

Winter landscape with snow and frosty trees

Sunlight behind trees and wintry landscape

Wintry path through trees

Walked to the post office today with the @higgledygarden.bsky.social orders. The scenic route, a glorious winter landscape.

New Years resolution to start a new cutting patch? Happy new year to you all, hope you had a lovely Christmas break and happy holidays. Mine was a mix of family time and lots of quiet days at home. My family is a big one and its hard to get us all …

New blog for @higgledygarden.bsky.social inspiring you to start your own cutting patch.

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Ah Ranunculus I'm dreaming of you....

Thank you 💚