Tuesday 3rd January 2012

Welcome to another selection of our plants, each one is like a poem and collections of poems are known as anthologies inferring that the poem is flower-like, I rather like to call this little catalogue "Southview's Anthology", perhaps that's because I am too romantic when trying to describe these leafy companions?

So benign is the weather that from the window in front of my desk I can see a Kniphofia whose leaves are as green and growing as in summer, many snowdrops are flowering as though spring has rushed in at mid winter. We have even a few of our last mini tomatoes.

Any of us who are lucky enough to have a garden, however small, have the unique chance to inter-react with the earth, to work with the soil for our mutual benefit. All our soils are different and like a room full of personalities each soil needs a different approach. Our Eversley soil is based on Bagshot sand so drains very freely, can be worked even after quite heavy rain, but it is not fertile. Like a magician our soil performs disappearing tricks with any manure, leaf-mould and humus that we kindly gift to it, it happily gives back to us abundance of flower, fruit and vegetables. The wild garden needs only careful control of plants that may dominate, the 'Naturalistic Garden' needs little if any manure or fertilizers, herbaceous borders enjoy lavish nourishment to repay our efforts with wondrous growth and bloom. Feeding the soil for better crops has been known in Europe for thousands of years the Roman writer Columella writing in the first century AD suggests 'the gardener should with rich mould of asses' solid dung or other ordure glut the starving earth bearing full baskets straining with the weight.'

The nursery has certainly changed since I first worked full time after leaving school in 1966, then every plant that we sold was grown in the soil and when posted was wrapped with moist sphagnum moss that we collected from the local bog. Now virtually all that we sell is grown in a pot and we have a much larger selection than in the bare root days. By June this year Elaine and I will have been posting Southview plants for 40 years. Finding new things to grow is still a wonderful thrill and Plant Heritage plant fairs are always certain to have a plant that we have not met before, sometimes we come home with quite a selection of unknowns and with a cup of tea in the sitting room we place the newcomers on the window ledge or in the unlit fireplace and get down the reference books to help us get to know them. In our youth we visited a fine nurseryman who grew many rare and fascinating plants he invited us into his house and we were horrified as his sitting room was full of pots and seed trays, the innocence of youth, if only we could have seen ourselves in the future we would not have been so surprised. My 'editor' has insisted that I point out to all customers that we do not keep the plants in our sitting room but move them outside after tea, (as if I have to explain that!).

The new year will soon slip by and I have sat at the keyboard too long so as Horace said 'Carpe diem' seize the day, so I say 'Carpe hortus' seize the garden. Turn the soil, burn the couch, sniff the leaf-mould and absorb the spirit of the garden. Have a flower filled 2012.

Mark and Elaine Trenear

PLEASE NOTE THE NURSERY IS NO LONGER OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COLLECT PLANTS FROM THE HOUSE PLEASE GIVE US AT LEAST 48 HOURS NOTICE. FOR INFORMATION ABOUT SHOW DATES PLEASE RING.