It took 2 days to gather together just 10 trays of plants for Upton House National Trust. I was asked for ‘a van full of plants’ but sadly not very many were ready. So today Philip took those 10 trays, our first to that particular site. We already supply 2 other N.T. properties and my next problem is finding enough plants to send to them. Its always the same at this time of year. The polytunnels are stuffed with plants that have only recently been potted but very few have rooted well enough to send out to sell. At the same time I have to make sure there are enough at the nursery for our customers. I definately go into panic mode in March, waking early and worrying about plants all the time. There never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything done……………….Plants are drying out and we ought to turn the water back on and do a proper watering of everything instead of using a watering can from one of the tanks. Time consuming and not very even coverage. Trouble is that I really dislike watering, its so repetitive and I’d really rather be doing something more productive.

Today, amongst other things, I dug up some Potentilla alba to split up and pot up. It is one of the loveliest small plants and very useful for the front of borders or rockeries. The leaves are more or less evergreen and there are some white flowers blooming almost all year round. Its not showy and is quite slow growing but it is very attractive in an understated kind of way.