The Ashridge Nurseries Blog

"What a lovely thing a rose is"
So said Arthur Conan Doyle, author of more than 50 Sherlock Holmes mysteries and true devotee of the beauty of roses. This year the roses have been spectacular. I’m sure all of you will have seen and nurtured some fantastic...
UK Grown Plants
Many of our customers ask us whether our plants are grown in the UK. Ashridge Nurseries can say that "by number of different species of plant sold - the vast majority are UK grown". In terms of a percentage...
A jewel in the English Heritage crown
The fabulous gardens of Walmer Castle We spent a few days in and around Broadstairs in Kent a few weekends ago, including an afternoon at Walmer Castle. It’s slap bang on the coast, between Deal and Dover, looking out over...
Is this the best time of the year for your garden?
My garden’s looking wonderful at the moment, even though its on a hilltop - and therefore slightly windswept - location means our plants seem to be a little later than elsewhere in the southwest of England. I recently went to...
Happy accidents – the joy of self-seeders
There’s something magical about plants that seed themselves. I sowed a pack of annual love-in-a-mist about seven years ago, scattering seeds randomly in a sunny border at the back of the garden. I may have raked over the soil and...
Gardeners' Question Time
The big day finally arrived and we opened our leafy urban garden to local visitors. It had been a while in the pondering and planning, but committing to opening up to raise money for local street trees turned out to...
Perfect plants for pollinators
There’s nothing quite like the lazy thrum of bees on a sunny day. Dipping in and out of the tubular echo chambers of a foxglove flower, settling on fragrant spikes of lavender or buzzing heavily skywards, pollen sacs laden with...
Hadspen House Gardens - now the Newt in Somerset
The Ashridge Nurseries team was honoured to be invited to the pre-launch opening of The Newt in Somerset last Thursday. Now, you may well ask, what on earth might that be all about? In short The Newt is a stunning...
Long Longleat Walk
It may not appeal to everyone, but a 5 mile walk around parts of the Longleat estate is my idea of heaven. To see the trees in a wonderful setting, the bluebells in the woods and having a pub at...
Sharing is caring
We used to have a huge sycamore at the bottom of our garden. It shaded the sunniest part of our long, narrow plot and throughout the year it covered the patio first in honeydew, then resulted in a spectacular carpeting...
Over the garden gate
Every May some of my neighbours open their gardens for local charities. It’s not National Garden Scheme or anything grand, just a friendly initiative to garner a few quid to buy street trees or plant up a roundabout abandoned by...
Easter
Easter seems to be more and more about chocolate now, but given my surname (Cadbury) that’s probably inevitable in my case! Alongside the chocolate fest, for we happy band of gardeners it’s all about getting out into the garden, sharpening...
Hurray for herbs...
I love the geometry and neatness of Elizabethan knot gardens, the manicured symmetry of low box hedging filled with a tangle of flowers and greenery. The best, I think, are those planted with fragrant herbs such as rosemary, cotton lavender...
It’s still cold out there
February had snow and a heatwave, March with warm and cold spells, April has begun with lovely blue sky sunny days but also frosts at night. As I’ve written before, weather is a preoccupation, if not an obsession, as planting...
Bring on the blossom
Every year the anticipation mounts. I look out of my bedroom window at the ornamental plum tree on the street, scouring its deep claret branches for signs that the colour is changing, life stirring within. Subtly, from a solid winter...
Ashridge Nurseries Cold Store
Our cold storage facility allows us to prolong the dormant season of our bare root hedging plants and trees. It keeps the quality of our bare root plants to a high standard, inducing and maintaining dormancy in mild winters, such...
They call me mellow yellow
I used to have a serious problem with yellow. As a colour for clothes, for home decor and – most of all – in the garden. Even daffodils were banned. Somehow it seemed too cheery, too bright and, by association, just a...
It’s a great time for planting
Whether you’re thinking of a hedge, wallflowers, fruit trees, climbers, roses, lavender or ornamental garden trees, now is the time to get out there and plant to your hearts’ content. I’ve recently planted broad-leafed lime trees to act as a...
Brilliant bark
If I had a bigger garden, one of my (many) aims would be to plant more trees. There are the obvious benefits for the environment and wildlife to consider: more habitat, food and shelter for birds, insects and other creatures...
Obsessions of a gardener
There are two obsessions that gardening induces; firstly the weather and most importantly your own garden taking over your thoughts and dreams. The weather Is it too cold, is the ground frozen or even warming up? Is it too wet...