Some new arrivals

Last week I took delivery of some new plants. This is actually a fairly rare event for me, since I tend mostly to grow things from seed. In some cases this is impractical though, and it makes more sense to buy mature plants from a nursery. My supplier in this case was the Duchy of Cornwall Nursery, situated in Lostwithiel, Cornwall (I'm showing loyalty to my Cornish ancestry here...). I have been very impressed with this company. Service was good; value-for-money was good; quality of product was good.

The three plants I bought were a Cornus Alba "Kesselringii" (back), a Buddleia Davidii "Royal Red" (left) and a Dryopteris Erythrosora (right). They were supplied in 8"  / 20cm pots, and were all priced between £6.50 and £7.00.

The Cornus is particularly impressive. Its stems are a very dark red colour - almost black - and the young leaves are bronzy red/yellow

The Buddleia is a nice compact specimen, but not very pretty to look at just yet, although it has plenty of young leaves coming on, and I'm confident it will look nice later in the year.

The Buddleia is often known as the Butterfly plant because its flowers are very attractive to butterflies - and this is one of the reasons why I have chosen it.

The Dryopteris (I think I'll just call it a "fern" for the sake of simplicity) is looking a bit ragged, but that's hardly surprising at this time of the year.

You'll notice I have planted it in that nice new terracotta pot I bought on our trip to Gosport. I think it looks very handsome in it.

The fern has lots of coiled-up buds ready to unfurl. They look a bit like lurking snails!

So these three are all installed in their new homes alongside some of the more well-established residents.

Whilst planting them I also took the opportunity to re-pot my olive tree into a bigger container. It has been over-wintering in the garage, but I think the weather has improved enough for it to come outside now.You can see it at the back of this group, directly in front of the covered barbecue.

I have put the Olive tree into a plain terracotta container, since I think this looks suitably "Mediterranean", and fits in well with the style I'm aiming for on my patio. It looks a bit of a mess at present with the table cluttered-up with propagators, but when the weather gets good enough for us to be able to sit outside I will get it properly organised. The other plants in this group are Lavender, Sage, Thyme and Chives (oh, and the new fern).