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Special Plants Nursery (Chippenham, England)

Our third day was a busy one as we left our first hotel in Bath and traveled to Wells. There were several stops along the way, the first being Special Plants Nursery in Chippenham, England. It was a warm day. The nursery is owned by former Oregonian Derry Watkins, who moved to England decades ago when she married an Englishman. She is a plant collector and has traveled all over the world, her favorite place being South Africa.  That is Derry in the above photos talking to our group. The house and garden are located on a steep hill with idyllic countryside surrounding it. She says the garden was designed by her architect husband and she has filled it with her favorite plants, mostly tender perennials that she has collected from her plant-hunting expeditions. Most of the beds are terraced and many plants are grown in gravel. The garden is also enhanced with some striking ornaments - Lower island beds proceed downhill - A bog garden - At the bottom of the property is a woodland walk....
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Transplanting & Pruning



First - I finally have some blooms (crocus) to share. Winter lingers and we've only seen a few days lately with temperatures above 50. Hopefully, next week it will be warmer but more heavy rain is on the way.



I've started pruning roses and transplanting. I'm not finished with the roses but I got one of the largest finished - 'Lady of Shalott'. When I looked it up on my inventory list, I was flabbergasted to see that it is seven years old. That doesn't seem right but there it, planted in February of 2016. The growth has become quite dense so I thinned it out. I also made a video for my YouTube channel of how I prune it. This is the final result -


There are several plants that I want to move this year. The first is Hypericum 'Pumpkin' (St. Johns Wort) that has attained massive proportions and much too large next to the pathway in front. The problem, of course, is where to move it to. I then got the idea of moving the buddleia, residing about six feet away, and putting the hypericum in its spot. The buddleia ("Buzz Hot Raspberry") is another plant that got much larger than it was supposed to so I'm moving it to the back garden.

If you haven't moved a mature buddleia before, I have news for you - it isn't easy. The roots go very deep and it took me a while to get this out of the ground. First I pruned it all the way down, to about 2 feet tall.


This job took two shovels, including my trench digging spade -



The new home for the buddleia was very easy to dig. Most of the dirt in this location has been added by myself and built up over the years. Of course the hole was much larger than this -



The St. John's Wort wasn't nearly as bad. You can see in the photo that the root ball is much smaller and the roots are finer.



Planted in a new home -



There is much more to do in this department and hopefully the weather will clear up soon and I can get it done. 

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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Comments

  1. Kris PetersonMarch 12, 2023 at 9:32 PM

    Moving plants is the scariest job in my garden, which is probably why I don't do as much of it as I should. Kudos to you!

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    1. Phillip OliverMarch 12, 2023 at 9:37 PM

      Kris, it is one of my least favorite activities. I bet though in your climate, plants fare rather well (with watering of course).

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  2. Hoover BooMarch 15, 2023 at 2:31 PM

    Moving woody plants or digging out a stump--they are an ordeal that usually requires some plant-based retail therapy afterwards. ;^)

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