I ordered from them for the first time last year. I bought peonies, iris and blue star thistle. They arrived in a packing box wrapped up, damp and ready to plant. If fact, Botanus sends you your order when you ought to plant it! How brilliant is that? It will be interesting to see how everything does in its second year. Almost everything took last year.
This year, I have ordered more. Yes, already. A wee bit of a keener!
I chose two different types of Trilliums "Trillium Erectum" and "Trillium Grandiflorum", something called Pulsatilla, Echinacea "Green Envy" and two Helleborus "Golden Lotus Strain" and "Rose Quartz". Ooh ahh. Seriously, I am so pleased. I am dreaming of their placement in the garden. Truly? Pathetically...yes.
I also ordered 2 boxes of their Acti-Sol Natural Fertilizer. It is hen manure without the funk. Apparently, you just sprinkle it about and the rain will release the nutrients. Easy peasy...I hope. Usually, I use kelp that I spray on everything. That has been very successful but this sounds even easier. I think that this year, I will use both methods and see how it goes. It depends on my level of competence when there is weeding to be done. A sprinkle of nutrition just sounds so much more do-able than hooking up the hose to the kelp sprayer.
Finally, I ordered their CocoEarth Bricks. I have, in the past, used peat moss but as it is not sustainable I am going to try coconut coir. I did do some research on the topic but without a definitive conclusion. So, I guess that I will figure it out on my own this year!
Yesterday, the garden received a bit of weeding and tender loving care as the weather was sunny and 5 degrees celsius. Not too bad for January. During one of my wanders through the garden, I noticed that the grass which grows up and between some iris and Lily of the Valley was waiting to be pulled. So it was pulled! I hope that this is a long term solution to this issue. It drives me crazy all spring and summer long because I can't get rid of the tall grass without yanking out my plants. Also of interest was the fact that the new blackberry vines were easily dealt with..as in pulled out!
I will post some pictures with this post so that you can see how the garden is coming along.
This is the new section that I was working on last summer. Not much going on yet. Iris are peeking through. Grace Ward is still green and pretty but the best plant at this time of the year is the Christmas Box. It is the biggest, green shrub at the middle top of the picture. It smells like jasmine...right now! There are little white flowers that pack a huge punch of delicious door. I have 3 of them in the garden.
This is where the grass is being pulled out. It is so established that it is tough to remove. However, I shall endeavour to win.
This is a good picture of the Christmas Box. You can also see the evergreen jasmine that still looks good.
Chives are coming up!
Jasmine again with a good view of the clematis and honeysuckle. I intend to prune them this year in February. I hope that it will help and not hinder or....kill off! Scary.
Hydrangeas that were pruned into a bouquet shape and a hardy fuchsia.
This is down the side garden where I have my shade garden. Usually it is full of huge hostas but right now it is pretty bare. The Daphne is an evergreen and is always glorious. The bloodroot is just starting to come up but is not really even noticeable. My Hellebores are blooming though! I cut back almost all of their leaves as they were lying on the ground and had rotten spots.
There is another Christmas Box. I continually prune that one as it keeps spreading and going up. See the hellebores?
And here are some blooms. Obviously different colours.
