Welcome Acorn 2.O
While we have new owners, our entire team is still here and the only changes you'll notice are a little extra sprucing up. For now, it’s business as usual. So sit back, relax and enjoy Tony’s Tips for July.
Tony's Tips - July 2025
Most of our new season roses will be in by now with a few more coming in over the next few weeks. The new releases that we are excited about are ‘William and Catherine’, a new to us David Austin rose; bushy shrub of approx. 1.2m with fragrant white flowers which was released in the UK to celebrate William and Kate’s wedding but has taken a while to get to us because of quarantine issues. Another rose that has taken a while to get to us is Edith Piaf; a French bred rose that my rose grower is already a big fan of. A strong growing climber with lots of classic fragrant red roses over a long period. Possibly going to be the best red climbing rose?
Mid-Winter sees some of our fragrant favourites back again; Sweet Box or Sarcococca is a small bushy glossy green foliaged shrub that grows well in difficult shaded positions. It can be grown as a small hedge or as individuals but is covered in small white, highly fragrant flowers in July/August. Terrific under trees. Brown Boronia comes into flower soon and is highly prized for its perfume by those who can smell it. I can’t but my wife loves it so I have one coming up to it’s third Winter loving life in a pot. Loves good drainage.
Deciduous Magnolias are spectacular colour in late Winter and early Spring, and our new season stock is in now. Always plant up on a mound of improved soil to facilitate root growth and ensure excellent drainage. Helleborus are later to flower this year but are looking good now and are ideal for Winter colour in dryish shaded spots. The japonica Camellias are also at their best this month and are great Winter flowering shrubs for shaded positions.
William and Catherine Rose
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Edith Piaf Rose
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Things to Do:
- Prune your recurrent flowering roses if you haven’t already.
- Prune your box hedging to shape; this is the hardest prune of the year! A feed is beneficial. TopBuxus is the best there is!
- Clean all galls/lumps out of your Citrus now. A clean-up now results in steadier new growth in spring which is less prone to reinfestation. A high ‘K’ fertiliser also encourages better pest resistance, i.e. citrus food/rose food.
- If moss is a problem in your lawn treat with Moss Killer lawn food to safely eradicate.
- Plant a Green Manure crop in your unused veggie garden bed to revitalise soil.
- Seed potatoes and rhubarb crowns are in and it’s time for them to be planted.