How many shrubs did you lose last winter? My total so far is six and other friends seem to have lost on average two. When we have had severe winters in the past I do not remember losing many or perhaps none at all so maybe it has come as quite a shock to the mature shrubs that have never gone through a bad winter in their lifetime. Thankfully the Magnolia Stellata has come through unscathed and is as magnificent as ever, lighting up the garden and spreading its subtle perfume.

My policy for the past few years has been not to buy shrubs or plants unless absolutely necessary. Last year I purchased a tree (very good price from a small nursery) and two rose bushes from a small specialist rose nursery. Losing six shrubs as you might imagine leaves quite a bit of space to fill and so an afternoon excursion was taken to visit a nursery and two other garden centres.

So how many shrubs did I buy on the shopping trip? None! It is a long time since I bought anything from a garden centre and the prices came as a bit of a shock. Don’t get me wrong, I know what is involved in growing quality plants to a size suitable for sale but my impression was that I was not being offered quality plants and that the price was inflated. There are reasons why this may be the case but I exercised my prerogative and kept my money in my pocket.

The question then was how to make up for the losses. The answer was to go back to my policy of taking cuttings, growing from seed and splitting perennials. The first shrub planted was from seed that had germinated in my drive (packed soil covered in shale) and grown to a very healthy little shrub. Last year when I pruned a dogwood I stuck three prunings into the soil and they looked as if they had taken. Lifting them I discovered that indeed all three had rooted and had good healthy root systems. This then totalled four and checking a Chaenomeles I found a piece had layered itself and so I was up to five. Digging up a dead Hebe I found that beneath it again a low branch had self layered and produced roots. Small but alive and quite fast growing it will do the job nicely. So there we have the six shrubs to replace the ones killed during winter.

Of course there are bare areas of soil until the shrubs get to the size of their predecessors but the perennials that are in the greenhouse being grown from seed will soon fill that space.

The tomatoes are still doing well and have been transplanted into 5inch pots. I sowed two cucumber seeds and in just a few days they had germinated and are looking healthy. About half of the seedlings sown this year have been pricked out; pricking out is a job that I don’t mind as I find it very relaxing, indeed therapeutic!