Industry Insiders: Nymans

A typical working day runs from 8am to 4.30pm, but I am generally in earlier and leave later. I normally start on the computer checking emails, printing labels and making sure current plant recordings are up to date. I then spend time in the glasshouse and nursery area with or without my volunteers depending on what day it is. Typical jobs are picking and getting ready plants for sales, checking the watering and propagating for the garden team at Nymans with generally lots of moving around to make sure plants fit in the right growing space so we can keep production moving.

The variety of plants I get to work with and their history. Nymans has one of the most significant plant collections in the National Trust, so I feel lucky to get to work with those as a career.

My top tip is to get a heated propagator, it doesn’t matter what size, but you will see a big improvement in the number and variety of plants you can produce yourself.

Time of year depends on what you are taking cuttings of, we propagate lots of Salvia’s. The best way to propagate Salvia’s is from soft-wood cuttings in April, August and September, towards September the material will become more semi-ripe, but cuttings can be taken in the same way.

We use a peat-free propagation mix which is 70% coir and 30% perlite (Jiffy Longterm Propagation Mix) and a heated propagator at Nymans, which enables us to take the cuttings at many different times of the year, but for home propagation if you don't have a heater, stick to April, August and September as these are the best growing months for Salvia’s.

Prunus ‘Tai-Haku’ is my all-time favourite plant, it has a fantastic history and joyful to see out in Spring. I have even been to Japan during Hanami to see the flowering cherries and have become a bit obsessed with them.

Having been at Nymans for 14 years I have had some great opportunities; but I think my greatest success is recording the past and present plantings at Nymans, being able to help tell the story of the plant collection and how it came to be is one of my favourite parts of my job. It also gives me a greater understanding of what’s significant and why we should propagate it for the future. I have worked alongside many students helping them research the garden in order to create or bring back historic plantings, which has been extremely enjoyable.

I have certainly seen this in our industry and especially at Nymans, our past 8 students have all been very driven women, who have all gone on to have fantastic horticultural careers of which we are very proud of.

Snips – I am never without them as my most used tool. I use them for propagation, cutting back and shaping many different types of plants.

At Nymans we are always trying to work with the environment in mind, in the nursery we use peat-free compost and use alternative methods of pest control. We have an Integrated Pest Management Programme from Fargro which runs from March-October, many of the bugs we use are easily available for home use, this means we don’t use any harsh chemicals in the nursery.

Research – This is one of the main tips I talk about when we run propagation workshops, to successfully propagate something we need to know where is came from and what conditions it grows best in. You can always pick up a propagation tip from someone who has tried growing that plant before so knowledge sharing communication can be one of our handiest tools.

Secateurs and hand tools

Choose from our range of secateurs, pruners and pruning shears for your fruit, rose and general shrub pruning. 
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Melcourt Mature Pine Propagating Bark 60lt

Melcourt Propagating Bark is a pine bark mulch for propagation of new plant stock, mix with peat free compost for the best results. Coarse pine bark mulch helps reduce water-logging and the amount of weeding required. 
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Jiffy Propagation Coir/Perlite 70/30 Mix 70lt

Coir and perlite mixes make the best seed compost for your garden seedlings. Perlite is recommended as a growing medium for seeds and cuttings as it provides aeration and speeds up propagation. Coir helps with water retention for healthy roots and is environmentally friendly as it is recycled from coconuts.
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Plan your Nymans visit

Looking for a wonderful weekend activity? Why not pay Nymans a visit and get lost in their enchanting gardens.