Autumn growing in the nurseries at Otter

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In our second blog about the activities of our growing nurseries, we take a look at the seasonal plants we’re currently bringing on for our customers.

The big difference between Otter’s home grown plants and plants that are imported is the fact that we don’t force plant growth in our nurseries.

This is a common practice overseas in an effort to attain higher cost efficiencies and the production of as many plants as possible in the available space.

However, as experienced growers here at Otter we believe that to achieve the best results we have to create optimal conditions for plants to do their own thing and try not to push natural boundaries.

So what’s coming on in the nurseries now?

Colourful Cyclamen
Beautiful, eye-catching autumn/winter colour, Otter’s range of indoor and outdoor Cyclamen are grown in our Devon nurseries.

As they are brought on slowly in a controlled environment, and not forced to grow unnaturally fast, they deal well with lower temperatures. For both indoor and outdoor varieties, if you remove spent flowers quickly, your plants should keep flowering well past the first frosts.

• Indoor Cyclamen
Ideal for window sills and bathrooms, indoor Cyclamen contribute to a natural air purification process. Some in our range have the added bonus of being scented. Available in our garden centres now in bud and flower in two sizes, 1 litre pots and 1.5 litre pots. Please note, our 1 litre range comprises varieties that will grow larger and more vigorously than Cyclamen available in 10cm pots.

• Outdoor Cyclamen
Also available now, these are ideal for baskets, containers and borders. They require good drainage, as Cyclamen don’t like sitting in water in the winter. As long as you stop them from being too wet, they will survive the winter and flower again next autumn.

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Poinsettias – not just for Christmas!

We’ve been growing this classic Christmas plant in our nurseries for many years now – and this year they are looking particularly beautiful. Over the last three years our nursery teams have put lots of work into selecting the best possible range. They’ve narrowed the choice down to the highest performing varieties, meaning the plants you buy from us are naturally vigorous with great structure and attractive colours.

Poinsettias can be temperamental, so we have experimented to find the best reduced peat compost mix that gives optimal growing conditions and means they will be at their very best for as long as possible. The plants are slow grown in a carefully controlled environment to ensure they are strong enough to cope with a range of conditions in the home or garden. Crucially, as our Poinsettias are not heat forced, we are confident they will cope well with temperature fluctuations including lower temperatures.

Our Otter grown Poinsettias are available in 1 litre pots (£6.99 each or two for £12) or 3 litre pots (£11.99 each or two for £20). They will be available in all our garden centres from early November with a larger selection from the middle of the month.

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Top-performing Helleborus

Another popular seasonal plant grown in our nurseries is Helleborus, also known as the Christmas Rose. All our Hellebores are grown at our Lymington nursery. The carefully selected range we grow is part of the ‘Helleborus Golden Collection’, plants that are true to type and renowned for good garden performance. These are matured in the nursery for at least 8 months so they are acclimatised to climate conditions.

Hellebores can be planted at any time of year so long as the ground isn’t frozen. They provide subtle colour in any garden. They’re low maintenance and our general advice is to mulch in the autumn, water in the drier months, add fertiliser in the spring and cut back old leaves in early spring to help prevent fungal disease and leaf spot.

Otter grown Hellebores – as yet without flowers – are available now in our garden centres. They will flower before Christmas and if you remove flowers promptly once they are finished, most of the plants will flower again in March/April. Although we have plenty to choose from instore, if you prefer, you can also buy Hellebores from us online.

Pretty Primrose and Polyanthus 

Everybody loves primroses and polyanthus! They bring a pop of colour to gardens even on the darkest days. There are around 500 types, and each year we grow a huge range of different colours and varieties in our nurseries, allowing customers to get creative with their planting schemes.

Primroses and Polyanthus are grown in all three of our nurseries, Torquay, Ottery St Mary and Lymington. They are British grown (meaning grown here from seed), and ‘cold grown’ to prolong their flowering time and give them resistance to cold weather.

Depending on the weather and temperature, they can be planted outdoors from January, where they will flower through to May, and often beyond. Many of our customers like to add primroses to containers and hanging baskets, although they do well in borders too. They’re pretty hardy and will come back year after year with a little care. Once they’ve finished flowering dig them up. If there are baby primroses separate these, then replant where you want them to flower next season.

Primroses and Polyanthus are in all our garden centres now, and an even bigger choice will be out on display from the end of November.

Green credentials

Our Otter-grown plants are grown in reduced peat compost (which will soon be changed to entirely peat-free), using recycled and harvested rainwater.

The pots they are grown in are made of 90-100% recycled materials. Our range is managed with biological pest and disease control rather than traditional chemicals.

Houseplants trial

Many of the houseplants you buy in the UK are imported from overseas. Otter has been trialling growing a small selection of carefully chosen varieties in our Devon nurseries – our very own British grown houseplants. These include:

  • Alocasia Dwarf Amazonica and Stingray
  • Philodendron Imperial Red
  • Ctenanthe Sanguinea Golden Mosiac
  • Monstera Deliciosa
  • Calathea Lancifolia

These houseplants aren’t heat-forced but are allowed to grow at their natural pace. We have been able to work out the best reduced peat compost mix to arrive at strong plants that will be long-lasting.

As with our other plants, pests and diseases are managed with biological rather than chemical controls and grown in pots made primarily of recycled materials.

The trials so far have been really successful. Our Group Plant Manager Dawid says he believes Otter’s production programme delivers a houseplant that is even better than the plants that come from overseas. Impressive!

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