About the service
I start every job the same way — walking the beds and looking at what the clumps are actually doing. A peony that has sat in one place for ten or twelve years still makes plenty of leaf, but the flowers come fewer and smaller each season, the middle of the crown has died out and the buds are crowded shoulder to shoulder. Bearded irises climb over one another, creep outward on bare rhizomes and leave a bald ring in the centre. Phlox thickens until no air moves inside the clump and the lower leaves burn off. That is the point where dividing helps and feeding does not.
The calendar is not negotiable, and I will not bend it to suit a convenient week. Peonies are lifted and divided in late summer and early autumn, once the crown buds are formed and the roots are ready to push again; digging a peony in spring while it is in flower costs the plant another year and gains nothing. Irises move best two or three weeks after they finish blooming, when the fans have hardened. Phlox I take in spring as the shoots come up, or in early autumn. And I say this plainly before we agree on anything: a divided clump skips a year of bloom, often two, before it carries the way it used to. Anyone promising full flower next summer is selling you a story.
I dig wide so the spade never goes through the roots, lift the whole ball on forks, wash the soil away and leave the crown a few hours in the shade — slightly wilted tissue bends and parts where it should instead of snapping. Divisions are cut with three to five eyes and a solid piece of storage root, the cuts trimmed, dried and dusted. Tools are disinfected between plants, and anything soft, streaked or rotten is cut off and carried away from the property; none of it goes on the compost heap, or the same trouble comes back in two seasons.
What the job includes:
— walking the garden with you, marking which clumps are worth dividing and which are better left alone this year;
— careful lifting with forks from a wide trench, keeping the storage roots whole;
— washing, a few hours of shade to firm the tissue, and division into pieces with three to five eyes;
— trimming, drying and dusting every cut; tools disinfected between every plant;
— diseased and rotten material bagged and removed, never composted on site;
— planting holes prepared to depth, with drainage on heavy clay and compost worked into the backfill;
— peony eyes set three to five centimetres below the finished soil level — planted deeper, a peony grows leaves and refuses to flower for years;
— iris rhizomes laid shallow with the back exposed to the sun and the leaves trimmed to a short fan so the wind cannot rock them;
— spacing set for the mature clump, not for how it looks on planting day;
— watering in, mulching, and durable labels with the variety names;
— spare divisions potted or heeled in for a new bed, or boxed up for neighbours;
— a written care sheet and the dates for the follow-up visit.
The calendar is not negotiable, and I will not bend it to suit a convenient week. Peonies are lifted and divided in late summer and early autumn, once the crown buds are formed and the roots are ready to push again; digging a peony in spring while it is in flower costs the plant another year and gains nothing. Irises move best two or three weeks after they finish blooming, when the fans have hardened. Phlox I take in spring as the shoots come up, or in early autumn. And I say this plainly before we agree on anything: a divided clump skips a year of bloom, often two, before it carries the way it used to. Anyone promising full flower next summer is selling you a story.
I dig wide so the spade never goes through the roots, lift the whole ball on forks, wash the soil away and leave the crown a few hours in the shade — slightly wilted tissue bends and parts where it should instead of snapping. Divisions are cut with three to five eyes and a solid piece of storage root, the cuts trimmed, dried and dusted. Tools are disinfected between plants, and anything soft, streaked or rotten is cut off and carried away from the property; none of it goes on the compost heap, or the same trouble comes back in two seasons.
What the job includes:
— walking the garden with you, marking which clumps are worth dividing and which are better left alone this year;
— careful lifting with forks from a wide trench, keeping the storage roots whole;
— washing, a few hours of shade to firm the tissue, and division into pieces with three to five eyes;
— trimming, drying and dusting every cut; tools disinfected between every plant;
— diseased and rotten material bagged and removed, never composted on site;
— planting holes prepared to depth, with drainage on heavy clay and compost worked into the backfill;
— peony eyes set three to five centimetres below the finished soil level — planted deeper, a peony grows leaves and refuses to flower for years;
— iris rhizomes laid shallow with the back exposed to the sun and the leaves trimmed to a short fan so the wind cannot rock them;
— spacing set for the mature clump, not for how it looks on planting day;
— watering in, mulching, and durable labels with the variety names;
— spare divisions potted or heeled in for a new bed, or boxed up for neighbours;
— a written care sheet and the dates for the follow-up visit.
