Hi

I recently ordered a gunnera manicata by mail order. I wasn't expecting
it to be delivered before spring, but anyway, it's turned up now - a
small but healthy-looking stump in a 3" pot.

How should I store this over winter? Would it be OK at the back of the
shed? Or is it likely to get eaten by something? Does it need to be
kept moist? Should it be in the dark or light? Warm or cool? Kept
wrapped in its cardboard box that it was delivered in? Or taken out?

Thanks for any advice. I really am not sure what to do with it!

Cheers

Will

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi

I recently ordered a gunnera manicata by mail order. I wasn't expecting
it to be delivered before spring, but anyway, it's turned up now - a
small but healthy-looking stump in a 3" pot.

How should I store this over winter? Would it be OK at the back of the
shed? Or is it likely to get eaten by something? Does it need to be
kept moist? Should it be in the dark or light? Warm or cool? Kept
wrapped in its cardboard box that it was delivered in? Or taken out?

Thanks for any advice. I really am not sure what to do with it!

Cheers

Will

Good on the supplier who sent it to you out of season. There are too many
suppliers who will only deliver during the summer months.
I would decide where you want to plant it bearing in mind the massive size
to which it will grow and it's requirement for wet/boggy conditions. Plant
it now and cover the whole crown with a mulch of straw to protect the crown
from frost.
If the crown does get frosted you tend to end up with frost damaged leaves
which do not look attractive. In early spring feed it with anything Nitrogen
rich (pelleted chicken manure) and stand back--these things can get huge.

Alternatively if you wish to wait until spring to plant then just keep it in
it's pot in a near frost free place and don't allow it to dry out

On 27/11/05 15:01, in article
,
" wrote:

Hi

I recently ordered a gunnera manicata by mail order. I wasn't expecting
it to be delivered before spring, but anyway, it's turned up now - a
small but healthy-looking stump in a 3" pot.

How should I store this over winter? Would it be OK at the back of the
shed? Or is it likely to get eaten by something? Does it need to be
kept moist? Should it be in the dark or light? Warm or cool? Kept
wrapped in its cardboard box that it was delivered in? Or taken out?

Hello, Will. Ray suggests that you take it out of its box, keep it in a
frost-free place and keep it just moist, not wringing wet. It doesn't need
darkness and it doesn't need artificial warmth, just no frost. So a
frost-free greenhouse or a spare room that isn't greatly heated etc. would
be fine. The one in our garden is a great big, grown up, monster, so what
Ray does with that at the end of the season is break off one of its leaves
and lay it over the crown for a bit of frost protection.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

Thank you for the responses - very helpful.

I know about protecting the Gunnera once planted and growing, but given
the dire warnings about the winter ahead, will probably opt for
indoors/frost-free while it's still unplanted.

We already have a bit of bog garden prepared for the fellow, come
spring.

Cheers

Will

On 28/11/05 0:38, in article
, "
wrote:

Thank you for the responses - very helpful.

I know about protecting the Gunnera once planted and growing, but given
the dire warnings about the winter ahead, will probably opt for
indoors/frost-free while it's still unplanted.

We already have a bit of bog garden prepared for the fellow, come
spring.


Good call, IMO. It sounds a bit of a baby to be planted out just yet. I
don't know what you paid for your plant but we sell them here at around
£15.50 in 5l. pots. A customer came in and was incandescent with fury and
regret because he had just bought one the same size at a garden centre but
paid over £50 for it! If yours was proportionately as expensive as that, it
deserves some tlc!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

On 28/11/05 12:14, in article ,
"Janet Baraclough" wrote:

The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

Good call, IMO. It sounds a bit of a baby to be planted out just yet. I
don't know what you paid for your plant but we sell them here at around
£15.50 in 5l. pots. A customer came in and was incandescent with fury and
regret because he had just bought one the same size at a garden centre but
paid over £50 for it! If yours was proportionately as expensive as that, it
deserves some tlc!

Holy cow. They sell for around six pounds here , for one in a pot
that's 8" across the top (I can't think pot sizes in litres). Even B and
Q has them for around 7 pounds 50.

At Crarae garden, self-seeded gunnera manicata are virtually a weed,
all down the burns and ditches :-)

Yes, well, it would have been a lot better if I hadn't made a vital typo!
We sell them for £15.50 in 15 (fifteen) litre pots, not 5!! Sorry about
that piece of carelessness. To some extent, price depends on the size of
the crown of the plant. A 5l pot is about 9" across, Janet.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

On 28/11/05 12:14, in article ,
"Janet Baraclough" wrote:

The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

Good call, IMO. It sounds a bit of a baby to be planted out just yet.
I
don't know what you paid for your plant but we sell them here at
around
£15.50 in 5l. pots. A customer came in and was incandescent with
fury and
regret because he had just bought one the same size at a garden
centre but
paid over £50 for it! If yours was proportionately as expensive as
that, it
deserves some tlc!

Holy cow. They sell for around six pounds here , for one in a pot
that's 8" across the top (I can't think pot sizes in litres). Even B
and
Q has them for around 7 pounds 50.

At Crarae garden, self-seeded gunnera manicata are virtually a weed,
all down the burns and ditches :-)

Yes, well, it would have been a lot better if I hadn't made a vital typo!
We sell them for £15.50 in 15 (fifteen) litre pots, not 5!! Sorry about
that piece of carelessness. To some extent, price depends on the size of
the crown of the plant. A 5l pot is about 9" across, Janet.

Ok :-) However, for anyone thinking of buying one; I found that a
much smaller plant (a self-seedling with two tiny leaves the size of my
palms)) rapidly over-took one bought from a GC in 5 L pot. As with so
many other plants, plant one as small as possible, it will establish
and grow away far faster than larger more expensive ones.

Janet


I believe that's because the larger more expensive plants are usually
supplied in pots that are far too small and they are potbound.
Come to think of it I have yet to buy a potted plant that does not need
repotting immediately---I suppose that's the result of everyone demanding
what appear to be excellent plants at ridiculously cheap prices.

"Rupert" wrote in message
...

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

On 28/11/05 12:14, in article ,
"Janet Baraclough" wrote:

The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

Good call, IMO. It sounds a bit of a baby to be planted out just
yet. I
don't know what you paid for your plant but we sell them here at
around
£15.50 in 5l. pots. A customer came in and was incandescent with
fury and
regret because he had just bought one the same size at a garden
centre but
paid over £50 for it! If yours was proportionately as expensive as
that, it
deserves some tlc!

Holy cow. They sell for around six pounds here , for one in a pot
that's 8" across the top (I can't think pot sizes in litres). Even B
and
Q has them for around 7 pounds 50.

At Crarae garden, self-seeded gunnera manicata are virtually a weed,
all down the burns and ditches :-)

Yes, well, it would have been a lot better if I hadn't made a vital
typo!
We sell them for £15.50 in 15 (fifteen) litre pots, not 5!! Sorry
about
that piece of carelessness. To some extent, price depends on the size
of
the crown of the plant. A 5l pot is about 9" across, Janet.

Ok :-) However, for anyone thinking of buying one; I found that a
much smaller plant (a self-seedling with two tiny leaves the size of my
palms)) rapidly over-took one bought from a GC in 5 L pot. As with so
many other plants, plant one as small as possible, it will establish
and grow away far faster than larger more expensive ones.

Janet


I believe that's because the larger more expensive plants are usually
supplied in pots that are far too small and they are potbound.
Come to think of it I have yet to buy a potted plant that does not need
repotting immediately---I suppose that's the result of everyone demanding
what appear to be excellent plants at ridiculously cheap prices.

I meant potting on and not repotting--guess I am really showing my age

On 29/11/05 0:03, in article , "Rupert"
wrote:


"Rupert" wrote in message
...

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

On 28/11/05 12:14, in article ,
"Janet Baraclough" wrote:

The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

Good call, IMO. It sounds a bit of a baby to be planted out just
yet. I
don't know what you paid for your plant but we sell them here at
around
£15.50 in 5l. pots. A customer came in and was incandescent with
fury and
regret because he had just bought one the same size at a garden
centre but
paid over £50 for it! If yours was proportionately as expensive as
that, it
deserves some tlc!

Holy cow. They sell for around six pounds here , for one in a pot
that's 8" across the top (I can't think pot sizes in litres). Even B
and
Q has them for around 7 pounds 50.

At Crarae garden, self-seeded gunnera manicata are virtually a weed,
all down the burns and ditches :-)

Yes, well, it would have been a lot better if I hadn't made a vital
typo!
We sell them for £15.50 in 15 (fifteen) litre pots, not 5!! Sorry
about
that piece of carelessness. To some extent, price depends on the size
of
the crown of the plant. A 5l pot is about 9" across, Janet.

Ok :-) However, for anyone thinking of buying one; I found that a
much smaller plant (a self-seedling with two tiny leaves the size of my
palms)) rapidly over-took one bought from a GC in 5 L pot. As with so
many other plants, plant one as small as possible, it will establish
and grow away far faster than larger more expensive ones.

Janet


I believe that's because the larger more expensive plants are usually
supplied in pots that are far too small and they are potbound.
Come to think of it I have yet to buy a potted plant that does not need
repotting immediately---I suppose that's the result of everyone demanding
what appear to be excellent plants at ridiculously cheap prices.

I meant potting on and not repotting--guess I am really showing my age


One of the reasons for that may be because when nurseries sell plants that
have just been potted on, some customers think they're being 'cheated'
because they're being charged the bigger pot's price but "this plant doesn't
fill the pot". In fact, very often, if we have just potted on a young
plant, we charge the smaller pot price. I repeat *some* customers - most are
too sensible to think that way. And of course, potting on thousands of
plants a year does take time, along with all the other work of a nursery as
well as dealing with customers. As to garden centres, they don't do
potting on, in the main. They're plant supermarkets and other than watering
the plants (in some cases!) they don't do anything to them at all. Plants
come in by the lorry load from all over the place and are out the door next
day, if the gc can arrange things to its satisfaction!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

"Sacha" wrote in message
.uk...
On 29/11/05 0:03, in article , "Rupert"
wrote:


"Rupert" wrote in message
...

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

On 28/11/05 12:14, in article ,
"Janet Baraclough" wrote:

The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

Good call, IMO. It sounds a bit of a baby to be planted out just
yet. I
don't know what you paid for your plant but we sell them here at
around
£15.50 in 5l. pots. A customer came in and was incandescent with
fury and
regret because he had just bought one the same size at a garden
centre but
paid over £50 for it! If yours was proportionately as expensive as
that, it
deserves some tlc!

Holy cow. They sell for around six pounds here , for one in a pot
that's 8" across the top (I can't think pot sizes in litres). Even B
and
Q has them for around 7 pounds 50.

At Crarae garden, self-seeded gunnera manicata are virtually a
weed,
all down the burns and ditches :-)

Yes, well, it would have been a lot better if I hadn't made a vital
typo!
We sell them for £15.50 in 15 (fifteen) litre pots, not 5!! Sorry
about
that piece of carelessness. To some extent, price depends on the size
of
the crown of the plant. A 5l pot is about 9" across, Janet.

Ok :-) However, for anyone thinking of buying one; I found that a
much smaller plant (a self-seedling with two tiny leaves the size of my
palms)) rapidly over-took one bought from a GC in 5 L pot. As with so
many other plants, plant one as small as possible, it will establish
and grow away far faster than larger more expensive ones.

Janet


I believe that's because the larger more expensive plants are usually
supplied in pots that are far too small and they are potbound.
Come to think of it I have yet to buy a potted plant that does not need
repotting immediately---I suppose that's the result of everyone
demanding
what appear to be excellent plants at ridiculously cheap prices.

I meant potting on and not repotting--guess I am really showing my age


One of the reasons for that may be because when nurseries sell plants that
have just been potted on, some customers think they're being 'cheated'
because they're being charged the bigger pot's price but "this plant
doesn't
fill the pot". In fact, very often, if we have just potted on a young
plant, we charge the smaller pot price. I repeat *some* customers - most
are
too sensible to think that way. And of course, potting on thousands of
plants a year does take time, along with all the other work of a nursery
as
well as dealing with customers. As to garden centres, they don't do
potting on, in the main. They're plant supermarkets and other than
watering
the plants (in some cases!) they don't do anything to them at all. Plants
come in by the lorry load from all over the place and are out the door
next
day, if the gc can arrange things to its satisfaction!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

Agreed. I always tend to forget the distinction betweeen a Nursery and a
garden centre.
One of the local nurseries has slowly changed into a garden centre (of the
worst type) and the acres of geenhouses that used to grow superb perennials
have been converted . If you can be bothered to wade through the vast
displays of scented candles, green wellies and farmhouse jam you can
eventually find a few green things.
I know the owner and he also finds it very sad but most profitable. In
defence he says that the business now employs more people than ever and that
he does still grow half a million winter flowering pansies each year.
I suppose it could be worse--he might start with Bussy Lizzies.

On 29/11/05 7:36, in article , "Rupert"
wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
.uk...
On 29/11/05 0:03, in article , "Rupert"
wrote:
snip
Come to think of it I have yet to buy a potted plant that does not need
repotting immediately---I suppose that's the result of everyone
demanding
what appear to be excellent plants at ridiculously cheap prices.

I meant potting on and not repotting--guess I am really showing my age


One of the reasons for that may be because when nurseries sell plants that
have just been potted on, some customers think they're being 'cheated'
because they're being charged the bigger pot's price but "this plant
doesn't
fill the pot". In fact, very often, if we have just potted on a young
plant, we charge the smaller pot price. I repeat *some* customers - most
are
too sensible to think that way. And of course, potting on thousands of
plants a year does take time, along with all the other work of a nursery
as
well as dealing with customers. As to garden centres, they don't do
potting on, in the main. They're plant supermarkets and other than
watering
the plants (in some cases!) they don't do anything to them at all. Plants
come in by the lorry load from all over the place and are out the door
next
day, if the gc can arrange things to its satisfaction!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

Agreed. I always tend to forget the distinction betweeen a Nursery and a
garden centre.

Lots of people do - we don't! ;-))

One of the local nurseries has slowly changed into a garden centre (of the
worst type) and the acres of geenhouses that used to grow superb perennials
have been converted . If you can be bothered to wade through the vast
displays of scented candles, green wellies and farmhouse jam you can
eventually find a few green things.
I know the owner and he also finds it very sad but most profitable. In
defence he says that the business now employs more people than ever and that
he does still grow half a million winter flowering pansies each year.
I suppose it could be worse--he might start with Bussy Lizzies.

That's happened to several places but it usually involves a huge outlay in
terms of extra space, stock, staff and the subsequent pressure to be
profitable and 'meet targets' etc. What was one of my favourite nurseries
in Jersey did exactly this over the years and one had to wade through a ton
of tawdry goods to get at the plants which were relegated to 'out the back'.
And then the interesting variety of plants that they sold started to decline
until they were just selling all the bog standard stuff to be found in any
gc, the kitsch paving and ornaments and 'worter feechas' etc. A few of the
big gcs are in serious financial trouble because people just aren't spending
on non-essentials as they did at one time but some gcs have invested
millions - literally - in expansion. And after all, there are only so many
people to buy x number of plants or other goodies. Two gcs in this area
have done exactly this type of expansion and one is struggling hard after
being taken over by a large group but there has been no corresponding
growth in local population to buy all the goods they now stock and they
continue to have some considerable worries.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

On 29/11/05 9:58, in article , "Janet
Baraclough" wrote:

The message
from "Rupert" contains these words:


"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...

Ok :-) However, for anyone thinking of buying one; I found that a
much smaller plant (a self-seedling with two tiny leaves the size of my
palms)) rapidly over-took one bought from a GC in 5 L pot. As with so
many other plants, plant one as small as possible, it will establish
and grow away far faster than larger more expensive ones.


I believe that's because the larger more expensive plants are usually
supplied in pots that are far too small and they are potbound.

Partly, but the same is equally true of field-grown and bare-root
plants. . Anything at all which limits early root establishment. A 1ft
bare-root tree will easily overtake a 4ft bare root tree in a very short
time

Come to think of it I have yet to buy a potted plant that does not need
repotting immediately---I suppose that's the result of everyone demanding
what appear to be excellent plants at ridiculously cheap prices.

I've often seen "pot grown" plants for sale in bad GC's and bad
nurseries in the opposite state. They appear to have been introduced to
their pot and compost about 10 minutes ago, and if you tilted the pot
the compost would fall out. (Show me a GC or Shed that doesn't pot up
the left-over bare root-roses and hedging at the last possible moment in
spring; good places wait until they settle and establish, bad ones put
them out for sale right away, at the "potgrown" price.).

Good nurseries will generally decline to sell any propagated plants
they have only just potted up or potted on, but I have to confess that
on occasion when I've spotted something small and irresistible on the
propagation bench or in a.growing-on house, I've begged until they gave
in :-)

You sound like the sort of customer who my husband goes and digs up bits of
the garden for!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

"Janet
Baraclough"
on occasion when I've spotted something small and irresistible on the
propagation bench or in a.growing-on house, I've begged until they gave
in :-)

You sound like the sort of customer who my husband goes and digs up bits
of
the garden for!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)


She would have married him if she had got there first--come to think of it
so might I.

On 29/11/05 11:59, in article , "Rupert"
wrote:


"Janet
Baraclough"
on occasion when I've spotted something small and irresistible on the
propagation bench or in a.growing-on house, I've begged until they gave
in :-)

You sound like the sort of customer who my husband goes and digs up bits
of
the garden for!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)


She would have married him if she had got there first--come to think of it
so might I.

LOL! I met Ray because I was a customer here, refurbishing a garden in a
village about half an hour away. When we got married, thanks entirely to
David Poole who introduced me to the nursery, Andy Mabbett said "some women
will do anything to get cheap plants." ;-))
Just the other day, Ray dug up some bits of Canna for someone, though it was
a male this time. But I'm quite used to seeing him disappear into the
shrubbery with some strange woman.......
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

On 29/11/05 13:43, in article ,
"Janet Baraclough" wrote:

The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

You sound like the sort of customer who my husband goes and digs up bits of
the garden for!

I've met a few like him. That's my favourite kind of nurseryman :-).

If he knows someone is genuinely keen and interested in a particular plant
and we haven't got some potted up, he will always try to find a root or two
for them. People have been generous to Ray with plants from all over the
place, so I suppose he likes to give back where he can and of course, he
recognises a genuine love of plants when he sees one!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)