Despite the rain and hailstones, the car park was jammed last Wednesday for our open day. As students and customers ate Toby’s bacon butties, Martin welcomed everyone and Dagmara launched our new catalogue for the landscape market. Highlights from the catalogue include:
- over 400 varieties of Perennials including award winning new introductions
- over 50 varieties of Grasses including new varieties of Carex, Ophiopogon and Miscanthus
- over 300 Shrub varieties including Lavenders, Hebes and 2 year old Phormiums
- over 20 varieties of English & French Lavender
- 9cm, 1L and 1.5L Alpines including best selling coastal varieties
Open Day highlights
- Japanese Maples, new Perennials and 5L specimen plants
- New plants and wide range and state of the art production facilities- watch us on YouTube
- The story of Hebe ‘Rhubarb & Custard’ and ‘Matty Brown’
- Bord Bia & Enrich talks
- Website demonstration
We began the day with a tour of our covered 5.5 acre production facilities. Toby showcased our wide range of popular varieties such as Acer palmatum ‘Osakazuki’, Acer palmatum Shindeshojo & Acer palmatum ‘Sango Kaku’. He explained that we have both small and large sizes to suit all budgets so it makes an ideal tree for a sheltered spot in a small garden.
Dagmara explained that we have really expanded our range of Perennials this year including new award winning varieties such as Leucanthemum ‘Freak’ (pictured below right) which won best new Perennial in Ireland and the UK last year,Verbena ‘Lollipop’ a dwarf form of ‘Bonariensis’ and Digitalis ‘Illumination’ won best perennial at Chelsea last year. In tunnel 1, customers also had the chance to meet some of our suppliers including Enrich, Bord na Mona and Summerhill Lawns. They also saw our new range of 5L specimen plants which are affordable and meet the demand for the instant garden.
With one of the most modern production facilities in Europe, there was great excitement seeing the potting machine and visser system (pictured below right) working as we are the only nursery in Ireland using this system. Padraig showed how these systems help us process orders most efficiently helping to respond to the market at short notice especially when the weather changes.
Everyone had an appetite to break away from the bread and butter plants towards something new and different to spice up their garden schemes! Carex ‘Everillo’, Helicrysum ‘Korma’, a new dwarf curry plant, Heucherella ‘Cherry Cola’ (pictured right below) and the dwarf Buddleia buzz series went down a treat. There was also great interest in seeing our new Hebe ‘Rhubarb & Custard’ which won best new plant in Ireland and the UK last year. If you weren’t lucky enough to get a free Hebe ‘Rhubarb & Custard’ on the day, you won’t have long to wait until the plant goes on sale in April! My father Martin spoke about our two groups of Hebes sold under our horse theme and dessert theme. He told the story of how our new trial Hebe ‘Matty Brown’ got its name. He decided to call the plant Matty Brown after his grandson Harvey Smith (my son) who’s only 2! The English jockey Harvey Smith rode Matty Brown in that famous Derby in Hickstead in 1970 and 1971. He was the first jockey who won the event 2 years in a row.
Before lunch, Lorcan Bourke talk on Industry trends and David Hagans talk on soil health was fascinating. David last slide on soil health gave great advice for this year. Over lunch, it was great to catch up with customers who were surprised with how many plants we grow and now realise we are serious growers. After lunch, Simone ended the day with a demo on our new webshop. She showed everyone how much simpler and faster it is to use. If you don’t want to brave the elements at the moment, you can shop online using your account number which is at the top of your invoices. If you missed the open day and didn’t get your 5% discount card for ordering online, you can email sales@tullynurseries or phone us and we will post one to you.
Of course we wanted to shout out loud about our improved range and pricing on the day but most importantly, we wanted to get everyone together and find out how we can improve our product range and service to them. We had a short questionnaire that allowed customers give their feedback and as much as we were delighted to hear the positive comments. We are more eager to see new suggestions from customers! ‘Its all about give and take this year where we can all work together and make it happen’. For the best value choose Tully Nurseries home grown plants which are labelled with their own branded labels, ‘Winning Plants’ and ‘Bella Bloom’.
Tully Nurseries 