Spring must be around the corner! If you read my column in the last edition of West End Life, you may recall the opening paragraphs were about how cold the winter had been and how unusual it was to see 4”/10cm of snow here at Cardwell Garden Centre in Gourock.
were exacerbated by us simply not being accustomed to this extreme weather. Personally, I have never seen snow that deep here, and certainly not the relentless blizzards we experienced. Much like the rest of us, the plants in our garden are not used to the cold, eastern winds and the sheer weight of the snow lying on branches and foliage. Even some of the mature trees around Gourock have been damaged. There is not a lot we gardeners can do during this weather and the advice is to leave things alone until a thaw. Only then can you assess your plants and trees for damage. Most mature trees and shrubs will have suffered only minor damage and will recover naturally once the spring and summer growing season gets underway. It is the same for lawns, they are quite weather resistant and can quickly recover under the right conditions, but avoid walking on the lawn when the soil is drenched.
Just a few weeks after that article was published, the aptly named ‘Beast from the East’ arrived in Scotland and promptly dumped 12”/30cm of snow on Cardwell! Drifts of well over 2 feet saw both my 8 year old nephew, Sam, and my dog have great fun for a few days. If I am honest, I quite enjoy the snow as well.
Some hedges, particularly box, will take longer to recover their shape and some TLC and trimming will be required. Other hedges like privet, leylandii and laurel will quickly recover within a year. A lot of our customers at Cardwell have asked us
However, this amount of snow causes massive problems from a pragmatic perspective. We saw the travel network across Scotland grind to a halt and even witnessed a shortage of basics foods, such as bread and milk, in supermarkets and convenience stores. Even Cardwell closed for a day, and that does not happen very often. Most of the issues Scotland faced during that week
26 | West End Life – April/May 2018
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