November is when the nursery fills up. The borders are cut back, the tender plants come in from the terrace and the benches in the potting shed disappear under trays.
This week: pelargonium cuttings from the terrace pots, sweet peas sown into root trainers for the pergola, and the first orchids brought forward into the warm room so they flower in time for January.
Clay, not plastic
Most of the pots here are clay, some of them older than anyone on the staff. They are scrubbed, soaked and stacked by size every autumn. Clay breathes, so roots stay cooler and drier, which suits almost everything we grow.
If a pot has survived since 1900 it has earned another season.