The Meercats have arrived for Christmas

Podington has it all for Christmas, even meerkats!


-- Post From Podington Garden Centre

Whopping!

Wow, we just took delivery of this huge monster pumpkin - come and see it for yourself, it's huge!


-- Post From Podington Garden Centre

Mini Monsters Night Out 4

Bring your mini monsters along for a frightful night of fun at our Mini Monsters Night Out on Thursday 29th October from 4.30pm to 7.30pm.

From a goulish feast in our Gnome Kitchen, competitions, creepy crawly encounters and spooky magicians - big monsters can have some fun too!

Come along in fancy dress and receive a free treat bag.

Save Our Butterflies

We are constantly hearing that the numbers of our native butterflies are falling and now is the peak of their feeding time with many newly emerged adults on the wing looking for feeding sites and suitable host plants on which to lay their eggs.

Our gardens can contribute greatly to helping butterfly numbers by providing them with plants that provide both nectar for food and leaves for laying eggs on.

Mark Briglin of Podington Garden Centre said “We have seen a great increase in peoples interest in creating wildlife friendly gardens – particularly for butterflies and bees and because of this we have grouped collections of plants suitable for attracting mainly bees, butterflies or both!

Many of the plants on which butterflies lay their eggs on and on which the caterpillars feed are native plants such as Stinging Nettles, Cuckoo Flower, Garlic Mustard, Buckthorn, Holly and Ivy. By planting a small patch of garden with native plants and letting it grow wild will encourage wildlife into the area. The secret is not to be too tidy and leave it to mother nature.”

Mark said “Although we have seen an increase in the interest in our wild flowers, many of our customers still want attractive, colourful plants and shrubs in their garden. We are lucky here at Podington Garden Centre in the fact that the site is bordered by open countryside and as a result we get many different types of butterflies and bumble bees visiting our plants and as a result of this our range of butterfly attracting plants have been built up through knowledge and observation, rather than just going from a list in a book. We’ve done the same for our bee attracting plants and have now built up a good selection of our own thirty different varieties of plant.”

Butterfly Conservation have ‘Save Our Butterfly Week’ running from 25^th July to 2^nd August and the 14,000 members of the organisation will be participating in events up and down the country raising awareness of our low butterfly numbers.

Mark said “Here at the Garden Centre we have seen a wide range of butterflies from May onwards. Early on we saw Painted Ladies and Brimstones, and recently we have had Comma’s, Peacocks, Red Admirals, Ringlets, and Large White’s. Only last week we had the splendid Humming Bird Hawk Moth feeding on our batch of Isotoma and we managed to get a superb photograph of it hovering. We are currently running a Photography Competition at Podington for a 2011 Calendar if anyone has taken some pictures of butterflies or bumble bees in their garden we would love to see them. The pictures can be sent to our information desk via their web-site which is http://www.podington.co.uk/photocomp.html“

Garden Buildings Now On-line

Podington Garden Centre are now pleased to announce that a full range if quality Garden Buildings are availabel to view and buy on-line. Home delivery options are available, as is assembly if required. -- Post From Podington Garden Centre