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*Please note we are a wholesale nursery supplying direct to garden centres only.

West Buildings, Osberton Grange,
Worksop, Nottinghamshire, S81 0UF
United Kingdom

The home of Osberton Nurseries, grower of top quality Rhododendrons in the heart of Nottinghamshire, England

Rhododendron 'Nancy Evans'.JPG

Will's Blog

The latest new and tips from the heart of Nottinghamshire

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Five Star Treatment

Will Murch

Five Star Treatment

Sometimes you can be made to feel that gardening is really complicated and hard work. Knowing what conditions your plant likes will save you time, money and heartache.

Soil pH

Most people know that rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias belong to the group of plants called ericaceous plants along with heathers, pieris and magnolias but what does that really mean? A lot of people see it as “lime hating” but it's not really quite like that. It means that they are unable to use certain essential foods in the soil if the pH (a measure of how acid or alkaline a soil is) goes higher than 7. They will grow steadily more sickly and weak.

So how do you know what pH your soil is? You can buy a simple soil testing kit from your local garden centre. Follow the instructions carefully and always test the soil where you are intending to plant as it the soil can vary around the garden. If you can't find a soil test kit a simple test is to look for hydrangea plants in gardens near you and see what colour they are. Blue hydrangeas indicate an acid soil and pink or purple ones an alkaline soil. White hydrangeas don't change colour except in the very centre of each flower, if you look really carefully you will see the centre is either pink or blue. The best time to look for his is when the flowers first open as flowers later in the season can take on other tints due to the flower ageing.

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