If the slugs and snails have ravaged your displays, replace the plants with slug-proof Pelargoniums (geraniums), Begonias and Fuchsias.

We are delighted to offer a new range of handthrown terracotta pots made here in Suffolk by the talented Elizabeth Bambridge.

Beautiful pots and bowls for your patio tables and windowsills.

Right now we have an excellent range of alpines and succulents that are the perfect pairing for these designs!

For the health and wellbeing of our staff and customers we will be continuing with Covid-19 measures at our plant centre in Newbourne.

• Please bring a mask for wearing when indoors the glasshouse
  
• Please use hand sanitiser at the entrance
  
• Please keep distance from other customers
• Numbers inside the glasshouse are still being restricted
• We are still sanitising baskets and carts between use
• Contactless payment preferred

We were delighted to welcome BBC Look East presenter Mike Liggins and cameraman Jamie to our Newbourne nursery for a spot of filming in our new garden area.

They were focusing on the impressive bee-friendly bed by local designer Lisa Calver of Aspect Garden Solutions.

Food for Thought was originally due to appear at the BBC Gardeners' World Live show at Birmingham NEC until Covid-19 put a spanner in the works.

The piece is due to go out on Monday's editions of Look East: watch it on your television or through the BBC iPlayer here.

And make sure you come and enjoy the garden in person too!

... and raise funds for St Elizabeth Hospice.

How can anyone resist these ever-so-cheerful dwarf sunflowers! Brighten your day, or brighten someone else's!

They are being mobbed by the bees at the moment, and when the flowers fade and turn to seed they are sure to serve as natural bird feeders.

We are selling them for just £2 each, with all monies going to Ipswich-based St Elizabeth Hospice.

Suffolk can lay claim to being a strong ally of the bees, with celebrity apiarists and Suffolk residents Bill Turnball, Juliet Stevenson and Martha Kearney having all spoken out about their love of gardening for bees.

Built around a central wooden globe circled by standard holly bushes, Food for Thought is filled out with a wide range of nectar- and pollen-rich plants to attract a diversity of beneficial insects.

The colour palette skews purple, the colour bees find easiest to see, and the flowers have already been a-buzz with winged visitors. White also features for the twilight pollinators, moths in particular.

The design combines a formal layout with a soft romantic feel, to show wildlife areas don’t have to be hidden from view, just low in footfall.

A keynote are the spectacular purple blooms of the Allium, a bulb plant that flowers only once a year in early June.

In a case of serendipity, Katie’s Garden Plant Centre, near Woodbridge, began developing a new garden area earlier this year, and Food for Thought has become the temporary centrepiece for this new feature at the nursery.

At 3m x 3m Calver’s creation is the largest display in the garden area, which otherwise features raised beds for trialling new varieties, demonstrating plant care techniques and showcasing specific ranges.

In her brief Lisa stated: “An environment where bees, pollinators and insects can thrive is just as important to us as it is to them. Without them, we wouldn’t have any food.”

Want to try your hand at growing your own but new to gardening or tight for space?

Take a look at our new easy to grow pots of potatoes!
 
Potato Adessa is an exciting new variety: high yielding with excellent levels of disease resistance and great for growing in containers.
 
Once you get your own-grown crops to the kitchen you can enjoy them boiled, roasted, mashed or chopped into chips!

... So those summer patio & baskets plants can finally get outside, as can vegetable and salad plants.

Take a look at the Early Bird selection available now, while stocks last! CLICK HERE

We also have first Begonias and Pelargoniums (zonal/ivy geraniums), and first few Madeira and Cosmos.

If you are not confident picking your plants, take a look at our new Basket Bundles - order online for click & collect.

We were delighted to welcome Radio Suffolk to our Newbourne nursery today!

Following on from reports that this April has been the frostiest in decades, presenter Luke Deal visited Katie's Garden to chat to owner Susie Davie about the challenges gardeners and growers have been facing.

You can listen to the interview, which appeared on the James Hazell show, through the BBC Sounds page.

Please note you will need a BBC account.

Clip starts 2 hrs 38 mins in.

If you are planning to visit us Wednesday to Friday this week (28th - 30th April) please be aware that the road will be closed between Katie's Garden and the Newbourne Fox/village hall.

Access from the A12 and Bucklesham direction will NOT be affected so please ignore any road closure or diversion signs that might be in place at that end of the road.

We are open 10am - 4pm