Dear Customer,

Welcome to the January Newsletter - 2012 already and the year of the Olympics - we should all think British and talk ourselves out of any possible recession!

Nicholsons on Facebook - Prize Draw - we will enter all of you who support us and "like" our Facebook pages into a prize draw for a £50 voucher to spend in the Plant Centre  - there is a Prize Draw for each of the pages so please click on the links below:.

Nicholsons Plants Facebook Page

Nicholsons Garden Design Facebook Page

Jon Uglow on the Delights of Winter

Jon, one of our Garden Designers, celebrates the delights of the Winter Garden. 

Click here to read the full article.

HS2 and Trees - how we can help

The Government’s recent decision to move forward with the with HS2 proposal continues to raise many concerns. This is not just for those who live close to the preferred line,  but also to those to those whose homes and livelihoods are within the landscapes it may move through.  Regardless of  the final outcome, there are those thinking of ways to mitigate against any threat of construction by planting.  If you are in such a situation, and are planning on planting to screen views  it is worth giving careful consideration to what you plant and where. It would be unfortunate to lose more of what we treasure by planting that doesn’t sit well within the landscape, that is difficult to manage, and doesn’t benefit the wildlife of the area.  Protection of the habitats and sites where tree planting isn’t appropriate – such as the chalk grasslands or on sensitive archaeological is also important to consider.

We have drawn up some practical guidelines on planting for screening, and a guide on plant sizes and growth rates which you can see on our website. We hope these will be helpful if you are making such decisions at this time.

Nicholsons introduces new Arboriculture Manager

Luke Tamblyn joined us at the end of 2011, replacing Adam Quant, who has moved over to the east of England to support his family landscaping business. 

Luke started his career over 16 years ago as a forestry contractor on the Tavistock Estate in Devon, and having moved over to arboriculture early on, has remained in the Arboriculture business ever since. Describing his career thus far as ‘constantly changing, challenging and fun’ his work with trees has taken him to most parts of the UK and even Europe.

Working as a lead Arboricultural Consultant, Luke has been supporting developers, utility power companys and Local Government.  A recent highlight has been working on the Cultural Olympiad Project ‘Tree of Light’ which has seen him teaching school children "how trees work".

Contact Luke

Nature Watch

We hope to make this a regular feature in our Newsletter, and will cover what is happening and thoughts of how we all can help.

January and February can be very cold with hard frosts and ic, so don't forget to feed the birds and keep a dish or similar of water available for birds to drink from - it will need defrosting regularly. We stock a good range of bird food in the Plant Centre - some of which are on Sale.

Although we have had some rain, our reservoir is still very low and our planters tell us that the ground is still generally very dry.

People and Trees in Harmony

Wind and rain, good weather for ducks……and a busy time for our tree team

After recent events the Nicholson’s Tree Team have been busy tidying up fallen and damaged trees. This would seem a poignant time to reiterate the tree owners’ position.
• The owners of the land upon which a tree stands owe a legal duty of care to all people who might be injured by that tree.
• In law "duty of care", requires owners to take reasonable care to avoid acts of omissions, which could foreseeably harm others.
Nicholsons works closely with tree owners and managers to satisfy their duty of care under the Occupiers’ Liability Act of 1957 and 1984. We provide for our clients a defendable system of tree inspection and management recommendations.

Contact our Forestry department