We have had a couple of extremely busy months at Holly Gate. We went from waiting for the weather to warm up, so that everything would begin to grow, to not being able to decide what to do first! We have nearly finished sending out our mail order catalogue --- I had not realised quite how time-consuming it was going to be. Apologies to those still waiting to receive it, but it will be with you shortly. If you are not an existing customer and would like to receive either our plant or seed catalogue, please send us your name and address and two first class stamps. The 2006 Catalogue is available for you to download from the website if you wish.

 Having waited for what seemed ages for all the plants to show signs of flower buds, thanks to the warmer weather, the flowers have been spectacular. We have had masses of flowers on the plants for sale in the Sales House and a very good display in the Cactus Garden, although everything is about  a month late! Usually by now, the Epiphyllum flowers and those of the Aporophyllums are a distant memory and we are able to get on with taking cuttings. This year, although we have already had a good display, we are still waiting for our plants to finish flowering. So unfortunately for those of you who are still waiting for our list, we will need you to wait for the flowers to finish first!

Aporophyllum Beautie

                                                Aporo. Vivide            Aporo. Sussex Pink              Aporo. Caroline           Epiphyllum Bruin

Everything has had several waterings and a couple of feeds. You could almost hear the plants saying thank you, after the very long cold spell. They have really benefited from the water and now look a whole lot happier and the flowers have been wonderful. Here are a few to share with you. The Echinopsis Holly Gates hybrids have been stunning and the Echinocereus have made a good display. Several of our Opuntias are in flower and the Aloes are just finishing.

     Our Echinopsis bed                                  Some of our Echinopsis flowers

                                                                                                                                                                              Our Agave parryi

The update on our Agave parryi is amazing. The plant went from just beginning to develop a flower spike, to one that was over 7 ft tall in just two weeks. We were worried that it may take the glass out of the roof, but just after it reached the glass, it stopped going up and started flowering.  All this growth in just over a month! 

Mammillaria longimamma     A view of our sales house       Euphorbia ledienni                A couple of our Echinocereus

We have unfortunately had a computer problem which has delayed us receiving and sending emails. Hopefully this has been rectified, but we have a backlog of about 200 to get through, so if you are waiting for a reply, yours will be dealt with shortly. 

It has been lovely to see so many people visiting us at Holly Gate and we hope that we will see you again soon.

                                                                    Sue Berry. 

                                                       [Terry Hewitt's daughter.]