Comments on: Lyndon Osborn, Nurseryman

By: Helen Breen

Helen Breen — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 11:17:08 +0000

Greetings from Boston,

GA, that was an interesting piece about Lyndon Osborn and his nursery career. He sounds like a fine fellow.

Again, I had to look up a word – ANTIPODEAN: Antipodean relating to Australia or New Zealand (used by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere).
Example “Antipodean wines”

That was a stunning pic of the “Lord Bute” pelargonium in your garden. His name brought back memories of a past trip to Wales. While in Cardiff, we toured his castle and learned that “the Bute family brought power and prosperity to Cardiff, which they turned from a sleepy backwater into one of the greatest coal exporting ports in the world.”

By: Caroline Murray

Caroline Murray — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 10:06:20 +0000

Thanks, GA, what a cheering piece on a dreary day! I can’t get to Columbia Market as often as I would like, but my daughter was planning to go today, so I’ve hastily sent her the link.

By: Pauline Taylor

Pauline Taylor — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 09:36:01 +0000

I love stories about plants and nurserymen so thank you GA, and the photo of your garden is lovely Lord Bute looks gorgeous. As I know i have mentioned before my great grandfather, Owen Charles Greenwood, was a nurseryman and garden contractor with a nursery and a florist’s shop in Upper Clapton. I am fortunate enough to have photo postcards of the shop and to have heard first hand accounts of it from my aunt and her cousins. All of them told me that it had a fountain inside which was surrounded with ferns. I also have photos of a man who worked for Owen which his granddaughter sent to me, and they show a very smartly dressed upright gentleman who always wore a carnation in his buttonhole. My grandparents also grew fruit and flowers which were taken up to London on the train to be sold in the shop, my father told me how they used to wrap figs in tissue paper to protect them and how he would have to take this produce to the station and put it on the train. Life was simpler and I suspect happier then.

By: Greg T

Greg T — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 07:51:24 +0000

Pelargonium cuttings are EASY!
Cut off with sharp secatuers, scrape a small piece of the stalk, to expose all the surface layers, dip in hormone rooting powder, shake off excess…
Put cutting into pot of potting compost, having “dibbed” a hole, which you have part-filled with sand. Firm down well.
Water lightly in a well-lit place, tempreature above 10°C

They will grow.