Trevena Cross Garden Centre

WELCOME

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Garden Centre Magazine for Trevena Cross Nurseries,

Inside this edition you can find a plentiful amount of information on what you can find instore, as well as a handy section on monthly garden tips. With knowledgeable and friendly staff on hand in store to help with advice or inspiration, complemented by the huge variety of stock available, you will be sure to find what you need for your upcoming garden and/or home projects. This edition also includes many different informative editorials and alongside you will find local businesses whose services may just be what you are looking for.

We have also launched a digital copy of the magazine, available to view on your smart phone instantly. Please scan the QR code, featured at the bottom of this page, and this will bring up the publication for you to view. You can also access the digital magazine at touchpoints in the garden centre. One of the most exciting features of our digital publication is that you can interact with the garden centre's social media or connect with local business websites with just a quick tap on your device.

As always, we welcome feedback on our magazine, if you have any comments you'd like to add, we would love to hear them. Please email: info@yhgmedia.co.uk

Kind regards and happy reading!

Johnathan Beveridge Magazine Editor

Outdoor Plants

Beautiful gardens start right here... with beautiful plants. From seed, plug plant or small liner, we grow more than 90% of the plants that you’ll see on a visit.

Nursery Manager Damien is at the helm of a dedicated full time nursery team, responsible for the expansive growing area, and ensuring high quality, fresh stock is consistently available to fill the vast garden centre benches.

From propagating house to potting tunnel, our plants are under the continuous care of the nursery team until they make the journey down the lane to the three acre garden centre. Some spend months in the nursery, and the slower growers or more mature plants, can spend years with us. We invest in our plants and want them to be the best that they can possibly be when they go home with our customers.

Plants we grow and/or supply include a wide range of shrubs, perennials, trees, specimen plants, a huge range of coastal plants (of course!), hedging plants (on mass!), dwarf plants, ground cover plants, exotic plants, rare and unusual plants, wildlife friendly plants, seasonal bedding and patio plants, aquatic plants, succulent plants, shade plants, Cornish wall plants, alpines, grasses, and grow your own including herbs a plenty.

Knows What Grows

Trevena Cross has remained in the same hands since the business’s inception back in 1976. Over the years the family have acquired more land, and the growing area has steadily increased, to the 35 acre site it is now.

In the hands of the same owner for all that time means Graham (Trevena Cross Owner), not only has decades of experience running the business and understanding his plants – what grows well in Cornwall, how to maximize growing potential etc, but he also has incredible understanding of his customers, and what they want.

Graham offers the benefit of his own first-hand growing experience, and invaluable horticultural knowledge and expertise, alongside a team of other plant experts. This expertise really sets Trevena Cross apart from other garden centres locally, and nationally.

The fact that Trevena Cross grows more than 90% of its plant stock on site also means that the garden centre can provide healthier plant assurances, with a much reduced risk of importing any pests or diseases from external locations. The small proportion of plants, like the large palm trees and olive trees that can’t be grown to such stature on site, undergo full vetting to ensure they are pest and disease free before importation, with plant passports and licenses allocated as required to ensure plants are healthy and can be traced.

As spring rolls round (and hopefully better weather), thoughts turn to spending more time in the garden. We have a collection of functional garden furniture ready to offer stylish comfort!

Recognised throughout the UK and Europe for its quality and design, Alexander Rose sustainable outdoor furniture pieces offer something for everyone and that’s why they make up a good majority of the outdoor living section at Trevena Cross.

The timber collection comprises of furniture that has all come from sustainably sourced and FSC certified wood. From acacia sets to pine pieces, there is plenty of choice and beautiful wooden furniture to suit every garden – be it a traditional or more contemporary style you’re after.

We also have quality timber furniture from suppliers such as Charles Taylor, Kelkay and Zest.

Our metal furniture range is made up of our popular beautifully crafted Alexander Rose Portofino pieces that showcase wire mesh, combined with tubular powder coated mild steel, treated and primed to prevent corrosion. These pieces are made to last and will transform the landscape. We also have metal options from Gardeco – specialists and suppliers of our chiminea range, they also have a branch in furniture and have some unique metal benches which we have available for sale for the first time this year.

Outdoor Living

We also have the odd gem of wicker and rattan furniture, which this season can be found inside the shop.

We have the full range of accessories available to accompany your furniture too, including seat cushions, bench cushions, scatter cushions, throws and more, to help you achieve ultimate comfort and ultimate style in your outdoor living space.

Meet the Team

Trevena Cross is known for its very low staff turnover and has many longstanding members of the team – or Trevena Cross family – who have helped shape the business into what it is today. These two team members are fine examples of this.

Nursery Manager – Damien Martin-Irvine

Damien has held a strong passion for the outdoors and gardening/plants since a small boy and could often be found helping his mum in the garden to create landscaped gardens and secret gardens.

When Damien was 18 years old, he left the mainland and moved to the Isles of Scilly where he became a landscape gardener working for customers across St Mary’s. Many of his clients were very keen amateur gardeners themselves and helped expand Damien’s own horticultural knowledge base. Combined with an RHS general qualification in horticulture, which Damien completed, he gained horticultural expertise in both theory and practice.

After four years on the Isles of Scilly Damien returned to the mainland with his wife and joined a landscaping firm involved in planting, construction, maintenance, and tree surgery. He detoured into arboriculture for a time, achieving qualifications including professional tree inspector and beyond. After working his way up the ranks to Contract Manager he realized his passion was still very much ‘growing plants’, so he has now returned to horticulture, and been with Trevena Cross for three years as Nursery Manager.

In this time, Damien has had to understand the intricacies of the 35-acre site, streamline procedures to ensure the nursery is working efficiently, and recognize opportunities to enhance and expand the nursery service for the business. He considers himself fortunate to work in such a great environment with a small, friendly, hardworking team that achieve much for the business and its customers. He enjoys working with some fantastic plants and is inspired by the enthusiasm of the plant experts around him, including Graham the Owner of Trevena Cross.

Damien’s biggest achievements to date in the nursery include the successful conversion of growing spaces to provide fresh produce for the new on site Palm Tree Bistro, creating a full stock list of all plants across the 35 acre nursery, expanding the range of products and services available, including specimen plants and bespoke basket and tub services, influencing change in plant lines and varieties grown, and most transformative – turning it into a tidy and organised space, which to say was a mammoth task, would be an understatement! There has also been the successful introduction of a natural bio pest control program since Damien joined, and a continued movement towards peat-free only growing.

Shop Assistant - Anita Collins

Anita joined the Trevena Cross team in 2004, expecting to be here only short term. Twenty years later and she is now the longest serving member of shop staff! Before she joined the team she worked in accountancy and travel and tourism, but retail is where she now holds a huge wealth of experience.

It may be the varied nature of the job (as well as her lovely colleagues!) that has fuelled her staying power - at this point she has been involved in just about every area of the shop. She started out responsible for ordering seeds and growing the once small gift department, which stocked just Bronnley soaps and a few candles. It is thanks, in part, to Anita that the gift area has grown into the diverse, beautiful space it is today, stocking a wide range of gifts to suit all tastes and budgets. She still has a hand in the gift section, ordering toiletries and home fragrance ranges from various suppliers, but she now also takes care of a wide range of garden sundries, ordering all the garden tools, children’s gardening ranges, wildlife and bird care products, trellis and edgings, hanging baskets, solar lighting, obelisks, plant supports, propagation, gloves and footwear.

When she’s not consumed by orders, meeting reps, merchandising and pricing stock, her friendly welcome can be found behind the counter. Some of our most regular and loyal customers are put at ease by such a familiar face, and someone they have got to know and trust when they visit. Anita is a very approachable member of the team and one of the reasons the centre gets praised so frequently for its friendly, helpful customer service.

You can’t spend so much time at Trevena and not be seduced by the subject matter! Anita’s love of gardening has understandably grown since being here, and she particularly enjoys growing vegetables organically and gardening in a sustainable way, encouraging wildlife at every opportunity.

Surprise fact: Anita is a registered Butterfly Recorder for Cornwall Butterfly Conservation and the National Trust, and monitors butterfly numbers on a local transect walk as well as taking part in the Garden Butterfly Survey. There are 38 species of butterfly in total regularly seen in Cornwall.

Summer Animal Hunt

Throughout the summer – and popular throughout the school summer holidays in particular – the garden centre operates a free animal hunt for children visiting. We have lots of animal ornaments, big and small, dotted around the centre, and if children can spot 10 different ones, writing them down as they go, they can return their form to the shop to redeem a plant prize, which varies depending on availability. We try to make sure the whole family is catered for on a visit, and free entertainment for the children is always a winner!

Nursery Tours & Garden Shows

‘Behind the scenes’ in the vast growing area of the nursery, Trevena Cross Owner, Graham Jeffery, and Lead Propagator, Graham Sykes, have been hosting several tours for different interest groups, gardening clubs and societies. These tours are for anyone interested in plants, gardening, and wishing to learn more about the nursery and how it operates.

The reactions from those participating in a tour are often one of shock and surprise as they begin to appreciate the scale of the nursery and just how much it grows. It is something you need to see with your own eyes to truly appreciate.

Nursery Manager Damien is at the helm of a dedicated full time nursery team, responsible for the expansive growing area, and ensuring high quality, fresh stock is consistently available to fill the vast garden centre benches.

One tour conducted by Lead Propagator Graham Sykes, welcomed a large group of garden owners, volunteers and gardeners from the National Garden Scheme Cornwall. Graham himself is Assistant County Officer for National Garden Scheme Cornwall, and so it was a privilege to be able to introduce the nursery to such a knowledgeable and inspiring group of people. It was enjoyed by all and has affirmed

Owner, Graham’s wish to share the nursery with more groups, and conduct more nursery tours for keen plant enthusiasts.

Gardening, interest or community groups interested in a free guided tour of the nursery are invited to email sales@trevenacross.co.uk with information about their group, the number of people they would like a tour for (15+ ideally), and a rough idea of availability for us to work with and respond to.

An added bonus - groups can retire to the on-site Palm Tree Bistro after a couple of hours in the nursery, for some much needed sustenance!... Or grab something from the brand new takeaway hut in the undercover area, and then take a seat to enjoy!

In March this year, Lead Propagator Graham, also exhibited at the Falmouth Spring Flower Show alongside Nick and John. It is often difficult to find the extra time and resources required to prepare and co-ordinate attendance at external events and shows, as nice as it is to see new faces and chat to people about who we are – and who they are! It is particularly challenging during the peak months of spring (when most of the horticultural shows are) when the nursery and garden centre are already working at full capacity, so it was a rare treat to head to Falmouth for two days. Trevena Cross took along plenty of plants to the Falmouth Spring Flower Show, ranging from larger specimen palms and tree ferns, down to the small seasonal patio and veg plants – showcasing the broad range of plants grown and available for sale at the garden centre. Trevena Cross was in great company, with other local nurseries, garden centres and plant specialists also in attendance, and was proud to receive a gold award for their trade stand.

National Garden Scheme

Trevena Cross exhibited alongside the National Garden Scheme (NGS) and was able to raise awareness for this great organisation, which raises incredible sums of money for multiple charities every year, while also representing the nursery and garden centre.

As stated on their website “The National Garden Scheme gives visitors unique access to over 3,500 exceptional private gardens England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands, and raises impressive amounts of money for nursing and health charities through admissions, tea and cake”. Our very own Propagator Graham Sykes is an Assistant County Organiser for NGS Cornwall.

Composting made easy

Following the significant achievement of becoming Cornwall’s first self-sufficient garden centre, with more than 100 solar PV panels mounted on the garden centre’s roof last year, Trevena Cross continues to strive to improve its environmental credentials, by reducing waste and its drain on resources.

One of its most recent additions to the site, is a giant Celotex insulated compost unit up in the nursery. This compost heap will take on organic matter from across the site, layered up with the likes of bark and cardboard, and left to rot down at temperatures reaching up to 60°C. The size of the unit means there is scope to compost a lot of material, and with three chambers, it is possible to compost on a continuous basis (i.e. while one is fully composted down and being used/applied to growing crops on the nursery, the others can continue to take organic matter and undergo the process of composting down).

Trevena Cross Owner Graham comments: “This is a great addition to the nursery that gives us masses of potential to compost our organic waste and see the results of efficient composting more quickly. We’ll be able to recycle waste from the Palm Tree Bistro and get it back on the plants, in a useful, nutrient-rich form, that will boost growth and improve plant health and vigour even beyond the incredible standard we have now”.

Composting not only recycles the organic matter rather than wasting it, but it cuts down the release of the greenhouse gas, methane, which is a byproduct of organic matter being dumped at landfill. What better way of recycling, than letting nature do it itself? Using the ‘natural’ nutrient-rich results of composting also reduces a need to turn to chemical fertiliser alternatives, which can be harmful to wildlife or waterways. The site at Trevena Cross has been absorbing its fair share of carbon dioxide for decades, as a base for growing many thousands of plants each year - more than 90% of those it sells in the garden centre, and now it can go further in preventing harmful gases getting into the atmosphere.

Trevena Cross Compost

With the demand for peat-free composts increasing, we decided we should be offering our own formulated Trevena Cross compost –something that we use, trust and are happy to put our name on. We had our own multipurpose compost some years ago and last year felt it was the right time to bring our own peat-free multipurpose to our customers. We use it on our nursery for all our potting and have seen great results from its use.

Developed and produced to professional grower specifications, Trevena Cross Compost is a versatile, multi-purpose peat-free compost with added John Innes and is used on our nursery all year round. It also contains Forest Gold, which aids water retention and helps with nutrient absorption. Ideal for use across the garden.

BlackGold Compost

Sourced just down the road at Splattenridden in Hayle, BlackGold is premium grade, peat free compost used by a variety of attractions and gardens in Cornwall on their sites – and sold by us here at Trevena Cross.

The team behind BlackGold compost recycle green waste, turning it into compost which helps farmers and gardeners, like our customers, offset the use of chemical fertilisers to green the countryside. They process materials from Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC), kerbside collections and commercial businesses, turning green waste and wood into compost that can help create healthy soils and the perfect peat-free medium for growing a wide range of plants and crops.

Quality Assured

Every batch of compost is regularly monitored and analysed for impurities and contaminants, by an independent laboratory, with all procedures full documented. Top quality gardeninggrade compost is made in accordance with the Compost Association quality protocol and screened to 20mm.

Compost

The carbon conscious nature of this compost – reusing waste to create something valuable, makes it even more important that we maintain a low carbon footprint to acquire it. It has few miles to travel from Hayle to Breage, and we count ourselves lucky that such an excellent product exists on our doorstep!

Palm Tree Bistro

Open daily, 9am - 4.30pm

Hot food served until 3.30pm.

The Palm Tree Bistro is set in the heart of the garden centre, in stunning surroundings. It has seating inside and covered seating outside. Cosy up by the wood burner on a cold winter’s day, while still feeling connected to nature, or step outside into a haven of plants to enjoy a spot of lunch or a slice of cake.

Head Chef Dave and Sous Chef Ricky have an extensive background in the gastro-scene and are excited to be at the helm of the brand new kitchen, and a talented, passionate team of chefs responsible for preparing a menu of delicious, locallysourced, homemade food. Visitors will experience a celebration of Cornish suppliers and the wonderful produce this county has to offer.

In the dining area, Bistro Manager, Mandie Lewis and her team, offers familiar, friendly, efficient customer service in a beautiful, comfortable dining space that you can very easily lose an hour or two in!

The Palm Tree Bistro offers a seasonal menu, celebrating the very best local ingredients from Cornish suppliers, and from the nursery itself. The bistro team can hand pick veg and herbs from the adjacent nursery daily and then step into the kitchen to prepare them in the day’s dishes. This unique aspect of the new bistro gives it a real ‘Trevena Cross’ identity and extends the ‘grown on site’ ethos beyond the plants the business sells. Visitors can also enjoy the same produce they’ve eaten in the bistro, at home; with plants grown for the bistro kitchen mirroring many of the varieties available to buy at the garden centre. It really does take the ‘grow your own’ concept full circle.

Dogs are welcome inside a designated area of the bistro and anywhere in the undercover, outdoor seating area.

Breakfast: 9am-11.30am

Lunch: 12pm-3.30pm.

Sunday timings subject to change when a roast is introduced in autumn.

The bistro also has its own loyalty scheme in place –collect a stamp every time you buy a hot drink and once 10 stamps are collected, receive a free hot drink.

Introducing the new takeaway hut!

Newly opened for spring 2024 is our takeaway tiki hut – run as part of the bistro, but for visitors wanting a quick grab-and-go or grab and stay option.

Serving hot pasties, sausage rolls, baguettes, paninis, quiches, ice cream and hot and cold beverages, the hut is a convenient stop-off for visitors who just want to grab a quick snack, rather than sit down in the bistro for a meal. Visitors can eat on the move or are welcome to take a seat in the undercover area to savour their surroundings while they savour their food!

Trevena Cross Loyalty Card

A simple stamp system, the card requires you to collect six stamps (£15+ transaction = 1 stamp) after which you’ll receive a £10 Trevena Cross loyalty voucher to spend at the centre, on plants, sundries or gifts – your choice!

If you’d be interested in having one, please ask a member of the team behind the counter about the card on your next visit!

Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any more questions, and we look forward to welcoming you to the Trevena Cross Loyalty Scheme really soon!