Plant Offers

westiea

I think it's called The Netherlands/Denmark. I'm not too sure about some of the quality, mind. It's a bit like the bacon; don't ask how it's produced or how old it is.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Dave is right our nurseries are suffering badly by cheap bulk production of the same old tat being imported at huge carbon costs.

We are a country that has a long history of innovative horticulture - growing, breeding, and plant hunting. If we do not use our local nurseries then we will all be at the beck and call of the damn sheds and large mail order companies all buying the same plants to sell to us- no matter where you live - 'cos in they're eyes all plants are suitable for all areas of the country! Go local and you get acclimatised plants, suitable for your area, from knowledgeable and helpful staff. :j

Davesnave

I realise I was being just a little xenophobic last night. (Few too many glasses! ) We do, of course, have some pretty large producers in our own country too.

However, I'm proud that the independent, smaller outfits still find ways to survive, despite carp like this:

http://www.gardenprofits.co.uk/

loucroft

Well, I've certainly caused a stir - isn't that a good thing, now I will probably not buy online either so saving myself money and hopefully anyone else that was thinking of it!

I was well prepared to look after small plugs whilst they grew, but not if the chances are they might arrive damaged or dead!

I have found the following near me, though thats still 9-12 miles. One I know that I haven't listed below is a large farm but their prices are not low.

Would it be worth adding listings in regions that we've used and really do supply good quality products?

Medway / Mid Kent :

Berengrave Plant Nursery, Berengrave Lane, Rainham ME8 (I am pretty sure I used this one years ago, and yes it was good then)

liam8282

Another reason the small nurseries don't as much business as they would like, is probably because not that many people know about them.

I have only just started growing plants / vegetables this year, and did not know where to start.

I went to local gardening centres such as Strikes, B&Q, Homebase etc., because these were the only places I knew that sold plants.

Ended up buying the bulk of my garden stuff from Homebase in the end, due to various discounts that were on offer at the time.

Then within 2 weeks of buying everything, found out on the off chance that there is a council nursery less than a mile from my house.

I never even knew this place existed or was open to the public. It is set way back off a main road, at the dead end of a road, not sign posted or anything.

I did go and have a look and the plants and prices were much better than garden centres, but unfortunately too late for me. I will know for next year though.

Personally I have found that the small private nurseries are like some sort of secret members only club, and you only find out about them if you know someone else who knows about them. I still don't know of any local to me, but I am sure there will be some somewhere.

Maybe, if they just advertised in a local newspaper or something, people would use them more.

loucroft

I've noticed farm shops as I said before I know one I've used, they can be cheaper too and a good place for buying veg etc as long as you know they're growing it themselves and not importing it (though sometimes they will from local farmers that are producing different crops etc which is nice, so they offer a variety) but plant wise I'm still struggling.

My gardener friend knows of a couple, but they're independent garden centres which have big overheads. She knows of one that opens for trade once a week, although they sell mainly mature trees and shrubs (not small flowering plants) they are much cheaper than the garden centres so thats a good start (if I wasn't surrounded by even bigger trees!), though its a huge place and probably a day out for someone interested like me !

I think the thing is like you said Liam8282 is that the smaller places are harder to find, but I suppose little gems once you know where they are - the council one sounds very interesting

BOGOF_Queen

I have bought quite a lot of plants on ebay over the last few years - lots of keen gardeners selling their excess and also some of the nurseries are on there - always a lot of choice for both plants and seeds when I have looked.

Davesnave

liam8282 wrote: »

Maybe, if they just advertised in a local newspaper or something, people would use them more.

I won't bore you by whingeing about the difficulties of persuading people to visit, but take it from me, it's difficult, particularly for nurseries that are off the beaten track. That's why I bought a property on a road where there's plenty of local traffic and my display area is visible.

We weren't allowed to sell from our last nursery site, but we were out at the market a couple of times a week and at plant fairs, village fetes etc at weekends too. Those are the sort of places you'll find the smaller nurseries, who do advertise in local free newspapers and mags, like the ones available free in Garden Centres ('Country Gardener.') http://www.countrygardener.co.uk/

There is also the Plant Finder which (this being MSE) you can browse in W H Smiths, order from the library, or look at on-line. The book comes with maps. Using this, one can either search for nurseries in the area, or pick a common plant - I used Veronica 'Georgia Blue' - and see what turns up. Here is the result of that search for my area :

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/nurseryfinder2.asp?id=248883&d1=1&so=pf&mo=N

This throws up 7 nurseries with that plant, six of which are small. Of those, some have web sites where you can check prices. They won't all be cheap, of course, but take note of pot sizes etc.

The link for the Nursery finder is:
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/nurseryfinder.asp

and the Plant Finder:

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/index.asp

Not every nursery can be found in this way, of course, but that's part of the fun, tracking down the specialist little guys who are not organised enough to produce lists for the RHS.

And yes, there is mail order and eBay, though as a grower, I could have more fun sawing my right leg off than getting involved with mail order & the postal service! :rotfl:

HTH.

alang_2

I found this on the coolings website, it is a fairly new website but sounds like it could be good.

The British plant Nursery guide is a web site dedicated to listing small, independent nurseries. The idea was set up by Gilly Pollock from Monmouthshire, who is a keen horticulturalist and business woman. She felt that not enough was being done to promote benefits of smaller nurseries, particularly the high survival rates and wide choice of plants. Each nursery featured has its own page on the web site listing, contact details, location, what type of plants the nursery stocks, information and features of the business, shows and a top five plants list.

won.t let me put a link on here but it is basically the usual www. then britishplantnursery then .co.uk



Alan

peter_the_piper

It needs a lot more work yet, I think it was launched too soon but could be good later.
County list lacking, put in Kent and Fuchsia and got Duchy of Cornwall.

loucroft

Worth bookmarking for later