Stockton one has a great aquatics centre (run by another company- so i don't know what will happen to them- not helped by their other store in the area in a garden centre burning down with that garden centre earlier this year) it has a good cafe/restaurant, the usual supply of tat and only outside do they actually sell plants,
i haven't thought of it as a garden centre for years, its a supermarket that sell plants.
I get the impression that none of us are going to miss Wyevale. Let's hope some of them at least stay as garden centres . My fear is the lure of big buck, short term profit, housing might be too great to resist.
We have had a press release today confirming that Blue Diamond have bought 8 Wyevale centres which are spread across England and Wales. Blue Diamond will then have 30 stores plus one in Gsy. & one in Jsy. They art going to be modelled on the Redfields Centre in Hampshire and their garden centre near Nottingham. The Blue Diamond company had one garden centre in Gsy for decades, which was the leading one on the island, but in approx. 10 - 15 years ago they began to expand off island. I know they aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I feel they are no worse than large food supermarkets that have put many corner and specialist shops out of business.
Crew Hill (Enfield) is - or was - the largest site of GCs in Europe. Lots of choice and easy to compare one with another. Certainly seemed to keep them on their toes - competition can be a great driver of price etc.
When we moved away, I really did miss being able to pop there to select either specific plants, just to wander and compare. But we have here in Devon quite a good independent GC near Tiverton and a super, small nursery just a couple of miles away. Whenever I go to Minehead, I visit the local GC there as well, so overall, don't feel too badly served.
Wyevale is pretty useless if you are looking for quality. Stuff in full bloom, cunningly arranged so some poor souls will "buy with their eyes" and live to regret it. (A friend asked me how to overwinter some cleome that she had bought there! Oh, dear. But, on the plus side, I showed her how to harvest the seed and grow some next year for free).
I wonder which ones they were GD. I’m quite familiar with Redfields, the cafe is enormous but the perennial section is much more limited. A big wildlife section though. However, I’d take their stores over Wyevale any day.
We do still have other garden centres here too - an excellent one for trees, shrubs and exotics and a few other independent garden shops/centres that have an excellent reputation for quality plants. It is good to have a choice - we are lucky.
Sorry I don't know which ones they are Mark56 - my daughter works in their offices, but I am not sure how much is public knowledge at the moment. I will ask.
I'm hoping our local Wyvale might be saved as it sounds one of the better ones, good stock and better priced than our other two local GC's. That said, I don't visit it that often as it's out of town for me. I went up to our local Hilliers recently which was deserted and I have a feeling they'll be the next to go.
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When we moved away, I really did miss being able to pop there to select either specific plants, just to wander and compare. But we have here in Devon quite a good independent GC near Tiverton and a super, small nursery just a couple of miles away. Whenever I go to Minehead, I visit the local GC there as well, so overall, don't feel too badly served.
Wyevale is pretty useless if you are looking for quality. Stuff in full bloom, cunningly arranged so some poor souls will "buy with their eyes" and live to regret it. (A friend asked me how to overwinter some cleome that she had bought there! Oh, dear. But, on the plus side, I showed her how to harvest the seed and grow some next year for free).