For shrubs and trees, I have found Paramount Plants and Mail Order Trees to be good. The only downside is sometimes the delivery schedule can be unpredictable, so I order when I know I can be flexible about staying in to receive the plants. Ordering outside peak times can help too, e.g. not during Chelsea or Hampton Court Flower Shows/Easter/Weekends or during bare root planting season.
Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus
i’ve had great plants from Claire Austin and Hardys. Hayloft are quite good too, but plants are quite small so you have to be prepared to grow them on a bit before planting out.
@Pete.8 I never knew there were plants for sale at Barleylands. I am not too far away but usually drive straight past on the way to Basildon, so thanks for posting that. I have had some great salvias from Sarah Raven, really healthy and growing well now planted out, black and blue, amante and amistad. Also recommend Farmer Gracy too.
Yes Joanna - throughout the spring- Autumn they have lots of plants, shrubs and trees for sale. Compost is also 3 x 50L bags for £10-£12 It's not the Barleylands museum, cafe, Equestrian Centre etc etc, on Barleylands Road but the Farm Shop that's on the A129 heading toward Crays Hill - well worth a look. I usually stop there first en route to Summerhill Nursery.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I would advise extreme caution about trying to list the 'companies to avoid'. Without solid evidence to back up naming and shaming it's possible the site could be sued.
I do not believe stating factual experiences is a problem.
Which is precisely why I said 'Without solid evidence to back up'. To me that needs to be personal experience, not third party reports. Making a personal decision based on reviews is one thing, to publicly warn people off based on them is potentially risky. Point to people to reviews by all means.
January 2022 I was fed up. Took a spade and dug a huge chunk out of the lawn. No going back this was my new' Online ' border. As you know early last spring was dry so progress was fast. By mid February it was prepared and ready for plants.
I started with two tall plants, avoiding planting anything in the middle as I thought it would be too 'obvious.'
I had an Amelanchier I had rescued for a fiver and this was big enough for the first tall addition, along with Stipa Gold Fontane from Beth Chatto. I pruned the Amelanchier so that only three stems were left to grow and removed some of the lower leaves.
Next it was more grasses this time from Knoll Gardens, Miscanthus Flamingo and three of the small Molinia Poul Petersen.
I grew only two roses at the time, with help from @Marlorena on the Rose thread, I added Rose R Rushing Stream from David Austin.
I already had Echinacea Pallida bought from Claire Austin together with Verbena Hastata they didn't look right elsewhere so they were moved to the middle of this new border. The V Hastata were small plants from J Parker, they looked a little sad on arrival but they soon got going.
There are three conifers Thuga Whipcord, plus two Pinus Low Glow, together with three Euonymous Green Pillar purchased as very small plants these will give height and evergreen interest in years to come. I spaced these out to connect the planting.
Year one everything was small and even with the addition of plants I already had I needed summer interest. I ordered some plugs from Sarah Raven of Cosmos Rubenza. Some had more than one plant per plug so I finished up with plenty to fill the gaps.
One plant I have loved was a Birthday gift from Farmyard Nurseries, Campanula Chloe in the foreground, new to me and a little treasure. I didn't keep a note of p&p and I am sure it was expensive. However I have achieved what I had set out to do, create a border close to the house to connect to the garden.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
Posts
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It's not the Barleylands museum, cafe, Equestrian Centre etc etc, on Barleylands Road but the Farm Shop that's on the A129 heading toward Crays Hill - well worth a look.
I usually stop there first en route to Summerhill Nursery.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Which is precisely why I said 'Without solid evidence to back up'. To me that needs to be personal experience, not third party reports. Making a personal decision based on reviews is one thing, to publicly warn people off based on them is potentially risky. Point to people to reviews by all means.
I started with two tall plants, avoiding planting anything in the middle as I thought it would be too 'obvious.'
I had an Amelanchier I had rescued for a fiver and this was big enough for the first tall addition, along with Stipa Gold Fontane from Beth Chatto. I pruned the Amelanchier so that only three stems were left to grow and removed some of the lower leaves.
Next it was more grasses this time from Knoll Gardens, Miscanthus Flamingo and three of the small Molinia Poul Petersen.
I grew only two roses at the time, with help from @Marlorena on the Rose thread, I added Rose R Rushing Stream from David Austin.
I already had Echinacea Pallida bought from Claire Austin together with Verbena Hastata they didn't look right elsewhere so they were moved to the middle of this new border. The V Hastata were small plants from J Parker, they looked a little sad on arrival but they soon got going.
There are three conifers Thuga Whipcord, plus two Pinus Low Glow, together with three Euonymous Green Pillar purchased as very small plants these will give height and evergreen interest in years to come. I spaced these out to connect the planting.
Year one everything was small and even with the addition of plants I already had I needed summer interest. I ordered some plugs from Sarah Raven of Cosmos Rubenza. Some had more than one plant per plug so I finished up with plenty to fill the gaps.
One plant I have loved was a Birthday gift from Farmyard Nurseries, Campanula Chloe in the foreground, new to me and a little treasure.
I didn't keep a note of p&p and I am sure it was expensive. However I have achieved what I had set out to do, create a border close to the house to connect to the garden.