Aym - Sometimes paying extra for quality is cheaper than buying what turns out to be crap - not just wasted money on bad or wrong seeds but wasted money and time on sowing compost, trays, heating, watering etc.
You're near enough to Beth Chatto's garden nursery to go and buy one good plant with known
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Sometimes paying extra for quality is cheaper than buying what turns out to be crap - not just wasted money on bad or wrong seeds but wasted money and time on sowing compost, trays, heating, watering etc.
You're near enough to Beth Chatto's garden nursery to go and buy one good plant with known provenance and grow it on to multiply by seed or division.
Unusually for me Dove - I've bought some perennials. An orange Agastache, Orange Geum, two whites - a Geum (rivale Album) and a Geranium (Summer Snow). I also got a couple of packs of sweet peas - Black Knight and Dorothy Eckford, and Nigella African Bride which is white with really dark anthers, and a Bupleurum Griffithii - which, as the name suggests, is Euphorbia-like.
Lots of the ickle hardy tulips from GeeTee - oranges, whites and reds and dark pinky/purples. Plus a few taller ones. Cernum, Chrysantha, Persian Pearl, Praestans Fusilier, Little Beauty, Turkestanica, Urumiensis, Nigrum and Violet Beauty.
Got a couple from Peter Nyssen as well - Oreophilum and Cowanii.
That'll keep me out of mischief...
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I agree, the standard of garden centres around here is absolutely abysmal.
I refuse to go to most of them. However the one shining star is Paradise Park - bit naffly named as it isn't paradise but the plants are usually very good quality, always good quality and they always have great offers. 6 plants for 10 pounds at the moment for good sized plants that will mature quickly.
There is also a brilliant cottage garden nursery near my friend in Maidstone that I can't remember the name of and we always stop off there to have a look.
The only beef I have with Paradise Park is the sheer amount of tat merchandise you have to walk through to get to the plants - yankee candles and so forth.
Aym - if you're on a budget I'd say go for tried and tested every time. A good new nursery or supplier will soon get a following and recommendations and then be a safe bet for you to try.
You did say you'd had some duffers and can ill afford such mistakes.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I'm lucky enough to have a fabulous local nursery and only one "big concern" in the entire Province. The local guy is passionate about his plants and his customers and trains his staff to be both knowledgable and helpful. They have many and varied qulaifications (which he pays for) and their certificates are proudly displayed in their various sections. He has expanded and thrived over the years because it matters to him.
As for pottery and jam...yes he has a section for all that. He has recently opened an aquatics section too. There's not a lot of call for weedkiller, annuals, bedding plants in November, December, January or February and the man has staff to pay. He does a huge "thing" for children at halloween and Santa comes near Christmas time. This does not detract from the service he gives throughout the growing season. People come from all over the Province to these events and with any luck they'll come again in Summer.
One of my many mantras (I've mentioned it on here before) is "support your local independant". I practice what I preach. Eyecare, pharmacy and garden centre as well as everything else I can manage. I don't get my specs in Stressco and I don't buy my white goods in Scurrys. If we don't support them, guess what, they can't keep going and have to sell up.
I use a great nursery too Ppauper. It's a 45 minute drive away, but I know how the plants are produced, and I get a big variety. They supply huge numbers of outlets all over the country anyway, as well as councils etc.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I'd have to treat my local like a corner shop and go weekly otherwise I'll come away empty handed often.
I'll have to keep sticking pins in the map and find more.
No system is perfect I guess- I bought a lupin plant labelled as yellow at a plant nursery and it grew pink and I've had half dead subjects delivered through the mail as well as good'uns from same company!
I do pick up the rejected ones and sometimes have had lovely blooms.
I may progress to seeds and propagation but I'n not that successful yet.
Posts
Oh g'wan Fairygirl, what seeds and bulbs did you get? I am looking for inspiration.
Aym - Sometimes paying extra for quality is cheaper than buying what turns out to be crap - not just wasted money on bad or wrong seeds but wasted money and time on sowing compost, trays, heating, watering etc.
You're near enough to Beth Chatto's garden nursery to go and buy one good plant with known
B***er - you made me look at Chiltern's now....
Unusually for me Dove - I've bought some perennials. An orange Agastache, Orange Geum, two whites - a Geum (rivale Album) and a Geranium (Summer Snow). I also got a couple of packs of sweet peas - Black Knight and Dorothy Eckford, and Nigella African Bride which is white with really dark anthers, and a Bupleurum Griffithii - which, as the name suggests, is Euphorbia-like.
Lots of the ickle hardy tulips from GeeTee - oranges, whites and reds and dark pinky/purples. Plus a few taller ones. Cernum, Chrysantha, Persian Pearl, Praestans Fusilier, Little Beauty, Turkestanica, Urumiensis, Nigrum and Violet Beauty.
Got a couple from Peter Nyssen as well - Oreophilum and Cowanii.
That'll keep me out of mischief...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I agree, the standard of garden centres around here is absolutely abysmal.
I refuse to go to most of them. However the one shining star is Paradise Park - bit naffly named as it isn't paradise but the plants are usually very good quality, always good quality and they always have great offers. 6 plants for 10 pounds at the moment for good sized plants that will mature quickly.
There is also a brilliant cottage garden nursery near my friend in Maidstone that I can't remember the name of and we always stop off there to have a look.
The only beef I have with Paradise Park is the sheer amount of tat merchandise you have to walk through to get to the plants - yankee candles and so forth.
Also the volunteer plant market Daryl showed me.
Last edited: 03 September 2016 11:07:38
Aym - if you're on a budget I'd say go for tried and tested every time. A good new nursery or supplier will soon get a following and recommendations and then be a safe bet for you to try.
You did say you'd had some duffers and can ill afford such mistakes.
I'm lucky enough to have a fabulous local nursery and only one "big concern" in the entire Province. The local guy is passionate about his plants and his customers and trains his staff to be both knowledgable and helpful. They have many and varied qulaifications (which he pays for) and their certificates are proudly displayed in their various sections. He has expanded and thrived over the years because it matters to him.
As for pottery and jam...yes he has a section for all that. He has recently opened an aquatics section too. There's not a lot of call for weedkiller, annuals, bedding plants in November, December, January or February and the man has staff to pay. He does a huge "thing" for children at halloween and Santa comes near Christmas time. This does not detract from the service he gives throughout the growing season. People come from all over the Province to these events and with any luck they'll come again in Summer.
One of my many mantras (I've mentioned it on here before) is "support your local independant". I practice what I preach. Eyecare, pharmacy and garden centre as well as everything else I can manage. I don't get my specs in Stressco and I don't buy my white goods in Scurrys. If we don't support them, guess what, they can't keep going and have to sell up.
If you buy cheap...you get cheap!
I use a great nursery too Ppauper. It's a 45 minute drive away, but I know how the plants are produced, and I get a big variety. They supply huge numbers of outlets all over the country anyway, as well as councils etc.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I'd have to treat my local like a corner shop and go weekly otherwise I'll come away empty handed often.
I'll have to keep sticking pins in the map and find more.
No system is perfect I guess- I bought a lupin plant labelled as yellow at a plant nursery and it grew pink and I've had half dead subjects delivered through the mail as well as good'uns from same company!
I do pick up the rejected ones and sometimes have had lovely blooms.
I may progress to seeds and propagation but I'n not that successful yet.