THE MODERN MINT BLOG
You may know that the first week of May is National Nurseries Week, a time to celebrate some of the best plant growers in the UK.
So to help you choose where to buy your plants, here are three nurseries you may never have heard about before…
King John’s Nursery, East Sussex
Primarily focused on herbaceous perennials, vegetable plugs too.
Wykeham Mature Plants, Yorkshire
Walled garden with over 100 acres of field grown trees and shrubs.
Specialists in drought tolerant herbaceous and architectural plants.
… get to know your local nurseries – you’ll get better advice, better service and better plants.
What more can you ask for?
Further Reading:
British Gardens in Time: The Greatest Gardens and the People Who Shaped Them
… and for something related, but a bit different…
Tree Nurseries – Cultivating the Urban Jungle: Plant Production Worldwide
Phillyrea From 1682
Phillyrea is one of my favourite plants for topiary. I have been using it for quite a few years as a specimen shrub, mostly due to the fact it clips well and has a tough habit – all good characteristics for a topiary plant. It also has a reputation for being an excellent nectar source for bees… Read more about Phillyrea here. Mentioning this to Malcolm Thicke, a market garden historian and writer, he sent me a some photos of topiary and phillyrea mentioned by John Worlidge in Systema Horticulturae from 1682…. incredible! He also mentioned to me that in …
Kites And Strings Podcast – Topiary In The Garden
Kites and Strings is a podcast about creativity, hosted by US-based Stephen Ploum and Catherine Chinnock. Back in March they asked me to come onto their podcast and talk about topiary, my past writing plays, the stand-up I did and how creativity can fit into your life. The Kites and Strings podcast was great fun and Stephen and Catherine are fantastic hosts. Listening back today I am surprised by some of the ideas I talked about (somehow I even started to describe a future where I run a ‘School of Creativity’ by the sea…. where did that come from?!) but it …
Robinia – Pruning A Beautiful Tree For Small Gardens
Robinia is often forgotten – by me, actually! – when thinking of plants for topiary. But when I work on it I do love it, brittle and soft as the wood is if you climb into it. But that danger of snapping a branch with a heavy step and falling out of the tree aside, I love it for the dappled light it allows into the garden space. Robinia Near The Sea Below is a Robinia I have gently clipped over the last few years, down near Leigh-on-Sea in Essex. The tree was large when I arrived, although it is …