Just a quick thought, shouldn't we all be supporting our local family owned garden nurseries rather than the huge garden centres like Wyevale? Especially when they become so big that they can apply to kill local wildlife as it affects business!!! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3738671.stm
I love the local nurseries that you have to explore and most of the time you get to talk to a person that understands plants not just a YTS student or kid on a year out!
I quite agree womble, but half the trouble is finding a local gc to support in the first place ::)
We're pretty lucky around here in that there are loads of little villages, and plenty of farms & nurseries selling plants, seeds, tools, books, etc, etc but in some more urban areas it must be difficult - therefore some people have no choice.
For me, it's a case of local is best, wherever possible ;)
In the Midlands area there used to be Spring and Autumn rare plant sales. They were purely for ornamental plants. They were held April and September.
One of the places where they were held was Calke Abbey. The 2001 F&M outbreak put paid to that venue. Since then they seem to have disappeared off the planet.
I found them wonderful, you could buy out of the ordinary/unusual plants. I used to spend a fortune at them!!!
I'm sure they must still be being held but I am having difficulty finding information about the sales, If anyone out there can supply a list of dates and venues, in the Midlands area, it would be greatly appreciated.
valmarg
A bit of a faux pas from Wyevale there! It was 3 years ago, and does the rounds from time to time. I find it hard to get annoyed by Wyevale - like all large companies, we (the lazy consumer) are more to blame than they are.