Standing Out From The Crowd

I’m a sucker for a good garden centre and I seem
 to have spent half my life in them, either searching for something new or simply whiling away a few hours in a convivial atmosphere. Just like anyone else who has a smidgin of interest in plants and gardening, I have also spent a small fortune on them but, on balance, most of my children’s meagre inheritance has been invested on the rare, the special and the sometimes downright expensive horticultural treasures that are only available via the interweb.

Their exclusivity and scarcity means that to buy some of these plants you have to go on a waiting list, but only after passing a stringent vetting procedure to check that you are a responsible adult who will be offering the best possible home to their precious babies. 

Ok, maybe it’s not quite that dramatic but I always feel much more protective towards a plant obtained via a session on google than something I’ve picked up along with some christmas tat and a cup of coffee while the kids wreak havoc in the toy section. most of these treasures simply aren’t available at your local garden centre because they haven’t yet been ‘discovered’ as the next big thing, either by a telly gardener or through clever promotion at the Chelsea Flower Show. So you heard it here first! 

A case in point is the rose, which was hugely popular in the post-war period, leading to hybrid teas and floribundas such as Peace and Iceburg being planted in their thousands in parks and gardens. however all this changed when david austin roses’ (www.davidaustinroses.co.uk) fantastic new range, fittingly named English Roses, arrived on the scene about a decade ago; it now totally dominates the market. to see the full range you need to visit their website, but virtually all garden centres now hold a good stock of this superlative introduction. my favourite is gertrude Jeckyll - but don’t let that sway your decision as they are all terrific.

Another garden centre favourite is the good old geranium, or pelargonium as it should rightly
be called. In late spring you can hardly move for shelves stacked high with virtually every colour combination – which is great if you simply want to buy them by the tray and use them in bedding displays. If, like me though, you fancy something a bit more exotic then you really need to have a look at Fibrex Nurseries (www.fibrex.co.uk) where you’ll find some beauties like the one in the photo which goes by the name of Westdale appleblossom. known as a rosebud pelargonium because of the flower shape, you could show this off in a planter with a backdrop of white flowers such as trailing verbena and you would have something to be really proud of! While you are at it have a look at their ‘Zonartic’ pelargoniums (if they have any left after I’ve plundered their stocks!) – these are hot off their hybridisation programme and are like supercharged geraniums in stunning colours including yellow, which is very unusual for this species. You can even use them as cut flowers - they are that impressive.

Some of my other favourite websites for star
plants are www.cayeux.com – a magical french
Iris specialist, www.blackmore-langdon.com for
the very best delphiniums and begonias, www. ashwoodnurseries.com for amazing hellebores and hepaticas and for meadow seeds and speciality pre-grown mats look no further than www. pictorialmeadows.co.uk. If like me you get a kick out of just sticking a pin in a seed catalogue and growing whatever you land on, then order yourself a seed catalogue from www.chilternseeds.co.uk as you might get lucky and find yourself choosing something really whacky.

There are many others on my favourites list but these should be enough to whittle down your bank balance before I get you started on those. happy hunting!