Thursday 3 May 2012

New plants from a fabulous mail order nursery

 I have been spending money again (heavy sigh and rolling of eyes from Chris) but on plants this time (of course, books, gemstones and wool also figure highly in my spending).  I found a fantastic nursery specialising in plants for shade and couldn't resist buying a few lovely things.  In fact, I was looking for Lathyrus vernus which is a spring flowering member of the sweet pea family and which was mentioned on Beechgrove Garden (BBC Scotland, Thursday nights around 7.30pm, except I watch it on catch up TV at a later date, although it is probably available on the internet too.  It is a really good  gardening programme that doesn't try to be ultra fashionable and gives solid advice and how to do things as well as visiting various lovely gardens in Scotland.  Well worth a look.) Anyway, this plant was mentioned and the presenter said that it had come through the Scottish winter with no problems and she couldn't understand why more people didn't grow it.  (I used to have a plant but wasn't sure where to put it, then it just sat about and eventually I gave it to a friend - I don't regret that at all as she loves it and I know where the new ones are going and am very excited about finding such a great nursery.) Right, after that rather long introduction, back to the nursery.
It is Long Acre Plants in Somerset and they are on the internet as www.plantsforshade.co.uk .  They have a wonderful array of shade loving plants and my only problem was not buying everything!  In the end, I chose six plants: Lathyrus Vernus x 2, Viola odorata 'Baroness Alice de Rothschild', Chasmanthium latifolium ( a lovely delicate grass), Galium odoratum (woodruff, which can be invasive, but that is fine as it is going right at the back of a border) and Hepatica nobilis 'Mid Blue' (in the photo above).  They nursery was a pleasure to order from and sent me emails to confirm my purchase, to tell me when the plants had been dispatched and also the courier's details and tracking number.  The plants arrived beautifully packed, and are really good quality.  As an added extra, they included another Lathyrus as the plants were small!  Fantastic customer service! 
the sweet pea-like flowers of Lathyrus vernus
Of course, I sent them a very nice email, thanking them and saying that the big so-called 'expert' mail order plant companies could learn a lot from them.  I am delighted with the plants and am looking forward to being able to get them planted (if it stops raining).  Have a look at the website - it is full of lovely things!

4 comments:

  1. How lovely! I was a bit suspicious about buying plants by mail order until recently but it seems to work very well. I have acquired a lovely set of tisanieres herbs with beautiful scents from a mail order company and they are thriving. Haven't yet made any tea from them but I will! Your shady plant selection looks super! Question is dare I have a look at their website without risking adding a few things to "my cart"?!

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    1. Thank you so much for your comment. I have had varying degrees of success with mail order plant buying, but this company was exemplary. I shall certainly visit the website again. I found spending the minimum amount of £20.00 really easy and could have spent a lot more! I am really looking forward to being able to get some proper gardening done soon, I hope. Your herbs sound lovely - I hope you enjoy the teas from them. I like mint tea, but haven't been more adventurous than that.
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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  2. Is it great to spend money on plants and flowers? I have to say, I've never bought plants online but my husband has, he actually bought everything that he had in his garden in his old house, online and I have to say, that it looked wonderful.
    I was just thinking today that I need to visit one of our big garden centres here to see what I can get for my living room... I have a plant that did ok the entire autumn and winter, even when I was gone for two months during my stay in Argentina. Now it is looking less than happy, the poor thing, so I think I'll need to replace it very soon!

    Have a nice weekend!

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    1. Hello Aledys
      Thank you so much for your comment. I love spending money on plants - there is always something new and exciting, as well as the old favourites. I don't think anything else can give you such a good return on your money either, as many plants live for so long. Just today I bought another Clematis. The only problem for me is that I have such a small garden and have run out of space. That doesn't seem to stop me buying more though - I just can't help myself!
      Good luck with finding a lovely house plant (I am rubbish with indoor plants unless they are spider plants or Aloe Vera plants - I seem to kill anything else.)
      Have a lovely weekend too (and buy lots of plants)
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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