Search Icon

Top 20 mail-order plant nurseries

The internet has transformed gardeners' shopping habits. Val Bourne picks the best online plant nurseries

Brilliant all-rounders

  • Crocus (0844 557 2233; www.crocus.co.uk) made mail-order fashionable when two plant lovers (Mark Fane and Peter Clay) started the website in 2000. The Rolls-Royce of mail-order nurseries, it offers 4,000 plants, including unusual ones such as Dianthus cruentus, with one of the best, most intelligently organised online sites.
  • Beth Chatto Gardens (01206 822007; www.bethchatto.co.uk) This nursery lists a traditional range of first-rate perennials. Its well-grown plants are modestly priced, beautifully packed and all the plants feature in Beth's garden – so they perform.
  • Binny's Plants (01506 858931; www.binnyplants.co.uk) has more than 2,000 plants, including the largest list of peonies in Britain. It also sells irises and an excellent range of bergenias, astilbes, bamboos, hostas and New Zealand ferns.
  • Crûg Farm Nurseries (01248 670232; www.crug-farm.co.uk) is tucked away in North Wales. The nursery sells plants collected by owners Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones from 30 countries in Asia and South America.

For trees

  • Ornamental Trees (01568 708016; www.ornamental-trees.co.uk) This nursery in Herefordshire sells a range of shrubs and trees. Bare-root specimens, dispatched from November until March, can be half the price of container-grown trees.

Three for fruit

  • Blackmoor Nursery (01420 477978; www.blackmoor.co.uk). When it comes to fruit trees and bushes this nursery has the largest range and the quality cannot be beaten. Its website is attractive and informative.
  • Keepers Nursery (01622 726465; www.keepers-nursery.co.uk) If you want heritage varieties of fruit local to your area this is the place to come.
  • Reads Nursery (01508 548395; www.readsnursery.co.uk) For something more exotic (citrus, figs, lemons, oranges and peaches), try this green nursery in Norwich that uses peat-free compost and biological control.

Choice woodlanders

  • Long Acre Plants in Somerset (01963 32802; www.plantsforshade.co.uk) is a plantsman's paradise for ferns, epimediums, erythroniums, snowdrops.
  • Edrom Nurseries (018907 71386; www.edromnurseries.co.uk) on the Scottish borders, Edron offers collections of mainly woodlanders and alpines. The plants are listed on the web, but varieties vary according to availability. There are double Japanese hepaticas, arisaemas, roscoeas, fritillarias and trilliums on the list.

Super specialists

  • The Duchy of Cornwall Nursery (01208 872668; www.duchyofcornwallnursery.co.uk) has a wide range of every type of plant, specialising in magnolias, camellias, rhododendrons and fuchsias.
  • Ashwood Nurseries (01384 401996; www.ashwoodnurseries.com) can send out award-winning hellebores in January, February and early March. It aims to keep service personal so there is no online payment. Either telephone or download the relevant form, then pay by phone or send a cheque. Specialities include cyclamen, hepaticas, lewisias, auriculas, alpines and heathers.
  • Woottens of Wenhaston (01502 478258; www.woottensplants.co.uk) If you like tempting offers to arrive via email, Woottens offers auriculas, pelargoniums, irises and hemerocallis by mail order.
  • Fibrex Nurseries (01789 720788; www.fibrex.co.uk) This family-run nursery offers a fabulous range of hardy ferns and the best advice.
  • C & K Jones (01829 740663; www.jonestherose.co.uk). When it comes to traditional roses of all types, the Joneses have a strong range of first-rate performers.
  • Thorncroft Clematis Nursery (01953 850407; www.thorncroftclematis.co.uk) Clematis are the perfect companion for roses and Thorncroft helpfully subdivides clematis into groups such as late-summer viticellas, the spring Atragene group and The Raymond Evison Collection, among others.

Best of the rest

  • Knoll Gardens (01202 873931; www.knollgardens.co.uk) has the widest range of grasses and its website is full of inspirational pictures.
  • Hayloft Plants (01386 562 999; www.hayloft-plants.co.uk) colour codes its catalogue and website. It specialises in penstemons, tender plants (such as gazanias) and choice perennials.

Vegetables

  • Delfland Nurseries (01354 740553; www.organicplants.co.uk) The best vegetable plant supplier I've found. It offers a full range that varies from month to month, as well as pick and mix packs for the smaller garden.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Nominate your favourite mail order nursery and tell us about your best/worst mail order experiences.