Participating nurseries include:
Little Coppice Nursery- Buckinghamshire
This Capel Manor Prize-winning biodynamic nursery are bursting at the seams with ideas, and their passion for plants and for the natural environment shows through from a visit to their Arts and Crafts-inspired Buckinghamshire nursery. The nursery is a community-focused operation, and they organise many talks, growing projects and workshops in schools across London. Aside from this, they have quite amazing plants, especially country garden perennials and shrubs, but also herbs, bulbs, annuals and vegetable seedlings. Plantsman Daniel has a particular fondness for medicinal herbs of the 1600s. www.littlecoppice.com
Rose Cottage Plants- Essex
RHS medal winners, Rose Cottage Plants specialise in growing hardy bulbs and perennials at their farm nursery near Epping Forest. Their spring collection includes hard-to-find varieties of narcissus, tulips, fritillarias and hyacinths, as well as shade-loving pulmonarias, brunneras and other early-flowering 'treasures'- all field grown to ensure hardiness and reliability
www.edibleornamentals.co.uk
Bigtrees - Hampshire
Neil Hosland-Round has two Bigtrees nurseries, one in Buckingham and one in Lymington on the edge of the New Forest. The trees and shrubs he grows vary from showy ornamental species such as mimosas and elegant Silver Birches to heritage apple and cherry trees. You don't have to worry about risking your back by carrying home a tree with you either, as Neil offers a delivery service around London. www.bigtrees.co.uk
Cookoo Box Chillies - Kent
Perry and Alice Cook have been growing a vast array of different herbs and perennials since setting up in 1990. Throughout the years, they have been increasingly caught by 'the chilli bug', and now specialize in some truly unusual chilli plants, with some quite varied flavours. They'll be selling both their own saved chilli seeds and established plants, ranging from the fiery Heat Wave to the much milder but dramatic-looking Friar's Hat. Speak to Alice or Perry for expert advice on sowing and growing. www.cookooboxchillies.com
Pioneer Nurseries - Hertfordshire
Pioneer Nurseries'name is no misnomer - the nursery was set up by the Letchworth Pioneers to provide the plants required to beautify England's first 'garden city'. In recent times, the fine tradition of the nursery has been expanded, and the pioneering spirit of the nursery is being spread across London, through their huge variety of plants, ranging 'from Asters to Zaluzianskya'. If you wish for some expert planting advice, you will have it in abundance from John Hoyland of Pioneer, who is a regular gardens feature writer in a huge variety of publications.
www.pioneerplants.com
