Plants in High Places: Rock and Alpine Garden Adventures: Lake District Nurseries

We visited two excellent nurseries on our study tour. Both could be considered beautiful gardens in their own right, as display beds were incorporated into the plant sales area. The first nursery we visited was Larch Cottage Nurseries in Melkinthorpe (http://larchcottage.co.uk/cms/home). This nursery is huge and full of many rare and unusual plants. It’s located in a low spot in the landscape, a frost pocket, that is also drier than the surrounding area. The advantage to this location is that through selective breeding, the growers at Larch Cottage are producing plants that are hardier.

We met with Peter Stott, the owner of Larch Cottage Nurseries, who explained that their plant selection is aimed at the educated customer. The look of the nursery is a bit haphazard, with garden furniture and art mixed in with plants. Peter said that people generally live this way, in an environment that may seem a bit cluttered, but that the nursery is organized like this to create a comfortable environment. One of their goals is to create an enjoyable customer experience by not bothering customers unnecessarily, unless they ask for help.

The second nursery we visited was on the last day of our tour. Abi and Tom’s Garden Plants at Halecat is a newer nursery in its third year (http://www.halecatplants.co.uk/). Tom Attwood runs the nursery with his wife, Abi, and one part-time employee. Tom went through the HND program at RBGE. I found this visit interesting because Tom talked about the challenges and successes he’s encountered while opening and running a small nursery. Like Larch Cottage, Abi and Tom’s sell plants adapted to the local climate. Multiple display beds allow the customer to see the habit of the plant once it is in the ground and address common garden challenges, such as dry shade.