Check out this excellent nursery near London

The Palm Centre

Located not far from Kew Gardens is The Palm Centre which claims to be one of the leading exotic plant nurseries in the UK.

This impressive nursery not only stocks a range of palms but also propogates from seed – this means your carbon footprint can be kept low knowing that very few air miles have been used in the production of the plants that you buy. This is an issue that many gardeners are becoming increasingly concerned about.

I visited the Palm Centre to check out the range of 400 species that is on offer and experience the advice and information available. The Palm Centre is located next to Ham House, just half an hour from Central London by road or a bus ride from Richmond tube station. It has the feel of the countryside sitting behind a lovely old brick wall which opens into an enclosed nursery set around many glass houses.There were many assistants wandering around offering advice whenever I needed it – including the very helpful Tim pictured with me here:

The display includes everything from bananas, phormiums, cordylines, agaves, olives, eucalyptus for opurchase over the counter and by mail orderhttp://www.palmcentre.co.uk/Category.aspx

The most impressive thing for me was the passion for plants and the desire not just to sell me something, but make sure that I really understood what I was buying. The owner, Martin Gibbons, started the business over 14 years ago developing his hobby of collecting exotic plants into a thriving business that now houses a wonderful collection of oriental, tropical, arid and temperate exotic garden plants suitable for UK gardens

There are an enormous range of palms to choose from with delectable names such as- Windermere , Jelly, Yatay, Mexican Blue, Chilean Wine – all transporting me to some exotic destination before I remembered that actually these palms have to deal with the unpredictability of the english climate. Back to reality with a few questions about hardiness, growth patterns etc

Tim asked me crucial questions about my garden, where I wanted to plant and what the soil was like.These are key factors when investing in these types of plants as they are often fairly expensive and it is important to make sure they will survive. He suggested that the best palm for hardiness in UK gardens is the Chusan Palm or Trachycarpus Fortuneii from China which has large, fan-shaped leaves on the top of a spectacular, hairy trunk. If fed and watered well, It can grow to a massive 18-21ft (6-7m) but if your garden is small, there is a miniature version available which reaches a more comfortable 12-15ft(4-5m).

There is more excellent information about the range of outdoor and indoor palms available on the nursery web-site http://www.palmcentre.co.uk/Category.aspx?ParentID=23-

Owner Martin Gibbons has also written THE best selling palm book called “Palms – the illustrated guide to palm species” which has illustrations and characteristics of 120 of the world’s most common palms.This book is available in 3 languages via amazon and is the culmination of many years of being both a nurseryman and an international plant hunter.

I was impressed by the number of plants that are being propogated for sale by the nursery- and not just palms.Tim showed me some agave that were being cultivated in a greenhouse using seed that the nusery had collected themselves from Mexico. These are a variety called Agave Montana which survive well in our wetter winters – in fact my own agave in a pot had been challenged this winter by wet and frost . Tim added a piece of expert advice about positioning it on a slope so that the water drains off rather than sits in the leaves – invaluable words of advice that I had not even asked for.

The Palm Centre lived up its claim of being one of THE specialist nurseries for palms and other exotics with its combination of invaluable advice from horticultural assistants, an impressive range of plants in a suberb location and the reputation of its owner, Martin Gibbons.

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In my garden, the Fatsia Japonica is enjoying a late flowering attracting wasps and bumble bees – normally well tucked up by this time of year. This evergreen plant adapts well to wetter winters/hotter summers and is exceptionally low maintenance. It is classed as an Architectural Plant which are increasingly attractive to UK gardeners as they struggle with unpredictable weather patterns.

To explore these plants further, I decided to visit one of my favourite nurseries – Architectural plants in Nuthurst, near Horsham in West Sussex.

This unique place greets you with an attractive Colonial “office” and was established by Angus White in 1990. Lamenting the fact that the average British garden looks very unimpressive in winter, Angus put together a special selection of exotic looking evergreen plants that he knew would survive the UK climate and yet provide year round interest . Some spiky, some with big leaves, some tropical looking and some rather weird but all are evergreen and as an horticultural group they are called “Architectural”.I love the way Anguus describes what Architectural Plants represents in his beautiful glossy brochure:

Over 20 years, the nursery has established itself as one of the best known in the country. It is an inspirational experience to wander around but take plenty of money as the choice of high quality plants is very tempting.Many of the plants are now propagated at their own nursery near Chichester to ensure reliable plants, adapted to growing in the UK .

To help you decide, the nursery operates an innovative traffic light system which uses red to denote non-hardy specimens, orange for half-hardy and green for those that will withstand any conditions .There are always plenty of assistants around to help plus there is an incredible amount of information available in the delightful cafe area where you can sit and enjoy the excellent range of free refreshments and read about the different plants.

One of my favourites is Trachycarpus Fortunei with attractive red bark which looks stunning on its own or in a planting scheme.Visit http://www.architecturalplants.com/ – or pay a visit and experience this amazing place for yourself .

Read about my visit to their wonderful nursery in the beautiful Sussex countryside:

“Advice is King at Athelas Plants” explains Matt as we sit in the Sussex sun surrounded by his wonderful display of agaves and yuccas . ” Our main aim is to make sure our customers absolutely buy the right plant for the right spot in their garden – its not about the sale, but more about the advice and information we provide. We offer an individual service,  spending time with every customer – either walking around the nursery or discussing their ideas on the phone with mail order customers to ensure they select the correct plant for what they are trying to achieve – but most importantly for the soil and conditions in their garden.”

Some of the plants  originate from overseas so Matt and Nigel spent the last few years trialing them in a range of English weather conditions . An example is their specially chosen palms -  tested in all types of summer and winter weather in East Sussex which means that they know for certain just exactly how hardy they are. They now  have 10 palms that they consider highly suitable for english gardens  – one of my favourites is Bismarkia, a silver fan leafed palm that looks spectacular and with a small amount of protection from damper,wetter winters will thrive and grow very quickly.

Matt  understands climate change plants as he spent time living near Sydney where drought is a major influence on gardens. He noticed how the Aussies seemed very keen to grow roses and English style herbacous plants but how during intense droughts, it was the native drought-loving species that survived and grew well whilst the English-style gardens just withered and died. Returning to the UK when there was a full blown drought, Matt decided  to turn his knowledge and enthusiasm into a business with Nigel, pictured below, who had retired from the RAF and, as a keen gardener, was looking for a second career.

Two years on, this hard-working pair have established an excellent nursery offering very high quality plants at extremely reasonable prices -  both by mail order or on-site. Their unique personal service has certainly worked with 50% of customers sending complimentary e-mails  – check out some of the glowing comments at http://www.athelasplants.co.uk/testimonials

One of the most important things about Athelas Plants is the passion and commitment that Matt and Nigel have to offer good quality plants that have been field grown rather than propogated in hot houses, often the case  in many garden centres stocking plants sourced in Holland. They also propagate as many plants as possible – Matt showed me a number of small Callistemon or bottle brush plants  for just £3 each.These were all propagated in the nursery rather than being transported from other countries   – perfect for reducing your carbon foot-print.

The success of Athelas Plants demonstrates that climate change  plants are now a popular choice for UK gardens as  they are low maintenance and offer something  different by bringing a taste of overseas shores to your garden.

http://www.athelasplants.co.uk/

NB If you are wondering where the name Athelas comes from – its a mythical, healing plant created by Tolkien for Lord of the Rings – Matt is a huge LOR fan and chose the name to bring success to the  nursery- certainly appears to have brought some Middle Earth magic to the place! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Middle-earth_plants

hhtp://www.paramountplants.co.uk is based in Crews Hill, Enfield, just 5 minutes from junction 25 of the M25. It is a very friendly, relaxed nursery with a good range of plants at much cheaper prices than some London nurseries.

When I visited they had an impressive display of beautiful, large camelias full of wonderful buds/flowers plus a wide choice of phormiuims, yuccas, chusan palms, topiary, cyprus trees and many more large plants.

The nursery was very busy and there were plenty of assistants  helping customers. I chatted with the main man Lucas – see pic below – who told me that that the nursery has been going for 11 years but is continually expanding due to the growing interest in Mediterranen and Tropical plants.

Lucas is a very friendly guy who assured me that Paramount offers individual attention and advice to every customer. Lucas was surprised at how some clients have no idea about what soil or conditions these type of plants require so he always makes sure that staff explain the importance of these factors to ensure their growth – and survival!

Paramount Plants is well worth a visit if you live in London as your budget will go a lot further. You can be sure of quality as the nursery has been a Medal Winner at the Chelsea Flower Show.They also have a garden Design and Landscaping Team if you require plants to be landscaped.

Why not pay a visit to view their excellent plants or take a look at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acB3LhKC7qQ&feature=related