Services
Plants for beginners and collectors, rare species, growing supplies, mail order, planting and maintenance, identification and courses.
A wide range of cacti and other succulents from robust species that forgive almost anything to plants that demand real attention, all correctly named and all grown here. Beginners are steered towards the forgiving end with an explanation of why, and there is always a bench of good-sized, inexpensive plants for people furnishing a flat rather than starting a collection. Larger specimens of many species are available for those who want immediate presence.
Seed-raised plants of species that rarely appear in the trade, including slow-growing globulars, caudiciforms, crested and variegated forms and material from documented field collections. Availability is limited and irregular by nature, and we keep a wants list rather than pretend otherwise. Every regulated species is supplied with its documentation, and we are happy to discuss provenance in as much detail as any collector wishes.
Our own mineral growing mix by the bag or the pallet, plus pumice, lava grit, quartz sand and top dressing gravels sold separately for those who blend their own, clay and plastic pots in the sizes these plants actually need, labels, low-nitrogen feed and the few treatments worth owning. We explain what each component does, because a grower who understands their mix stops needing to buy anybody's opinion in a sack.
Plants packed bare-rooted and dry, shipped nationally and across the region, with orders held during extreme weather rather than dispatched into it. The list is updated as stock changes and each entry states size, whether the plant is seed or cutting raised, and its real requirements. Anything that arrives damaged is replaced without argument, though careful packing means this happens very rarely.
Design and planting of dry gardens, gravel beds, roof terraces and courtyards using species suited to the exposure and the winter rainfall, with drainage built properly since that is what kills these plantings rather than cold. We also maintain collections for owners who travel, repot on a schedule, treat infestations, and rescue neglected collections that have been inherited or left in a greenhouse for several unattended years.
Free identification of plants brought in or photographed, along with an honest opinion of their condition and what to do next — usually repotting and rather less water. We run short practical courses through the year on propagation from seed and cuttings, grafting, repotting and overwintering, limited to ten people, held in the growing houses with everyone's hands in the compost rather than in front of a screen.