Who are we?

The nursery was established in 1982 (when this photo was taken) in a small south facing Devon field. Our native hedges are very diverse and with careful management the wildlife continues to live happily and indeed proliferate alongside our activities. The soil is heavy clay which is just on the acid side of neutral. We have 6 polytunnels in which we propagate and grow almost all that we sell.

This is the view from the old field entrance at the bottom (south) of the site in autumn 1982. The Oak in the background is part of the hedge on the N boundary and next to the sheeted polytunnel in the picture above.

And this is the same shot in autumn 2005. The oak in the top hedge is completely obscured by a matrix of trees within the structure of the garden.

Every year we learn more about natural control mechanisms. We use composted municipal green waste as the basis of our potting composts. This helps deal with fungal diseases which are the scourge of growers using chemical based systems of production. It also means you get really robust plants.

We manage both the nursery and our Holbrook garden without using chemical pesticides or peat and we have huge amount of help from many natural predators such as warblers which eat aphids to nematodes which gobble vine weevil larvae. You do NOT get a hidden burden of unwanted pesticides when you buy our plants. (Incredibly, many growers still use a slow release organophosphate to control vine weevil)

Nursery partners Susan Proud and Martin Hughes-Jones in Holbrook garden.