Six years ago, the Royal Horticultural Society drew attention to the escalating challenges faced by independent plant nurseries. Citing pressures such as an ageing customer base, fewer skilled workers and the arrival of new pests and diseases, the gardening charity warned that nurseries – the “lifeblood of gardening in the UK” – were becoming increasingly uncommon.
Since then, and as a result of the cost of living crisis, there have been yet further closures – with small nurseries struggling to compete with commercial garden centres that often import cheaper plant stock from continental suppliers. Closures include family rose specialist Cants of Colchester, lavender grower Downderry, and Marchants Hardy Plants in Sussex, a much-loved grower of herbaceous perennials and grasses.
But there is hope. A new generation of enthused gardeners is breathing life into an old trade, opening up exciting nurseries across Britain and Ireland.
“We hope to be selling plants by autumn,” newly established nursery owner Jonny Bruce tells me, standing in the large open doorway of his recently erected potting shed. “We’re sowing seeds already, but there’s a lot still to do.” Bruce’s venture, The Field Nursery, is situated outside Cirencester in rural Gloucestershire; an agricultural field perched between a modern housing estate and the village of Siddington. He secured the two-hectare (five-acre) site in 2023, and, having overcome protracted planning procedures, is now installing infrastructure for growing hardy herbaceous ornamentals. Enlisting the help of part-time employee and creative partner, Daniel James, The Field Nursery already boasts two polytunnels, an insulated potting shed, a rainwater-harvesting irrigation tank and a number of stock beds.
Bruce’s interest in propagation began during his horticultural training at Great Dixter in East Sussex, a garden renowned for its floral diversity and holistic, ecological approach to growing. “I was really inspired by the symbiotic relationship between the nursery and the garden at Great Dixter,” he says. “I knew by the end of it that I wanted to work in a nursery.” Bruce spent the next four-and-a-half years working at De Hessenhof in the Netherlands, one of Europe’s finest independent nurseries. “They had plants I’d never seen before, and their passion and commitment to sustainability was really inspiring.”
Returning to the UK, he began seeking land for a perennials nursery of his own. “I got really lucky. A developer had bought this field as part of a larger land package, but couldn’t build on it. They needed to do something positive with the land, so I was able to fulfil that with my proposal – that’s what made this whole project possible.”
Land affordability presents one of the biggest hurdles for startup nurseries. Productive land can be prohibitively expensive, while renting can be volatile. Henrietta Huntley of Freckles and Flora, a new nursery in North Yorkshire, rents land on her parents’ farm. “Without it, I couldn’t do what I do,” she says. “I’m lucky that I can rent cheaply, and also that the land isn’t going to be taken from under me, which is a problem for many nurseries. It’s so difficult renting somewhere when your tenancy is uncertain, because you have to invest so much in your infrastructure – you don’t get that back.”
Having worked in propagation at Beth Chatto Gardens and Sarah Raven’s Perch Hill in the south-east, Huntley returned home to set up her small online nursery with an emphasis on unusual herbaceous plants and colourful annuals, opening last April. “I do everything from species dahlias, cosmos and grasses to UK-natives like cornflower and pink cow parsley, which are popular at the moment.” Dean Charlton, another young alumnus of Great Dixter and Beth Chatto Gardens, spent years looking for somewhere to establish a new nursery in his hometown of Rotherham, securing the lease of a 1.6-hectare walled garden.
“It was always my intention to come home to start a nursery with my dad, and we were so lucky to find this site,” he says. Opened last spring, Hooton’s Walled Nursery sits on the site of a former productive nursery. Charlton’s vision is to gradually transform its ageing greenhouses and propagative infrastructure into an ecologically minded arts and crafts perennial plants nursery. The startup costs remain high: “All my savings have gone into this, and it’s high risk as you’re competing with the big garden centre chains, supermarkets and discount stores. But we want this to be somewhere that inspires budding gardeners – particularly young people.” In the future, Charlton hopes to install a classroom and run study days for visiting school groups. “It’s about getting people back to their roots, literally – kids coming in and getting off their phones; that interaction with the public.”
Another consideration for new growers is the issue of sustainability. Those I spoke with have elected to grow peat-free, and are making strides to reduce water and plastic consumption – historically a challenge for nurseries. “I’m trying to figure out ways of cutting out plastic,” says Vick Ind of Individual Plants Nursery in County Waterford, Ireland. “When I sell plants online, I un-pot everything and wrap it in paper and a compostable bag. It’s a bit time consuming, but at least the plastic container is then reusable.” Formerly gardening at nearby Lismore Castle Gardens, she began the nursery in 2021, growing unusual ornamental plants on rented land, and is a passionate advocate for visiting small nurseries, where “you find really interesting plants and expert advice. They’re just lovely places to support and way more interesting to go to than a garden centre.”
The origin story behind the plants of Toby Shuall’s nursery in East Sussex, Zophian Plants, highlights another vital string to the independent nursery bow: resilience and adaptability. While living in south-east London, Shuall – an ex-pro skater turned avid, self-taught plants man – encountered a mature planting scheme in a neglected public park, originally designed by eminent horticulturist James Hitchmough. “Most of Hitchmough’s planting had survived, showing amazing resilience. That project shaped my interest in plants,” he says.
“And that’s what I feel the work of my nursery is – to produce plants that have a great aesthetic and ecological value.” A few years ago, Shuall traded life in Peckham for a five-hectare farm in East Sussex and began his nursery.
Specialising in predominately drought-tolerant, long-flowering “species” plants (including varieties of cistus, phlomis and helichrysum), Shuall is passionate about the environmental credentials of small nurseries. “You can’t get as low-carbon as something bought from an independent nursery. Everything I sell has been grown here on site and is tried and tested – I’m not buying in plug plants from a greenhouse somewhere using loads of energy. You can buy cheaper plants in a generic chain store but its like cheap food – you get what you pay for.”
Perhaps the most heartening similarity among all five nurseries is their progressive approach to the ecological potential of their sites. Shuall plans to “rewild” his surrounding farmland; Ind has turned vacant areas over to wildflower meadow, and Charlton has commissioned an ecological survey of his nursery to monitor wildlife activity.
Bruce, meanwhile, views the Field Nursery as an opportunity to increase biodiversity. He and James are planting hundreds of native trees and have put logs in the ground to provide habitats for insects. Further plans include an orchard and meadow.
This emphasis on nature provision challenges the conventional plant nursery of the past and proposes a future in which nurseries – as centres of plant diversity – can function in synergy with wildlife. “It’s easy to romanticise nursery life,” Jonny says, “It’s hard work, but we feel we can do so much with the land to engage people – it’s really exciting.”
