I am David Kerr and I have been a keen gardener and plantsman all my life. I have been growing and selling aquatic plants for over 30 years and have also previously owned a trout farm for 15 years where I sold rainbow and brown trout together with koi carp and other ornamental fish, coarse fish and trout. I specialise in growing plants for ponds, watersides and other damp places and my main interest is in propagation. My deputy manager Ruth was previously a chartered landscape architect for many years, and is even better than me at visualising pond plans and layouts.
By purchasing plants from us you will get well grown, generously sized plants that will establish quickly. We pride ourselves on our service and believe that you won’t find better. There is simply no comparison with the sort of plants you will get from the likes of eBay and our prices are very competitive. Please have a look at our customer reviews, which speak for themselves.
We normally accept visits by appointment only but are not currently accepting visitors. We are not a garden centre and are not yet permitted to open, and in any case we have elderly relatives to care for and need to exercise caution. Not only that but we are firmly in the higher age-related risk category ourselves. Please watch my website for details of when we may start accepting visitors again. In the meantime orders are mail order only.
Please note that I cannot accept plastic payments at the nursery – cheque or cash is fine. Website prices apply to bare root plants ordered and paid for in advance, these can be collected from the nursery by prior arrangement. Potted plants and baskets purchased at the nursery will be priced differently from those on the website; they will generally cost less as we will not have had to package them for courier transport. A complete price list is on display at the nursery. I have a large range of potted plants ready for sale, but if you wish to purchase bare rooted plants at the nursery please be aware that they must be pre-ordered – they are not all on a shelf like at Marks and Sparks. Bare root plants have to be dug up, washed, portioned, labelled, wrapped in paper and bagged, this is all time consuming and only economically possible when we prepare multiple orders at once on conveyor belt system. Also please note that this is a private house and working nursery, not a garden centre – there are no tea rooms or toilets and I don’t sell hideous concrete ornaments or scented candles!
Plants not listed, or listed as out of stock, may still be available in small numbers – please enquire.
Unless stated, bare root plants will be of a size you would expect to find in a 1 litre pot. A 1 litre pot is 10cm x 10cm x 10cm. Please note that most plants are not actually grown here in pots but in large shallow beds or ponds, they are harvested from here as required, so a section this size centred on a growing point is dug up to be prepared for posting. They are then washed to remove soil and weeds and reduce weight for packing. Later in the season, as they grow, leaves and flowering stems have to be trimmed back as many plants are tall. If you wish the plants to be sent untrimmed I can generally do this at an additional postage cost, but it is impractical to send full height plants over 80cm. It’s much better for the plants’ establishment success if they are trimmed. Please note that mat forming plants like Anagallis, Baldellia, Myosotis and Veronica do not look much once root washed as there is very little root and the plant itself is small. These are generally fast growing plants and will soon be away once planted.
For a detailed description of the various plant formats please see the Ordering and Delivery Information page.