On Saturday afternoon we paid a visit to Hoo House Nursery near Tewkesbury (
http://www.hoohouse.co.uk/), one of the select group of good nurseries in Gloucestershire. Hoo House is a small business run by Robin and Julie Ritchie, specializing in good garden plants, with a wide range of alpines and perennials. It is the sort of place to go to acquire the solid foundations of a good border or rock garden - there are no flashy latest novelties of unproven merit - and plants are grown hard in the open, so they are conditioned for garden conditions.
Some of the Hoo House offerings have been raised there, and usually bear the names of Ritchie family members. I have grown
Helianthemum 'David Ritchie' (right) for some years, and greatly admire its rich cherry-red flowers, while
Erodium 'Julie Ritchie' is with pink anthers and the palest pink eye, over silvered foliage. It's also nice to see that they offer other local plants, including Elaine Horton's
Anthemis 'Tinpenny Sparkler', which is almost white (image below). We came away with a small selection of nice things (and found spaces for them all!) and will be back as we develop our new border over the course of the summer.
Anthemis 'Tinpenny Sparkler' at Hoo House Nursery
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Dear John, I was so pleased to come across your weblog and find that you are extolling the virtues of Hoo House nursery. I do so agree that they have a wonderful plant range on offer and, in the past, I have always found that plants bought from them have flourished in my garden.
ReplyDeleteI have added myself as a 'Follower' as, looking through your postings, I have read much of interest.