Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Now that we have sadly lost several of the local and localish  places to buy plants, can anybody recommend a good nursery which is reasonably near and has a good selection of shrubs?

Or alternatively a good place to buy plants online (though  I would rather see what I am buying, as I've had bad experiences in the past when buying plants online).

I need something urgently which is evergreen and prickly and will grow quickly to fill a shady  corner space at the back of my garden where fences have become bare and cats are climbing  over and waiting for birds to come to the feeders 😭

I'm thinking a Mahonia. It doesn't actually have thorns, but the leaves are prickly.

Alternatively, is there some other way of deterring the cats without harming them (I like cats!) I don't want to use anything like spikes or barbed wire.

If this is in the wrong section, admin, please move!

Edited by Sue
Edited to add garden centre to heading to avoid confusion

I can't guarantee that they'll have what you're after but I was very impressed with The Nunhead Gardener this week.  I'd also been to Croxted Road and the Pot and Plant next to North Dulwich Station and the selection at both paled by comparison.

  On 19/04/2025 at 14:07, ed_pete said:

I can't guarantee that they'll have what you're after but I was very impressed with The Nunhead Gardener this week.  I'd also been to Croxted Road and the Pot and Plant next to North Dulwich Station and the selection at both paled by comparison.

Expand  

Thanks, I thought the Nunhead Gardener only did house plants. 

I'll give them a call.

  On 19/04/2025 at 14:06, diable rouge said:
Expand  

Thanks, I'm not sure a Berberis would be tall enough, but I'll check it out!

It wouldn't get enough sun for a gooseberry, sadly.

  On 19/04/2025 at 15:35, tiddles said:

Alleyn park garden centre in west Dulwich - very knowledgeable and super helpful and can deliver - give them a buzz 

Expand  

Thanks Tiddles, I will call them!

Surprised nobody has recommended Peckham wildlife centre:  https://www.wildlondon.org.uk/nature-reserves/centre-for-wildlife-gardening

Very close.

Also the greenhouses at Brockwell Park Greenhouse, Google it, another wildlife garden, open some weekends.

  • Like 1

If you mean proper nurseries where they grow plants and not just garden centres there are several on Woodmansterne Lane just south of Wallington. I prefer going there as you get a lot of plants you don't see in garden centres. The two I go to most often are Flittons https://www.flittons.com/ and Barnes https://www.barnesnurseries.co.uk/.

There are a few others on the same road and a large Dobbies if you want a garden centre that sells other things.

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)
  On 19/04/2025 at 16:13, malumbu said:

Surprised nobody has recommended Peckham wildlife centre:  https://www.wildlondon.org.uk/nature-reserves/centre-for-wildlife-gardening

Very close.

Also the greenhouses at Brockwell Park Greenhouse, Google it, another wildlife garden, open some weekends.

Expand  

I was at Brockwell Park greenhouses very recently, they don't have any plants for sale which are suitable for my purpose (though that's not why I went there).

I'd be very surprised if the Marsden Road place did either, as I need a fairly large prickly shrub!

  On 19/04/2025 at 17:01, Friernlocal said:

If you mean proper nurseries where they grow plants and not just garden centres there are several on Woodmansterne Lane just south of Wallington. I prefer going there as you get a lot of plants you don't see in garden centres. The two I go to most often are Flittons https://www.flittons.com/ and Barnes https://www.barnesnurseries.co.uk/.

There are a few others on the same road and a large Dobbies if you want a garden centre that sells other things.

Expand  

Thanks, I used the term nursery a bit too loosely, sorry. I did mean including garden centres.

Your post is useful, thanks. 

I'm not looking for anything unusual though, just a prickly shrub to deter cats! Much as I love unusual plants, I only have a very small garden.

Many of my plants (some unusual and some I had had for years) have disappeared due to wood  pigeons trampling everything under my bird feeders in their quest to eat anything edible dropped by smaller birds using the feeders 😭 

Edited by Sue
  • Sue changed the title to Can anybody recommend a good local plant nursery or garden centre?
  On 19/04/2025 at 19:32, lizbells6 said:

Pyracantha? Covered in white flowers and pollinators in the summer followed by berries for the birds. Can be a bit of a thug though so you have to keep on top of pruning it through the thorns! 

Expand  

Ooh yes, good shout!

I do like the Nunhead Gardener.  Shannon's was cheaper but that is academic.  Garden Centres have not benefited from Brexit, one reason that Shannons closed.

The wildlife centre is good for native hedging, fruit trees and bushes and the like, and worth a stroll down to in any case.

  • Thanks 1
  On 19/04/2025 at 19:32, lizbells6 said:

Pyracantha? Covered in white flowers and pollinators in the summer followed by berries for the birds. Can be a bit of a thug though so you have to keep on top of pruning it through the thorns! 

Expand  

The thorns are brutal though! I've been trying to cut some back this morning and I look like I've had a fight with a cat! Also, maybe because ours in a communal garden haven't been well kept, the cats still get in and amongst them, but that might be because all there spikes are at the top? I'm constantly clearing cat poo up from underneath them and come out covered in scratches. 

  On 19/04/2025 at 16:13, malumbu said:

Surprised nobody has recommended Peckham wildlife centre:  https://www.wildlondon.org.uk/nature-reserves/centre-for-wildlife-gardening

Very close.

Also the greenhouses at Brockwell Park Greenhouse, Google it, another wildlife garden, open some weekends.

Expand  

They only had trees recently and no aground or plants

  • Thanks 1
Posted (edited)
  On 20/04/2025 at 13:49, natalee54 said:

The thorns are brutal though! I've been trying to cut some back this morning and I look like I've had a fight with a cat! Also, maybe because ours in a communal garden haven't been well kept, the cats still get in and amongst them, but that might be because all there spikes are at the top? I'm constantly clearing cat poo up from underneath them and come out covered in scratches. 

Expand  

Oh dear! 

I have had one in the past.

Spines at the top would be fine, because it might deter the cats from jumping over the fence.

I will try the cat deterrent fence topper as well.

Edited by Sue

I have always found the Secret Garden in Crystal Palace to have a good selection of plants and probably the largest in the area. Nunhead Gardener is good but I find it’s led by what’s fashionable this season. It is also quite limited by size, same goes for Alleyn Park. 

  • Thanks 1
  On 21/04/2025 at 16:56, se22 said:

I happened to be at the secret garden today. They were very busy due to the bank Holiday. There was an excellent selection of plants and the staff were very helpful and friendly. 

Expand  

Yes, thanks, I had forgotten them too.

The Secret Garden is great and delivers - excellent customer service and advice. I think the Nunhead Gardener is way too expensive and not sure they really know their stuff. 

I hate to admit that I go online for plants but Gardening Express is just brilliant - great value for money (I used to use Crocus, which is extortionate and so many of their plants didn't make it) and their plants have grown like crazy since I got them. 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • It’s even worse this weekend, the bass is unbearable.    The fact SE22 is getting upset about something in an entirely different Borough probably suggests how bloody loud it is that we can still hear it from here!? It must be awful for those living right next to it as I feel stressed enough from half an hour away. I don’t see any benefit to the local community, it blocks off our green spaces, makes it deeply unpleasant to be at home every weekend, and most attending will be from outside of the area. I also wonder if these events are the reason there are so many dead fish currently bobbing around the lake in brockwell park? Pretty miserable for the local wildlife too.   
    • That will be interesting if Sally does  What a good use of what on paper looks like a good site 
    • This link.provides the full.articke using an archive site  https://archive.is/J8DvF The summary is that the taxes on electricity could be removed but an equivalent levy would then be added to gas to encourage people tonusevheat pumps.  Not convinced it would stay like that but it isn't quite as sensational as the headlines 
    • Looking for a small corner sofa  🙂
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...