Have you ever wished your garden could look more exciting
even in the depths of winter?

For years I lamented the fact that the average British garden (mine included) was about as fascinating to look at in winter as a wet breeze block. My solution was to put together a special collection of special looking plants. Some were spiky, some had big leaves, some looked tropical, some looked absurd but all were evergreen.

In the jargon of horticulture, these are known as 'architectural plants'. Not because they belong in buildings (although many of them look very fine in the conservatory) but because the plants themselves have their own 'architecture' - strong, sometimes spectacular, shapes which bring a distinctive year-round presence to a garden.

Many of these plants are so tricky to propagate, however, that they have remained beyond the reach of all but the keenest amateur gardener - until now. By using up-to-date technology, including micropropagation, our own small nursery is now producing these plants in significant numbers.`

In selecting the hardiest forms - by taking cuttings from well-established plants of proven hardiness or by using seed gathered at extreme altitude - we can produce plants that will thrive - year-round - in a British Garden.

Because we are such a small concern, dedicated to the health and well being of our leafy offspring, we are keen to offer individual help and advice about positioning and cultivation, far beyond anything offered by an impersonal garden-centre.

If you like the idea of a more spectacular garden, whether in summer or winter, or even if you're just curious and would like to find out more, pay us a visit. Our opening hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Sunday."

I wrote the above as the introduction to our first catalogue in 1990 and am glad to say that we've few reasons to change it; just a few things to add.

In the spring of that year we launched ourselves onto an unsuspecting and bemused British public, without the faintest idea as to whether anyone else out there shared our passion for peculiar plants.

Since then we've discovered, to our relief, that we weren't the only ones. The business has prospered and we've learnt an awful lot about the plants, how to use them, who buys them and why.

Because such a high proportion of the plants we produce are rare in cultivation, there was a danger that we might have gained a reputation as a nursery that merely dealt in rare plants; this was never my intention.

There are several reasons for plants being rare in cultivation:

1. They're just plain dull.
2. They're difficult to grow - but not necessarily difficult to propagate.
3. They're difficult to propagate - but not necessarily difficult to grow.
4. They've been overlooked - nobody knows about them.

We now have a list that contains many plants in 3 and 4, very few in 2 and none in 1; a list that's tailored very much for those who want to use our plants to 'create an effect' - the designer, rather than the collector.

You'll find a number of plants have been dropped from the old catalogue. We want to concentrate on a smaller range of more reliable plants and yet, to be able to supply the ones we do have in greater numbers, in a greater variety of sizes and grown to an even higher standard.

With this in mind, we've built a new nursery on the south coast where we grow a range of our landscape quality (i.e. tough and easy) ornamental trees to very much larger sizes, and also specialise in plants for seaside gardens.

It's run by Christine Shaw who had five years working at our main nursery near Horsham before setting up this one in 1996. It's called

Tel: 01243 545008.

A huge number of plants, beautifully grown and well worth a visit.

ANGUS WHITE -- February 2009.