Our Nursery
WHERE IT ALL BEGINS
THE BIGGEST COLLECTION OF ARCHITECTURAL PLANTS IN THE UK
Where It All Begins
Our nursery covers 32 acres and is home to over 40,000 trees and plants all lined-up to transform your garden instantly. Mature, verdant and elegantly sculptural topiary. Colourful acers. Resplendent multi-stems. Unfurling canopies. An endless array of luxurious and textural vertical drama. Hardy evergreen and deciduous specimens. A proper nursery for smaller shrubs, two shade houses and paths lined with a variety of exciting screening and topiary. An acer house with possibly the largest collection of mature maples in the south of England. A lake garden, a lake walk and a tropical grove.
Our eleven indoor polytunnels hold inspiring delights from across the world: exotic evergreens, tree ferns, large palms, climbers, succulents, and our own homegrown favourites. If you’re looking to add unique drama and interest to your garden design, you’ll love our intriguing collection of rare and unusual plants. Shape form and structure can be found in the Niwaki production zone, a creative space, which displays different varieties of cloud pruned trees both large and small, including specimens in various stages of training. Our Propagation Laboratory sits beyond this, where we work to fill our production lines and homegrown polytunnels; cultivating more of the blobs, pillows, unusual & rarer specimens and cloud-pruned Niwaki that we love so much.
Traffic Light Hardiness System
We take an enormous amount of pride in our displays and in the quality of our plants. You will find everything clearly laid out and labelled with our traffic light hardiness rating system.
Green Light
Hardy anywhere in Britain below approximately 1000ft (300m).
Amber Light
Hardy in the Home Counties if sensibly sited (avoiding severe frost pockets, for example). Many Amber labelled plants are grown using cuttings from well established plants that have survived many harsh winters in South East England.
Red Light
Hardy in Atlantic coastline gardens, The Channel Islands, gardens in Central London and other large cities and conservatories.
Taxonomy
With so many varieties of plants to grow, train, shape and look after, we choose to categorise and name them using the correct botanical Latin. Taxonomy is an essential practice to help us understand and properly care for the plants. It also means we can offer you the very best advice and knowledge. Our paddles will provide you with a brief introduction to each plant but our team are always around to explain and elaborate further, help you explore, arrange a delivery or help to pack your car with plants.
It all starts with a conversation
You might find yourself coveting large swathes of the nursery for your garden. Our sales team can help with your craving arrange a delivery, help to pack your car, or offer you direction on our Planting and Creative Maintenance services. Should you want the full attention of our Garden Design experts while you are browsing, they will help arrange an initial consultation. To arrange and discuss your requirements in detail please visit the Garden Design page here or email design@architecturalplants.com
We propagate a lot of our own stock, including rarer specimens and source many more from around the UK. Our range of plants is extensive. We have a huge selection of semi-mature trees and shrubs, but we also sell plants small enough to pop in the car and take away with you on the day. We’ll make sure they are ready for the journey – attaching an information plant tag to each variety, wrapping them to protect them or saving your upholstery from a spill of mulch, before we help you get them into your vehicle. You will find them on our proper nursery, in our shade houses, under planted with our larger specimens inside the polytunnels and all sorts of other little nooks.
We hate the thought of our pots cluttering up your garden or going to landfill and we are more than keen for you to return them. We have a Pot Recycling Scheme and we’ll give you a voucher for any you bring back.
You will also find a great selection of glazed, ironstone and corten steel pots, water features and fire pits on display. We also provide (or source) a range of planters and distinctive sculptural works that you might want to incorporate into a more ambitious Garden Design. We have a broad portfolio of local sculptors, artists and other designers who we collaborate with and you can browse their work when you visit.
To end your visit, take a stroll over the bank and enjoy a little peace and quiet by the lake.
We’re dog friendly. In fact, we have four of our own here, so you’re more than welcome to bring Fido with you (please just make sure you clean up after him).
The nursery is flat and accessible for all. Should you require use of a wheelchair, we have two available – please speak to a member of our team who will help you.
Please note that our nursery moved in 2015 to Stane Street in Pulborough. The Nuthurst nursery is no longer open.
We’re proud to be…
