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Garden centre or nursery?

debs64debs64 Posts: 4,921
Which do you prefer? And why? And how would you define the difference between them? 

Garden centre or nursery? 26 votes

Nurseries all the time
11% 3 votes
I prefer a garden centre
11% 3 votes
A mix of both
53% 14 votes
Neither, I buy online mostly.
23% 6 votes
«1

Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 25,252
    I would like to use nurseries, but I find them a bit intimidating.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • I like both. Not much a selection around me but I did find one nurserie which I love to go to. I find they are really helpful rather than just trying to get you to buy anything as long as you are spending.
    Marne la vallée, basically just outside Paris 🇫🇷, but definitely Scottish at heart.
  • Joy*Joy* Posts: 571
    I prefer to use a  garden centre which grows its own plants. Last year my bought online fuchsias were very poor. This year the ones grown by the garden centre which has its own nursery are beautiful. Garden Centres seem to buy in like a supermarket and are too busy selling clothes, giftware etc and turning huge areas into children's party venues to be bothered with plants. It is very frustrating to ask for plants only to be told that until the delivery arrives they have no idea of whether they will have them or not.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 13,728
    For slightly more unusual plants and for a much bigger selection, I always buy on line.
    eg. Dahlia tubers, my local GC stocks 6-10 varieties, the on line seller I use has about 100.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,498
    I use a mix of both depending on what I am looking for/buying.
    My rarer succulents come from online nurseries which specialise in them.
    Other local nurseries may have more choice for perennials and shrubs and no high carriage costs to the Isle of Wight!
    Supermarkets/B&Q etc can be great for bog standard stuff and cheap too.All my clematis were bought for between £1-£2.50.
    It depends where I am,what I want and the quality of the plants.
    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • FireFire Posts: 17,116
    I don't live near a nursery, I have no car and my two nearby garden centres have a small range. These days I do a fair bit of research as to exactly what plant will work and get that one. GCs never have it. So I order online - smaller, well regarded companies; the ones recommended on the forum like Wootens.
  • edhelkaedhelka Posts: 2,329
    I've never had a choice. As Fire, we used to have no car a nothing else than a B&Q in walking distance. Now in a new home, we have a car and we have a good garden centre reasonably close (but I still need to ask my husband to drive me there because I don't have a driving licence yet). So it's almost only online for me.
  • Joyce21Joyce21 Posts: 15,489
    I have used four online nurseries for a few years. Excellent quality plants and quick delivery. What used to be a good local nursery was sold and houses built on the land.
    SW Scotland
  • The only nursery remotely near me has quite a small range of plants and is crazily busy all the time with queues to get in the car park. The plants they have are very good quality and reasonably priced but it's just too much effort to go there.

    My local garden centre is a Wyevale which is completely useless but there is another one about 5 miles away which has as much better range. It used to be independent and had an enormous range but was taken over by Blue Diamond a couple of years ago and unfortunately has much less choice these days.

    I do shop online a lot as well.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 8,875
    My real answer would be any/all outlets depending on what I want and what I see "by accident" - so specialist nurseries (either online or if I go to a show where they have a stand - there's not much around here), more general nurseries, garden centres, DIY stores, supermarkets, local market stalls.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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