On my recent holiday in the Yorkshire Dales I came across a lovely little plant nursery, All Plants North, based within the National Park, near Skipton/Grassington. It is a small nursery with a lovely selection of plants on offer. Rather than the 'bog standard' versions of plant varieties that you find at garden centres, they propagate and sell the slightly less readily available varieties, or excellent specimens of popular varieties, specifically selected for growing in the North of the country.
Lots of garden centres have Helenium Moerheim Beauty, but All Plants North offered the much redder Helenium Ruby Tuesday. Now I love Moerheim Beauty, but it's quite easy to get hold of. It was great to pick up a slightly less-than-usually offered Helenium.
They also offered good quality plants that were in really good condition. As well as the Ruby Tuesday, I picked up Aster x frikartii Monch. Yes, fairly easy to pick up at garden centres in general, but it was the size of a full bush and a lovely specimen. The same with Sedum Mr Goodbud, which is not only a lovely plant but rather sold itself with it's mass of bees feasting on it's pollen.
I chatted with one of the owners (we were focusing on talking about plants and didn't exchange names!) and found him to be very friendly and knowledgeable, particularly in advising on plants to grow in cooler climes, like well, 'up North'! Their website says they offer "down to earth inspiration, friendly advice and great value prices" and I would concur with this. Next time I'm passing that way, I'll definitely make a detour to see the latest plants All Plants North have on offer. I suggest you do the same.
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You can also follow them on Twitter: @AllPlantsNorth
