On 2013-10-15 17:27:53 +0100, Jake said:

On Tue, 15 Oct 2013 16:07:46 +0100, sacha wrote:

Some years ago, we even
had a garden designer from Madeira buying things here which were
supposedly native there but which he couldn't find there!

Try and find a copy of Russell Page's "Education of a Gardener" (out
of print but often a couple of quid on Amazon Marketplace). He talks
about having to venture far afield when designing gardens around the
Mediterranean because local growers only grew a couple of varieties
which the "more common" locals would buy.

Think how much effort we need to make to find that just slightly
unusual summer bedding plant - places which stopped selling Walleriana
6-packs replaced them on the shelves with Begonia 6-packs, not New
Guinea 6-packs - round here at least you can only but NGs in garden
centres as large plants for £5+ each.

Interesting, Jake, I'll pass that on to The Bosses. But it seems to me
that this whole business is a bit like supermarkets moving into an
area, causing smaller family-run businesses to close down. The
erstwhile customers of those butchers, greengrocers and bakers then
have no choice but to buy what the supermarket has for sale.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk