We worked with Horton Commercials just like that.  We looked for commercially-available vehicles for our nursery needs: the right size and spec for us, not just the standard.  Richard Hall at Horton got the gig because he got “us”.  Our new vans – on the road since earlier this Summer – allow us to deliver quickly, to your site, when and where you need plants.  Small drops of top notch plants and trees for top notch planting projects.

Like Hortons, buying from allgrowth is different. Buying plants in bulk isn’t always the cheapest option in the long run – double-handling, double-labour, double-downtime, double-hassle.

Imagine a different scenario….

A nursery that understands what you’re asking for.  One that appreciates the constraints under which you are working.  One that won’t just sell you what they’ve got but will work with you to supply you with the right plants for the job, the client, the location, the purpose.  One who delivers when you want. In “manageable chunks”  – smaller deliveries where and when you need the plants.  In vehicles that give you flexibility of delivery and on-site access.  That’s allgrowth.  Has been for 10 years.  Will be forever.

Why pay for plants AND hassle? Don’t.    Read on..

Buy in bulk for the cheapest plants, right?

We always say the nursery trade, growing plants, trees and hedging for others, is a peculiar one.  Yes, it is in some ways – who else still works by fax machine?! – but it has lots of the same bugbears we all experience in everyday life and trading.

It’s competitive. Yes, that’s a given.  But are we competing on the same page?

Large nurseries can supply your plants cheaper

There, I’ve said it.  BUT. Say you’re a landscaper awaiting a plant delivery to a private roof garden in Chiswick.  You’ve bagged a bargain, the best price you could get – buxus for a low-growing hedge to fix up a parterre – and it’s on it’s way from the wholesale nursery.  In fact, it’s just around the corner…only that’s just where it’s staying.  The property’s access is down a narrow, alley with limited access and you’ve got to get the plants to the roof space.  Never mind, you can offload the plants yourself and manoeuvre them to the point of planting, right?

So that’s Hassle 1 – how much will this cost you?

Pile em high, keep em keen?

The plants are rammed into pallets – you sure got a lot of plants for your buck – well done you.  But “pile-em high, keep ‘em keen” means there’s quite a few damaged plants, and they’re not looking great, truth be known.  Still, you can grade them as you go, right?

Hassle 2 – hmmm – factored this in at the outset?

Oh, and Hassle 3 – keep a note of the damages, you’ll sort those later with the wholesaler, yeah?

Woah, that’s a LOT OF PLANTS

You’ve actually only prepared one phase of the roof garden so far as the client can’t provide access to the remainder until further notice.  Damn.  You’ve offloaded 1200 buxus but only need 300 right now.  Where the hell are you going to keep these till you’re ready?

Hassle 4 – you see where we’re going?!  More time, more labour, more hassle, more COST.

Double-handling, double-labour, double-downtime, double-hassle

The buxus WERE cheaper.  The exercise of having them delivered in bulk from a wholesale nursery in an artic load, in pallets…wasn’t.  Not by the time you’ve added in your double-handling of the plants, your grading of the plants, your setting out of part of the delivery but storing the rest safely until a later date when you’re ready, your liaison with the wholesaler about the damaged plants and their replacements.

Imagine a different scenario….

A nursery that understands what you’re asking for.  One that appreciates the constraints under which you are working.  One that won’t just sell you what they’ve got but will work with you to supply you with the right plants for the job, the client, the location, the purpose.  One who delivers when you want. In “manageable chunks”  – smaller deliveries where and when you need the plants.  In vehicles that give you flexibility of delivery and on-site access.

Pay a little more – get LOADS more (and then some).

Oh guess what? ***we’ve got new vans***

We worked with Horton Commercials just like that.  We looked for commercially-available vehicles for our nursery needs: the right size and spec for us, not just the standard.  Richard Hall at Horton got the gig because he got “us”.

We get “you” (and we have done for over 10 years – wish us Happy Birthday)

Great trees, great clients, great landscapes: 10 years on

Ten years since we pulled on our allgrowth boots and one thing remains the same – our aim to support, advise and offer the best options to our clients when they are considering plant selection for their gardens, estates and landscapes.

A heart in horticulture

We started our allgrowth journey in 2008.  First and foremost, we wanted to put our own stamp on the world of plant supply.  Too long we had seen growers and suppliers offload the stock they wanted to sell, clearing fields they continued to replant with the same species, forms and sizes they had planted since time began.  Peter Middlicott, the helmsman at allgrowth, “retired” from the nursery business in 2007, leaving with a heavy heart and a head of disenchantment.  But people very rarely leave horticulture for long and the news that the lease on an established nursery plot was up for renewal was an offer too good to miss – particularly when it was a plot that Peter himself had worked on in his previous tree life 25 years’ prior.

Finely-tuned array of trees

Fast forward a few years and the allgrowth tree hub in Sandy on the Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire border – for it is less of a nursery and more of a “tree hub”, filled with a finely-tuned array of tree stock selected and specifically sought after by clients – has been consolidated, refined and refocused to house stock across 60 acres from its original 120 acre base. Semi-mature trees and topiary, in Airpots and field-grown, flanked by trees growing under contract for prestigious planting schemes on home soil and further afield; allgrowth is a truly unique tree company.

Landscape vision

2018, ten years on and we await the arrival of three new delivery vehicles to replenish and expand our existing fleet. We are collating daily orders full of our own large trees and topiary, complemented by shrubs sourced from our tried-and-tested network of suppliers across the UK and Europe.  Contract growing, sourcing, holding specimens at our partner site in Bedford, it’s a great opportunity to stand back…..take a deep breath…and marvel at how far we’ve come.  And where we’re headed, bolstered by our specialist tree team and supported by our administration back at base, is a new phase of development with new clients, new prospects and an exciting avenue of private, commercial and estate landscapes in our scope of vision.

Who’s with us for the next 10?!

All too often, we hear of nurseries and plant suppliers simply offering the varieties and plants they have readily available in production rather than the RIGHT PLANT FOR WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS.  At allgrowth, we apply plant logic from the offset.  We look at the best plants for the end game, make sure they’re available in the numbers you need and at the price that fits.  We don’t just push our own stock, either.  If we haven’t got the plants that fit, we’ll source the ones that do.  That’s pretty unique in this game.

Often a customer will make a certain plant request, assured that what they’re asking for is the right plant for the job.  We would always query why that plant has been selected – why not?  There may be other alternatives that are less expensive, better suited and more likely to achieve the end result quicker and more effectively.  No harm in asking, right?

For example, we were asked recently for hornbeams for a hedge at more than 1.5 metres in height, ready planted into an instant hedge in troughs.  Sounds perfect? Great.  Except this option was REALLY expensive.  We asked: Why at this height in troughs? Answer: Because that’s what’s been specified?  OK.  We made them think, we planted the seed of doubt.   So, they countered with an alternative.  What about cutting the cost by buying in 5 litre pots?  Hmm.  Just two things to note here: 1)  YOU try sourcing this plant in a 5 litre in the UK; 2:  A bigger plant in a smaller pot? It would fall over!   Instead, we thought outside the box (or the hornbeam in this case!).  Why not purchase 3 no. hornbeam in 3 separate 10 litre pots? End effect – the same:  A bushy instant hedge.  End price? A fraction of the insta-trough solution originally sought and widely available to source at a competitive price.

Always ask WHY.

Should you think outside the box blight?

Box blight.  A headline grabber?  A scaremonger?  Yes, if you plant box hedging, you might be at risk of falling foul to box blight (which is treatable, by the way).   But if you choose another plant species, you might just be opening yourself up to other dilemmas.  So why not think differently when you’re considering what to plant, where to plant and why you’re planting – at allgrowth, we always do.

It’s simple to avoid planting box and substituting say, Pittosporum.  But one hard winter? That’s the end of your hedge.  A box hedge, planted correctly, watered sufficiently and in plenty of soil, stands a great chance of thriving and creating what the customer originally planned – a wholesome, hearty hedge boundary.

How about Ilex Crenata?  All well and good, but not if your hedge is in the South Eastern quarter of the country – it won’t grow on clay soil.  Besides, there are less of these available and they’re more expensive.

Back to the box hedge then?  Why not? Even if blight becomes a factor, this can be sprayed and controlled.  Reduce the stress in the plants and feed them, and the hedge will flourish.

“How about Prunus lusitanica? We’ve got loads of these on the nursery.”

Aah yes.  The Portuguese Laurel.  No box blight there.  But hang on….there’s still the chance of shothole, vine weevil and don’t get us started on the plant passporting and health of this and other rosaceae varieties.

We’re not obsessed with box, but we will always offer the best plant to suit what the customer is trying to achieve – and if it’s box, it’s box.  Cornus could be a good hedge proposal; it’s easy to trim and coppice, it grows tightly, gives great Winter stem colour and pretty Summer flower colour.  It’s vigorous.  You can plant it in swathes.  It’s cheap. It’s available. It works.

Keep it simple.  You want an evergreen hedge? Box. A fast growing but manageable border? Box.  Widely available and affordable? Box.  Alternatives? Yes, plenty.  Better than box? Probably not.