Show stoppers
Well known for its award-wining displays at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Avon Bulbs in Somerset offers a range of stunning plants for all seasons
Gardeners will know Avon Bulbs as a regular of horticultural shows, where it is renowned for its excellent Gold medal displays. I remember its immaculate stands at the RHS London Shows in Vincent Square, the snowdrop displays were legendary – so carefully laid out as if plucked fresh from a woodland floor. When the doors opened to the show, throngs of people would make a sudden sally for its stand in a bid to purchase the rarest, most choice plants before they sold out. At the RHS Chelsea Flower Show the stands were more luxurious with drifts of tulips, lily-of-the-valley, gladioli and alliums (to name but a few), each flower in flawless condition. It’s no surprise the nursery has won 30 RHS Chelsea Gold medals, in addition to Gold at Malvern, Birmingham and Hampton Court Palace.
Avon Bulbs is a long-standing, family run, mail-order nursery specialising in bulbs for the flower garden. Owned by Chris Ireland-Jones and managed with Alan Street, it’s located near South Petherton in Somerset, a stone’s throw from the famous garden of the late Margery Fish at East Lambrook.
The nursery was originally set up by Walter Stag, a former UK representative for the bulb giant Van Tubergen, in 1979, and Alan joined soon afterwards. It moved twice before settling near Trowbridge on a site overlooking the River Avon, after which the nursery was named. Chris bought the nursery from Walter in 1987, but the site was proving to be difficult, and after the glasshouses were flattened by a gale, a move seemed to be in order. Fortuitously, in the early 1990s, Chris was told about a small dairy farm, with seven acres, cattle sheds and heavy clay soil, that was coming up for auction and he bought it. “It was less than ideal for a bulb nursery,” he remembers. “Alan had wanted something much lighter for his snowdrops. There wasn’t a tree on the place, so no shade for woodland bulbs.”
Thirty years on it is a very different scene. “We have quite a lot of trees now, more shade and a lot more staff,” says Chris. Snowdrops now carpet a new woodland floor. “We don’t dig from here,” says Chris, “we just let them seed out.” Instead the nursery cultivates most of its snowdrop bulbs for sale using specialist cold frames, although as Alan points out over the years they have found quite a few lovely seedlings in the woodland. If you paw through the beautifully illustrated catalogue, you will see the copse has provided a bounty of new treasures, including Galanthus ‘Midas’, a snowdrop with markings that turn golden yellow shortly after opening, and G. ‘The Wizard’, which has green markings on the interior and exterior of the flower. Snowdrops, may have become the nursery’s trademark plant, but it also offers a considerable range of excellent hardy garden plants that cater for all seasons and situations, including tulips, alliums and lilies for the mixed border; anemones, scillas and erythroniums suitable for naturalising through the woodland; and crocuses, narcissi and fritillaries for early colour in meadows and lawns. Much of the stock is grown on-site in stock beds and cold frames, the large glasshouses provide warmth and shelter from the elements, and a cold store is used for holding show plants. As Avon Bulbs has grown over the years, so has its reputation for quality and faultless displays on the show bench.
USEFUL INFORMATION.
Address Burnt House Farm, Mid Lambrook, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5HE. Tel 01460 242177.
Web avonbulbs.co.uk Open Mail-order only, but see website for details of shows the nursery is attending this year.