Can we have an up to date recommended companies and ones to avoid list

[G3ran1um]

I’ll go first( could do with some more recommendations after being burned previously):-

Recommend
-Crocus-(pricey but worth it)
-Chiltern Seeds( lovely selection and good service although packets are small)
-Thorncroft Clematis(excellent customer service, quality and selection)
-Ornamental Tree Company

new one for me - Burford Garden Company( ordered hard to get bulbs in the autumn and impressed with the stock, quality and service)

Avoid
Chris Bowers
Sarah Raven

Home Bargains is good too, the choice is limited but the plants are well looked after. Anything that needs deadheading gets reduced to half price, so 6-packs of healthy primroses go for 1.49 - you just need to remove the faded flowers and a few days later they are good as new.

They are also good for pots and other gardening stuff (compost, grit, fertilizer etc)

Another vote for home bargains they have a limited but good value selection of plants. My one bugbear is that the compost ( because it’s stored outside) is always soaking wet and clumped together.
For bulbs I use Farmer Gracy and I have never been disappointed.

Farmer Gracy has been good for me for bulbs and dahlias. I’ve mostly had success with their bare root plants, something last year looked rubbish when it arrived and they replaced it.

@DaphneduM Oh I can’t get their Astrantia to grow either! I assumed it was just me, because I was putting them somewhere too sunny. I had three bare roots just vanish, and three 9cm pots just die back and disappear. I’ve given up for now.

I've bought some beautiful plants from Morrisons, especially climbers. David Austin roses are fantastic.

Had a very disappointing order from Sarah Raven, I was shocked how bad they were although I got a partial refund.

Interesting thread 😊🌷

I've had some success with Morrisons plants but I bought two clematis, Princess Diana and another one I think called Pink Fantasy, might be wrong on the name though and they have just disappeared, they grew a few inches then just fizzled out.

I'm nothing if not optimistic, I have them both still in pots and peer at them each time I go down the garden in the hope that they might just be slow and not actually dead. If nothing shows by about May, into the compost bin they will go.

That'll teach 'em!