Search for period plants leads to
Spinneywell Nurseries success by Vivienne Lewis
NURSERY TIMES
When you’re in the landscaping business and you are dealing with old gardens, finding plants of the period to restock the borders can be tricky. This problem led to a whole new business venture for Wendy Asher and her husband David.
Their landscaping business took them to restoring large Victorian gardens at properties in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, but they could not source all the plants needed to give the period look.
Approaching retirement, Wendy is now reducing the size of the nursery to manageable levels and staffing has been reduced from 15 in the 1990s down to five. She is, however always willing to tackle any project large or small and continues to grow her favourites such as buxus, hellebores, euphorbias, delphinium elatum varieties, tiarellas and veronicastrums.
While the nursery is a family business, with daughter Julie helping in the nursery, Julie has her own career. Her brother Robert is involved in the landscaping business and not the nursery, so there may not be a second generation running Spinneywell Nurseries.
Wendy Asher from Spinneywell Nurseries growing old and new varieties of ‘garden worthy’plants
So, without a great deal of horticultural knowledge, but with a love of gardening and beautiful landscapes, Wendy rose to the challenge and began to collect seeds and cuttings donated from private gardens. Old boxwood cuttings came from the plantings at Ozleworth Park. She built up a collection of unusual, rare and hard-to-find plants which grew into a very successful business, Spinneywell Nurseries, five miles from Stroud.
At the height of her career she was sourcing, growing and planting gardens of more than 10 acres at prestigious properties. It took patience as well as skill.
“You have to wait four years for a tiny seedling to become a bushy plant,” she said.
“We didn’t intend to have a nursery at all. Spinneywell Nurseries was borne out of necessity.”
Wendy started collecting in the early 1990s, and the nursery was only intended as a source of plants for the landscaping business. But it grew into a major enterprise and eventually plants were exported to customers in Japan, Corfu, Ireland and France.
Spinneywell specialises in growing box and yew, and in sourcing hardy perennials and shrubs, primarily for landscapers and designers, but for the general public as well.
“David and I work independently on our own sides of the business. I am the ‘plant lady/designer’ and Dave looks after all his own machinery and staff on the landscaping side.”
“If the Spinneywell planting team gets involved in the big projects, we still work completely separately,” explained Wendy.
34 Spinneywell specialises in yew
However, the mail order business is going strong, and customers are welcome to visit the nursery by appointment. Visitors come from Japan, China and some from America, wanting to create English gardens back home and hoping to find some rare gem. (The Americans have to take ideas home rather than plants, as there are such strict regulations on the importation of plants.)
Spinneywell can also source plants for customers for those needing specific varieties not in stock at the nursery, thus saving people a lot of time and worry. Plants can also be grown to order in small or larger quantities,
and as seasoned landscapers they are also used to co- ordinating deliveries with work schedules.
Wendy will increasingly concentrate on mail orders, but also enjoys taking her plants to Farmers’ Markets and Rare Plant Fairs in the region. Her love of plants has taken her into a career that has not only benefited the family landscaping business but has given great personal success.
As Wendy says, “Spinneywell still continues to grow old and new varieties of garden worthy plants. Very much alive and kicking!”
Location: Spinneywell Nurseries, Waterlane, Oakridge, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL6 7PH. Open to customers by appointment. Telephone: 01452 770151. Email:
wendyasher@btconnect.com Visit the websites
www.spinneywellplants.co.uk for directions and listings, and
www.plantproviders.co.uk for mail order.
Country Gardener
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