At Old Court Nurseries we love plants, both the garden and nursery are full of all sorts of treasures but, we do have a few more major collections including two Plant Heritage National Collections.
Michaelmas Daisies (Asters)
This is our main collection and we are holders of the Plant Heritage National Plant Collection of autumn flowering asters & related genera with over 430 varieties. These are displayed in The Picton Garden and are at their peak between the 20th September and the 10th October.
We sell the majority of the varieties held in the collection both by mail order which is sent out in May each year and at the nursery from February to late October. If you are looking for something specific it is best to order either for delivery or you can collect the plants from the nursery or an event we are attending. We recommend orders should be made before March to avoid disappointment as many varieties are propagated to order in February.
When visiting the nursery, you will always find a good range of asters available to buy and if you can’t find what you are looking for it is always worth asking.
What are they?
Asters or Michaelmas daisies as they are known as in the UK, are a wonderful diverse group of autumn flowering plants in the daisy (Asteraceae) family. They can range in height from 10 cm (4”) to 200 cm (7’) and come in colours from white, through pink, all the shades of purple into purple-reds and deep purple blues. The flowers are all daisy shaped but range from open starry flowers to formal doubles and in size from tiny daisies held in dense sprays through to huge 7.5cm across single flowers. Originally all members of the genus Aster they are now classified in several different genera. The main groups which are grown in the UK can be found below.
Groups as found on current Aster page.
To find more information about Asters the following two books are still readily available.
The Gardener’s Guide to Growing Asters by Paul Picton published by David & Charles (ISBN 0-7153-1885-3) 1999
The Plant Lovers Guide to Asters by Helen Picton & Paul Picton published by Timber Press (ISBN 978-1-60469-518-2) 2015
Polypodiums
Our second Plant Heritage National Collection is Polypodiums (hardy cvs) with more than 50 varieties of these wonderfully adaptable ferns.
Polypodium is a widely distributed genus of ferns in the family Polypodiaceae. The greatest diversity of species can be found in the New World tropics, but these are not particularly useful in our UK gardens. Instead, we look to the native European species such as Polypodium cambricum (previously P. australe) and North American species like the liquorice fern Polypodium glycyrrhiza to find the majority of our hardy garden Polypodies.
The name Polypodium derives from the Ancient Greek ‘poly’ meaning many and ‘podion’ meaning little foot. The latter referring to the numerous small hairy rhizomes that they grow from. Polypodiums can be terrestrial or epiphytic making them a very resilient fern for garden use, tolerating both dry and moist conditions and although preferring a shadier spot many are very happy in a certain amount of sun. They are either evergreen or winter green going dormant during the early summer, producing new fronds from late July through to September depending on the variety. These new fronds are then held throughout the winter months and early spring, although a hard winter can result in some rather tatty fronds by March. This makes them very useful in the garden both in their own right and as companion plants acting as the perfect foil for a host of candidates from tiny spring flowers to trees, but particularly autumn and winter flowering bulbs.
We propagate many of the varieties held in the collection. At the moment they are only available from the nursery, with the widest range available from August. We hope to be able to offer them by mail order in the future so keep an eye on the website.
Galanthus (Snowdrops)
When Ross and Helen first met Snowdrops were Ross’s chosen method of wooing. What girl could resist a box of lovely drops? Ross had been collecting snowdrops since the 1990’s and had a good private selection apart from the many fine varieties in the winter garden he had created at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire. From that initial box full the collection at the nursery has blossomed. There were already more than 300 varieties in the garden and then in 2024 Old Court Nurseries purchased half of the collection from Avon Bulbs when Chris Ireland-Jones was preparing to retire adding a significant number of varieties to the collection and hopefully continuing the valuable contribution to British snowdrops made by Chris Ireland-Jones and Alan Street.
We sell our snowdrops ‘in the green’ which means when they are growing. Mail order snowdrops are sent out when ready between late January and the end of February (depending on weather conditions). The online catalogue normally goes live at the end of December. The nursery is open from February and there are plenty of snowdrops to buy when you visit along with other late winter treasures.
Heritage Narcissus
These are Narcissus mainly raised pre-1930. They have distinctive beautiful, but often not very uniform flowers and make a wonderful addition to the garden. Flowering usually peaks during March.
This is a growing collection with us and one that is a delight to add to. We hope in the near future to be offering some of these varieties for sale but for the time being it is worth a visit to appreciate them in the garden.
Tender Succulents
Perhaps one of the more unexpected additions to the nursery and garden since we are in the Midlands and when it gets cold it takes it seriously are the tender succulents. The collection is mainly concentrated on Aeoniums and Echeverias with a few additions such as dwarf Aloes and Haworthias. The succulents are a delight to grow and we use them in our pot displays and out in the garden. Nothing beats heading into the greenhouse on a gloomy winters day and tending to the succulents in all their myriad colours and forms.
We grow all our own succulents and sell them by mail order throughout the year and at the nursery from late April to the end of October.
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