We have all been there, stuck in a rut with few challenges on the horizon. The question is (or was) is it just a phase or a real reason to make some changes? Our theory is that life throws up opportunities, challenges, or just plain ‘spanners in the works’ every 5 or 10 years just to keep you on your toes. This was one of those moments.
This time we acted on our impulse and decided we needed to find out if we had what it took to do what we had been talking about for years, which was to ‘Start our own Nursery’. Yes we know there is a good book on the subject so we will make this much shorter.
It took a year of searching, planning and sorting out our finances but after much heartbreak and exhaustion we found what we were looking for in the last place we expected - the Lincolnshire Fens. We found a lovely bungalow with enough room for a family and 2 acres to spare which was an ideal site for a modest mail order nursery. Amazingly we could afford it! We negotiated with the kids using good old fashioned parenting, or bribery, and in this case the bribe was a much wanted dog.
Leaving the RHS, after Ashley’s 23 years service and 10 years after Jane first came to Wisley as an RHS Trainee, was quite a shock. Saying goodbye to our many friends at Wisley was a big wrench but fortunately, as our plans came to fruition, we did not have time to dwell on this or be sad as we had work to do. The move itself was horrendous, only one lorry load of house contents and three of garden equipment and plants and yes we thought we would move ourselves! Our family were our saviours and by some miracle we managed to complete the sale and move in to our new home just days before the children started school, after a mad scramble we sent them off into our new world in something resembling their new school uniform. However despite aching backs and muscles we knew the real work was only just beginning.
Ashley decided to combine his hard won propagation skills, from his time at the RHS, with his love of the Delphinium and thus Larkspur Nursery came into being. Setting up a nursery sounded so simple. We knew it all in theory, or thought we did, we had dreamed about for so long it would not be difficult. Needless to say there were several things we had overlooked. We used every spare space in the garden to grow plants and store equipment whilst the field was prepared and the poly tunnels were built. It was alternately a delight and a siege as we could hardly move at times.
After some deliberation as to a plant list, we finally made it into the RHS Plant Finder, the Delphinium Society and several other good publications. Ashley propagated like fury and the plants increased. The catalogue was designed and re-designed and eventually produced with only the one spelling mistake! The website was more difficult and although we knew what we wanted it was not easy to set up, fortunately Jane’s cousin came to the rescue at the eleventh hour and stayed up all night to fix it.
Our social life continued and we made many new friends. Old friends came to visit, kept in touch and lent us their expertise. To pay the bills Jane started 3 different jobs in the first year and finally kept the last one at our local comprehensive school – a prospective workforce we hope! The poly tunnels are now filled with plants and Ashley is worrying about running out of plants or not having enough for his massive new border which will run the length of the field. Hopefully this will be a great excuse for a Delphinium Open Day in a year or so.
The climate has been good to us, the locals have made us very welcome, the scenery is marvellous and we have enjoyed the stresses and strains, struggles and successes of our first 2 years immensely – well most of the time! The children love their new school and finally received their dog, the biggest puppy in the world, who is now a fully paid up member of the family and likes nothing better than to play ball amongst the pots – oh dear!
First year sales were steady despite little advertisement and we would like to thank the Delphinium Society members who recommended us and helped us with this. 2007 will be our first full year of trading and we hope to be able to offer more varieties as our stock increases. We are always interested in enlarging our collection and keeping as many delphinium varieties in circulation as possible. Please contact us if you have any stock that is missing from our collection and that is in short supply.
We have plants flowering from May to November and this is a constant source of pleasure and reward for the long hours. There is so much to do it makes us feel tired just thinking about it but as to regrets only one – we should have done this years ago!
Thank you for reading our story.
Ashley Ramsbottom & Jane Reid