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Species Clematis Hybrid Clematis Clematis Home Site Design By: Copyright © 1997-2005 |
T.H. Barker & Son was established as a business in 1908 by Thomas Henry Barker who bred pedigree poultry and was the grandfather of Winnie Thornley one of the present owners. In the 1960's, when market demands changed, we became a traditional nursery growing all sorts of plants but it was in the early 80's that we began the clematis collection you see today. It is certainly one of the largest in the country and one of the few places you can visit and see clematis in various stages of growth, from the small plants, just potted on into 'liners' to the large plants available for sale. Welcome to our web site. It has been some years since our first colour catalogue was launched and well over three years since we placed it on the web. We have divided the species, wherever possible, into pages of their own (e.g. montana, texensis, viticella) and added more growing information. Without actually writing a book (there seem to be quite a few available at the moment), we hope that this extra care and cultivation advice will help when you have carried your plants home and forgotten all you were told when you bought them at the nursery! The acquisition of a digital camera has made it possible to add many more photographs with which to enhance the descriptions. Digital photography is slightly inaccurate, colourwise, (the same as film photography) so we have fussed with the pictures and the majority are accurate representations of the flowers. AVAILABILITY: DESCRIPTIONS: We are sorry to say that we can no longer provide a mail order service. Costs have become astronomical and the reliability of the delivery companies is patchy at best. For the time being, we will continue running the nursery on a 'visitor only' basis. Please see the new opening times. There are many local gardens worth visiting whilst you are in the area.
The Lakeland Horticultural Society's garden at Holhird in Windermere is
a magnificent garden in a jewel-like setting where many of our clematis
can be seen. It is maintained entirely by volunteers from the LHS. Tel:
015394 46008 for details of opening times. The award winning gardens at
Holker Hall are only 2 miles away from us, Levens Hall & Sizergh Castle
are within a 20 minute drive. We have made some additions to the collection (marked 'New') - this does not mean that they are new plants - just that they are new to the list. There are almost always varieties we acquire every year that don't make it to the web-site because we don't have them in large quantities, so it's always worth asking if something you want isn't listed - and always worth visiting to see these new plants.
The smallest size available are good sized plants grown in 2 litre pots on three foot canes (a good mixture of metric and imperial there). We are finding that most customers want really big plants, so more and more are in 4 litre pots on 4 to 5 ft canes - they are at least a year older than the 2 litre ones. We also grow a small range of good herbaceous perennials - cottage garden type plants that 'come up' every year along with other hardy climbers like honeysuckle and ivies. We think it makes the nursery more interesting for you and us. They are decent sized plants, which will look established in the first year of planting and will not be mere slug snacks.
This nursery is now run on a semi-retired basis, so we are also closed during the winter, from November 1st to February 15th. If you want to visit outside of these times, you are welcome to phone and make an appointment. We do try to stick to the above opening times, but please remember that this is a very small family run nursery. Occasionally disasters happen and we have to unexpectedly be out. If you are travelling any distance please phone to check we are open.
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