Better Planting

Better Planting: herbaceous plant nursery and planting consultancy in Oxfordshire

Better Planting is a nursery with online sales and a garden design service based in Benson, Oxfordshire (United Kingdom). Founded by Ian Burles, who acts as lead consultant with the support of affiliated garden and landscape designers, the business combines its own production of herbaceous plants with specialist advice for planting projects.

Plant catalogue and selection criteria

The nursery produces mainly herbaceous plants of extremely diverse character, aimed at creating landscapes and gardens that meet a wide range of objectives of utility and beauty. Selection is based on accumulated experience: only plants that have proved easy to grow in quite varied conditions are retained, that are not susceptible to diseases and therefore do not require spraying, that have vigorous growth, that stand upright without staking and that, except in a few cases, are hardy and survive the winter in most of the UK without protection.

Most plants are grown in 9 cm pots, although the size may vary. When pot-grown stock is unavailable, the nursery sends divisions from mother plants of the same size as those used for its own pottings, which is usually indicated in the listing titles. All purchases include instructions to ensure successful cultivation.

The catalogue gives priority to less highly bred varieties or actual wild species, including British natives. Large-flowered cultivars such as Dahlia and Chrysanthemum are usually excluded, because their disproportionately large blooms do not combine well with the more wild varieties. Classic herbaceous border plants such as delphiniums and lupins are also not included, except for a few occasionally raised varieties or species, as they are considered difficult to grow in its soils under a low-maintenance and largely organic regime.

The range is organised by practical criteria: plants for dry sunny places, for shade, moisture-loving plants, for coastal and maritime gardens, plants favoured by bees and butterflies, and those with grey/silver or coppery/purple foliage. There are also collections and a seasonal offers section.

Online sales and bulk purchasing

The website allows you to buy online, search by name, view all plants in alphabetical order or group by genus. For bulk orders, with a minimum of 50 plants, the nursery asks you to contact by email to send a quote with reduced prices.

Garden design and planting consultancy

Better Planting Design is a specialised garden design aspect that has emerged from a pre-existing nursery business. Its aim is to help plant any space, from the tiniest urban courtyard to large tracts of countryside, by choosing the most suitable species. The team has in-house capacity to address most aspects of garden design and can advise on hard landscaping elements such as the location of garden buildings, paths, fences, ponds and other structures. However, it defines itself primarily as a planting consultancy, and advice on planting projects is its main work.

The working method combines site visits and remote advice. The company considers that important design decisions should be made on site itself, because even with a thorough survey and photographic record, relevant factors can be overlooked. At the same time, it recognises that straightforward problems can be dealt with efficiently and economically using modern communications, such as advising on the planting of a single tree via a smartphone.

The studio pays attention to the atmosphere and sense of place of each garden: where it is positive, it works to harmonise with and emphasise it; where it is not, it may seek to create a more completely separate world with a new vibe. Part of the work follows rules and principles, but there is also an intuitive or instinctive component, so it needs as much access to the site as possible. It has a studio van to facilitate working nearby with minimal intrusion.

Advice on choosing plants

The company helps you choose the right plants for each place from the tens of thousands available, taking into account specific requirements. One example it cites is the need for a plant that will grow to eye level within a year or two to screen out an unwanted view but then not need frequent pruning; in that case you would look for a semi-mature-sized plant that is relatively slow-growing and suited to the client's growing conditions. It also warns that choosing without specialist advice can be a false economy.

Once the plant has been decided, the question arises of where to find it. Better Planting maintains a growing database of the stock of nurseries both in the UK and in mainland Europe to locate specimens that are not available locally.

Background and experience

Ian Burles, founder and lead consultant, has a long history in horticulture beginning in childhood with an enthusiasm for gardens and the natural world. He spent school holidays working in local nurseries and then a year as a short-term entrant at the Royal Horticultural Society garden in Wisley, where he gained a better understanding of practical gardening. He then took a year to tour the world's major botanical gardens, an absence that turned into five years outside the UK working in botanical gardens and in commercial and public-space horticulture, as well as other jobs to fund his travels. During those years he explored and built numerous gardens in various countries, acquiring a basic knowledge of local vegetation, which allows him to consider design projects in Mediterranean and tropical climates, in addition to the temperate ones he is most familiar with.

The company is based in south Oxfordshire and also has a property in northern France (Normandy) from which it operates. Its nurseries have previously specialised in hardy herbaceous perennials and their planting in traditional borders, but more recently in naturalistic and relaxed plantings, with varieties that remain attractive for most of the season thanks to their structure and colour.

Plant passport registration

The nursery has plant passport registration number GB147173.

Location and contact

11 Church Close, Benson, OX10 6TA, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom · Telephone: 01491839831 · Email: betterplantingbyian@gmail.com