About Us and Our Plants
About our plants
Our plants are usually supplied as established potted plants in 9cm or 11cm (1 litre) solid pots. The exact pot size depends on the plant's growth needs - compact plants will be in smaller pots and plants that need more space will be in larger pots. These are the pots that we grow them in at the nursery.
Some of our plants are supplied bare root if they are difficult to supply as potted specimens. This will generally be because they have widespread creeping roots or because they overwinter as a bulb or a floating rhizome. Sometimes it is simply because we have run out of them in pots, or to offer a lower-cost alternative to potted plants.
It will say on each plant's page on our website how it will arrive, and if you have a choice between potted and bare root.
100% of the plants we sell are propagated personally by us from our own stock plants here at the nursery in Norfolk. All are raised from seeds or cuttings/divisions. We never buy in plants grown by someone else and sell them on, because it cannot be guaranteed that these will be true to name or free from invasive species. All our plants are thus British-grown specimens, so they are already adapted to our climate when you receive them.
Once purchased, the plant will be wrapped in damp paper, bagged, labelled, packed in a box, and delivered to your door.
About our environmental practices
We do not buy composts/soils that contain peat.
We do not use any chemical pesticides or sprays on our plants. Large pests, such as snails and caterpillars, are hand picked, and small pests, such as beetles and aphids, are rinsed off with water or sprayed with vegetable oil sprays. We occasionally also use natural (biological) controls, e.g. purchasing native ladybirds from specialist suppliers and releasing them on plants affected by aphids.
Any black plant pots are not recyclable and should be re-used or placed in the general rubbish bin.(We have not purchased these pots for several years but we will keep washing and re-using the ones we have until they are completely gone). Any grey plant pots are recyclable and should be re-used or washed and placed in household plastic recycling.
The nursery here is completely free from the invasive non-native species Crassula helmsii (New Zealand Pigmyweed/Australian Swamp-Stonecrop), Myriophyllum aquaticum (Parrot's Feather), Hydrocotyle ranunculoides (Floating Pennywort), Ludwigia spp. (Floating Water Primroses), Azolla spp. (Water Fern), Elodea canadensis and all similar plants (Elodea), and Lysichiton americanus (American Skunk Cabbage).
About our packaging
Our cling film is made from corn starch and is biodegradable; it can be home composted or put in the general rubbish bin.
The outer boxes and all newspaper, white paper, brown paper, and brown-paper padding, can be recycled in the normal way.
The brown parcel tape, white sticky tape, and 'Urgent' labels are biodegradable but not home compostable; they should be placed in the general rubbish bin.
All plant bags are carrier bag plastic and can be recycled - check local facilities.
Any plastic tubs are food grade and should be easily recyclable - check local facilities.
Any rubber bands are natural rubber and should be placed in the general rubbish bin.
Any wooden supports are made from natural bamboo and should be placed in the general rubbish bin.
Any bubble wrap is unfortunately not recyclable or biodegradable and should be placed in the general rubbish bin.
All our bubble wrap, newspapers, brown paper, and brown-paper padding are sourced second hand to help reduce waste.
We welcome suggestions on how to make our packaging more environmentally friendly (especially suggestions for waterproof substitutes for the plant bags).
About us
In 1995 a tropical fish shop and water garden nursery called Wayside Aquatics was set up near Brentwood in Essex. In 2009 Wayside Aquatics began selling their pond plants online, and in 2013 this became a separate business as Water Garden Plants. In 2016, the decision was made to close Wayside Aquatics and focus solely on Water Garden Plants, pond plants by mail order. In 2018, the nursery moved from the site in Essex to a new site in north Norfolk, in order to have more space for the plants.
Water Garden Plants is run by Anna and James (with occasional help from family members watering and delivering parcels). Anna has worked professionally in the aquatic industry for over 30 years. She has authored or contributed to several books, written numerous magazine articles, and has consulted for international aquatic companies. She has a BSc and is also RHS qualified. James has collected and grown aquatic plants for nearly 40 years. He is particularly keen on waterlilies, and although now semi-retired is still breeding and developing many new varieties for future introduction.
The nursery is registered with the RHS Plant Finder as a specialist nursery.
All photographs on this site were taken by us. All text was written by us. Neither our photographs nor our text may be used for commercial purposes without our permission. If you see our pictures or any of our text on other sites selling plants, these will have been copied from us.