Time for this gardener to have a bit of a rant. There is only one television gardening programme that I watch regularly but I do keep an eye out for anything in the schedule that may be interesting. Recently such a programme was aired on a digital channel so I sat down expecting an informative and entertaining watch. Instead I had ninety minutes of self opinionated snobby so called garden lovers and designers talking down to us the masses.

For example one obviously well-healed celebrity who is seen every year at the private showing day at the Chelsea Flower Show spoke about the horrors of hanging baskets that should not be seen in any garden. Excuse me madam but not everyone is as fortunate as you to have a large garden, maybe there are people living in terraced houses with no garden space or maybe a flat and the only thing close to a garden that they can manage is a hanging basket.

Another garden designer poured scorn on people in the UK having water features. Apparently they only make sense if you are in a hot country and you need something to cool the air. I find the sound of water very relaxing and I don’t have room in my garden for a stream or river so I have a water feature that provides the sound I like very nicely thank you.

We are all entitled to our opinions but a programme like this giving just the opinion of the privileged few is just annoying a waste of television time. These are the same people who spend thousands on their gardens but I bet they don’t have the same satisfaction that I and many others do who sow their packets of seeds and take cuttings each year and patiently watch their babies grow.

Rant over and boy do I feel better for it!

The garden is really flourishing now and the Exochorda The Bride is taking star place as it does every year. What a cracking shrub this is, a bit lax maybe but with a little help it really is a stunning display.

Last year I made a point of not buying anything for the garden, just growing from seed, taking cuttings or splitting perennials.

This year I have made two purchases, a rose and a tree. Normally if I want to buy a rose locally there is a top grower less than twenty miles away, plenty to choose from and now has grown into a garden centre. However they did not have the rose I wanted in stock and would not until the autumn.

Looking on the Internet I found national suppliers but again they were out of stock or being too late for bare rooted, had potted up roses that were very expensive.

Then I discovered a little grower not far from my usual supplier. He had the rose I wanted potted up and for a fifth of the price that the large growers were asking. The trip took me down a country lane and I have to admit I thought I must have missed the nursery but then in the middle of nowhere there it was.

It might have been a small nursery but the quality of the plants was superb and what is more the service the owner gave me was exceptional, full of knowledge that was freely given with each purchase. I also spotted a tree I wanted and again the price for the size was unbeatable and again the advice on planting and pruning was invaluable. Here is a lesson for us all, don’t just head for the large garden centres but look for these specialist little growers who know their stuff and are all to willing to help.

As I left I asked how long his nursery had been open – 1967! Now here is a man who knows his roses.

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