Resources

Below are some useful information websites and UK suppliers to help you on your Natural Garden journey

Responsible UK plant nurseries

This is a list of plant nurseries that don't use either peat or pesticides. It is by no means exhaustive and some of the suppliers will fit into more than one category. Please contact me to recommend a plant supplier or if you would like to be added to, or indeed removed from this list.

Plants

Bee Happy Plants - https://beehappyplants.co.uk

Bluebell Cottage Nursery - https://www.bluebellcottage.co.uk

British Wild flower Plants - https://www.wildflowers.uk

Edibleculture - https://edibleculture.co.uk

Edulis - https://www.edulis.co.uk

Gwynfor Growers - https://gwynfor.co.uk

Habitat Aid - https://www.habitataid.co.uk

Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants - https://www.hardysplants.co.uk

Hippopottering - https://www.hippopotteringmaples.co.uk

Holden Clough Nurseries - https://www.holdencloughnursery.com

Jekka’s - https://www.jekkas.com

John Cullen Gardens - https://www.johncullengardens.com

Organic Gardener - organicgardener.co.uk

Peat Free Plants - https://peatfreeplants.org.uk

Penlan Perennials - https://www.penlanperennials.co.uk

Plant Wild - https://plantwild.co.uk

Plants, Shoots and Leaves - https://www.plantsshootsandleaves.co.uk

Rosy Bee Plant Nursery - https://www.rosybee.com

Victoriana Nursery Gardens - https://www.victoriananursery.co.uk

Walcot Organic Nursery - https://walcotnursery.co.uk

Wild Your Garden - https://wildyourgarden.com

Bulbs

Organic Bulbs Ltd - www.organicbulbs.com

Wild Native Bulbs - https://wildnativebulbs.co.uk/contact-us.html

Vegetables

Incredible Vegetables - incrediblevegetables.co.uk

Organic Gardening Catalogue - https://www.organiccatalogue.com

Seeds

Emorsgate Seeds - https://wildseed.co.uk

Real Seeds - https://www.realseeds.co.uk/about.html

Tamar Organics - https://tamarorganics.co.uk

Vital Seeds - https://vitalseeds.co.uk

Peat alternatives

Not all peat alternatives are free from environmental impact so please research further before use, though they are almost certainly better than the digging of peat. 

https://www.rhs.org.uk/soil-composts-mulches/peat-free

https://plantura.garden/uk/gardening-tips/soil/peat-alternatives

https://www.farmersalmanac.com/peat-moss-alternatives

Native plant resources and identification

Plant Life -  https://www.plantlife.org.uk

Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) - https://bsbi.org

BSBI Code of Conduct - Code of conduct

Plant Atlas 2020 - https://plantatlas2020.org/

First Nature - https://www.first-nature.com/index.php

Native Plant Trust - https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org

Hardy Orchid Society - www.hardyorchidsociety.org.uk

Plants for a Future - https://pfaf.org

UK Wild Flowers - www.ukwildflowers.com

Wild Flower Web - www.wildflowerweb.co.uk

Database of Insects and their Food Plants - http://dbif.brc.ac.uk/hosts.aspx

Ecological Flora of the Britain and Ireland - http://ecoflora.org.uk

iNaturalist - www.inaturalist.org

Field Studies Council - https://www.field-studies-council.org

The Woodland Trust https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk

British Bryological Society - https://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk

National Plant Monitoring Scheme (NPMS) - https://www.npms.org.uk

Wild Plant Guides - https://wildplantguides.com

Insect resources

Bug Life: https://www.buglife.org.uk

https://www.buglife.org.uk/campaigns/no-insectinction/five-things-to-do-to-reverse-insect-decline

Amateur Entomologist' Society - https://www.amentsoc.org

UK Moths - https://ukmoths.org.uk

Butterfly Conservation - https://butterfly-conservation.org

UK Fly mines - http://www.ukflymines.co.uk

UK Beetles - https://www.ukbeetles.co.uk

Bumblebee Conservation Trust - https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org

UK Butterflies - www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Larval food plants of British and Irish butterflies - https://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/foodplants.php

Other animal resources

Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust - https://www.arc-trust.org

The Mammal Society - https://www.mammal.org.uk

Biodiversity information

These organisations supply a great deal of information on biodiversity and the extinction crisis.

Global Biodiversity information Facility (GBIF) - https://www.gbif.org

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) - https://jncc.gov.uk

National Biodiversity Network Trust (NBNT) species.nbnatlas.org

WWF Living Planet Report 2022 - https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-GB

International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) - https://www.iucn.org

Conservation resources

Here, in no particular order, a lot of information can be found about almost every aspect of our natural world

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - www.rspb.org.uk

Rewilding Britain - https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk

Rewilding Europe - https://rewildingeurope.com

The Wildlife Trusts - https://www.wildlifetrusts.org

Wildlife Gardening Forum - http://www.wlgf.org

Natural History Museum - www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/insect-pollination.htm

Natural England - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england

Ancient woodland digital map - https://naturalengland-defra.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/ancient-woodland-england/explore

National Vegetation Classification (NVC) - https://jncc.gov.uk/our-work/nvc

The Wilderness Society - https://www.wilderness.org

Wildwood Trust - https://wildwoodtrust.org

Conservation Handbooks (woodlands) - https://www.conservationhandbooks.com

The Conscious Challenge - https://www.theconsciouschallenge.org

British Ecological Society - https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org

Open Spaces Society - https://www.oss.org.uk

Beyond Pesticides - https://www.beyondpesticides.org

Forest Research - https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk

International Peatland Society - https://peatlands.org

British Naturalist Association (BNA) - https://bna-naturalists.org

The Seed Site - http://theseedsite.co.uk

Farming for Nature - https://www.farmingfornature.ie

Compassion in World Farming - www.ciwf.org.uk 

Biodynamic Land Trust - https://biodynamiclandtrust.org.uk

Reverse the Red - https://www.reversethered.org

Centre for Alternative Technology - https://cat.org.uk

Permaculture Association - https://www.permaculture.org.uk

Survival International - https://www.survivalinternational.org

The Species Recovery Trust - https://www.speciesrecoverytrust.org.uk/

Inspirational and educational videos

Lost Life - A requiem for a vanished world