News

Our Mail Order has just become MUCH cheaper!

2012-02-05T22:42:33+00:00

New lower delivery charges for 2012

Good news for all our customers who use our mail order service for alpine plants… we use Parcel Force 48 hour delivery service and have negotiated a new UK flat rate of £9.50 for parcels containing up to 35 plants – this is a 40% saving on postage! If we receive enough orders over the year then this rate will remain, if not then we reserve the right to revert to the Parcelforce standard rate (in which case we will put prior notification on the website).

Very large orders will cost extra, in which case we will advise you. Charges and delivery vary for the Scottish Highlands & Islands, Northern Ireland, Isles of Man and Isles of Scilly – please allow at least £15.00 for these areas. For delivery charges outside of the UK please email us for prices.

Come on…start choosing some lovely plants for your rockery, raised bed or trough and place your order today - this year’s selection is now on the website.
Happy gardening!

Further mail order information can be found in the side panel on the Plants page of this website.

new plants for 2012

2011-12-05T16:45:22+00:00

We’ve now added all the lovely new alpine plants to the website for 2012. So be sure to take a look as there are over 100 new additions! To make it easier, if you’d like a list detailing the new additions only then please just drop us an email. The new lines include Delosperma lavisiae with its shocking pink flowers, our favourite ‘home-grown’ Oxalis ‘Slack’s 53’ and the beautiful Hacquetia epipactis for a shot of early spring colour. As ever they are all grown on site from seed or cutting and all our plants are fully hardy - they have to be where we are!

New book on alpines

2011-08-18T21:28:38+00:00

‘Alpines – an Essential Guide’ is now on sale. Based on Michael’s twenty-five years as a nurseryman, this book provides an insight into new and inspirational ways of growing alpines. Aimed at both the beginner and the more experienced enthusiast, this essential guide contains a wealth of beautifully illustrated information including: traditional and contemporary settings for growing alpines; advice on planting & maintenance; information on propogation methods; an A-Z of over 180 of the best alpine plants, with useful table of flowering times.

The hardback edition is priced at only £19.95. It has recently been reviewed by the Scottish Rock Garden Club (scroll to Page 7 on PDF file below), and appears in ‘Gardens Illustrated’ February 2012.
Ways to buy:
1. Collect a signed or dedicated copy direct from Slack Top Nurseries (please call 01422 845348 prior to visit, payment by cash or cheque only). Alternatively we can arrange postage to your address at a small extra charge (£4.50 for a recorded delivery).
2. Copies (unsigned) available from bookshops nationwide (and internationally).

We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it.

Lightweight stone troughs wanted

2011-08-06T20:18:18+00:00

We’re currently looking for some lightweight ‘stone’ troughs for alpines - they look just like stone but are made of fibreglass so weigh very little. A company called Elmdene used to make them but no longer do so. If anyone can help us in our search (either knows of a garden centre that has them in stock, or indeed has some unwanted ones in the garden) then please get in touch - we’d love to hear from you.

Tatton Flower Show display

2011-07-25T21:30:26+00:00

For those who were unable to make it to the RHS Tatton Flower Show this year, here’s a photo of our display. We built a 10x10ft contemporary courtyard gravel garden this year, which once again generated a wonderful reaction from all our customers who loved its simplicity, quality and variety of plants and contemporary design. It is extremely encouraging for us to hear that you like what we do. So a massive thanks to everyone who supported us by buying our little alpine jewels and here’s wishing you years of pleasure from them!

We also made it to national radio this weekend. BBC Radio Four’s Gardeners’ Question Time was recorded from Tatton and Michael was approached by one of the presenters, Matthew Biggs, to do a short piece on the rise in popularity of hardy alpines in containers. It was broadcast on Friday (23rd) and Saturday (24th) but you can still hear it on BBC I-player by going to http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer and doing a search for Gardeners’ Question Time Tatton.

ART at the garden

2011-06-28T20:54:20+00:00

For this weekend only (1-3 July) visitors to the nursery will be able to enjoy the work of a couple of local artists, as part of the Hebden Bridge ‘Open Studios’.

From 11am-5pm Michael’s Dad, Ron Mitchell, will have his watercolour landscapes on display at the nursery, many based on the local area. Next door at Waterloo House, local stone sculptor Rowena Beaty will open her studio to display beautiful sculptures in stone. Across Hebden Bridge 64 other participating artists and craftspeople will be opening their studios to demonstrate the vibrancy of arts and crafts in the Upper Calder Valley. For further information on the event, visit http://www.hbopenstudios.org.uk. Brochures are available from the Hebden Bridge Tourist Information Centre.

The garden is looking really lovely at the moment and in addition to already full benches, we have several new lines ready for sale including Hypericum cerastiodes, Anthemis rudolphiana var. pectinata, Gladiolus flanaganii, Ptilotrichum spinosum, Helianthemums (Wisley Primrose, Annabel, Henfield Brilliant, Tomato Red and Fireball), Pulsatilla turczaninowii and Epilobium glabellum. The weather is looking good for the weekend too… so why not pop up, stock up on a few alpines, browse the artwork and enjoy the view!

Beautiful garden for Bank Holiday!

2011-05-26T21:00:18+00:00

If you’re looking for somewhere to visit this weekend, our garden at Slack Top is looking wonderful at the moment - take a look at the photos! After all the recent rain everything is looking really fresh and colourful. Most of the rock garden plants are at their absolute peak - Phlox, Geraniums, Dianthus alpinus, a multitude of Saxifrages, Lewisias, Primula Harlow Carr Hybrids and Dactylorhizas all look wonderful, with the alpine alliums (Allium kansuense and farreri) just about to flower. Make sure you don’t miss it! For those who haven’t visited yet this season we’ve done a lot of work on the garden this spring and replanted the whole lower rock garden so while things are obviously still bedding in, they look pretty good.

Not sure what the weather is going to do (we’ve been in shorts one day and thermals the next this week) but its all part of the fun!

This Bank Holiday weekend is also the Hebden Bridge Blues Festival with plenty of wonderful chilled out evening entertainment - visit the Hebden Bridge Tourist Information website for more info.

Harrogate update

2011-03-30T09:30:51+00:00

Much as everyone seems to love the purple boxes we plant up for each show, we decided it would be fun to build an alpine scree garden at the Harrogate Spring Show this year to celebrate our 25th anniversary of running the nursery. Its always challenging to take on a new stand design in addition to making sure all our plants are in tip-top condition, but we thoroughly enjoyed it and, in our opinion, it was the best stand we’ve done to date! We were very lucky with wonderful weather…and most importantly it was dry for loading the van! Thanks to everyone who came along and hope you enjoyed the show.

Nursery now open

2011-03-03T20:21:21+00:00

The nursery opens for the 2011 season on Friday 4 March.

If travelling from Hebden Bridge, please ignore the ‘road closed’ sign outside the Fox and Goose pub as you come up the hill to the nursery - there is some work going on just beyond the nursery on the Widdop road but the nursery access from Hebden Bridge is completely unaffected. If you are visiting us from Lancashire, then it might be best to take the Long Causeway route from Burnley.

We’ve plenty on offer - interesting Saxifrages, Alliums, Hepaticas… lovely dwarf bulbs and rhododendrons… and a great range of true dwarf conifers amongst hundreds of other goodies. The weather may be cold but things are definitely starting to grow and flower! Please note though at this time of year the plants we put out on sale have been kept in coldframes or polytunnels and should be given similar protection until the weather improves.

Looking forward to seeing you very soon!

New Alpine book on the way!

2011-02-13T21:39:28+00:00

After 25 years’ experience as an alpine nurseryman, Michael has finally written his first book. ‘Alpines - An Essential Guide’ is now safely with the publisher, Crowood Press, and will hopefully be available from September 2011. Aimed at both beginners and also those with more experience of growing alpines, the book covers topics including traditional and contemporary settings for growing alpine plants, propagation and maintenance. It is beautifully illustrated with over 200 colour photographs and features an extensive A-Z of some of the best alpines to grow.

We were commissioned to write it about 12 months ago so spent most of last year either writing, editing or taking all the photographs to accompany the text. It has been an extremely enjoyable and interesting experience, and thanks to the prolonged bad weather in November and December we managed to deliver it to the publisher a month early. Juggling the demands of the nursery and show season alongside writing a 50,000 word book was certainly a challenge at times, but somehow we managed to keep all the balls in the air.

The book will be widely available from September - just in time to be the perfect Christmas present! A couple of nice book signing events are planned - keep an eye on our website for details. We hope you’ll enjoy reading it and let us have any feedback.