The Nursery

Slack Top Nursery is one of the UK’s top 10 specialist growers of alpines and other hardy plants.

It is a small nursery but you can choose from a very extensive range of interesting alpine and non-alpine plants, perfect for traditional and contemporary containers, terraces, window boxes and other garden settings. We also offer expert advice on plants for all garden settings, from dry shade to full sun, and all things in between!

We are selective with what we grow and try to choose the best varieties – whether it be for beauty of flower or foliage, compact form or hardiness, so that you can choose something a bit different and be sure it will do really well.

Situated at 900ft in the Pennines, the tough climate means tough plants. Everything is grown on the nursery – nothing is bought in – and our testing climate results in robust, healthy plants that readily establish. We also make all our composts incorporating plenty of grit and our own sterilised loam, which may be more costly to produce, but results in far stronger plants.

Plant sales
Our plants are available for sale either from the nursery, from the shows and plant fairs we attend throughout the year, or by mail order (minimum order value £30 excluding postage). Please note that we can only accept payment at the nursery by cash or cheque.

Handmade Containers


We also offer Handmade containers for sale, individually crafted and frostproof, in a variety of sizes, with prices from £25. Bags of alpine grit and our special recipe alpine compost are also available, along with Gift Vouchers in £5 or £10 denominations.

Our current Plant List and directions to the nursery are available as Adobe Acrobat documents below

 Plant List



Garden & Nursery Opening Times
Friday to Sunday 10am-5pm from March to September inclusive (and Bank Holidays).

We are listed in the RHS Plant Finder. We are also members of the Alpine Garden Society.