C&V Cacti

[Cidermanrolls]

I placed my first order with this UK nursery at the weekend and the plants arrived today. I was impressed to say the least. Well grown plants at very reasonable prices. I will certainly be watching their lists next season.

[Stuart]

There's very few UK nurseries growing from seed these days, in fact I can't think of another UK nursery that grows all their own plants from seed. C&V are growing nice plants, many with data, filling a gap in the market that has been there ever since Ken Burke retired years ago.

Stuart

[MaciejW]

I can only second that - plants received earlier this year exceeded my expectations. Very nicely grown and excellent value for their price. Well done you guys!

[ralphrmartin]

Ah, that's a new one on me. The photos in their sales list certainly look like nicely grown plants, and they also have some quite unusual things. They even have something on my wants list, so I shall be sending them an order. Thanks for bring them to our notice. To save others having to search, here is a link to their list of plants for sale:
https://www.cvcacti.co.uk/plants-for-sale

[Tony R]

Vicky (see https://forum.bcss.org.uk/memberlist.ph ... file&u=202) and Chris grow great seedlings and have brought fine plants for sale at many Zone 12 branches and events pre-lockdown. Highly recommended.

[Rayc11]

Just received my first order from them, very good healthy and nicely sized well grown plants - will be using them again!

[ralphrmartin]

I just received some plants from them, too, and was well pleased with what I got. Recommended!

[Terry S.]

There seems to be some sort of psychology at work here. First of all, can I emphasise that Chris and Vicky are excellent growers who are professional horticulturists (and viticulturists) with day-jobs. They have been selling plants for a few years now and some have made their way into my collection. However, when their plants have been available at events such as Zone conventions and even the Society AGM, very few have been sold. I guess that is because trays of 3cm plants without much in the way of flowers and perhaps not showing their adult characters tend to be overlooked. One has to go label reading, know your plants and what they will do, and accept the crooked neck at the end. Growers will look at an adult flowering plant depicted in this Forum and say "I want one of those", when in fact they could probably have bought it long ago if they learnt about the plants and took time to look in sales trays. Now that Chris and Vicky are on-line and you can see availability without a crooked neck, people are realising what they have. These two young people are doing a great job in producing plants for us and I hope that they can continue and expand from their little back garden.

[MatDz]

There seems to be some sort of psychology at work here. [...]

I cannot agree more with what Terry wrote above. Using myself as an example of a rather fresh enthusiast with less than a year since the first plant acquisition (long-term neglected Ficus Ginseng from Ikea doesn't count), I am sometimes searching for "that particular plant" and am happy to get a young plant, a seedling or even a cutting, assuming I trust the seller's labels enough if the cutting doesn't resemble the plant that much (e.g. leaf cuttings), but:

• Being able to see the adult plant makes me sometimes buy, as above, a young/seedling/cutting just because of some visual features of the plant in question;
• Even better if it's an online resource, from which I can research the plant online with a couple of mouse clicks.

I would love to attend some branch meetings and marts, pandemic permits, and acquire plants there, but I would either need to see a printed leaflet with an adult plant's photo and maybe a couple of details about the plant like origin, cultivation information etc., or have tons of time to do the research online.

Which made me think about some additional filters for online shops like summer/winter growers, or coloured stickers on pots at meetings and marts with the same sort of information.

Edit: In the end, it's the seller's responsibility to make my, e.g. the buyer's, experience as smooth as possible.

[JonNo]

Mammillaria Pectinifera arrived yesterday from C &V, well packed and properly "bare root" so it was clear there were no stowaways in the compost, at £3.50 plus postage I am well pleased, thank you C&V!