online plant supplier or Northern Ireland nursery

[size=small]I'd like to get my father a Witch Hazel - Hamamelis mollis. He lives in Northern Ireland, (near Carrickfergus) which is not exactly convenient for me. [/size]
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[size=small]The obvious solution is to give him the money or a gift voucher to buy one. If anyone can recommend a good garden centre or nursery near Carrickfergus, that might be helpful. [/size]
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[size=small]Alternatively, I could order one online and have it sent to him. I've found a couple of online suppliers that stock witch hazels - [/size]Thegardencentregroup.co.uk[size=small] and [/size]GardeningMegastore. [size=small]Has anyone got any experience of buying plants by post from either of these suppliers? [/size]

 

Lovely plant :thumb: Sorry, I don't know about online suppliers etc as I buy shrubs from a nursery locally which has very good quality.

But I just wanted to check that your Father's garden has an acid soil as Witch Hazel is not mad about growing on Alkaline soil.

 

I can't say for certain.

However, the suggestion comes from my Father, and he is a pretty keen gardener and does, I imagine, have a good idea of what the soil is like.

I also suspect that alkaline soils are somewhat rare in County Antrim, but I may be wrong.

 

I made that assumption too when writing my reply earlier - but I don't know for sure!

You could just mention it to him, but sounds like he would know and the soil there is likely to be acidic.