Val Bourne's roses get a pruning from the neighbour's donkey while she searches for the best nurseries

WC Fields is credited with the quote “never work with animals and children” and after this week I couldn’t agree more. Our resident donkeys Martha and Dylan (owned by my nice neighbours) have been pruning my roses again. I forgive them for they canter about the field with such enthusiasm. Dylan was the culprit, he of the dark fur and longer neck, and it’s Dylan who is the most engaging.

The footpath at the end of my garden is being well trodden by parties of reluctant teenagers, walking long distance paths at the behest of their teachers no doubt.

They slouch across the field in a formation that’s more slow worm than crocodile, but that’s a teenage speciality all of us can identify with. By the time they’ve got into the middle of the field they’ve acquired two back markers — the donkeys. The four-footed walkers almost skip along, perhaps in an attempt to chivvy up the schoolchildren who drag their feet as they gaze at the ground. It’s quite a sight.

On Sunday I planted up my daughter’s garden, a small patch that she struggles with, using some surplus perennials. Soon I had two shop stewards, aka grandchildren, overseeing my every move. India is aged seven and James six. As I attempted to move three lavenders from under a hedge I heard “mummy doesn’t want those moved there” so I attempted logic! “Lavenders are sun lovers,” I said, trying to stay on task. “They make their own sunscreen: it’s oily and it’s smelly so they need full sun.”

A withering look was followed by the news that sunscreen comes in tubes. More dissension followed and finally I sent them off because otherwise I’d have been there all day.

The next day I got an email from India’s teacher asking me to come in and talk about growing plants. There’s a link there. Something of the Sunday morning stand-off must have provoked a discussion at school, but I’ll happily go because our children are our future and sadly horticulture seems to be in decline.

As Dylan said: the times they are a-changing.

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to go down to Kelways in Somerset and thought that I could fit in a few nurseries on the way down, to justify the time and petrol. I looked in the RHS Plant Finder and discovered that my only option was The Mead Nursery near Westbury in Wiltshire www.themeadnursery.co.uk/01373 859 990. This is a wonderful nursery, run by husband and wife Steve and Emma, but it was closed on Monday and Tuesdays. Long Acre Plants, another excellent nursery (and this one does mail order) was also closed. Frighteningly there were no other good nurseries at all. Many I knew had closed.

Last week was National Nursery Week (contact Gilly Pollock — info@britishplantnurseryguide.co.uk) and this yearly event will promote independent nurseries.

However, the best way to keep a nursery going is to use it, for nurseries supply much better ranges of plants than most garden centres and at better prices. Talking at a lunch last week, to a large group of ladies, the question about good nurseries provoked a lot of interest because good nurseries are so hard to find.

If I’m visiting, my favourite not-too-far away ones are Avondale Nursery in Baginton in Coventry (www.avondale nursery.co.uk/0797 909 3096), Stone House Cottage Garden near Kidderminster (www.shcn.co.uk/07817 921 146) and Derry Watkin’s Special Plants near Bath (www.specialplants. net/01225 891686). I always find something interesting at all three, although there is no mail order. I’m also a regular visitor to Fibrex Nurseries near Broadway (www.fibrex.co.uk/ 01789 720788) for ferns, ivies and the best range of pelargoniums on offer anywhere. This grower raises plants for lots on online specialists, but they likely as not double the Fibrex prices.

If I want to order by mail order and get good plant quality and value I recommend Beth Chatto (www.bethchatto.co.uk/01206 822 007) and Long Acre Plants (www.plantsforshade.co.uk) for their packing and plant quality. I also buy peonies from Kelways (www.kelways.co.uk/01458 250 521) often as bare-root plants in late-autumn.