Hello, let me introduce myself, I’m Helen Hunt – owner and developer of Peake Perennials, a small, independent Nursery in the lovely county of Dorset where I grow a wide range of hardy, herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses specialising the more unusual and tall varieties. With the help of these plants my mission is to bring that extra WOW factor to your gardens.
Why Peake Perennials? Well, Peake was my Mother’s maiden name and she always loved flowers, gardens and the countryside – and what better to aim for than the “Peake” of perfection.
If you’re looking for something a little out of the ordinary to spice up your borders take a look at my [plant list] for some inspiration or better still come and say hello at one of the shows I shall be attending this year and see, touch and smell the plants for yourself.
Alternatively, although my current growing space isn’t suitable for visitors, just 5 minutes around the corner is the delightful Courtyard Craft Centre on Huntick Road, Lytchett Minster, BH16 6BA with its fabulous café, farm shop, pottery, lovely little craft shops. It's also home to Lytchett Bay Soaps and you can even get a massage while your pooch goes for a quick wash and brush up. I have already been successfully experimenting with pop-up stalls within the Courtyard Craft Centre and am aiming to develop a more regular or permanent presence there.
So why did I decide to develop a plant nursery? First and foremost a passion for plants – especially herbaceous perennials which are so giving and such a joy, flowering their socks off year after year. Even better they are easy to look after, so what’s not to love! Running a close second is the sense of achievement I find in propagating plants myself and watching them mature into something which will lift my customers hearts in the years to come. The final factor has been the frustration of seeing the limited variety of plants offered by garden centres, we all should have the chance to fall in love with something a little different and that’s what I aim to provide.
So how did I end up here? Well, at the beginning of the 2000s I had an early mid-life crisis and re-trained as a gardener, leaving my secretarial life behind. A full diary of different sized gardens kept me very busy for 10 years when I started building up the nursery alongside the garden maintenance. Before long the nursery began to take over and I grabbed an opportunity to take over a small nursery in north Dorset, this meant saying a fond farewell to my maintenance duties and allowed me to concentrate fully on growing. Since then I have moved around the north Dorset area but am relieved to have finally found some growing space just a few minutes away from home and I’m looking forward to settling down once again.
My Goals...
- To provide healthy, trouble-free plants for gardens of all sizes
- To expand my knowledge of plants in order to give the best advice possible to my customers
- To increase the amount of home propagation (where regulations allow) in order to produce healthy, cost effective plants for my customers
- To bring the "unusual" element to the gardens of Dorset
