Plants And Minds
caring for people, caring for plants
CHESTNUT NURSERY
Welcome to the little garden centre with a big heart!
Charitable garden centre Chestnut Nursery offers an unrivalled selection of top-quality, great value plants – from seasonal bedding to perennials, climbers, shrubs, grasses, ferns, herbs, hedging, trees and much more. Located on the edge of Poole Park, we’re famous for staging inspirational plant displays that wouldn’t look out of place at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show!
Chestnut is Dorset’s go-to venue for exotics: perfect if you’re looking to create a lush, tropical vibe at home. Our bright, modern store is a paradise for houseplant lovers and offers an expertly curated range of gardening accessories, gifts and treats. Whether you’re a green-fingered pro or a novice gardener, our friendly, knowledgeable staff are on hand at all times to help you choose the perfect plants and products for your home and garden. Call in today and discover our horticultural haven!
Take a look at our top-quality plants…
Seasonal Bedding
For a riot of seasonal colour, jazz-up your pots, window boxes, baskets and borders with our extensive range of home-grown bedding. The height of fashion since the Victorian era, we stock summertime bedding favourites such as petunias, calibrachoa, begonias, busy Lizzies, verbena, coleus and marigolds to winter-hardy pansies, violas and cyclamen. You’ll be amazed at our seasonal colour available in great value multi-packs and pots. For a bloomin’ brilliant display, grab our ready-planted hanging baskets in spring and autumn!
Herbaceous Perennials
Perennials are fantastic value for money because they come back year after year, making them a truly sustainable choice. At Chestnut, we offer an extensive range of perennials in an array of colours, heights and habits. Ideal for borders and containers, you’ll find the best varieties to grow in every situation, from full sun to dry shade. We’re experts in wildlife-friendly gardening, too, so our team will be able to highlight perennials that provide a rich source of nectar and pollen for bees and beneficial insects.
Climbers
Banish the sight of bare fences and walls with our extensive range of climbing plants, many of which will also thrive when grown up pergolas and gazebos – or plant in obelisks to add height and structure to garden borders. Our climbing plants area hosts easy-to-grow exotics such as passion flowers and a wide selection of deciduous and evergreen clematis. You’ll also find favourites such as star jasmine, honeysuckles, Virginia creepers, climbing hydrangeas and much more. In season, we stock a fantastic range of climbing roses, too. Your garden’s boundaries will never look dull again!
Shrubs
Shrubs add year-round structure, forming the backbone of any garden. At Chestnut, we stock a vast range of deciduous and evergreen shrubs to suit any situation – including full sun, part-sun, shade, dry soil and damp conditions. Our friendly staff will help you to choose the right shrubs for your garden, whether you’re looking for a specimen shrub that’ll be carpeted with flowers or evergreen ground cover to banish the sight of bare soil. Our range changes throughout the seasons, so you’ll find plenty to whet your appetite, including shrubs with attractive foliage, colourful bark and vibrant berries.
Grasses and Bamboo
Naturalistic, prairie-style planting is enjoying a renaissance, championed by leading garden designers at RHS flower shows. Ideally suited to coastal, gravel and town gardens, as well as informal borders, architectural grasses bring delicate movement to planting schemes – we offer a wide range of evergreen and deciduous grasses for borders and containers. Dramatic canes of bamboos, adorned with evergreen foliage, add height, structure and drama: just the ticket for planting living screens that’ll create privacy and an atmosphere of tranquillity, or forming a backdrop for Oriental-style planting designs.
Ferns
We’re fanatical about ferns at Chestnut and have gained an enviable reputation for offering an exciting selection from around the world. From dainty Maidenhairs to towering tree ferns that create a prehistoric atmosphere in outdoor spaces, we stock evergreen and deciduous ferns to suit all gardens and budgets. While many ferns thrive in shady conditions, we even grow types that love to bask in full sun – and our expert staff will advise on the best ferns for dry or damp soil. It’s no wonder that fern collecting was a passion for so many during the Victorian era; a trend that’s still in full swing today.
Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables
Home-grown edibles are rich in vitamins and antioxidants, taste superior to supermarket produce and are easy to grow organically. You’ll find a huge grow-your-own range at Chestnut, ready to plant as soon as the frosts are over. From cordon (upright) to bush (trailing) tomatoes and veg plot staples such as beans (runner, French and broad), sweet corn, peppers, cucumbers, courgettes, onions, cabbage, salad crops and much more, we stock everything you need for a bumper harvest. Fresh herbs are on sale throughout the season, ready to infuse your favourite home-cooked and barbecue dishes with flavour!
Hedging
Looking for an easy-to-grow hedge that’ll provide year-round privacy, an ideal habitat for wildlife and filter strong winds? We’ve got you covered! Chestnut grows extensive stocks of our best-selling hedging plant, Griselinia littoralis (the New Zealand broadleaf) – a quick-growing evergreen that makes a neat, dense hedge. With vivid green leathery leaves, Griselinia is ideally suited to our coastal climate and is a doddle to trim to the desired height and shape. Other hedging options such as Elaeagnus are available, too, and our experts will be delighted to advise on the right hedging options for your garden.
Ornamental and Fruit Trees
From dwarf trees that thrive in pots to stately specimens that’ll grace large gardens, we offer trees for every situation. We’re famous for our flowering cherries that celebrate the arrival of spring with magnificent fanfare – take your pick from cascading, upright or dwarf habits. Even the smallest fruit trees bred for tiny gardens can yield bountiful crops while many bear beautiful blossom and vibrant autumn colour. Browse our selection of apples, pears, cherries, crab apples and more to find the perfect match for your garden. You’ll find famous varieties with pedigree for yielding the sweetest, juiciest fruits.
Exotic plants
Exotics are in our DNA at Chestnut! We’re famed for growing plants from around the world which can be successfully cultivated in Dorset’s mild coastal climate. From the giant, jungle-like leaves of Tetrapanax ‘Rex’ to Echium wildpretii, the most sought-after of all echium species, we’re packed with inspiration all year-round. Create a desert-like atmosphere with agaves and mangaves, and marvel at the giant, dark rosettes of Semponium ‘Destiny’. Looking for giant foliage for a lush, tropical vibe? Check out our stunning colocasias with their huge, heart-shaped leaves, or ramp-up the drama with mighty bananas!
Houseplants
Our amazing selection of indoor plants will transform any indoor space into a home to be proud of! Chestnut is a leading local supplier of quality houseplants, cacti and succulents and we have the perfect plant for every situation – from sunny rooms to high humidity bathrooms and kitchens, shady areas and offices.
If you’re looking for a perfect present, our houseplant area is the place to be. You’ll find gift inspiration for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. In winter, Chestnut is brimming with Christmas houseplants: a feast of flowers and foliage to help you celebrate the festive season in style with friends and family.
Our store hosts specialist and unusual indoor plants, from terrariums to bonsai, air plants and miniature ferns. Whether you’re moving into your first home or a seasoned ‘plant parent’, you’ll find everything you need to create an indoor Eden at Chestnut.
Check out our gardening accessories and gifts…
Compost, Bark and Aggregates
We stock leading brands of sustainable peat-free and peat-reduced compost, including Jack’s Magic, Sinclair Foremost Professional and Westland Peat-Free Multipurpose – as well as John Innes No.3 for mature plants. You’ll find specialist Ericaceous Compost for acid-loving plants, and well-rotted farmyard manure which is packed with nutrients. We also sell bark mulch; ideal for keeping weeds down in beds and borders. All our compost is stored under cover so it’s dry and clean to transport home. If you don’t have a car, you’ll find handy, 10-litre bags of compost in our store, including John Innes 1, 2 and 3, as well as multi-purpose.
Indoor Gardening
Houseplants have never been more popular and we stock everything you need to keep your indoor urban jungle at the peak of perfection. You’ll find contemporary and traditional pot covers to suit all styles of home décor, along with specialist feeds to keep indoor plants in tip-top condition. Chestnut stocks leading brands of houseplant, citrus and cacti/succulent compost, while our Soil Ninja range comprises specialist growing media blends that have been formulated to the precise needs of specific houseplants. A huge range of accessories will ensure your personal Eden remains healthy and Instagram-worthy!
Plant food
Feeding throughout the growing season rewards gardeners with more flowers, superior harvests and healthy plants. From balanced liquid feeds to specialist fertilisers for tomatoes, roses, hydrangeas, ericaceous plants and more, our extensive plant food department will keep your pride and joy nourished. Growmore, Blood, Fish & Bone and Bonemeal – traditional fertilisers that have been trusted by generations of gardeners – are stocked throughout the year. We offer a range of slow-release granular feeds that’ll unlock their goodness over many months, ensuring that plants put on strong growth.
Seeds and Lawncare
Nothing beats the magic of watching seeds burst into life! Growing plants from seed is easy and fantastic value for money, so we stock a wide range of flower, vegetable, herb and wildlife seeds from leading suppliers Mr Fothergill’s, Johnsons and DT Brown. You’ll find all the ingredients for successful seed-sowing at Chestnut, from seed trays and propagators to vermiculite and seed compost. Our store is also your one-stop shop for a lawn to be proud of: we offer top quality lawn seed to suit all garden situations, along with established brands of summer and autumn lawn feed and weed treatments.
Tools and Accessories
At Chestnut, we only sell quality tools that will stand the test of time. Our Kent & Stowe range of stainless steel and carbon steel tools combine comfort with practicality and will deliver many years of service. From spades and forks to trowels, secateurs, pruners, snips, rakes, half-moon edging irons and loppers, we stock the finest value-for-money tools for every gardening job imaginable. An extensive line-up of gloves will keep your hands safe and warm when gardening – and you’ll also find handy accessories such as twine, plant labels, soil pH meters, plant supports, tree ties and much more.
Pots and Containers
Container gardening opens up a world of horticultural opportunities, even if you only have a balcony or a small patio. Many perennials, shrubs, climbers, edibles and herbs thrive in pots, along with summer and winter bedding. At Chestnut, we sell a vast range of premium quality pots, from Terracotta for a classic Mediterranean look to contemporary glazed containers. As you would expect, our containers are frost-proof so they’ll withstand the harshest winters. You’ll find an expanded range of pots made from 100% recycled plastic, helping to make gardening even more sustainable than ever before.
Edible treats and garden gifts
New for 2025, our foodies’ corner is packed with tasty artisan treats that make delicious gifts for friends and family – and perfect Christmas stocking fillers. Our commitment to supporting local businesses means that up to 80% of produce sold at Chestnut comes from suppliers in Dorset and the South West.
Tease your taste buds by browsing our rapidly expanding range of jams, chutneys and sauces, along with shortbread, cookies, honey, hot chocolate, nuts, pesto, chocolate treats and non-alcoholic drinks.
Chestnut also stocks a wide range of giftware, so whether you’re looking for a quirky garden ornament or a spooky Terracotta Halloween pumpkin, we have products in store that are guaranteed to bring smiles to faces.
EVENTS & SALES
Please see our Events Page for the latest details – thank you.
Opening Hours:
Monday to Saturday – 9am to 4pm (last entry 3.45pm)
Sunday – 10am to 4pm (last entry 3.45pm)
Chestnut Nursery
75 Kingland Road
Poole
Dorset
BH15 1TN
Tel: 01202 685999
Email: info@chestnutnursery.org.uk