英国 格罗夫斯苗圃和花园中心 Groves Nurseries – 多塞特郡最大苗圃与花园中心之一

关于格罗夫斯苗圃

格罗夫斯苗圃和花园中心（Groves Nurseries & Garden Centre）在多塞特郡布里德波特，招牌上写的是创办人 Charles William Groves 父子的名字 C W Groves and Son。1866 年晚春，老 Groves 在 Piddletrenthide 开了一间小花房苗圃；到今天这家店已经做了 160 年，名字还是没改，只是从一间苗圃长成了布里德波特三英亩的花园中心。

现在是父子两代一起管：Clive Groves 和儿子 Charlie（现任董事总经理），另外还有两双手在帮忙——Charlie 的妹妹 Becky 在 Beaminster 经营姊妹苗圃 Little Groves，Clive 的妻子 Diana 留在布里德波特坐镇。

从皮德尔特伦希德搬回来

最早的苗圃在 Piddletrenthide 的 Ivy House，选的是一块朝南的陡坡，俯视 Piddle 河谷，暖和的阳光让作物早熟、种子饱满。这些种子当年靠邮购发往全国各地，也靠赶着马车走村串巷的货郎在多塞特一带叫卖。

生意做起来后，家族在 Dorchester 开过四家花店，卖的是苗圃里种的种子、植物和切花。第三代觉得地不够用了，1936 年搬回第一代出生的布里德波特一带重新开店。1938 年还有一段家族轶事：爱德华八世到访多塞特，路过店里被花色吸引，买了店里最大最好的一束花送给辛普森夫人。

1962 年，现址被买下来——当时那儿还是布里德波特足球场。1986 年，为了修环形公路改道，一部分土地被强制收购，这是家族口中最难的一段日子，但也正是这次变故，让这家店从传统苗圃转成了今天的现代花园中心。

香堇国家收藏

格罗夫斯最出名的是香堇。老 Charles William Groves 从 1960 年代起收集香堇，其中最有名的一批是存世不多的 Zambra 品种，他靠这套收藏攒出了 130 多个品种。到了 Clive 一代，收藏规模又往上走，2003 年拿到英国香堇菜与帕尔马紫罗兰（Viola odorata 和 Parma Violets）的国家收藏认证，被认为是全世界规模最大的几处收藏之一，目前品种数超过两百。

Clive 因为这批花在欧洲拿过不少奖，2007 年汉普顿宫花展拿银牌，还被法国土鲁斯的紫罗兰兄弟会（La Confrerie de la Violette）在市政厅授了骑士头衔。他育种的新品种大多用家人名字命名，包括三个孙女的 Eliza、Maddie 和 Amelia。收藏每年一到四月在布里德波特场地的太阳能温室里展出，买家从加拿大和日本的都有。

自产规模与经营范围

自有苗圃每年上盆八千多株玫瑰、一万两千棵树和六千盆一年生花卉，蔬菜苗和花卉苗也自己播。布里德波特的苗圃现在做到全泥炭-free，店里的耐寒植物都带两年成活保证——这是 Becky Groves 盯着自产质量的结果，她的原话是既然自己种的自己敢保证。

园艺用品这一块分得很细：堆肥、园艺杂货、肥料、病虫害防治、草坪和草坪草种、花盆和育苗盘、工具按用途分成修枝、锄耙、铁锹几类，浇水设备有水管、洒水壶、微灌和储水桶。水景用品有pond内衬、水泵和喷泉。户外生活一区卖花园家具和露台，牌子有 Alexander Rose、Hutton、Kettler、Lafuma 和 Zest，另有 Halls 和 Elite 两家温室，Powersheds 的工具房和木屋。

另外两块是很多人逛花园中心才会发现的：野生动物区有喂食器、野鸟饲料和巢箱；宠物区从猫粮狗粮、家禽饲料、马术用品一直排到观赏鸟和小动物，猫狗分别列了 Carnilove、Royal Canin、James Wellbeloved、Green & Wilds 这些牌子。礼品区还有蜡烛、玩具和 Wrendale 的洗护用品。

两个场地与餐饮

主场在布里德波特，场地三英亩，花园中心、植物区和餐饮在一起。餐厅叫 Ivy House Kitchen，2018 年换成了玻璃结构的 200 座新馆，取代父亲 1990 年代建的那一间；周一到周六 8:30 到 16:30，周日 10 点到 15:30，供应季节性外卖、有执照，也收 Blue Light Card。

妹妹的 Little Groves 在 Beaminster 城外，是规模较小的姊妹苗圃，卖床按种植主题布置，方便照着买。苗圃经理 Becky Groves 原来在北威尔士做生物多样性官员，2008 年回多塞特开这家店，所以环保这条线做得很实：可降解 Vipots 育苗盆、浇灌用地下水、野生动植物主题的示范花园和无泥炭堆肥。周一到周六 9 点到 17 点，周日 10 点到 16 点。两个场地都免费停车、允许带狗、有轮椅可借、提供送货和代提货，还做花盆和堆肥袋回收。

另有一桩老技术值得记一笔：老 Charles William Groves 当年跟政府合作做试验，把洋葱从播种改成用鳞茎繁殖，格罗夫斯由此成为把洋葱鳞茎引进英国的那家苗圃。

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About Groves Nurseries

Groves Nurseries & Garden Centre is in Bridport, Dorset, and still trades under the name of its founder and his son, C W Groves and Son. Charles William Groves started a small garden nursery at Piddletrenthide in the late spring of 1866. One hundred and sixty years on, the site has grown from a single nursery into a three-acre garden centre in Bridport.

Management is now father and son: Clive Groves with his son Charlie, the current managing director, helped by two more pairs of hands — Charlie’s sister Becky, who runs the sister nursery Little Groves in Beaminster, and Diana, Clive’s wife, who remains at Bridport.

From Piddletrenthide Back to Bridport

The original nursery sat at Ivy House in Piddletrenthide on a steep south-facing slope overlooking the Piddle Valley, where the sun brought early crops and well-ripened seed. Those seeds went out by post across the country and by hawkers travelling the district with pony and cart. As trade grew the family opened four shops across Dorchester, selling seed, plants and cut flowers grown at the nursery.

After three generations in Piddletrenthide the family needed more land and moved back to the Bridport area in 1936. A much-told story from 1938 records Edward VIII, passing through Dorset, being drawn in by the flower display in the shop and buying the best and largest bunch in the shop for Mrs Simpson.

The current site was bought in 1962, when it was still the Bridport football field. In 1986 a compulsory purchase order took part of the land for the new bypass. It was a bad time for the business, but it is also what allowed the site to develop from a traditional nursery into the modern garden centre of today.

The Violet National Collection

Violets are what Groves is known for. The elder Charles William Groves began collecting them in the 1960s, saving the famous Zambra collection among others and building a collection of more than 130 varieties. Under Clive the collection grew again, and in 2003 the Victorian Dorset violets were recognised as a National Collection of Viola odorata and Parma violets — one of the largest such collections in the world, now numbering over two hundred varieties.

Clive has won several medals in Europe for them, took a Silver Medal at the Hampton Court Flower Show in 2007, and was knighted by La Confrerie de la Violette at Toulouse city hall. New varieties he breeds are mostly named after family members, including his three grandchildren Eliza, Maddie and Amelia. The collection is shown between January and April in the solar dome at Bridport, and has drawn buyers from as far away as Canada and Japan.

What the Nursery Grows

The nursery pots on more than 8,000 roses, 12,000 trees and 6,000 bedding plants a year, and raises its own vegetable and bedding seedlings. The Bridport nursery is now 100 per cent peat free, and all hardy plants carry a two-year guarantee — a direct result of Becky Groves taking responsibility for the growing and vouching for the quality.

The gardening side is broken down in fine detail: compost, sundries, fertilisers, weed and pest control, lawn care, pots and seed trays, tools sorted by job, and watering from hose pipes to micro-irrigation. Water gardening, wildlife food and feeders, and a pets department running from cat and dog food to poultry, equestrian and ornamental birds all sit alongside it. Outdoor living covers garden furniture from Alexander Rose, Hutton, Kettler, Lafuma and Zest, greenhouses, and Powersheds sheds and log cabins.

Two Sites and a Restaurant

The Bridport site covers three acres and combines the garden centre, the nursery and a restaurant. Ivy House Kitchen reopened in 2018 as a glass structure seating 200, replacing the one commissioned in the 1990s. Little Groves, the smaller sister nursery in Beaminster, was opened by Becky Groves in 2008 after she had worked as a biodiversity officer in north Wales; its sales beds are laid out by planting theme, and it uses biodegradable Vipots, groundwater irrigation and peat-free compost.

One further piece of history is worth recording: the elder Charles William Groves worked with the government on trials that established growing onions from sets rather than seed, making Groves the nursery that introduced onion sets to the UK.