About Us
Primrose Hall Peonies is an RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medal award-winning British specialist peony nursery and we hold the Plant Heritage National Collection for unusual Intersectional or Itoh peony varieties. Our 8 acre nursery is based in rural Bedfordshire and run by our tight knit small team of experienced nursery men and women. Our whole team is guided by owner and master peony grower Alec White. There are 13 members in total spanning production, site maintenance, shipping, customer service and marketing.
We currently stock the largest selection of rare and extremely collectable peonies for sale in the UK from herbaceous to tree and patio to Itoh, we are growing them all. Our peonies are sold at flowering maturity; this ensures a more established plant which will settle well and perform well in the garden if planted correctly under the right conditions.
We regularly exhibit our peonies around the country at various shows including RHS Cardiff, RHS Malvern, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, RHS Chatsworth, RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival, RHS Tatton and other well-known flower shows like BBC Gardeners World Live. We enjoy exhibiting our peonies and interacting with the public on our peony displays and we love answering all the questions from keen gardeners and dispelling some long held myths about peonies. Our peonies are also exclusively stocked at RHS Wisley and a wide selection of varieties can be seen on sale at their new garden plant centre.
We ship our peonies all over the UK and they have so far found homes all over Europe and even as far as South Africa. If you are an international customer you can read all about our international shipping here.
Most importantly every peony plant grown on our nursery is nurtured with love and care to make sure they are of the best quality before they move on to their forever home… in your garden.
At our nursery we take the environment and our responsibilities seriously. Everything we all do in our own gardens and in nurseries across the world matters, so we are committed to being as responsible as we can and ensuring we cause as little harm to the landscape around us as well as the wildlife that live in our fields and surrounding countryside. For more on how we are making sure we are running a sustainable horticultural business and what methods we are using to mitigate our impact please see our full environmental policy.
About Alec
Alec White, owner and head nurseryman, has a real passion for all plants but his true love affair is with peonies. These stunning blooms have captured his attention since he became a horticulturist and as with all true passions, this has driven him to learn everything there is to know about the whole peony family and their interesting history. From tree peonies to intersectional and herbaceous to patio, Alec is growing them all. Alec is excited to now be the Plant Heritage National Collection holder for intersectional Itoh hybrids of peonies in the UK, working to preserve these unique plants for future generations.
Working in horticulture is in his genes as “Great Grandfather White” was a nurseryman too, growing gladioli as cut flowers in Harmondsworth during the 1930’s and 40’s and selling them in Covent Garden. Some of Alec’s earliest memories are of watering and looking after plants in a nursery as a Saturday job. Unfortunately like a lot of people who have found their passion and their true career path, there were a few diversions along the way. Alec was originally encouraged by his teachers at school to study law as he had great grades and being a successful lawyer was a ‘real job’. He then spent 7 years studying law before qualifying and practicing as a prosecutor in London. The horticulture bug never left Alec though and after a number of years working as a lawyer he decided to finally pursue his true passion.Together with his parents Alec bought a nursery and has carved out a career within the industry that he always felt was his true calling. The rest they say is history.
Alec’s creativity and desire to give peonies the platform they deserve means he has won multiple awards for the nursery’s eye catching exhibits, in 2019 he won his first Chelsea gold medal for his Love Peonies exhibit.
Alec also enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience with these fantastic plants. He has written numerous articles on peonies and is often asked to contribute his expert knowledge of peonies to various forms of media, to see a selection of our press cuttings please see our press page. Alec has also developed a series of talks on peonies, their history and also dispelling some long held myths about this genus, you can see a full list of talk topics that Alec presents to gardening clubs and societies here with further details on how to book these talks.