As a young girl, Lisa Wesley was obsessed with plants. “I'd spend hours with my dad looking for wildflowers in the local woods and, when I was about seven, I got hold of some books and began teaching myself all their names.” Then her aunt gave her a little cactus, and soon Lisa had a collection of pocket-money purchases that filled the windowsills of her family home.
Some four decades on, it is no surprise to find that Lisa is running one of the most interesting nurseries in the country. Growild offers a fascinating selection of rare and unusual perennial species, many of them from Japan, China and the Himalayas. She has a large selection of hardy impatiens, begonias, , and , and grows so many ornamental members of the nettle family that she is currently applying to be recognised as a National Collection holder of hardy Asian Urticaceae, examples of which include and .
