About us - The Bransford Webbs Plant Company

1800 Jan 01

19th C jm

Webbs nursery began as an agricultural seed merchant

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1940 Jan 01

1940/50s jm

Bransford Nurseries was a traditional hop, fruit and livestock farm. A small number of glasshouses were used to propagate hops three months of the year, John Tooby wanted to use these glasshouses for the other nine months of the year, and eventually the nursery replaced the unprofitable fruit business

1960 Jan 01

1960s jm

Important produced of roses and trees and an industry innovator

1975 Jan 01

1975 jm

Plant a tree for ’73 campaign led to the launch of the Tree Council and became the first nursery to use Osmocote

1982 Jan 01

1982 jm

Will Tooby, current chairman, became the nursery manager and the business focus moved to the wholesale of quality stock to garden centres across the UK.

1990 Jan 01

1990 jm

Hebe ‘Rosie’ – bred by John Tooby founder of the nursery, and named after his grand-daughter

1991 Jan 01

1991 jm

Breathe with Ease campaign launched

1993 Jan 01

1993 jm

Hebe ‘Purple Pixie’ – found as a seedling on the nursery and merchandised in their famous purple pots

1993 Jan 01

1993 jm

Name changed to Bransford Garden Plants to reflect the nature of the business

1996 Jan 01

1996 jm

Geranium ‘Pink Spice’ was launched with its own bespoke label

2000 Jan 01

2000 jm

Bred by our former propagator and named after his daughter, Fuchsia ‘Janie’ was launched this year

2002 Jan 01

2002 jm

Following on from Hebe ‘Purple Pixie’, our most successful promotion was launched in its infamous pink pots – Hebe ‘Pink Pixie’

2005 Jan 01

2005 jm

Merged with Webbs to become The Bransford Webbs Plant Company

2005 Jan 01

2005 jm

New propagation unit and potting shed

2006 Jan 01

2006 jm

Weigela ‘Monet’ was launched

2007 Jan 01

2007 jm

Bransford Webbs were the first to commercially sell West Country Lupins

2008 Jan 01

2008 jm

Campaign Plants were launched and ran successfully for several years

2009 Jan 01

2009 jm

Won UK Ornamental Grower of the Year

2009 Jan 07

2009/10 jm

Clematis ‘Bijou’^TM and ‘Filigree’^TM launched as a new style of low, growing, mound forming Clematis

2010 Jan 01

2010 jm

Completion of new glasshouse facilities for liners and finished plants

2010 Jan 01

2010 jm

Start the launch of the Buddleja Chip range, which saw several varieties added over the next five years

2011 Jan 01

2011 jm

Two exclusive introductions this year with Ceanothus ‘Lemon and Lime’ and Gazania ‘Apache’

2012 Jan 01

2012 jm

Opened new dispatch warehouse and office facilities

2012 Jan 01

2012 jm

Dianthus ‘Memories’ launched to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society

2013 Jan 01

2013 jm

Bransford Webbs were the first to commercially sell Delphinium Blackmore and Langdon

2014 Jan 01

2014 jm

The first of the two Spiraea ‘Double Play’ range launched, followed by two other varieties over the next two years

2015 Jan 01

2015 jm

Completion of new glasshouse facilities

2016 Jan 01

2016 jm

Bred in house, the launch of the Hebe ‘Red Wine’ and ‘Summer Drinks’ range, saw eight new varieties successfully introduced to the market

2016 Jan 01

2016 jm

Won UK Ornamental Grower of the Year

2016 Jan 01

2016 jm

Completion of 5000m² of polytunnels, with the area named Willow

2017 Jan 01

2017 jm

Winner of the Silver Award for Finished Plants and Trees at the International Grower of the Year Awards

2017 Jan 01

2017 jm

New Managing Director, Adrian Marskell, with Christine Burton, Production Director, and Richard Colbourne, Finance Director.

2019 Jan 01

2019 jm

Introduction of the taupe coloured, kerbside recyclable plant pot to replace the traditional black plastic pot

2019 Jan 01

2019 jm

Clematis ‘Elodi’^TM new for 2020, in the compact mound forming clematis range, won best in category for shrubs and climbers voted for by the judges at the National Plant Show

2020 Jan 01

2020 jm

Further expansion of the nursery leads to an extra 20% of growing space, through the construction of new polytunnels

2021 Jan 01

2021 jm

Completion of new polytunnels started in 2020 – a total of 49 new tunnels completed and the improvement to growing facilities in another area of the nursery to help drive efficiencies in production across the site

2022 Mar 29

2022 jm

40000sqm upgrade of protected growing space, replacing old tunnels with one large multi-span tunnel.

END