A family-run garden centre at Lawford near Manningtree combining a serious plant offer with a well-regarded restaurant and a large indoor and outdoor play barn ...

A husband-and-wife nursery down a country lane at Colne Engaine where every plant is propagated on site — 5.0 out of 5 across nearly a hundred reviews, and the ...

A small family nursery on the London Road at Billericay growing its own stock, with a made-to-order hanging basket and pot service that customers book a season ...

A family-run garden ornament yard at Rochford with a vast range of cast stone and metal pieces at prices reviewers keep comparing favourably against the big ...

A small garden centre at Hutton that has become a little village of independent traders — farm shop, Bonnie's Cafe, craft and wool shops and more — with the ...

A mail-order plug plant grower at Hambro Nurseries, Rawreth, shipping perennial and bedding plugs nationwide — excellent plants, but read the notes on ordering ...

A small family-run garden centre at Great Yeldham where Petals Tea Rooms has become the main draw — vintage decor, everything cooked fresh, and the best dry ...

A working nursery at Stock where the plants are raised on site — the highest-rated garden business in this part of Essex, and the only local source of Select ...

A family-run country nursery at Broxted that reviewers prize precisely for what it does not sell — no café, no giftware, just a deep range of plants and garden ...

A specialist tree nursery on the Dunmow Road at Braintree supplying mature and screening trees, pleached and topiary stock, with next-day delivery and a ...

A small, keenly priced plant nursery at Battlesbridge with a £10-a-year members' club that regulars swear by, and a tea room in an old London bus in the same ...

The RHS's Essex garden at Rettendon — a hilltop site famous for its Dry Garden, with a plant centre you can visit free of charge even without paying to enter ...