A truly enormous garden centre on the eastern outskirts of Cardiff, conveniently situated adjacent to junction 29 of the A48M where it meets the old A48 Newport Road.
It's a popular shopping destination in its own right, and is actually part of the large UK-wide Wyevale chain. As well as an enormous range of plants, seeds, gardening tools and gardening supplies, it sells all sorts of gardening-related merchandise, such as garden buildings, garden furniture, pet supplies, books, ornaments, greeting cards, toys, clothing etc.
Their prices aren't the cheapest, but it's all in one place and the quality is not bad (and it is getting very hard to find independent high-quality traditional nurseries, these days). Many of the staff are not that expert in the plants, though - certainly not compared with the horticultural or botanical expertise that resides in parts of the British gardening fraternity. That said, they always seem to be pretty friendly and willing to help, and the whole experience is rather less intimidating than it can be in some traditional nurseries.
For those living in hope of a dry summer, there is an extensive range of barbecues and barbecue supplies. (Note: worth getting in stocks of charcoal, as there is always a run on supplies at the first sign of Bank Holiday sun).
They also have a hire service for a very extensive range of garden and building machinery, if buying your own rotovator or mini-digger seems something of an indulgence. Perfect for the would-be 'Bob the Builder' (or 'Bob y Bildar').
There's a decent sized cafe, which is quite pleasant outside the week-end peak times, although there's no escaping the warehouse 'architecture'. It's very popular with pensioners during the week. At week-ends, the whole place is packed by families on an afternoon out, which makes for a slightly more stressful shopping experience. The centre has toilets and is designed to be accessible for wheel-chair users.
The Wyevale website is quite interesting for the novice gardener, with a 'plant finder' facility, which tells you what you can grow in the soil and aspect of your garden. read more