In the decades shortly after the Second World War, new houses had smaller and smaller gardens. The business came not from the large country estates, but from the new housing estates. The nursery adapted and became more mail order orientated.

In drab post war Britain colour pictures in rose mail order catalogues were enthusiastically received and demand for roses boomed in the 1950's. Few colour pictures were available for trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. Notcutts linked with nurserymen in 15 other European countries to print colour pictures for inclusion in their own catalogues. These pictures gave a significant advantage to Notcutts.

In 1960 John Dyter succeeded Arthur Metcalfe as Nursery Sales Manager, later Sales Director and RHS Associate of Honour. He doubled the size of the catalogue, adding more information and advice, producing the first edition of "Notcutts Book of Plants" in 1961. The blue pages of "Plants for a Purpose" were added in 1980. The Centenary Edition was the 15th of this well known publication which has played a key role in the development of the business.

Twenty thousand catalogues were mailed out in 1961/62, and the business broke the £100,000 turnover barrier. Autumn was still the peak despatch period. By Christmas 1962 there was jubilation as the turnover was £10,000 ahead, but then the weather took its toll - a hard lesson. The land froze from Boxing Day to 11th March. Many orders were in hand that could not be despatched and no additional orders could be accepted for spring delivery. The nursery staff were laid off on the understanding that when the weather broke, over time would more than refund their lost pay. It was a relief when the turnover finally crept £400 ahead of the previous year's.

This winter had a critical effect on the industry. As it finally broke, customers discovered the ready availability of plants in garden centres, whilst awaiting their long delayed orders to be sent to them. This proved to be the first turning point in demand moving from direct ordering to garden centres. The second was the postal strike in the winter of 1971.

During the 1970's container grown plants became more freely available for planting throughout the year. Customers no longer had to choose from colour catalogue pictures, or try to visualise the plant from descriptions. This led to an explosion in demand in garden centres and decline in mail order. Small orders by mail were finally discontinued in 1994. However, the whole range of 3,000 plants grown can be ordered for collection at any of Notcutts Garden Centres, and larger orders can still be delivered direct.

Demand for plants has switched from autumn to spring and summer, when the weather is usually more conducive to gardening.

However, the cry now is for the gardener to return to autumn planting, so as to achieve better establishment before the increasingly frequent summer droughts.

Traditionally, the owners of the large country houses and gardens were the tree planters - both of numbers and varieties. There was little space for trees in the many new small gardens. From planting the rootstock on the nursery to lifting the standard tree takes some 4-6 years, so production has to anticipate demand far ahead. Fortunately, during the 1960's as the private sector demand for trees declined, the public sector demand for planting streets and new housing estates took off; the public authorities became the new tree planters.

Notcutts soon became one of the major suppliers of trees and other plants to public authorities, peaking in the year of "Plant a Tree in 73". Almost two thirds of Notcutts plants were then supplied to public authorities. Although an achievement in itself, it was recognised that such reliance on public expenditure had its dangers. Whilst maintaining this part of the business, the focus turned to supplying plants to the growing group of Notcutts Garden Centres, and also to other garden centres and nurserymen. The acquisition of Waterers Nurseries in 1982 brought not only additional container plant production, but also the valued custom of many garden centres.

This change of direction was most fortunate. Although concern for the environment has increased substantially during the 1980's and 90's, public funds for planting have decreased. From the peak of two thirds in 1972/73, plants to public authorities plummeted to only 10% in 1995/96 - and yet Notcutts are still a main supplier to this sector.

Since the 1950's low maintenance planting has become essential in gardens. Demand for large herbaceous borders with many varieties of traditional plants has declined, whilst that for ground covering varieties which smother weeds has increased. Over the last 40 years the range of herbaceous plants grown has changed greatly.

Fruit trees were the mainstay of Woods Nursery, and Notcutts until the 1950's. As gardens became smaller with spraying unpopular and, more recently supermarkets have offered fruit all year round, demand has declined.

Roses have shown the greatest change of varieties. Of the 83 varieties of hybrid tea and floribunda roses listed in 1961, only four - Iceberg, Masquerade, Peace and Queen Elizabeth - are retained. The Plant Patent Act of 1964 lead to a flush of new rose varieties which had more novelty than improvement, and many have not stood the test of time. The Clean Air Act of 1967 lead to a significant decrease in the amount of sulphur being rained on to British gardens. Progress - yes, but the sulphur naturally controlled rose diseases like Blackspot. Many long established varieties showed their weaknesses. Gardeners lost confidence in roses, which declined in popularity. In recent decades, rose breeders have focussed on disease resistance, good foliage, compact size, repeat and long flowering. Notcutts, with Mattocks, have been in the forefront of introducing such modern roses, particularly the County Series of roses.

Mattocks Roses continues as a major rose brand today, with the focus remaining on disease-resistance and long flowering. The Mattocks range is listed under our Garden Centres section.