The Chelsea Flower Show is almost upon us. It may well be that this year’s credit-crunch Chelsea doesn’t have the glitz and excess of last year’s when celebrities like Ringo Star and Olivia Harrison posed in the George Harrison Memorial Garden. Both are keen gardeners and regular attenders – as was the late George Harrison. However I think less excess might encourage fresh blood.

I’m writing up the show and I have to talk to lots of husband and wife nurseries who are preparing to stage an exhibit. The message from them is clear. Despite the recession, specialist nurseries are doing well because they are finding that gardeners are seeking them out. They offer greater choice in a specialist field (not the same old thing) and they are much cheaper. You can also get plant advice which helps save money in the long run. Growing involves care, patience and skill with muscle thrown in and few people in horticulture earn large amounts. They live and breathe plants and they are contented with their lot especially when you phone them up on a glorious April day.

There are several ways to seek out specialist nurseries. There are rare plant fairs (www.rareplantfair.co.uk/ 0845 4681368). There’s going to be one involving 20 excellent nurseries at Kingston Bagpuize House on May 23 from 11am to 4pm. You should also ask your gardening friends where they go.

Then there’s the gardeners’ bible, otherwise known as The RHS Plant Finder. It’s basically a huge paperback, some 1,000 pages thick, with an alphabetical list of plants and a list of nurseries (divided by area) that sell it. There are also basic maps, although I manage to sniff out nurseries without one! The new edition has just come out (Dorling Kindersely, £15.99) and one will last two or three years. So that’s £5 a year – the average price of just one plant.

The RHS Plant Finder also gives you correct plant names, lists the changes in nomenclature, and gives you a crash course in understanding botanical jargon – should you want it. The names often have abbreviations by them so it’s possible to tell for instance that the dahlia ‘Rip City’ (SS-c) is a small semi cactus variety and that Clematis ‘Etoile Violette’ (Vt) is a viticella. In short it’s the yellow pages of gardening.

I use it every day and I have developed an unfortunate habit of shortening names to things like Nepeta gov. instead of its full title – N. govaniana. As a result, when naming plants in talks I often hesitate after the first syllable of the species name, and then I stumble. Deprived of my thick and unwieldy aide-mémoire, I feel almost naked.

A nursery that often pops up at plant fairs is East Hanney-based Steventon Road Nurseries. John Graham, who owns it, specialises in unusual tender and hardy perennials and interesting bulbs. He grows plants superbly well in good compost. He is also selling vegetable plants – this year’s must have. So if you love plants, cultivate this friendly, local nurseryman or another one near you.

More local nurseries can be found on www.thegardeningwebsite.co.uk/garden-nurseries-in-oxfordshire – for those with the technology.

The Chelsea Flower Show runs from May 19 to 23. Tickets are still available (0844 209 1810).