MacDonald’s Nursery business started on the land to the east of Breadcroft Lane, where Breadcroft Mews and Croft Court were built in the 1970s, at what would be 56 Station Road. Mr MacDonald and his sons started as ‘ordinary nurserymen’, according to Frank Wibberley’s reminiscences (1979), but they made a speciality of improving the quality of turf used on golf-courses, and they expanded and moved to 29 Station Road, the nursery still being known as Croft Nursery. The large level plot up to the boundary of Granary Lane was laid out as turf beds – now occupied by Kipling Way. The brothers became nationally known, exhibiting at Royal Horticultural Shows. They were proud royalists, decorating their house for the Silver Jubilee in 1935.
Croft Nurseries, MacDonald, father and sons
Turf specialists at 29 Station Road

The MacDonald brothers at the gate of 29 Station Road, decorated for the Silver Jubilee in 1935
LHS archives

LHS archives - RB170

James MacDonald with staff, gardens of 29 Station Road
LHS archives cat.no. LHS/009575 RB170

Turf beds on the site of Kipling Way, alongside Granary Lane
LHS archives, RB170

Mr MacDonald meets HM King George V and Queen Mary at his exhibit in the National Gardens Exhibition, c.1935
LHS archives - LHS 12,887
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“Macdonald of Harpenden” is mentioned in the 1919 minutes as being asked for advice regarding the greens at Stanmore Golf Club.
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