If your friend carried the harder to find plants, and she had a nursery in that area then it seems to fit. It has to be one from Dan Hinkley.
I have known so much from my earlier years of plant hunting (here!), Crug Farm plants didn't sell online for a long time and I think I got their catalogue before I had a computer, when they started to sell online I already had much of what I wanted and a garden full. Their carriage rates are high too but that's understandable given their location, I often feel I should buy some of their plants though as the people who make them available aren't always going to be around in the future.