Our next meeting for members and guests is this Saturday:
Saturday 17th February
Saul Walker – ‘Exotic plants: Bringing the Jungle to your Garden’
Saul has an extraordinary number of strings to his bow, including membership of the RHS Tender Plant Committee, being a Trustee of The Hardy Plant Society, and his job as Head Gardener at Stonelands House in Devon. He is an expert on exotic and tender plants, and has enormous enthusiasm for the subject.
In this talk, Saul will offer advice on how to bring jungle-style plants into our gardens, using a combination of hardy yet exotic-looking plants along with tender perennials which add that tropical pizazz! He will also help us understand how to grow, propagate and overwinter the more tender plants successfully.
At every meeting we have the Plant of the Month competition. For 2024 we encourage everyone to bring along an offering to expand the competition. Your mission is to bring either a cut flower and / or a pot plant, or both. The competition is usually judged by the Speaker and points awarded towards an annual award at the AGM.
Roy Stickland also asked me to remind you that the competition includes bulbs and corms, a good time to let these little gems shine.
Tickets are available for our upcoming coach trip, use the contact form to get on board or see Penny Berry at this Saturday’s meeting.
Thursday 29th February
Coach trip to Ashwood Nurseries, Kingswinford
We start the season with a visit to the West Midlands, and an exciting opportunity to spend an enjoyable and informative day at Ashwood Nurseries for a combined garden and hellebore tour. Ashwood is John Massey’s nursery, famous for its hellebores, cyclamen, hepaticas and other alpine plants. It is truly a treasure trove of winter delights. This is the chance to visit John Massey’s private garden in the company of one of the Ashwood team as well as a ‘behind the scenes’ look at the Hellebore Production House. Comprehensive information is available at https://www.ashwoodnurseries.com/events/combined-garden-and-hellebore-tours
The coach will leave from Taunton (at about 8.30am) and will pick up at Clevedon. Return to Taunton should be by 6.00pm. The cost is £48 per person for 30 people (reduced to £42 pp for 45 people).
The Hardy Plant Society Somerset Group 