Our spring lecture programme has now come to a close and we are well and truly into the season of plant fairs and garden visits. Our April Plant Sale at West Monkton Village Hall once again proved to be very popular and made a total of £428.10 for group funds. I have already written to thank all of our wonderful volunteers for their help on the day but would like to record this again, more publicly. We cannot run these fundraising events without help from members. Please think about volunteering when the call goes out.

Members enjoyed a drive into Devon to visit the gardens of Regency House, Hemyock and Kia-Ora, Cullompton on 7 May. With perfect weather we all enjoyed a guided tour of the former, including a wonderful walled garden full of shrubs and herbaceous perennials, a lake and various interesting shrubs and trees in the wider garden, plus a superb wisteria growing on the rear wall of the house. This was followed by a stroll around the ten acres of Kia-Ora which featured several ponds, large and small, and some interesting mature shrubs and trees including a fine cercis. We also enjoyed meeting the owner’s friendly peacock but less so her not so friendly black swan!

We already have a virtually full rota of helpers on our plant stall at our next Plant Fair at Batcombe House near Shepton Mallet on 14 June which is great news, but if you would like to help on the gate for an hour or two please let me know. The gardens at Batcombe House should be looking superb at the time of the Fair and our volunteers get free entry to see them. We will also need lots of plant donations to sell on our plant stall so please think about potting up a few plants now. The Fair runs from 12 noon until 5.00pm and entry for anyone not volunteering to help is £8.00 (proceeds to NGS). Please would you print off one or two of the attached flyers or posters and display them locally.

A4 Version:

A5 version:

On Wednesday 25 June we have a coach trip to Veddw House, Devauden and Mounton House, near Chepstow. Places are limited to 30 and we have already reached that many bookings. However, we already have one cancellation and it is always possible that there may be others, so please get in touch with Penny (whose contact details are on the “Programme” page of our website www.somersethps.com ) if you are interested in going. “Reserves” will be contacted in order of application. It promises to be an excellent visit to two gardens that are not regularly open to the public. More details can be found on the website.

For our final June event, we have our annual member social event, the Plant Swap, on Sunday 29 June starting at 2.00pm. This popular members’ only event takes places this year in Street and our host will be Kay Savage. The format of the event is arrive, view the garden, have refreshments and cake and then swap plants with fellow members. There is a small charge of £5 for this event, but if you offer to bring a cake along this may be in lieu of payment. We shall only need four cakes as numbers will be limited to a maximum of 24 so please contact Penny to book your place (and cake!) as soon as possible. So that a variety of cakes is available, please state what type of cake you wish to offer. The booking fee may be paid on the day or by bank transfer in advance. As well as some plants to swap, you will need to bring a chair. More details regarding the venue will be provided on booking.

Finally, a reminder to book your places on our two other garden visits for 2025, the self drive to Honeyhurst Farm and Babbs Farm on Thursday 17 July and our final coach trip of the year to Knoll Gardens, Wimbourne and Compton Acres near Poole on Tuesday 9 September.