TUESDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER 10.30AM – 2PM

A walk and talk around the nursery and gardens at Lower Severalls

COST £55 OR £44 FOR RHS MEMBERS

A look at plants and habitats that encourage and support pollinators led by Catherine Bond with homemade lunch provided by Lower Severalls Farmhouse Bed and Breakfast Booking contact Mary Pring 01460 73234 or email lowerseveralls2010@gmail.com

I have been asked to let you know about a Zoom lecture for South Pennine HPS Group on 1 September which other HPS members are welcome to attend. It’s on “Shade and Semi Shade Plants” and the speaker is Colin Ward of Swinesmeadow Farm Nursery near Peterborough. There’s no charge to join the lecture.

If you are interested, please contact Tricia Fraser on triciaf2808@gmail.com to book a place.

Jane Hunt

Somerset Wildlife Trust’s ‘Wildlife Gardens’ season is much curtailed this year because of corona virus but on the 8th August the garden at Elworthy Cottage, Elworthy will be open. 

This is a 1 acre wildlife friendly garden in a tranquil setting with island beds, unusual perennials and ornamental trees and shrubs. It has been planted to encourage bees and butterflies with lots of birdsong and wildflower and meadow areas that should be full of butterflies on a sunny day. Several different bumblebees have been spotted in the garden visiting the many nectar rich plants.

Slow worms are often seen sunbathing in sheltered spots and the occasional grass snake in one of the compost heaps . Hedgehogs regularly visit and last winter one collected a huge pile of leaves to hibernate under in a secluded corner. There is a decorative and productive vegetable garden and the plantsman’s nursery attached to the garden will be open at the same time which is stocked with lots of bee friendly plants

Somerset Wildlife Trust has been protecting vulnerable wildlife and preserving wild places in Somerset for over 50 years. The Trust’s ‘Wildlife Gardens’ programme is aimed at inspiring gardeners to use their own gardens to help wildlife on their own doorstep and raise funds for the work of the Trust.

Elworthy Cottage is on the B3188 half-way between Wiveliscombe and Watchet and is open from 11am to 4pm entrance £4, children free. There will not be any refreshments available but you are welcome to bring a picnic and there are plenty of seats around the garden.
Many Thanks

Mike Spiller
Elworthy Cottage
Elworthy
01984 656427

As some members know my Daylily (Hemerocallis) stock has survived and indeed increased since Beggars Roost Plants closed. This summer I am getting the names straight for plants in pots, rather than the huge planted clumps which members helped me dig up last year.

The list above gives plants correctly labelled to date, and more are still coming out. There are brief descriptions and I can send photos of anything which might be of interest. They are mostly in 2l pots though some are in bigger, and the figure in red shows how many are available to date.

Prices would be token at around £3.50 as I need to reduce stock! My cottage is being rebuilt and I’m without reliable phone use, so please uses this email address (ro@lilstock.eclipse.co.uk) to get to me, but give your number so I can ring you back as soon as I have a chance.

Ro FitzGerald

Despite what it says in our Group Newsletter, the Lower Severalls Plant Fair is still on Sunday July 4th.

More details and a link to book tickets can be found here.

There are still some places available on the visits next Thursday 10th June to Batcombe House near Bruton and Westbrook House near Glastonbury. Further information is given below but if you would like to join please contact Penny Berry p.berry487@btinternet.com or phone: 01278 662720. The cost for both visits (and including tea and cake at Westbrook) is £18.50.

Batcombe House
Libby Russell has created a superb garden in the nineteen years she has been at Batcombe House. Sitting snugly in its valley setting, it is a garden of two halves: one undeniably romantic, with frothing borders of roses, nepeta and herbaceous geraniums punctuated by conical yews; the other rather more contemporary, with lawns punctuated by hummocks of box rising in an amphitheatre of curves, fringed with planting in cool greens and whites. Featured in Gardens Illustrated in 2020.

Westbrook House
Garden designer Keith Anderson and painter David Mendel began laying out the garden at Westbrook House in 2004. Set within four acres, the garden has three distinct formal areas around the house. Clipped box and yew offset lively borders of herbaceous perennials and cottage-style plantings. Beyond are mown paths leading through a meadow, peppered with species and wild roses. Finally, there are two orchards where the fruit trees are interplanted with shrub roses and philadelphus.

For any further information about the visits (but not to book) please contact Kate Harris nunnington@aol.com or 01984 624 615

Hello all,

To book your place on the upcoming visits to Holcombe Court and Silver Street Farm (6th July) and Stoneleigh Down and Special Plants (7th September) please use this booking form:

On behalf of Caroline Reeves.