Our next group meeting is coming up this Saturday 20th. If you wish to attend as a guest please follow the instructions here: https://somersethps.com/2021/03/05/dr-john-grimshaw-paying-rent-plants-that-earn-their-keep/
Members will receive the Zoom link later in the week.
If this is you, or you know Mrs P, please follow the link above to send us your booking details. We’ve had money from Mrs P but no email address – without which we can’t send the zoom link.
In a change to the advertised programme, our speaker for April 17th will be Vicki Weston of Big Sky Plants, talking to us about Salvias. The talk by Sue Applegate with wine tasting didn’t seem practical via Zoom and will be rescheduled for 2022.
Seven years ago, Vicki moved to Ceredigion in West Wales, along with her beloved collection of 6,000 plants. Her interest in salvias has snowballed and she now has about 75 species and cultivars, which she sells by mail order from her website.
Some of the cultivars she recommends, such as the deep purple ‘Amistad’, are new to cultivation but already well known. ‘Someone found ‘Amistad’ at a plant fair in Argentina and it’s now one of the most widely seen salvias in the world,’ she says. ‘Hot Lips’ is also popular, with small, aromatic leaves and delicate, bi-coloured crimson-and-white blooms from June until the first frosts.
The tender species flower the latest and some can even be in bloom at Christmas if grown in pots. Vicki recommends varieties such as S. fulgens, the Mexican scarlet sage or the striking rust-red S. confertiflora for Christmas colour. S. involucrata ‘Mulberry Jam’, with its showy deep pink flowers (or indeed any of the New World salvias), can also be container-grown to maximise autumn flowering time.
Note: With the restrictions still in place this talk will be via Zoom
John Grimshaw has enjoyed a varied and interesting career, including nine years restoring the Gardens at Colesbourne Park (famous for its snowdrops) before he became the Director of the Yorkshire Arboretum in 2012. He is a respected gardener, author and botanist, and is Vice-Chair of the RHS Woody Plant Committee. Fascinated by all plants, he has grown a huge diversity of them over the years.
In this talk, John will introduce a range of plants of all kinds, chosen for their long or multiple seasons of interest in the garden. Just the thing for those of us who want colour all year round in our borders.
SHPS members will be sent the joining link near to the day of the talk.
Joining for Guests only:
Step 1: Please send £4 by bank transfer to:
Step 2: Use the form below to notify us of your payment so we can then add your email onto the invitation list. You will then be sent the zoom link a couple of days prior to the meeting.
Due to Government restrictions being in place during March we won’t be able to run the Spring plant fair as planned. This is sad news but unavoidable.
Jane Hunt (Secretary).
HPS Monmouthshire Group: Noel Kingsbury ‘New ways with perennials’ – Zoom talk, Sat 13th March 2.30pm
Our next Zoom talk will be on Saturday 13th March at 2.30pm when Noel Kingsbury, the internationally well-known writer, lecturer, researcher, gardener and horticultural consultant, will join us from his new home in Portugal to show us some ‘New ways with Perennials‘. We hope you can join us for what should be an enjoyable and informative afternoon.
A little background: Best-known for his promotion of what is broadly called an ecological or naturalistic approach to planting design, Noel has written some 25 books on various aspects of plants and gardens over the years, four of them in collaboration with Dutch designer and plantsman Piet Oudolf. He has also written for Gardens Illustrated, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Garden, and many other publications. Noel will take a look at a variety of contemporary approaches to using perennials: naturalistic, modernist, the Piet Oudolf look, etc. Increasingly popular in recent years but constantly evolving, these varied approaches use a wide range of plants, all selected for the ecology of a specific site and, with an eye to maintenance, the extent to which they can look after themselves.
As usual, Hardy Plant Society members and non-members are all welcome but places are limited. The cost will be £5 per person for national HPS members (of any Local Group or none) and £7 per person for non-members. If you’d like to book your place/s, please reply asap to monmouthshirehps@gmail.com (if you are a member, include your group name and membership number where known). Please feel free to forward this invite to your family, friends or your other societies/groups if you think it could be of interest.
The garden at Elworthy Cottage will be open for the NGS by appointment, most days during March for local people. Admission £4. To book, email mike@elworthy-cottage.co.uk or phone 01984 656427. More details can be found on www.elworthy-cottage.co.uk
Hello all – having sent around the recording of the talk from Timothy, I forgot to mention that we have permission to make the recording available for one week only. I shall have to remove the video on the 3rd of March.
If you are a paying guest and would like to access the recording please reply to this email and the link will be provided.
Thanks everyone, Bill.
Seed orders are starting to be posted this week but unlike other years they will not be going out all at once, but in several batches over the coming weeks. – Via Jane Hunt.
Members should have received the details for joining the Zoom talk this Saturday via a private email – if you haven’t received the link, just reply to this email and let me know.
Paying guests should also have received the link – if not let me know also.
Best wishes, Bill.
East Lambrook Manor was featured on the BBC for Snowdrops here (on Facebook)
Their current seed list can be downloaded here. East Lambrook Snowdrops 5.2.2021
The Hardy Plant Society Somerset Group 