We would welcome volunteers to help at the Plant Fair at Yeo Valley Organic Garden, Blagdon, BS40 7SQ on the 26th of March 2022. We need members to oversee the Group’s plant and publicity stall and also to man the gate to the fair to check pre purchased tickets in two hour shifts. Volunteers would have free entry to the fair and garden and do not need to book tickets. Please contact Jane Hunt if you can help.

We would also be pleased to receive donations of labelled plants to sell on the Group’s plant stall at the Fair. Please either bring them to February’s Group meeting or to the Fair on the day.

If you wish to go to the Fair but are unable to volunteer to help, tickets may be booked via the link on the Group’s website from 1 February or via http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/hardy-plant-society-somerset-group. Please select the hour from which you wish to arrive at the Fair and remember to book a parking permit for that hour too.

The Somerset Group lecture this coming Saturday 15th of January will be given by Sue Applegate on the subject of “English Wines & Vineyards”. In this talk, Sue will talk about the development and progress of English wine-making, the techniques involved, and its increasing popularity and will tell us something about her own vineyard in the Polden Hills, Stocklands Vineyard. The lecture will start at 11.00am and we suggest that you arrive at the hall after 10.30am.

We would remind you that everyone attending the lecture must wear a mask at all times, except when seated for the lecture. The windows and some doors will be open to allow air circulation in accordance with scientific guidance so it is suggested that you dress warmly. Please use hand sanitiser on entering the hall and at regular intervals. There will be no book or plant stall this month to provide more spacing for chairs, but there will be tea and coffee available.

On behalf of the Committee

The Monmouthshire Group have invited us to join them for their Zoom talk. The details are as follows:

Zoom talk: Nicola Spence, the UK’s Chief Plant Health Officer, on ‘Helping to protect the UK from plant pests and diseases’ – Sat 15th Jan 2.30pm

Nicola Spence, the UK’s Chief Plant Health Officer at Defra, is an expert in plant health and is also the Head of the National Plant Protection Organisation for the UK. Nicola will explain how we can all help to protect the UK from plant pests and diseases. You’ll have already heard and read a lot about some of these threats but others are on the way. In the UK, we have improved standards of biosecurity and protection and can enhance our plants and trees’ ability to resist.

All of us who love plants, trees and gardening can also help though by taking simple actions when travelling, buying plants or visiting our woodlands and parks. At the end of her talk, Nicola will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

The cost will be £3 per person for HPS members and £5 per person for non-members. All the funds raised this time, after Zoom licence and raffle costs, will be donated to Stump Up for Trees, a local community-based charity which aims to plant a million trees in the Brecon Beacons area. The charity uses donations such as this to contribute to woodland creation, biodiversity and well-being.
To book and/or to be added to our monthly distribution list for updates on our programme, please send an email asap to monmouthshirehps@gmail.com

Please note that the HPS website has a list of Zoom talks open to members of other Groups. Go to the “For Members” drop down and click on “Online Talks by HPS Groups” for details.”

Thanks 

Jane

Monmouthshire programme page: https://hpsmonmouthshire.co.uk/programme/

National HPS Zoom talks: https://www.hardy-plant.org.uk/for-members/zoom-talks

For your enjoyment the programme for 2022 is now on the website here: https://somersethps.com/programme/

Our next group meeting is on Saturday January 15th at 11am on the subject of making wine in Somerset. See you there and a Happy New Year from all at the Somerset HPS Group.

Hello all,

Attached here is the National Garden Scheme booklet for Somerset in 2022, which ought to stimulate some ideas for garden visits during the year.

Feel free to circulate the booklet to anyone else who might find it useful.

On behalf of the Committee (and the NGS).

During November I am raising funds via the Movember appeal, the idea being to grow facial hair for the month of November.

It’s been 9 years since I first Movember’d and this year I felt I’d support them again – especially for men’s mental health. I have direct experience of mental health challenges in people around me, and appreciate that sometimes we all need help.

I will be allowing my face to grow an unruly mess of whiskers which this time want to be like Lemmy from Motorhead. Last time I became a David Brent lookalike which was disturbing for all. This may not be the toughest challenge but the itching on my face is already a bother, and no less for my wife who has to avoid my hedgehog like face.

Money raised by Movember will support projects in the UK to provide education and support for mental health, and also towards research into prostate cancer, testicular cancer and suicide prevention – 75% of suicides are by men.

If you can support me the money I raise goes to fund to projects in the UK and around the world – find out more on the Movember website under About -> Impact.

If you feel able to support me in this fund raising event then you can do so via my Movember page here. I’ve raised £500 so far from friends and colleagues who have been generous in their support.

The goal

The Reality

This coming Saturday 20th is the Somerset HPS AGM:

Doors open at 10.00am

AGM at 10.30am, followed at 11.15am by

Derry Watkins – ‘Pushing the Boundaries: Borderline Hardy Plants You Can’t Live Without’

Derry is the proprietor of Special Plants, near Bath, an enticing nursery full of covetable and unusual plants.  As Derry has introduced many of them from her plant collecting trips to South Africa and elsewhere, a lot of them are borderline hardy (tender perennials).  Before you say ‘that’s not for me’, bear in mind that the majority of these plants flower consistently all summer, more than earning their keep in the border, and many are easy to propagate from cuttings.   

Derry is a lively and enthusiastic speaker, with a wealth of experience in cultivating tender perennials in the UK.  In this talk, she will be demonstrating the value of these plants, explaining how to grow them successfully and inspiring us to give them a go ourselves.  

https://www.specialplants.net

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Star Raffle Prize

An exciting raffle prize at this Saturday’s AGM, a signed copy of Jimi Blake’s book.

Caroline

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Membership Fees

Membership Fees for 2022 are due on the 1^st January, and a big thank you to everyone who pays by Standing Order or Bank Transfer. If you do prefer to pay by cash or cheque, I will be at the AGM meeting and would be pleased to collect the payments then. Membership fees remain at £5 for single membership and £8 for joint, and it would be helpful if you could have cheques payable to Hardy Plant Society (Somerset Group) prepared in advance or the correct amount in cash. 

However you pay our group subscriptions, please remember to also renew your National HPS Membership as National HPS Membership is a pre-condition of HPS Somerset Group Membership.

Jenny Barr

Membership Secretary

HPS Somerset Group

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Covid Precautions

In view of the increased number of Covid infections locally and likely high attendance, please could we remind everyone coming to Saturday’s meeting to please wear a mask (if able) when entering the hall and whilst standing or moving about in the hall. Masks may be removed, if you wish to, whilst seated.

Many thanks,

Jane

Advance booking invite: Zoom – Troy Scott Smith with ‘A tale of three gardens’ – Wed 27th Oct, 7.30pm, Monmouthshire Hardy Plant Society

Hello everyone

We are now opening bookings for our first Zoom talk of the season on Wednesday 27th October at 7.30pm. We are delighted to welcome Troy Scott Smith, the very accomplished head gardener, garden writer and speaker with ‘A tale of three gardens’. As usual, HPS members and non-members are all welcome for what should be an enjoyable and informative session. We really appreciate your support and hope you can join us. Please feel free to forward this invite to your family, friends or your other societies/groups too if you think it could be of interest.

Troy has recently returned to Sissinghurst Castle in Kent as Head Gardener and has previously worked as head gardener at the privately owned Iford Manor Gardens in Wiltshire and, for the National Trust, at Sissinghurst, Bodnant Garden near Conwy and The Courts Garden in Wiltshire. He has also worked at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney; designed the floral colour spectrum at the Royal Botanic Garden Kew; and became interested in photography and was the RHS professional photographer of the year. He continues to enjoy writing and talking about plants and gardens.

However, for Troy it’s having a deep, basic and enduring connection with a garden that is most rewarding. There should be much of interest when he tells us about three wonderful gardens (Sissinghurst, Bodnant and The Courts) and discusses his experience of each and the gardening challenges ahead. There’ll also be time for your questions at the end of the talk, before the raffle is drawn.

The cost will be £5 per person for national HPS members (of any Local Group or none) and £7 per person for non-members, plus (optional) £1 for each raffle ticket. The funds raised go towards the cost of our speakers and improving our future programme as well as towards our raffle prizes which are mostly garden vouchers, redeemable nationwide.

To book your place/s and/or to join our mailing list for monthly updates, please send an email to monmouthshirehps@gmail.com including – if you are an HPS member and haven’t told us already – your group name and membership number where known.
Please do not pay until we have confirmed your reservation. Places are sometimes limited, even on Zoom, so entrance to this online event and the associated raffle will be for those with confirmed and paid bookings only.

We expect to have enough capacity but if oversubscribed, priority in booking will be given to HPS members as usual. In the unlikely event that the talk is cancelled, all those who have paid will be notified by email and, as they prefer, either be refunded or have their payment carried forward to a future meeting.

Our talks are not recorded so will not be available if you are unable to attend. Wishing you all well and we hope to see a good number of you online to hear Troy’s ‘A tale of three gardens’ on 27th Oct.

Jacqui
Secretary – Monmouthshire Group, HPS

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