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

Join Dan Hinkley as he presents some of his favorite plants growing at Windcliff and Heronswood, his Zone 8 gardens of Washington State. Talk is at 7pm (UK time)

After many years of international travel, Dan has accumulated a garden full of infrequently seen plants deserving of greater recognition by keen gardeners everywhere. Though he will not torture you with a litany of plants that are impossible to find in the UK, he will throw in one or four that you will want to put on your wish list. Trees, shrubs, vines and perennials will be included in this hour long lecture with questions and answers following.

https://www.plantheritage.org.uk/events/hampshire-isle-of-wight/connoisseurs-table-by-dan-hinkley/

The HPS Admin team would like everyone to remember that seeds will be sent after the end of February – they’ve been getting a lot of premature calls to find out progress.

Sally Gregson is currently writing a book on Winter Gardens. Lockdown is good for getting the text written, but visiting gardens to take pictures is out of the question at present. Could you help by contributing a digital image of any one of the plants on Sally’s list (see below)?

The images need to be the highest resolution you have available. One way to judge this is the file size, at least 2Mb (megabyte) or more precisely at least 2000 pixels tall and 1000 pixels wide. Anything smaller won’t reproduce well, unfortunately. The file format needs to be either JPEG or TIFF, and without any adjustments, photoshopping or cropping.

Sally will need written permission to use your photograph(s), and your name would be against the image in the credits.

Please email your photographs to Sally at millcottageplants@gmail.com or if you’re sending several images use the free WeTransfer website, which is simple to use and will handle very large files with ease.

Here is Sally’s list of plants (click to download and open): Image Requests – Feb 2021