Via Janet Murrow:
A Plant Fair on Sunday the 16th run by the Plant Heritage Charity
Our annual spring plant fair in aid of Plant Heritage. Up to 12 selected nurseries from throughout the South West of England bringing their best plants for spring to sell! £1 entrance to plant fair which is taken off your entrance to the garden if you do go around the garden.
Come along to our ANNUAL PLANT SALE at West Monkton Village Hall, Monkton Heathfield, Taunton, TA2 8NE on Saturday 22 April 2017 from 10.00am to 12.30am
A Large Selection of Quality Locally Grown Hardy Plants, including some Unusual Varieties at Reasonable Prices, plus Specialist Nursery Stalls.
All Welcome * Free Parking on Site * Entry £1 * Refreshments on Sale
(From Jane Hunt)
Aster expert Helen Picton will be giving the lecture at our next group meeting this Saturday. Helen is the third generation of her family to be involved in running Old Court Nurseries and The Picton Garden in Malvern, Worcestershire, which houses the Plant Heritage National Collection of autumn-flowering asters, encompassing over 400 varieties. Helen’s lecture will be all about rethinking autumn in the English garden, extending colour in our borders using a range of late season perennials and shrubs including, of course, asters. Although you may be busy enjoying your spring garden, now is the time to start planning and planting for good autumn colour so don’t miss the opportunity to get advice from one who knows.
Plants for sale
http://www.autumnasters.co.uk
HPS Somerset Group’s Early Spring Plant Fair at East Lambrook Manor last Saturday proved to be a resounding success, with the fine weather bringing crowds of eager gardeners. When Bill and I arrived at 9.50am there was already a long queue outside the gate, and visitors continued to arrive well into the afternoon. There was a cheerful atmosphere amongst the stalls and business was brisk, with a huge range of jewel-like spring flowers on offer, as well as more exotic specimens. People chatted as they queued to pay, exchanging advice and encouragement. By the end of the day most of the stalls were much depleted, despite nurserymen replenishing their tables as plants were sold.
The Manor gardens were looking very pretty in the sunshine: The Ditch was scattered with dainty blue Scilla bithynica and massed hellebores were still showing colour throughout the borders. East Lambrook’s nursery was a treasure trove of hardy perennials, with a wide variety of cottage garden plants at very reasonable prices.
All in all, it was a lovely way to spend a bright, warm day in spring. Our thanks go to Mike and Gail Werkmeister of East Lambrook Manor for hosting the fair, and everyone else who helped to make the event such a triumph; in particular Roy, Stuart and Jane, without whom it would never have come to fruition.
Marion Jay
One of the strengths of the Hardy Plant Society is the prospect of meeting with like-minded people, to share a passion for plants and gardens. Specialist groups offer the opportunity to learn and share information about specific groups of plants in more detail.
With this in mind, the Peony Group of the HPS would like to encourage other HPS members to join us in learning about peonies.
Subscription prices to the group are as follows:
Further information and an application form can be downloaded at: www.hardy-plant.org.uk/index.php?_route_=meet-us-at/specialist-groups/peony
Alternatively, the Peony Group Secretary, Kath Carey, may be contacted direct on 01925 267 633, john.carey516@btinternet.com if there are further questions.
Thank you for helping us to share the wonderful world of peonies as hardy plants.
The Peony Group Committee
One of the HPS Somerset Group’s biggest events is coming up this Saturday, so don’t miss the chance to get your hands on some choice plants for the season ahead. At time of writing, the forecast is looking good, so it promises to be a good turn-out. Come and join the throng!
Sixteen of the South West’s top nurseries will be attending the fair, and the Margery Fish Plant Nursery will be open. Light refreshments available.
Admission to the Plant Fair and the famous cottage gardens: £4.
( RHS & HPS members: £3.50)
16 of the South West’s top nurseries will be showing off their best plants. The admission charge to the plant sale and the gardens will be £4.00 for the day for all adults except RHS and HPS members who pay a reduced rate of £3.50 so please remember to bring your membership card!
Nurseries attending are:
Avon Bulbs
Blooming Hill Plants
Desert to Jungle
Dorset Perennials
Elworthy Cottage Plants
Hardy Way Perennials
Hilltop Nursery
In Clover
Kevin Hughes Plants
Long Acre Plants
Mill Cottage Plants
Millwood Plants
Pennard Plants
Picket Lane Nursery
Roseland House Nursery
Wild Thyme Nursery
Margery Fish Plant Nursery (our own of course)
Also attending are:
Beans & Herbs – organic vegetable seeds
Park Produce – locally made apple juice and preserves
Our next group meeting is coming up this Saturday at 11am where Derek Spicer will speak about Conifers.
Derek is the Chairman of the Conifer Society and owns Kilworth Conifers in Leicestershire, a wholesale nursery with the largest selection of conifers in the UK. He also co-wrote the two volumes of the RHS Encyclopaedia of Conifers, the definitive guide on the subject. If you find the word ‘conifer’ conjures the squat dwarf forms which populated rockeries in the 1970s, come along and be converted – there is a conifer for every garden and Derek will be persuading us all to go evergreen with style.
Plants for sale
http://www.kilworth-conifers.co.uk
We have been offered the share of a stall with the Somerset NGS at the Milverton Street Fair on 1 May 2017 and need volunteers to help man it from 9.00am onwards. It will entail providing publicity for the HPS Somerset Group mainly – handing out leaflets and so on – and maybe selling a few plants. If anyone is available to give an hour or two of their time on the stall please contact Jane Hunt with your preferred time for helping.
Either use the contact form on the website, or if you’re reading this by email just reply and let us know if you’d be able to help.
On Saturday, 30th September 2017 East Yorkshire HPS will be hosting a day of lectures on ‘Hardy Plants in a Changing Environment.’ Come and listen to:
The day before and the day after four gardens will be open for viewing, full details in the PDFs below.
The day will be held at Bishop Burton College:
Bishop Burton College
Bishop Burton
East Yorkshire
HU17 8QP
TICKETS: £25 to members
LUNCH: £12 or bring your own
For more information contact: Keith Scott
Email: klscott@klscott.karoo.co.uk
Here are two PDFs with more details and a booking form:
Via Jane Hunt:
On Saturday, 11th March at 7.30pm Holford Gardeners Group are hosting an evening (at Holford Village Hall) with Troy Scott Smith. He is currently Head Gardener at National Trust’s Sissinghurst, having previously been at NT Bodnant again as Head Gardener.
I wondered if any of your members would be interested in coming along? Tickets cost £8 (to include a glass of wine). Tickets do need to be purchased in advance. If anyone is interested I can be contacted by email (administrator@holfordgardenersgroup.co.uk) or on 01278 741130.
Regards
Gae Richardson
Administrator
Holford Gardeners Group
From Jane Hunt:
On the 25th of March at 10am we will be running our early spring plant fair at East Lambrook Manor.
16 of the South West’s top nurseries will be showing off their best plants. The admission charge to the plant sale and the gardens will be £4.00 for the day for all adults except RHS and HPS members who pay a reduced rate of £3.50 so please remember to bring your membership card!
Nurseries attending are:
Avon Bulbs
Blooming Hill Plants
Desert to Jungle
Dorset Perennials
Elworthy Cottage Plants
Hardy Way Perennials
Hilltop Nursery
In Clover
Kevin Hughes Plants
Long Acre Plants
Mill Cottage Plants
Millwood Plants
Pennard Plants
Picket Lane Nursery
Roseland House Nursery
Wild Thyme Nursery
Margery Fish Plant Nursery (our own of course)
Also attending are:
Beans & Herbs – organic vegetable seeds
Park Produce – locally made apple juice and preserves
We need helpers on both our own stall and on the gate. I shall be bringing a rota to our March meeting for people to sign up or they can contact me direct to book into a slot (or preferably more than one!). We will be short of helpers this year as Stuart and Roy (along with the two Helens) will be at the national AGM wearing their other hats! Helpers get free entrance to the Fair which might prove a bit of an incentive!
Thanks, Jane.
Fibrex Nursery is well known for its pelargoniums, but it also boasts possibly the most extensive commercial collection of hardy ferns in the UK. Heather Godard-Key, co-owner of Fibrex, will be giving us a talk on this ancient family of foliage plants which are so invaluable for shady spots in our gardens.
Plants for sale
http://www.fibrex.co.uk
The Hardy Plant Society Somerset Group 