Has an active and varied programme, of interest to all gardeners. We are friendly and genuinely welcoming to new members and would love to see you at one of our meetings. We produce two newsletters per year in January and June, and have a programme of meetings and events throughout the year.
Somerset Federation of Gardening Clubs
The Somerset Group of the Hardy Plant Society is a member of theSomerset Federation of Gardening Clubs, take a look at their extensive member list which provide other opportunities to enjoy gardening activities where you live in the county.
The UK Hardy Plant Society (HPS) was formed in 1957 to foster interest in hardy herbaceous plants on the widest possible scale. The aims of the society are to give its members information about the wealth of both well and little known plants, and to ensure that all worthy plants remain in cultivation and have the widest possible distribution. In the Somerset Local Group, we provide information and activities at a local level for Hardy Plant Society members to promote the aims of the society.
This is accomplished by organising a programme of meetings, visits and publishing a local newsletter. (Please see the Programme of Events page for full details of forthcoming events.)
Membership of the local group is open to anyone who is member of the Hardy Plant Society nationally. You can find details of how to join on the Membership page.
All Somerset HPS members must first be members of the National HPS. If you are not already a member of National HPS please follow this link for instructions
Join the Somerset HPS, see below
Prices
The annual subscription to the Somerset Group is £5 for single and £8 for joint membership: the membership year commences on the 1st of January.
Membership Application Form
Download, print and complete this application form and either send by post with a cheque to the address shown or, if you prefer to pay by Bank Transfer or Standing Order, scan and send to the email address on the form once your Bank Transfer is made or a Standing Order established.
Meetings and lectures are held at West Monkton Village Hall unless otherwise specified. All meetings at West Monkton Village Hall are free to members (except for the Group Plant Sale in April), and there is a modest charge of £5 for non-members (when space is available). The Group has a plant stall and a book stall at most of the lectures listed, and holds a Flower & Pot Plant of the Month competition.
Visits & Trips
All coach trips and garden visits must be pre-booked with Penny Berry via email: p.berry487@btinternet.com or phone: 01278 662720. Penny deals strictly with bookings only, so if you have any queries about a trip or event, please contact Kate Harris at nunnington@aol.com
Location maps or directions will be supplied following booking a place on an event.
Somerset HPS Programme 2023
All other meeting details can be found on the meeting page. Lectures begin at 11.00am.Refreshments are served before the lectures.
Saturday 16th March
Caradoc Doy ‘Plant Hunters and Pioneers’
Experienced speaker Caradoc Doy is an authority on the history of the Veitch Nurseries, which were the first commercial nurseries in Britain to sponsor their own plant collectors. Their plant hunters introduced 232 orchids, nearly 500 greenhouse plants, 118 exotic ferns, about 50 conifers, 153 deciduous trees, 72 evergreen and climbing shrubs, and 122 herbaceous and 37 bulbous plants from all corners of the world, many of which are popular stalwarts in our gardens today! This is a fascinating and enthralling topic for a talk.
Saturday 23rd March
HPS Somerset Group Early Spring Plant Fair
Yeo Valley Organic Garden, Holt Farm, Blagdon, BS40 7YE
10.00am – 3.00pm Entry: £5 HPS or RHS members: £4
PRE-BOOKING OF TICKETS ESSENTIAL. Please visit www.somersethps.comfor details, from early February.
The Early Spring Plant Fair is a prime opportunity to snaffle some fabulous plants just ahead of the season to come. Jewel-like flowers adorn every stall, and there will be hot drinks and snacks available at the cafe. There is also the chance to wander around the Yeo Valley garden itself, which is beautifully laid out and has superb views over Blagdon Lake.
Tickets must be purchased in advance, by hour of arrival, and will be available to buy online from early February, via a link which will appear on this website. In 2024, HPS and RHS members will be entitled to a small discount from the standard entry price of £5 and so should look for the £4 ticket category. You will also need to book a free parking ticket for your car at the same time.
The ticket price includes entry to the gardens. Booking is essential.
The Group relies on volunteers to help make these events run smoothly, so if you feel that you could help on the day please get in touch with Jane Hunt or via the Contact page on our website: https://somersethps.com/contact/. We will certainly need people to man the plant stall and the gate. Volunteers will, of course, receive free admission to the Fair. We will also need donations of good, labelled plants for our plant stall, so if you can bring any along to the Fair, please do.
Saturday 13th April
Chris Trimmer – ‘The Work of the National Trust Plant Conservation Centre’
Chris Trimmer works in conservation propagating, grafting, nursery design and management at the NT Plant Conservation Centre in Devon. His job includes saving plants which are endangered in a particular area (often because of disease), propagating clean stock and replanting the progeny to form a healthy colony. Sometimes these plants can be the only food-source for rare insects, so this work is vital to maintain biodiversity in threatened environments.
This promises to be an enlightening talk by an expert in his field, offering a detailed view of conservation techniques and practices.
Thursday 25th April
Self drive Visit to Caisson House, nr. Combe Hay, and Rose Cottage, East Harptree
£30 per person
Caisson House is so named due to its proximity to the site of the 1790s caisson lock on the Somerset Coal Canal. The canal is now disused but it still runs through the property. The garden wonderfully eclectic and romantic, set in beautiful North Somerset countryside around a Georgian house, dating from 1815. Recent extensive bulb plantings should be at their peak in areas that later will be covered in wildflowers, and the owner is excited to receive an early season visit. The structures of the topiaries, ponds and rills will be shown at their best, while new foliage will be emerging in the herbaceous borders. There is a walled garden with fruit trees, hopefully in full blossom, greenhouses, and flower and vegetable beds.
Rose Cottage is a one-acre hillside cottage garden set upon the Mendips, with panoramic views over the Chew Valley Lake. Bordered by a small stream and established mixed hedges, the garden is carpeted with primroses, spring bulbs and hellebores in spring. There are plenty of seating areas to take in the views.
Full details and directions will be given when you book your place.
Saturday 27th April
HPS Somerset Group Plant Sale
West Monkton Village Hall, 10.00am – 12.30pm
Admission £1
Somerset HPS members and professional nursery sellers are welcome to sell at our popular plant sale. The hall will be filled with tables decked with tempting plants, so come along and enjoy a morning of selling, or buying, amid like-minded gardeners.
Sale tables may be booked with Jane Hunt at £5 for one or two tables (members only).
Thursday 6th June
Coach trip to Lower Bowden Manor and Edulis Nursery, Pangbourne, Berks
£40 per person
Lower Bowden Manor is a 3-acre garden with a strong structure and an excellent collection of mature trees, which offset the plantings of a knowledgeable and skilful plantswoman. Early summer remains one of the owners’ favourite seasons, after the more colourful spring bulb displays, so we can expect more subtle colours in early June.
In the afternoon we will proceed to Edulis Nursery. Although, as the name implies, there is a wide selection of very unusual edible plants, there is also an extensive collection of unusual perennials and rare shade-loving plants, many of which have been collected by Paul Barney, the nursery owner. The nursery is tucked away in a walled garden in the Thames Valley.
The coach will leave from Taunton (at about 8.30am) and will pick up at Clevedon. Return to Taunton should be by 6.00pm.
https://www.edulis.co.uk
Saturday 15th June
The HPS Somerset Group Summer Plant Fair
Batcombe House, Gold Hill, Batcombe, Shepton Mallet, BA4 6HF
12 midday – 5.00pm
Entry £7.50 (includes entry to the garden)
We have a change of venue for this year’s Summer Plant Fair, taking us to Batcombe House near Shepton Mallet. The summer fair is a vividly colourful event, with summer-flowering perennials in full bloom on every stall, making it easy to imagine how they might look in your own garden. Don’t miss this opportunity to fill those gaps in your borders with something really special!
Further details available closer to the time.
If you are willing to help man the HPS plant stall, the gate, or act as a steward, please get in touch via the Contact page on our website: https://somersethps.com/contact/
Thursday 11th July
Coach trip to High Glanau Manor and Wyndcliffe Court, South Wales
£45 per person
High Glanau Manor is an important Arts and Crafts house set in 12 acres of garden designed by H Avray Tipping. Tipping worked alongside Gertrude Jekyll, by whom he was much influenced in his own gardens. The house and gardens have been expertly restored by the current owners over the last 20 years and we will be given an introduction to Tipping and Glanau by Mrs Gerrish, who has become an authority on his work.
In the afternoon we will continue with the ‘Tipping’ theme with a visit to another of his gardens at Wyndcliffe Court, which was built slightly earlier than High Glanau. The garden was designed to be integral with the house in the ‘Italianate’ Arts and Crafts Style and it is listed as an exceptional garden of 1922 which survives unaltered. It is on a steeply sloping site, with wonderful roses in June/July and a large variety of shrubs, climbers and choice plants. The gardens also feature ancient sculpted topiary, a sunken garden, woodland and a walled garden.
The coach will leave from Taunton (at about 9.00am) and will pick up at Clevedon. Return to Taunton should be by 6.00pm.
https://www.highglanaugardens.com
https://www.wyndcliffecourt.com
Thursday 12th September
Self drive visit to Gasper Cottage, Forest Lodge, and the Blooming Wild Nursery nr. Wincanton
£22 per person
We have a different format for the day for our autumn self-drive visits. We start at The Blooming Wild nursery, just south of Wincanton. This has been under new management since 2022 and is now owned by Steven and Lindsay Lister, who are enthusiastic about wild plants and naturalistic planting. They have a originally supplied wildflowers as ‘PlantWild’, but have since expanded into herbaceous perennials and grasses. They encourage the creation and enhancement of habitats for wildlife and working with nature within a garden setting. They are kindly offering us the opportunity to picnic on site, and a discount of 10% on the day.
We then travel 10 minutes down the road to the gardens at Forest Lodge, just east of Wincanton. This 3-acre mature, country garden opens out to the surrounding farmland and the amphitheatre effect of the concentric circles of terracing towards the South West give stunning views across the Blackmoor Vale. The garden is on acidic greensand, with a similar pH to Stourhead Gardens just down the road, and there is an enviable collection of ornamental trees. The garden plans are based loosely on some of the Arts & Crafts gardens created by Lutyens and Jekyll, with more formal borders around the house. We will be offered tea and cake at the end of our visit.
Finally we will go over the border into Wiltshire to Gasper Cottage, just off the A303. This is a good contrast to Forest Lodge, with a secluded country garden surrounding a classic thatched cottage. The garden extends to about 1.5 acres and also has glorious views. Thoughtful colour combinations have been developed in the different areas of the garden and there are luxurious plantings of dahlias, grasses, asters, cardoons and other late summer specialities. Many tender plants are also bedded out each year for that extra sizzle and wow factor. There is a perennial meadow, an orchard and a nascent forest garden with a wildlife pond. The owner’s art studio is in a secret garden with exuberant planting and a sophisticated formal pond.
Saturday 21st September
50/50 Plant Sale followed by Sally Morgan – ‘Controlling Pests and Diseases in the Organic Garden’
50/50 Plant Sale starts at 10.00am. Lecture at 11.00am
Sally is an experienced no-dig, organic gardener and plant lover whose most recent project has been the restoration of a walled garden on her farm in Somerset. She is Editor of Organic Farming Magazine, published by the Soil Association, and has a wealth of knowledge about dealing with pests and diseases without resorting to chemicals. For those of us trying to garden sustainably, this will be a really useful lecture.
The 50/50 Plant Sale is a popular event every September. The Group keeps half the money taken and returns the other half to the seller. The hall will be open from 9.30am – 10.00am to receive your plants.
Please ensure that each plant has two identical labels, both of them bearing the name of the plant, your name and the price. One will be removed so that the amount you are owed can be totted up and given to you at the end of the meeting, when you can also reclaim any unsold plants and your labels (tip: write in pencil on the labels so that they may be reused).
Selling will take place between 10.00am and 11.00am, at which point the lecture begins. Offers of help with selling on the day would be most welcome.
Saturday 19th October
Paul Cumbleton – ‘A Growing Addiction: Bulbs from the Winter Rainfall Area of South Africa’
Paul Cumbleton was head of the Alpine Department at RHS Wisley Garden for 11 years. He has grown alpines for over 30 years and also has a particular interest in Pleione and the winter-growing South African bulbs. The winter rainfall area of South Africa has some outstanding, wonderful, and sometimes weird but beautiful plants. In this talk Paul will give an overview of this increasingly popular group of plants and explain how to grow them.
Saturday 16th November
AGM followed by Stella Exley – ‘Camassia, Chris, Chelsea & Chaos’
AGM starts at 10.30am. Lecture starts at 11.15am
Stella Exley runs Hare Spring Cottage Plants in Kingsbridge, Devon, which holds National Collections of Camassia, Sidalcea and Uvularia. She has a natural flair for sharing her expert knowledge in a fun and engaging way, and is hugely enthusiastic about plants. Having exhibited in Floral Marquees at all the major shows, her talk will include the story of the trials and tribulations she went through to provide camassia to Chris Beardshaw for his RHS Chelsea gold medal winning garden in 2015.
https://www.harespringcottageplants.co.uk
Directions to West Monkton Village Hall
The Hall site is located centrally within the village of Monkton Heathfield, just to the east of the Merry Monk pub on the A3259, approximately 3 miles from the centre of Taunton. The post code, for those with satnavs, is TA2 8NE: map reference is ST255268.
The A3259 links the A38 between Walford Cross and Bathpool, near the Monkton Elm Garden Centre, to the Priorswood area of Taunton. From Taunton follow the signs to Monkton Heathfield. From the A38, coming from the direction of Bridgwater, follow the signs for Minehead.
The Hall is easily accessed from the M5 motorway from junctions 24 or 25. The hall building is detached and set back from the main road through the village, and there is a drive in/out from the road and ample, free on-site parking.
Meetings and lectures are held at West Monkton Village Hall unless otherwise specified. All meetings at West Monkton Village Hall are free to members, there is a modest levy of £5 for each visitor/guest. The Group will have a plant stall and a book stall at most of the lectures listed, and will hold a Flower & Pot Plant of the Month Competition.
The group meets at West Monkton Village Hall, Monkton Heathfield, Nr Taunton, TA2 8NE (map)
The map usually shows the meeting location for the group. Please check the details of each meeting in the group description above, as some groups meet in varied locations.
Special Interest Groups
Our Special Interest Groups provide a way to go deeper into specific plants and species
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