Happy New Year.   Now for more vegetable and fruit updates, and more autumn colour. Continuing my look at our fruit and vegetable growing in 2024, I’ll start with tomatoes.  I mentioned in November’s article that the tomatoes grew long and spindly before they were potted into their final pots in…

Happy New Year! Hopefully this finds you ready and raring to go for another year in the garden but before you wrap up and head out into the cold, do take five minutes to watch this month’s video.…

Rooftop Gardens first became popular in this Country during the Edwardian period. During the late 1800s they were popular in New York City for cooling off. There has been an increasing popularity in rooftop gardens for a number of reasons, (reference my article HPS Journal, autumn 2023) Rooftop gardens also…

This month, some November autumn colour, and part one of reviewing our vegetable and fruit growing year.  Starting with some of our vegetables.  Overall this year harvests on most crops were down on usual, more a reflection of the weather and concomitant pests and diseases than lack of effort on…

Hello Hardy Planters, Welcome to December’s newsletter, giving you a snapshot of what’s going on across the Hardy Plant Society this month. I thought December would be a quiet month, it’s anything but. Check out my video video message below, then find out about December’s Hardy Plant Society events (and…

It’s that time of year when we’re clearing back areas of the garden in autumn, it also gives rise to seed collection, storage, seed treatment, sowing, whatever the regime may be for a particular genus. Acanthus comprise 30 species belonging to the family Acanthaceae from the Mediterranean and Europe. Commonly…

How have you found using peat-free compost?  This article is about my experiences with it.  Although I am going to keep positive, I do have to confess that my experiences are at the least “mixed”.   Let’s start with some late October stunners from the garden:- Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’:- Liatris spicata:-…

Hello Hardy Planters, Welcome to November’s newsletter, giving you a snapshot of what’s going on across the Hardy Plant Society this month. Check out my video video message below, then find out about November’s Hardy Plant Society events (and below) that you can attend and get involved in across the…

Following on from talking about rejuvenating aged shrubs two months ago, this month I am going to show some of those shrubs literally from a different angle, one we had never had the opportunity to see before.  Up until then we had seen them from the path down our garden,…

Hello Hardy Planters, Welcome to our new look email newsletter, giving you a snapshot of what’s going on across the Hardy Plant Society this month. Check out a video message from me, then find out about October’s Hardy Plant Society events (and below) that you can attend and get involved…

White Gardens inevitably give a sense of peace and calm. Quite the reverse for my latest article for Hort Week on Hot Borders ! The emphasis being on hot colours of orange, red, purple, deeper pinks, and yellow flowers, with contrasting foliage colours, with the added contrast of textures coming…

Are all children fascinated by the idea of carnivorous plants?  I know I was.  For me it was sundews, those sprung traps that a fly moving on them three times in a second or two caused them to snap shut on them and immure them.  For my husband it was…

Rachel de Thame has agreed to become an Ambassador for the Hardy Plant Society. She will join our team of high-profile gardening ambassadors Matthew Biggs, Matthew Wilson and Carol Klein. Rachel will work with The Chair of the HPS to promote the society and give her support to our work.…

This month, how the spring/early summer weather has affected my garden.  Following on from the very wet mild winter we had a wet mild March and April which caused Magnolias to flower in March, and Rhododendrons to be in full flower in mid-April.  It was still wet in May –…

The Hardy Plant Society uses our Bursary fund to enable applicants to conduct research and investigation into suitable plant projects.  We have three new reports for your enjoyment on our bursary reports page. Most have beautiful photos and great detail on the locations visited and plants encountered. These reports are…

This month following on from my thinking about how long plants live last month I am going to talk more about how to rejuvenate plants in your garden.   First a couple of star plants at the end of June here: – Lychnis coronaria: – Geranium ‘Patricia’: – I mentioned rejuvenating…

Astrantia major commonly known as (Great Masterwort) has to be one of the most admired plants in the Lakeside garden, it catches the eye and is the focus of encapsulating undivided attention on every garden tour I undertake. I was struck by this perennial during my days as an Undergardener for…

Let’s start with a star plant for the beginning of June in my garden – which also happens to be a very long-lived hardy perennial – the Oriental Poppy, (Papaver orientale):- This month I am going to consider the life span of different plants, and how long I expect different…

Val Bourne has been a member of the Hardy Plant Society for over 50 years and has been outstanding in her support of the society and its work. We are delighted that she accepted the role of Vice President of The Hardy Plant Society. Our President, Roy Lancaster and Chair,…

At the 2024 RHS Chelsea flower show, a new award of RHS Children’s Choice was judged by primary school children from nine London schools. 72 children visited eight show gardens to assess each one on three criteria: The junior judges were chosen for their passion for growing plants in garden…

  I recall in the early 1980s when I started my professional horticultural career as a nurseryman, admiring the Welsh Poppies from the glasshouses, colonising the grass areas that surrounded the acres of glasshouse on the east side of the Arreton Valley on the Isle Of Wight. With no mow…

After the landscaping and creating the gabion wall described last month, this month is about constructing and planting up the fern bed.  By 21 July 2019, the ground at the base of the gabions had reverted to weedy grass and had to be weeded and levelled.  You can see below…

Following our appearance at the Garden Press Event in February, the online news site Sixty Plus Surfers has written a short piece describing the HPS with a nice photo of our Chair Pamela at the event. You can see their piece on their website here: https://www.sixtyplusurfers.co.uk/homes-and-gardens/  …

Published in December last year, the RHS Plant Review Handbook 2024 contains a list of 43 groups offering ways to get involved in plants and gardening. The HPS has a double page feature showing our special interest groups alongside the main society.  If you have a particular plant interest then…