The HPS in June 2025: News and Events

News

HPS Peony Group AGM and Peony Day, Saturday June 14th 2025

Venue: Baslow Village Hall, Nether End, Baslow, Derbyshire DE45 1SR

We will have two excellent speakers following the AGM. Dr Julian Sutton will give a talk entitled ‘Exhaling Rainbows: Peonies, Sex & Science’ and Dr John Grimshaw’s talk is entitled ‘Peonies I have known’. Julian Sutton is a well-known and popular speaker and runs the Desirable Plants nursery in Devon. Dr John Grimshaw MBE was until recently Director of the Yorkshire Arboretum at Castle Howard and has just taken up editorship of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, a scientific journal that has been running since 1787. He is editor-in-chief of the International Dendrology Society’s Trees and Shrubs online and he is a member of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Woody Plant Committee, Gardens Committee and Nomenclature and Taxonomy Advisory Group.

Baslow Village Hall is adjacent to Chatsworth Estate and it is possible to walk to the gardens or make the short drive. There are beautiful peonies to be seen at Chatsworth: species, herbaceous and tree peonies. Normally we would include entrance to gardens in our pricing for the day but there is no group discount available on weekends in June. We are also aware that some people may wish to visit the house as well as the gardens so the committee has decided to leave it to attendees own choice.

Please bring your own lunch or there are places in Baslow village or at Chatsworth itself where you can eat.

Details:

£16.00 for HPS Peony Group members, £18.00 for HPS members and £20.00 for non-HPS members.

The booking form was included with the HPS Peony Group Autumn newsletter and is also available on the HPS website https://hardy-plant.org.uk/group/peony

Doors open at 9.30 am, with the AGM starting at 10.00 am. We will be swift with the AGM so the first talk can start by 10.30am. If you have any questions email Caroline at [email protected] or ring 01566 785706

HPS Kent Group of the Hardy Plant Society win Silver-Gilt at RHS Chelsea 2025

We’re delighted to announce that HPS Kent Group have been awarded a Silver-Gilt medal for their stand ‘Hardy Plants for the Small Garden’ at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The stand highlights two aspects of gardening with hardy plants, with one side featuring plants for a sunny border and the other for a shady border. The stand has also been filmed by the BBC with Sue Kent, recording a piece due to be broadcast on Wednesday – watch out for that. The stand has also been visited by our President, Roy Lancaster and our Ambassador, Rachel de Thame.

We’d like to congratulate the HPS Kent team on their achievement. The team includes Sheila Wyver, Anne Smith, Rachel, Alison Crayford and Colin Moat. The stand was a great advertisement for hardy plants and for the HPS and we’re very proud of their success.

HPS Plant Books: Buy now before prices rise

How many of the eight specialist HPS plant books do you already have on your shelves? Perhaps you already use them as handy reference guides on choosing and growing some of your favourite plants?  All eight books are written by acknowledged experts and illustrated with photographs and diagrams to explain everything from botany to propagation and are a must for any serious gardener. They make great gifts for your gardening friends and family, too!

There are eight books in the series covering Hardy Geraniums (in a new edition published last year), Euphorbias, Hardy Garden Chrysanthemums, Ferns, Pulmonarias, Peonies, Galanthus and Border Phlox.

Unfortunately because of the sharply rising costs of paper and printing we’ve been losing money on the books for some years so from 1st July the price per copy will have to rise to £10 for members and £12 for non-members - but we wanted to give you the chance to complete your collection of these wonderful publications at the old price of £5.50 plus P&P.  

To order visit www.hardy-plant.org.uk/booklets but you will need to submit your order before 30th June to secure the old price. 

Annual Lecture Day and AGM

The 2025 Hardy Plant Society Annual General Meeting and Lecture Day is to be hosted this year by the Derbyshire Group and will take place on September 13th at the Eastwood Hall conference centre. 

There will be talks including:

• Val Bourne ‘Colour in the Garden, Practical Garden Recipes That Work from Season to Season’
• Troy Scott Smith ‘Gardening Through the Seasons’
• Steve Bustin 'Trowel and Error: Creating a city garden, one mistake at a time'

There will also be plant stalls from:

• Potterton’s Nursery (www.pottertons.co.uk)
• Morton Nursery (www.morton-nurseries.co.uk)
• Bridge Farm Plants (Facebook page)
• The Derbyshire HPS Group
• Piecemeal plants (http://www.piecemealplants.co.uk/)
• Wildgoose Nursery (https://www.wildegoosenursery.co.uk/)

And also tables for our special interest groups

• Galanthus
• Peony
• Pulmonaria
• Shade and Woodland
• Variegated
• Conservation Scheme

Click the button below for more details of the event, speakers & locations. Scroll down for links to the booking forms and get your ticket now!

Can you help?

Would you like to get more involved with the HPS and bring your time and talents to bear on the future of the Society? We currently have a number of roles open and are looking for people who might like to come onboard and join our large team of much-valued volunteers.

It’s a great way to meet new Hardy Planters, expand your own knowledge and experience and help the Society to thrive. In the last few months we’ve welcomed a new Social Media Postholder, Marina Lindl, and a new Publications Postholder, Carolyn White.

Digital Group

As mentioned in this months video, if you would be interested in being part of a working group to look at how we might form a digital group, including programming online events, then please get in touch.

If you would like more details on any of these roles or to have a chat about what might be involved, please contact our Chair, Steve Bustin, on [email protected]. We are also very happy to look at people sharing roles as a ‘job share’ to help spread the workload, if you’d be interested in taking on the role with a friend. 

New on the website

Events at Local and Special Interest Groups

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