It’s Steve Bustin here, your National Chair, welcoming you back to my Brighton garden for our December catch-up. The coat’s thicker, the air’s colder, but there’s plenty of warm news to share. In this video I’ll be talking you through our brand new member benefit scheme (including some brilliant discounts that can easily pay for your subscription), the refreshed Hardy Plant journal landing on doormats, and this year’s seed distribution – with an earlier deadline than usual, so you’ll want to get your skates on.
Steve Bustin, Chair HPS
If you prefer to read Steve's message in the video, the transcript can be downloaded here.
News
- Member benefits
- Gift Cards
- Seed Distribution
- Charity Nominations for Seeds
- Scottish and Northern Borders Zoom
- New Cornucopia
- New subscription pricing
New Member benefits
Our new trustee Samantha Cook has negotiated amazing discounts for our members which are now available on the website. These include:
- Niwaki tools
- Abimax water treatment
- PlantGrow feeds and composts
- Copper and Green, hand made copper products
- AutoPot watering systems
- Genus gardening wear
- Fothergills plants
- Hootton Walled Nursery
All these are found by using the button below and making sure you are logged in to the website. More will be coming soon, so keep an eye on that page and your member emails.
For Hootton Walled nursery you may be obliged to show some evidence of your membership, which you can do using this online membership card which you can show using your phone or print and take with you.
Both the member benefits page and membership card are on the Join Us menu if you need to find the in future.
Seed Distribution
Once the new edition of The Journal starts arriving in letter boxes the seed distribution online ordering will open, around the 2nd of December. For a small fee members can choose to receive a large number of seeds from a huge selection. Much cheaper than in the shops and thousands to choose from.
This year the closing date for orders is December 22nd to allow time for processing. The seed booklet arriving with the Journal has a paper order form for postal ordering.
Gift Cards
With December approaching, why not enable someone to join the society by giving them a gift card? Use them online to gift a membership or book to someone.
Our gift cards can be spent on HPS membership, one of our acclaimed books or a subscription to Cornucopia. They can be emailed to the recipient so make a perfect last-minute gift.'
Seeds for Charity
Once we complete the distribution of seeds to members, the surplus are available to charities for free. Why not nominate a charity to receive these, just get in touch and let us know?
Scottish and Northern Borders Zoom Talks
Saul Walker will be giving a talk via Zoom on Woodland Gardening on December 10th. Saul will be familiar to HPS members for his articles and photographs in our Journal. He is also one of the Trustees. He is the Head Gardener of the privately owned Stonelands House in Devon. The talk focuses on all aspects of Woodland Gardening, one of Saul’s personal passions.
New Cornucopia
The new edition of Cornucopia has been published. For a very low price you receive the best writing from our local and specialist groups during the year.
Previous editions are on the website, take a look online and subscribe, only £3.50 a year for members (and £5.50 for non-members) for two editions a year.
New Subscription Pricing
The fee to become a member will increase on December 4th, being £27 for a single member and £33 for a joint member. This is the first fee increase for over ten years and represents great value. Using the member discounts can recover that cost quickly!
We now support payment for subscriptions by Direct Debit, by following these instructions. Timing is important, and for people already paying by card please leave things as they are. If you are unsure, please check with us before setting a DD mandate in place.
New on the website
If you haven't already please take a look at a new articles from our contributors:
Mini Blog - Kevin Line
I really love this time of year, preparing the garden for spring. What I really enjoy are ticking off the seasonal tasks, as well as the more Horticulturally focused jobs that really bring the garden to life each spring and beyond.
On a Chalk Hillside – December 2025
This month I shall concentrate on our fruit production and harvest this year. Looking back over the year I have to mention the big impact the weather had on it. This year, unlike the past two years in particular, we had a dry warm spring so the fruit tree blssom set well and produced bumper crops.
We always want to hear from anyone who can write about plants and gardening. If you have something you'd like to see published, please get in touch.
Events at Local and Special Interest Groups
Below is a listing of Local & Special Interest Group Events around the Country. Most are open to guests for a fee. For more details click the link below and check with the organisers of the specific event for more details including the venue location.
- Sat 29th Nov at 13:45 Western Counties group: Gardens are mostly about sex, death and deliciousness…James Alexander-Sinclair
- Sun 30th Nov at 14:30 Kent group: What Makes a Good Garden Plant – Ed Flint. Followed by AGM
- Mon 1st Dec at 19:30 Cheshire and Friends group: Arley a Garden for all Seasons – Gordon Baillie
- Mon 1st Dec at 19:30 Middlesex group: Interactive Festive Meeting
- Wed 3rd Dec at 19:00 Cornwall group: Can a Plantaholic Downsize? The Creation of a New Garden- Tricia Howard
- Wed 3rd Dec at 19:30 South Pennine group: Gardening on the Menu – Martin & Jill Fish
- Thu 4th Dec at 19:30 East Yorkshire group: Topic TBC – Martin Walker
- Sat 6th Dec at 14:00 Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire group: Border Bulbs throughout the Year – Kerrie Lloyd-Dawson
- Sat 6th Dec at 14:00 Northamptonshire group: Alpines in the Wild & in Cultivation – Diane Clement
- Sat 6th Dec at 14:00 Worcestershire group: Gardening the Globe, the Work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission – Paul Brookes
- Sat 6th Dec at 14:00 Hertfordshire group: Gardening with Wildlife in Mind – Professor Chris Gibson
- Sat 6th Dec at 14:30 Shropshire group: The Gardens of Sir Clough Williams-Ellis: Portmeirion and Plas Brondanw – Tony Russell
- Sat 6th Dec at 14:30 Devon group: Growing Colourful Climbers – Jane Lindsay
- Sun 7th Dec at 14:00 Essex group: More Colour, Less Work. Fact or Fiction? – Gillian Taylor
- Mon 8th Dec at 19:30 North West group: AGM & Christmas Social
- Tue 9th Dec at 19:30 Rutland group: Meeting Magical Flower Meadows of the Eastern Edge of the French Alps- Paul & Sharron Cutler
- Wed 10th Dec at 12:00 Wiltshire and Avon group: Christmas Lunch followed by The National Garden Scheme – Ros Ford
- Wed 10th Dec at 19:30 Scottish and Northern Borders group: Woodland Gardening – Saul Walker
- Fri 12th Dec at 19:00 West Yorkshire group: Social Meeting
- Fri 12th Dec at 19:30 Nottingham group: Plants for Pagans at Midwinter – Twigs Way
- Fri 12th Dec at 19:30 Staffordshire group: Plants with a Story – Samantha Hopes
- Sat 13th Dec at 14:00 Derbyshire group: Title to be decided – Nick Hamilton
- Sat 13th Dec at 14:00 Monmouthshire group: How to Make ‘Wild Drinks’ – Liz Knight
- Sat 13th Dec at 14:30 West Midlands group: In the Bleak Midwinter – Pip Smith
- Sat 3rd Jan at 14:00 Hertfordshire group: 52 Weeks in the Shade Garden – Lynne Moore
- Sat 3rd Jan at 14:00 Northamptonshire group: A Tapestry of Foliage – Geoff Hodge
- Sat 3rd Jan at 14:30 Devon group: Colesbourne Snowdrop Collection and my Work as Head Gardener – Kate Reynolds
- Sat 3rd Jan at 19:30 Western Counties group: My Woodland Garden: A Robinsonian Dream – Edward Flint
Join the Hardy Plant Society
Help us spread the benefits of plants and gardening. Our members tell us they feel relaxation, happiness, satisfaction, calmness and love from plants and gardening. We want to see these benefits reach everyone, and at the same time improve our environment.
Since 1957 we’ve been promoting plants and helping our members adapt to changes in our environment. Entirely member funded, we run a network of local groups around the country and are always looking to start more.
All memberships provide many benefits including
- The option to join any of our local or special interests groups
- Three copies of The Hardy Plant (in full colour, by post)
- Immediate access to the members area of our website with access to all our news and articles
- Free plant advice through our advisory service
- Participation in the Conservation scheme
- Participation in the Seed Distribution Scheme
- The option to subscribe to Cornucopia for an additional fee
Thank you for reading!
