Kniphofia rooperi
Hello Everyone
What’s small, red and whispers?
A hoarse radish
What trousers are gardeners’ favourites?
Ones with turnips
Boy: what do you put on your rhubarb Dad?
Dad: horse manure replied his father
Oh, said the boy, I have custard on mine
Dates for your Diary:
A reminder that our Members’ Lunch is taking place on Thursday 6 August by kind invitation of HPS member Mike O’Leary at his home at Hillcrest, Cefn Forest, Blackwood NP12 3LB (What3Words: view.fall.brush). His is a fascinating and very personal story of a garden created by him and his late partner Bev Price from a bare, steeply sloping site over the past 40+ years. It has many delights with some wonderful trees and many quirky corners and interesting structures to explore. Mike has a plaque to prove it having won the Wales and Marches region’s ‘Favourite Garden’ award from the readers of The English Garden magazine in 2021. In addition to a delicious lunch (salmon, new potatoes, salads, wine or juice followed by fresh fruit salad or ice cream and tea/coffee) you are free to explore. Do let us know if you have any special dietary requirements or if you need help with travel. We hope there can be some informal car sharing. Book via TicketSource at www.ticketsource.com/The-HPS-Monmouthshire-Group – the cost is £25 per person.
On Wednesday 19 August we have a trip by coach to Kilver Court in Shepton Mallet. This is a 3.5 acre RHS partnership garden containing a rockery and parterre and overlooked by a Victorian railway viaduct. It is steep in places and not suitable for wheelchairs. RHS Members have free entry; others pay on entry. We are looking at discounted entry but normal entry for concessions is £7.50. There is also shopping and a cafe on site so if you want some posh trinkets or designer handbags you are in luck! In the afternoon we will move on to the Hauser and Wirth Art Gallery, which has a garden designed by the pioneering Dutch designer Piet Oudoff. There is a farm shop and (expensive) cafe/restaurant on site.We leave Usk Tywn Square at 9.30, aiming to return by 5pm. Car parking in Usk is free. Tickets cost £22. Please book at TicketSource.www.ticketsource.com/The-HPS-Monmouthshire-Group
Our first meeting of the autumn season will be on Saturday 5 September at the Hall in Little Mill NP4 0HJ. Tim Stretton head of gardens at Mounton House near Chepstow will talk about ‘New Beginnings at Mounton House and Other Tales from a Career in Horticulture’. The talk will begin at 2.30 but the hall is open at 2pm for refreshments before the meeting begins. It’s a good time to meet fellow members over tea and biscuits. Pay on the door – members £4 and guests £6.
Other News
The wonderful Usk Show is at the Showground on Saturday 12 September from 9am.
On Friday 18 October at the Greener Abergavenny Fair, an annual community event featuring eco-sourced stalls, talks and activities, there will be a ‘Resilient Gardeners Question Time’ at 13.00, venue to be arranged. A set of expert guests have agreed to answer your questions in an event inspired by R4’s Gardeners’ Question Time programme. The last few years have been tough in parks, gardens, woodlands etc. Your questions for the panel are sought on the challenges faced from growing food, flowers, trees etc both in warmer, wetter and windier winters and long, hot summers. What problems are faced what opportunities are created? Can these be overcome and new ones appear?
Please submit short questions for the panel to discuss. The cut-off date is 18 September. Do email your question/s with your name (optional) and any gardening club membership to greenerabergavenny@gmail.com. Not all questions can be answered, of course, but the aim is to cover a wide range of subjects.
If you take ‘The Hardy Plant’ magazine, you may have noticed it has a new editor, Drew Swainston. It seems easier and clearer to read, glossy and smart with a very clear typeface and good photographs and best still, the content’s still excellent. It shouts ‘read me’. Reader, I did!
Reminders
Please note that we will no longer be using Ticket Source for booking hall meetings as so few people use it. Ticket Source will still be used for booking trips and meals.
Gwent Gardens to Visit in August
Sunday 9 – Highfield Farm
Sunday 16 – Neuadd Stone Barn
Sunday 22 – April House
Sunday 30 – Wenallt Isaf
And not forgetting Veddw House, home of NGS member Anne Wareham, which will be open the first and third Sundays of August and September from 2-5pm.
Our local group website is: www.hpsmonmouthshire.co.uk and national HPS is: at www.hardy-plant.org.uk. All contain useful information.
We welcome feedback, suggestions for speakers or for gardens of interest for future visits. Please send us an email if you have something to say. And if you can lend a hand in some capacity, we’d love to hear that too.
Happy gardening
Sue
Note: If at any time you would like to be added to or removed from our emailing list or to view or change the personal information The HPS Monmouthshire Group holds about you, please send an email to monmouthshirehps@gmail.com with ‘Personal Information’ as the
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Selling Plants at Meetings
Should you want to sell plants at our meetings (please do), here are some helpful guidelines. If you have enough plants for an entire table please let us know beforehand. Otherwise, please arrive a little before the meeting and put your plants on the shared table/s. We will keep track of the sales and give you your share afterwards.
Whether you sell your own plants or ask others to sell on your behalf, our policy is that of the first £40 of your sales, you give 50% to group funds and retain 50%. Proceeds from your sales beyond £40 are then yours to keep.
Keeping track of sales does depend on your labelling. The following is a system which we’ve found works well and we ask that you use it:
- Each of your pots should have 2 labels, with the text clearly visible/legible.
- One label naming the plant – either with its Latin name or its common name, though both can be used. (You could also add flower colour and expected size if useful, perhaps on the reverse of the label.)
- The other, coloured if wanted, should have your name or identity mark and the asking price. (This label is removed and retained when the plant is sold to enable your sales to be totalled, and then given back to you so you also reuse it at a future sale.)
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For further details of our local group and programme of events, see https://hpsmonmouthshire.co.uk/
To book places at events where booking is open, see https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/The-HPS-Monmouthshire-Group
For more about the national Hardy Plant Society, see https://www.hardy-plant.org.uk/
The HPS Monmouthshire Group is also an Affiliated Group of the RHS, see https://www.rhs.org.uk/
Note: If at any time you would like to be added to or removed from our emailing list or to view or change the personal information The HPS Monmouthshire Group holds about you, please send an email to monmouthshirehps@gmail.com with ‘Personal Information’ as the subject line.
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Monmouthshire Group 