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A registered charity promoting hardy herbaceous plants, we grow and study these plants in our own gardens, and try to keep rarer varieties in cultivation. We share our knowledge and love of these plants with other gardeners whether they're experts, beginners or somewhere in between.
 Have you got your members' newsletter yet? It was sent out on 18 November and includes our president Roy Lancaster’s lockdown, our first competition with £250 worth of prizes, how four nurseries coped during the pandemic and profiles of many people, for example our blogger Nadine Mitschunas. Your seed list is there too. If you haven't got these yet, you can find them on this website. |
 Recently published… the new HPS booklet, Border Phlox, is here. Phlox have been popular garden plants for over 250 years and are starting to flower now, from July through to September. Phlox add colour and perfume to summer borders and this book is packed with information to help you grow them, as well as descriptions and colour photos of many cultivars. |
During the second lockdown, as I said last month, lots of the autumn colour in the garden was more noticeable from berries hips and seedheads than from leaves
I really like this time of year as it gives me time to plan and think. One of my new ideas is to plant a hop (Humulus lupulus) as I really like the look and smell of the fruit and hope I can use it for making tea. I had a few more magical early mornings with frozen water droplets covering every grass and seed head ...
The seed heads that coil on the stems to the surface of the ground are fascinating to study close up. Cyclamen produce their seed freely, increasing by self sown seed.
When we talk about autumn colour, it seems to me to either be talking about spectacular leaf colour on trees; or late flowering plants such as herbaceous perenials that feature in Piet Oudolf’s prairie planting schemes, or tender perennials such as dahlias, cannas etc.
