We are sorry to say that the National Annual Lecture Day and AGM will not take place on 25 September 2021 as planned. We will let you know in the July edition of the HPS newsletter the arrangements for a virtual AGM instead.
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.
Online Talks Some HPS groups are happy to welcome others to their online talks. If you might like to attend one, you can find a list in the members area. Please use the link on that list to contact the group directly for more details. |
 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. |
Spring is a time for dividing plants and making new ones. That’s exactly what I’ve done this week with my Geranium ‘Pink Delight’.
I kept it in its pot last year so I could trial it in different parts of the garden. Eventually I decided it belonged at the base of an arching trellis where I have planted a climbing rose. It gets sun there most of the day, and because I keep the rose well watered, plenty of moisture too.
Over the bank holiday weekend I had been crawling round various plants in the garden trying to get an “in-focus” shot in stiff easterly winds which have plagued us for most of April to show you this month’s star plants, when I got caught face down by my newish neighbours who asked if I was taking an art shot.
It was completely unexpected. When I opened the curtains on Monday morning, the 12th of April, all was white outside and it was snowing heavily. The allotment looked like a winter wonderland. Not much gardening could be done but I could at least build a little snow rat who was enjoying the snow much more than I did. By mid-day the sun was so strong that most of the snow had disappeared and the winter wonderland of the morning seemed like a distant dream.
Because the Golden Hop (Humulus lupulus 'Aureus') is so rampant, I planted shade-loving winter plants directly beside it - a dusky pink Helleborus orientalis seedling and a Harts Tongue Fern (Asplenium scolopendrium)
