The Norfolk and Suffolk Group of the HPS

Our morning visit was to a garden in Old Lakenham.  This is a beautiful private garden showing the knowledge and interest of the owner and cared for by one of our members, Mike Newstead.  It is very inviting as soon as one enters the gate.  The garden runs down to the River Yare and incorporates well-established and interesting planting.  There is a serious water feature!

 At David Austin's Nursery we were fortunate to see the roses at their best. They were all in bloom on a fine day in a dry summer that meant they were all free from black spot. The pergolas and circular walled garden of the display area providede a setting that made all the blooms, but for a dull Chinese green flowered one (Rosa x odorata 'Viridiflora') look desirable.

 Our group left early on Saturday heading for Shropshire and the Welsh borders, staying in a hotel in Ironbridge for a couple of nights.  Our first stop on Saturday was to Coton Manor and its ten acre garden in the peaceful Northamptonshire countryside.  The garden encloses a series of smaller gardens to provide interest and variety throughout. 

Garden visits in Suffolk - Saturday, 26th June 

On a very hot day, and when hasn't it been lately, we visited some more wonderful gardens.  In the morning we visited the garden of our past Chairman, Anne McCord in Horringer, who only moved there five years ago.  Anne completely removed anything offending to start this garden from scratch, and what a transformation it was as evidenced by photos for us to peruse.  Anne, a keen plantswomen, designed the garden for easy maintenance in retirement, but with planting to give something of interest throughout the year. 

Later in the morning we visited Millfields House in Chevington.  This is a 30-year-old garden with a range of interesting trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants in about 2.5acres and includes a water garden.  It was most pleasant to stroll around the perimeter of the meadow to see the specimen trees.  The herbaceous border had been planted with advice and help from Notcutts.  The owners generously allowed us to picnic in their garden. 

Our afternoon visit was to Depden and Paugers Plants and small private garden.  I think this nursery is one of Suffolk's best kept secrets!  This is a small family business developed over the last few years where they grow everything themselves and specialise in hardy shrubs and perennials.    At the end of a very busy day our members treated themselves to a little retail therapy!  I can highly recommend a visit to this nursery which can be found on the A143. 

Full reports on these visits will be found in our Autumn newsletter later in the year.

a talk by Sue Pinsent.

Sue is the current Chairman of the Hardy Plant Society. 
Her talk enlightened us about the work of the National Body.

Sue structured her talk around the pleasures of being a member of the Hardy Plant Society.

To begin with we were shown historic pictures of some of the founding members and how they spread the spirit of growing hardy plants and their delights. Then moving on to specialist groups, such as conservation and how the Society is helping to conserve the older cultivars. How to contact the local groups and how we could all learn by exchanging ideas -  those that worked and those that did not. Sue touched on many aspects of the Society including publications, seed distribution, shows - the Hardy Plant Society being awarded the Holford Medal from the  Royal Horticultural Society (best exhibit in 2009 by an amateur group - staged at Chelsea) just to mention a few.
A lively discussion followed with members making suggestions as how we might entice more members. Let us hope this combined with the much improved website  www.hardy-plant.org.uk will lead to more discovering how much pleasure we can all get from growing hardy perennials.
At the conclusion of Sue's talk she was presented, by our chair Linda Hall, with some plants born and raised in this fine County of Norfolk, Baptisia 'Nelson's Navy', Kniphofia 'Toffee Nosed' and Nepeta 'Little Titch' and Chrysanthemum 'Buxton Ruby'

A large garden of 10 acres with some astonishing cloud hedges of clipped yews, and an attractive formal area.

Fourteen acres of woodlands, including a walled garden with many mature specimen trees. Jane Austen was a frequent visitor, her brother marrying a daughter of the house.

A seven acre woodland garden on acid soil in which rhododendrons and azaleas flourish, with walkways meandering throughout. With no pretensions to design, the eye popping colours combinations were randomly dropped throughout the walks making many astonishing combinations. Here are some pictures of these almost violent colours – a sight to behold.

I thought you may be interested in seeing some snaps of a delightful garden that I visited whilst on holiday in the Lake District this summer. Holehird is a demonstration garden managed by the Lakeland Horticultural Society, manned entirely by volunteers and is situated just outside Windermere.