Friday 18 July 7pm for a 7.30pm in the Church Hall.

Geoff Hodge

‘Luscious Lawns’. Lawncare for Perfect Lawns.

British Lawns are renowned across the globe as being the best of the best. Or are they? Some are in desperate need of some timely TLC. So, if your lawn isn’t the green, green grass at home that Tom Jones would be proud of, our speaker will show you how to ensure it stays luscious, thick and green. Good enough to make your neighbours green with envy. Geoff is a freelance garden writer for various national gardening magazines and a Horticultural Consultant. He has written 10 gardening books, including six for the RHS. He is a regular guest on gardening programmes on BBC Radio Cambridge.

Friday 19 September. 7pm for a 7.30pm in the Church Hall.

Dr Andrew Ward

‘Shady Characters’.

Some of the most outstanding plants we can grow in our gardens are happy in the shade.  This talk illustrates the harbingers of spring with Erythroniums, Orchids, Meconopsis and Arisaemas. It shows that even autumn does not need to be bereft of flower colour and plant interest in the shady garden. It will also show an easy way to make a bed to make these plants accessible to all of us. It is a good talk for HPS members as it includes the rarer and more unusual shade-loving plants. Andrew trained as a Plant Breeder and started Norwell Nurseries and Gardens 29 years ago, specialising in choice and unusual herbaceous perennials. He has a 1 acre garden with over 2,500 different cultivars including many unusual plants. Many magazines have featured the garden, including Country Life and the RHS Garden. Norwell Nurseries has also been named among the top 50 nurseries by Gardens Illustrated and voted by the Hardy Plant Society as one of the top gardens to see herbaceous perennials.

Friday 17 October 7pm for a 7.30pm in the Church Hall & Zoom

Fergus Garrett

‘Succession Planting for a Long Season’

Fergus has been Head Gardener at Great Dixter House and Gardens since 1993. He became CEO of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust in 2006. He is an RHS Gardens Advisor and has participated in many RHS Trials. Learning is at the heart of the work at Great Dixter. As one of the most dynamic and complex flower gardens in the world, they feel they have the responsibility to pass on the skills needed to garden in the way they do. Fergus also runs the Adult Learning Department along with other tutors and lectures on some courses.

Saturday 15 November 2pm

AGM and Talk

Gillian Taylor

'More Colour, Less Work’ - Fact or Fiction.’

This is a guide to sustainable gardening. It is sustainable in terms of labour, water and nutrition while maintaining the beauty, colour, structure and provision of an insect-friendly environment that we are always trying to aim for.

Gillian is an enthusiastic plantswoman and gardener, learning mainly from personal experience but also from courses at RHS Wisley and Great Dixter. She has also developed a garden in France from a field, while here in Hampshire, she has a wooded garden managed sympathetically for wildlife.

She is a member of the Rose Society and Historic Rose Group and many other organisations, including our own HPS, where she has taken on responsibility for the Conservation work. She is a speaker for HPS, RHS and Perennial.