Hardy Plant Society Sussex

Making gardens with hardy perennials

Welcome to the Sussex Branch of the Hardy Plant Society

Thankyou for visiting - we hope you'll come along to a meeting and join our community!

We meet monthly at 2pm (doors open at 1.30) at Henfield Hall BN5 9EQ from September to April - there are stalls with plants and seeds for sale, a raffle, gardening goods and clothing, an information point and often a good selection of second-hand books.  There's always a speaker - perhaps a nursery owner, a specialist grower or an author.  Our November meeting is a shared lunch and quiz - the prizes are great.

There's a great deal of sharing and learning from each other and a collective enthusiasm for gardening.  And cake! The meetings end with tea and cakes, made by our members - and you can buy any left-over slices at the end of the meeting to enjoy at home.

From April to August there are visits to members' gardens and other gardens not usually open to the public, which are great opportunities to see ideas put into practice and to take away inspiration (and sometimes plants for sale).  There's always coffee and cake and conversation, of course!

What's a hardy herbaceous perennial?

It's a plant which lives for more than two years - most herbaceous perennials grow and bloom over the spring and summer then die back every winter.  They grow back again each spring from their root-stock, rather than seeding themselves as an annual plant does.

Henfield Hall meetings

2024

Sunday 24 November 10.30am Coffee; 11am; 'Creating Movement whilst Frozen Still' with Ben Pope

theworkinggarden.com    

followed by a Bring and Share lunch

After studying and working in horticulture for the last 22 years, Ben is currently enjoying leading a team to maintain and develop a private garden in West Sussex. The role includes caring for a large walled kitchen garden, herbaceous borders, shrubberies, topiary, ornamental lawns, a floral meadow, water features, woodland and hedges. Ben’s team propagate, grow and store fruit, vegetables and cut flowers for the house, whilst maintaining the garden to a very high standard. …. and in his spare time, he looks after the onsite apiary.

Ben has always enjoyed gardening, though it was not until after his formal education that he decided to make his career in horticulture. Ben completed an NCH in Propagation and Nursery Practice and the RHS Diploma in Horticulture, attaining awards for best practical student in both and best overall student at Wisley. He then travelled to different countries, studying the various flora and garden styles, before returning to the UK to utilise his artistic training whilst in the employment of Arabella Lennox-Boyd Design. There he was horticultural adviser, attending site visits, liaising with garden staff and working on planting designs. A strong desire to be outside with the plants led Ben to leave the design practice in 2007 and become a Head Gardener.

Alongside his role as Head Gardener, Ben enjoys lecturing at the Chelsea Physic Garden for The English Gardening School and West Dean College of Art and Conservation. He has recently gained the RHS Master of Horticulture and is a member of the RHS Herbaceous Committee. He also regularly writes for Gardens Illustrated and other publications, as well as delivering talks to gardening clubs and organisations such as Gardens Masterclass and The Society of Garden Designers. Most recently Ben has begun a personal journey to realise his dream of creating a market garden.

Outside of work Ben enjoys visiting gardens and plant nurseries, as well as travel, art, cooking (and eating!), keeping fit, photography and botanical painting. When out and about he is often accompanied by Geoff and Mavis, his beloved dogs.

2025

Sunday 26 January: Doors open 1.30pm; at 2pm: Steve Edney “ Dahlias for the garden”

thenonamenursery.co.uk     instagram: @steven.edney4 @thenonamenursery 

After studying at Hadlow College in Horticulture and Merrist Wood college studying Arboriculture, Steve spent several years as a highly respected private gardener, tree surgeon and designer. In 2005, he joined The Salutation to helm its huge restoration project.  The completed gardens were recognised as amongst the finest in the country winning multiple awards including Britain’s most romantic garden 2018 by the Good Hotel Guide.

Steve was appointed to the RHS Herbaceous Committee and membership of the RHS plant trial forums. He is a multiple RHS Gold medal winner with “Best in Show” at Hampton Court 2019. Steve has appeared on tv several times including Gardeners’ World.

He is a contributor to numerous professional publications such as Gardens Illustrated and contributes to the award-winning “Sunday Gardening” show on BBC Radio Kent.

In 2018 Steve and The Salutation Garden won Gold at RHS Hampton Court in the floral marquee for a display of exotic plants.  In 2019 Steve won Gold at Chelsea and later that year won Gold and the coveted “Tudor Rose Award” for Best in Show at Hampton Court. In 2019 Steve and The Salutation won a gold award from Kent Wildlife Trust for gardening for wildlife.

Since 2019 Steve and his partner Louise have been working on their own project “The Land” where they have built The No Name Nursery, a sustainable plant nursery in Kent.

Sunday 23 February: Doors open 1.30pm; at 2pm: Geoff Stonebanks “From City Courtyard to Seaside Sanctuary”

geoffstonebanks.co.uk

Geoff Stonebanks lives in Bishopstone near Seaford in East Sussex and spends all his time gardening and fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support. Using his multi- award-winning garden -Driftwood- he has raised over £176,993 for various charities in 15 years, £120,054 of that for Macmillan. The garden, which first opened to the public in 2009 has featured twice on BBC2 Gardeners' World, Good Morning Britain and in many national and local media publications. In his spare time, Geoff is also the Publicity Officer in East and Mid Sussex for the National Garden Scheme.

Sunday March 23: Doors open 1.30pm; at 2pm: AGM followed by: Dr Andrew Ward “The Joy of Geraniums”

owner Norwell Nurseries, Nottinghamshire  norwellnurseries.co.uk.  instagram: @norwellnurseries

Norwell Nurseries is a small nursery specialising in choice and unusual herbaceous perennials and alpines. The nursery is based around a one acre plantsman's garden which holds over 2,500 different species and is also open during nursery hours. Areas of particular interest include, Woodland, hot beds (mid-summer reds, orange and yellow beds) daisy beds, (late summer-autumn colour) scree areas, bell flower beds around the patio with Penstemons, Campanulas and Dieramas, colour themes beds and large herbaceous borders. One area where visitors often congregate to is the large pond beautifully and naturally planted with bog gardens.

Andrew lectures widely throughout the country. He has given keynote talks at  The Hardy Plant Society Autumn Weekends and National Annual General Meetings as well as regular monthly meetings to regional Hardy Plant Societies, regional NCCPG groups, local gardening groups, florist groups and WI's. 

He trained as a Plant Breeder and started Norwell Nurseries and Gardens 29 years ago with his wife Helen. The garden has featured in many magazines including Country Living, Country Life, English Gardener, Landscaper Magazine, Gardens Illustrated, and the RHS Garden magazine. It has been been included since 2013 in the highly prestigious publication Great Gardens to Visit. It is renowned for colour from spring but especially in the autumn when the National Collection of Hardy Chrysanthemums can be seen. They also hold the National Collection of Astrantias.

Sunday 27 April: Doors open 1.30pm; Seedling Swap; at 2pm: talk being finalised  

Summer break - details of Talking Plants and Outings will be listed here

Sunday 21 September: Doors open 1.30pm; at 2.00pm: Dr Julian Sutton “Twelve Excellent Plants - Position, Provenance and Propagation“

owner Desirable Plants Nursery, Devon

We specialise in herbaceous perennials, the choice, the interesting and the offbeat. Our bold intention is to list a modest range of immodestly interesting plants from our large and hard won collection, changing the list a great deal from year to year.  We sell plants by mail order to the UK only, at a select group of plant sales across southern England, and at our monthly ‘Perennials in Totnes’ events in Totnes town centre

We are towards the ‘small, personal and too-busy-propagating-to-check-the-emails-more-than-once-a-day’ end of the nursery spectrum; serious e-commerce is just not us, so online ordering, stock availability updates, card payments and so on are not available. Treat this site as you would an old fashioned printed catalogue – use the download button, print it out, read it in the bath, and place an order when you’re good and ready.

Our specialities include Epimedium and Geranium;  Watsonia and other Southern hemisphere Iridaceae,  Anemone, Arisaema, Hedychium, Kniphofia and Thalictrum.

But we always dare to broaden our horizon in offering new, unusual, rare or exciting plants to our customers.

Sunday 19 October: Doors open 1.30pm; at 2pm: Andrew Humphris (Head Gardener, Parham House) 'Parham Gardens moving forward'

parhaminsussex.co.uk.   instagram: @parham_house_gardens

The Gardens at Parham consist of seven acres of Pleasure Grounds, laid out in the 18th century, with a lake, spring bulbs, a brick and turf maze and many specimen trees.  The old four-acre Walled Garden contains romantic wide herbaceous borders, a rose garden, a cut flower garden, a vegetable garden, an orchard and a 1920s Wendy House. A splendid Greenhouse, also dating from the 1920s, has a fine display of pelargoniums and other tender plants.

In 2020 Parham had to close to visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and an important decision was made to tackle some serious and long-standing perennial weed problems. Visitors who know Parham well will therefore notice some changes when they visit. This is the start of a very exciting horticultural renovation for Parham.

Andrew comes to Parham from West Lodge Estate in Dorset, where he has established and improved upon a new garden and landscape, including working in conjunction with leading designers.  He spent his early career as Head Gardener with the National Trust at The Courts and then at the remarkable garden of Biddulph Grange, before becoming Head Gardener at Wollerton Old Hall in Shropshire where he worked closely with the owners to replant and remodel the now celebrated and very beautiful garden they have created there.

Andrew has also regularly lectured on many aspects of horticulture and he participated on Gardeners’ Question Time for BBC Radio Shropshire for six years. In 2014 he was awarded the Loyal and Outstanding Service Award by the Professional Gardeners Guild.

Sunday 16 November: Doors open 1.30pm; at 2pm: Tim Fuller, “New, rare and unusual perennials”

owner of The Plantman's Preference Nursery. plantpref.co.uk    instagram: @plantpref

The Plantsman's Preference has been growing and selling an extensive range of Hardy Geraniums, Ornamental Grasses and Unusual Perennials in Norfolk since 1996. They are a small retail nursery selling to visitors and at plant fairs and sales as well as by mail order. As almost all of theirr plants are grown in pots and sent out using next day delivery this enables you to plant when it suits you - hopefully not with bone dry or waterlogged soil!

They are a part of the Norfolk Nursery Network, a group of specialist plant nurseries within Norfolk, and hope that you may find other members of the Network worth a look. 

It is their intention to provide plants of good quality and to make new, rare and unusual plants available to a wider gardening audience, whilst not neglecting the more commonplace.  The majority of plants grown are easy and reliable to grow and do not need any special care, they have an aversion to plants that need staking or deadheading! They are almost all hardy in at least part of the UK.

While catering for the traditional gardener they are also keen to promote Naturalistic or New Wave style gardening and can provide advice and plants for these relatively low maintenance styles. This can best be done with a visit to the nursery.

Tim Fuller is the Ornamental Grasses and Woodland Perennials specialist. Tim is a member of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Floral Trials Panel (since 2008) and Stipa Trial Panel  which are responsible for recommending plants to the Award of Garden Merit. During 2009/2010 Tim has taken on the cultivation of the wide range of Hardy Geraniums and will continue them into the future

We have been awarded a total of 6 LARGE GOLD, 6 GOLD, 10 SILVER-GILT, 4 SILVER and 1 BRONZE over the years.  Oh, and have also been awarded Best in Show at the Suffolk Show in 2011 and 2012.

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