Hello,
During 2016 some of our members will be opening their gardens, here is a list and links for more information. This is an update of the previous list, with the addition of Preston Open Gardens coming up this Sunday May 29th.
Meta Reeves (Nr Hitchin)
Sunday 29th May: A large number of gardens in this pretty village 3 miles south of Hitchin, Hertfordshire offer a variety of sizes, styles and planting with many interesting details including unusual plants, wild areas and water features. The small Arts and Crafts church of St Martin will be beautifully decorated and open to visitors. Stalls on the Green and Teas in the Village Hall. Art exhibition. Barbeque on the Green from 12 noon. Lunches can be booked at the famous Red Lion pub, tel. 01462-459585.
Map supplied on admission, Entry £5.00 (children free). Free parking. Post code SG4 7RU.
Contact number 01462-456567 (Meta)
Margaret Easter (Harpenden)
Margaret holds National Plant Collections® of Thymus (Scientific Status), Hyssopus and Satureja and is an International Cultivar Registration Authority for Thymus (ICRA). Brickell Award 2011 for Excellence in Cultivated Plant Conservation.
Sunday 3rd July 2.0 – 5.30, entrance £3, plants for sale, no dogs please, no wheelchair access. 23 Wroxham Way, Harpenden. AL5 4PP. Directions are on the website for those without satnavs, www.thymus.co.uk. Should anyone wish to contact me beforehand; 01582 768467.
Heather Osborne (St Albans)
Two gardens of similar size and the same aspect, developed in totally different ways. The plantswoman’s garden at Number 20 has been designed to supply successional waves of coordinated colour. Varied habitats include cool shade, hot and dry, and lush pondside displays. Paths weave through the carefully maintained borders packed with unusual plants.
20 and 30 St Stephens Avenue, AL3 4AD
Sunday 26 June, Sun 4 Sept, 2-6, home made teas, plants for sale at June opening, combined admission £5
Adrian de Baat (Welwyn Garden City)
Town garden of around a third of an acre with naturalistic planting inspired by the Dutch garden designer, Piet Oudolf. The garden has perennial borders plus a small meadow packed with herbaceous plants and grasses. The contemporary planting gives way to the exotic, incl a succulent bed and under mature trees, a lush jungle garden incl bamboos, bananas, palms and tree ferns.
Sunday 31st July, 2.00-5.30pm.
Sarah Marsh (Old Welwyn)
Listed millhouse with semi-walled garden bordered by a bridged millstream and mill race. This romantic spring garden has ancient apple trees underplanted with an abundant display of alliums, camassias and foxgloves. These set off a garden full of perennial promise, within which nestles a stylish summerhouse, a hidden parterre and productive potager. Featured in The English Garden April edition.
Tea and plants £4
Anne Myles (St. Albans)
½ acre gardens with mature trees and shrubs, developed for all round colour. Wildlife ponds are linked to a fish pond. Wrought iron arches of roses, lonicera and clematis, are flanked by double herbaceous borders. A lawn, bordered by woodland planting beneath a beech tree, ends in a conifer and heather bed; behind which a sunny trellis separates the fruit and kitchen garden.
Saturday 11 June, Sunday 12 June (2 – 5.30pm)
Renata Hume (Letchworth)
NGS Link
A cottage garden fronts a Letchworth Garden City exhibition cottage of 1905. The back garden contains informal planting dictated by the gently sloping plot and three formal circular lawns. Trees, shrubs, grasses and herbaceous perennials combine to create interest in the different areas. The garden also contains a lily pond, small pond for wildlife, well-stocked greenhouse and an apple walk with a selection of old varieties.
Monday 29 August (2 – 5pm)
Liz Machin (Harpenden)
Set in a mature development these two gardens reflect their owners individual interests and needs. 2 Barlings Road is packed with unusual plants, shrubs and climbers to provide year-round structure. The colourful courtyard garden with water feature and secluded shade garden add extra interest. 17 The Deerings offers specimen trees, architectural plants, ornamental grasses, herbaceous borders as well as a compact kitchen garden and herb bed.
Sunday 14 August (2 – 5.30pm) (NGS)
Liz is also opening her garden for HHPS members:
Sunday 21st August 2016
Member Open Garden, 2, Barlings Road, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 2AN,2 – 4pm
Liz Machin will be opening her garden to Herts HPS members at its peak in August. Set in a mature development, the garden is packed with unusual plants – shrubs, herbaceous perennials and climbers – designed to provide all-year-round structure, colour and contrast.
Highlights in August include green-and-white petalled Clematis ‘Alba Luxurians’, starry-flowered Clematis x triternata ‘Rubromarginata’, and towering blue-flowered chicory, Cichorium intybus.
There is also a delightfully colourful courtyard garden, incorporating a water feature, and a secluded shade garden. Come along and while away an hour or so in beautiful surroundings. Her garden is described on her NGS Page and also below.
A compact garden for all seasons. Borders and island beds packed with unusual perennials, climbers, shrubs and small trees. Small plant-filled formal pond. Colourful courtyard with unusual water feature Shady gold and silver corner. Some areas re-planted every year for extra interest.
John McCormack / Reveley Lodge (Bushey Heath)
2½-acre garden surrounding a Victorian house bequeathed to Bushey Museum in 2003 and in process of re-planting and renovation. Featuring colourful annual, tender perennial and medicinal planting in beds surrounding a mulberry tree. Conservatory, lean-to greenhouse, vegetable garden and beehive. Analemmatic (human) sundial constructed in stone believed unique to Hertfordshire.
Sunday 14 August (2 – 6pm)
Tessa Davies (St. Albans)
Member Open Garden, 13 Seymour Road, St Albans, Herts, AL3 5HL, 31st July 2 – 4pm
Tessa Davies’ surburban garden is planted for all year interest, with contrasting trees, shrubs and grasses forming the backbone of the garden, interwoven with flowering perennials. Planting is broadly Mediterranean in an English garden setting, i.e. with a lawn at the centre. Tessa says Beth Chatto has been a strong influence, as has Christopher Lloyd.
Highlights in July include Cytisus battandieri (pineapple broom); tooth-leaved Melianthus major; Pyrus salicifolia ‘Pendula’; Cornus alternifolia ‘Argentea’, and felty-foliaged Ballota acetabulosa. Rosa glauca sends up arching sprays of glaucous foliage scattered with dainty pink flowers, and ornamental grasses, such as Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ and Stipa gigantea, add shimmer to the borders.
The back garden is approximately 90ft long and is dominated by a large and very old Bramley apple tree, underplanted with aromatic Phlomis fruticosa and P. russeliana, the perennial poppy Papaver rupifragum and evergreen shrubs such as box. In July, different varieties of phlox and hydrangea are the main flowering plants, but Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ and Achillea ‘Moonshine’ will still be going strong. Refreshments provided.
Tessa will also be opening for the Red Cross on Sunday 10th July from 2pm to 5pm.
Hardy Plant Society Hertfordshire Group 