Issue 48, Article 14: Anne Godfrey

Autumn 2012, Issue 48

This autumn Anne Godfrey will be stepping down from her position as Chairman of the HHPS. It’s been an amazing year for Annie, the sort of year you might look back on and think ‘did that really happen?’

It started with the RHS Great London Plant Fair, Westminster in April. Annie’s exhibit was zingy and bright, with Erysimums, Tulips and Violas offset by the acid-green of Euphorbias. It won a Silver-Gilt.

In the Great Pavilion at Chelsea in May, the Daisy Roots exhibit was a sunken garden; plants surrounded a chunky wooden framework which incorporated shallow steps down to a lower-level gravelled area. The frame was built by Annie’s Dad and was very similar to one already installed in Annie’s own garden. This time the palette was restrained and subtle, the deep purples of Salvias contrasting with silver foliage and touches of apricot, (Aquilegia ‘Nora Barlow’) and white (Geranium ‘Derrick Cook’). It too won a Silver-Gilt.

At Gardener’s World Live in Birmingham in June, Annie picked up another Silver-Gilt. A large beehive provided the focal point to the exhibit, surrounded by Acanthus, Campanula and, a real talking-point, a mass of variegated ground elder in full flower. Ten days before GW Live began, a BBC filmcrew visited Annie’s own garden and Daisy Roots nursery to make a short film about her exhibit. Annie spoke to camera as though she’d been doing it all her life, introducing a new Astrantia she’d discovered in her garden and named Astrantia ‘Celeste’. The piece aired on Gardener’s World on 15th June, much to the excitement of everyone who knew her.

And so to Hampton Court in July. This time the timber framework used at Chelsea was set on the diagonal and the colour ramped up, with a sumptuous display of summer perennials and grasses, including a swathe of pink Achillea ‘Lollipop’, a chance seedling Annie had discovered in her own garden some years before. A Silver Medal was awarded.

In August, Annie’s garden in Gosselin Road, Hertford, was featured in ‘Gardens Illustrated’ magazine and ‘The Garden’ simultaneously. The icing on this rather sizeable cake comes in October, when Judy Barker and Annie will exhibit at the Great Dixter Plant Fair. Exhibitors from far-flung nurseries are accommodated overnight and there is a communal dinner, cooked by none other than Fergus Garrett himself. Cue a long sigh from female readers. With so much going on it’s no surprise that the Chairman’s position is changing hands. Thankyou for everything you’ve done during your time in office, Annie, and we wish you all the very best for the future.

Marion Jay