Archive Listing of Previous Events

This is an archive of previous lectures and other events

Click here to return to the future programme

Saturday, 4th January 2025: Delightful, De-lovely and Deranged (this lecture is on zoom at 2pm)

Presenter: Nancy Stevens
From the Superbloom of the Atacama Desert and the Flying Duck Orchid of Australia to Christopher Columbus' 'Apple of Death' of Central America, the Red Spider Lily of Japan and all points in between, this is a Zoom talk about plants which could justifiably be described by one - or in some cases all, of these adjectives. Travel with plants from the comfort of your sofa during the post- festive slump!

Saturday, 30th November 2024: Plants with a Story

Presenter: Samantha Hopes
Initially training as a geologist Samantha turned to plants with time at Birmingham Botanic, Pershore and Wisley. She has worked at Ashwood on Hepaticas and Roscoeas and is now developing her own garden propagating a selection of unusual plants.

Saturday, 26th October 2024: New Dahlias

Presenter: Robin Pearce
Robin is the former owner of World's End wholesale nursery. He is the former chair of the RHS Herbaceous Plant Committee and an RHS Floral Judge. He has a special interest in Dahlias.

Saturday, 28th September 2024: South African Bulbs

Presenter: Christine Skelmersdale
Christine is the owner of Broadleigh Bulbs. In this talk she will tell us how to grow and use bulbs including agapanthus, nerine, eucomis and more.

Saturday, 31st August 2024: Alpines in the Wild and Cultivation

Presenter: Diane Clement
Diane has been visiting the Alps for over forty years and growing alpines for over twenty. She is an exhibitor and judge for the AGS. She will take us on four alpine walks and show us how we can adapt our gardens to grow the plants.

Saturday, 27th July 2024: Ornamental Trees for the Garden

Presenter: Nick Dunn VMH
Nick is managing director of Frank P Matthews Ltd a wholesale tree nursery based in Tenbury Wells.

Saturday, 29th June 2024: Rhododendrons and the Trees of Hergest Croft

Presenter: Rowan Griffiths
Rowan is Head Gardener at Hergest. His talk will focus on his love of rhodendrons.

Saturday, 25th May 2024: Gods in the Garden

Presenter: Michael Brown
Michael specialises in garden history. In this talk he gives us an insight into why statues were placed in gardens throughout history and the myths behind them.

Saturday, 27th April 2024: The Fragrant Garden

Presenter: Pip Smith
Pip runs a landscape design and garden advisory practice. In this talk he tells us how gardens can have scent throughout the seasons.

Saturday, 30th March 2024: The Adventures of a Seed Detective

Presenter: Adam Alexander
Adam is a board member of Garden Organic who writes, lectures and blogs on the conservation of the genetic diversity of edible crops. Every year he grows up to 100 different varieties from his library of some 500.

Saturday, 24th February 2024: Can the Americans Garden?

Presenter: Timothy Walker
Timothy has spoken to us several times and is always well received. He worked at Oxford Botanic Gardens from 1986 to 2014 (from 2002 as Director). He has given more than 2000 talks to over 150,000 people and is a Fellow of the Linnean Society.

Saturday, 27th January 2024: Westcroft and its Snowdrops

Presenter: Lyn Miles
Lyn is currently chairman of the HPS Galanthus Group. She will share her own snowdrop collection with us.

Saturday, 6th January 2024: Permission to Poison (on Zoom)

Presenter: Caroline Holmes
Caroline is a garden historian, author and a design consultant. She has lectured worldwide for the Arts Society, the RHS and many others. In 2005 she also devised the planting for the poison garden at Alnwick Castle.

Saturday, 25th November 2023: A Crayfish on the Lawn

Presenter: Joff Elphick
Training at Pershore (contemporary with Chris Beardshaw), Joff has worked at Le Manoir, Barnsley and in the National Trust advisory department. He hosts the podcast POT and CLOCHE.

Saturday, 28th October 2023: Late Summer Colour

Presenter: Julie Ritchie

Saturday, 30th September 2023: The World of Iris

Presenter: Jim Almond
Jim holds a National Collection of Juno Iris. This talk will cover many species of iris.

Saturday, 26th August 2023: The Diary of a Gardener

Presenter: Mike Thurlow
Mike has had a very varied career which has included gardening at Dyffryn, Aberglasney, Barnsdale and Audley End, lecturing at Pencoed, writing and broadcasting. The focus of his talk will be the restoration of the garden at Audley End.

Saturday, 29th July 2023: Gardening in a Drying Climate

Presenter: Malcolm Allison
Malcolm read botany at Oxford and then completed a masters in forestry. He now runs his own local nursery.

Saturday, 24th June 2023: Responding to an Increasing Threat

Presenter: Nicola Spence
Protecting UK plants and trees from Pests and Diseases.
Nicola is Chief Plant Health Officer at DEFRA.

Saturday, 27th May 2023: The Gardens of The Bishop's Palace, Wells

Presenter: James Cross
James has been Head Gardener at The Bishop’s Palace, a RHS Partner Garden, since 2004. Before that he worked for the National Trust at The Courts, Sissinghurst and Sheffield Park.

Saturday, 29th April 2023: Ferns

Presenter: Martin Rickard
Martin has been a fern enthusiast for almost 50 years. He is a past president of the British Pteridological Society and was awarded the Society's Stansfield Medal in 2004. Martin has written or co-authored five books on ferns including the RHS Wisley handbook.

Saturday, 25th March 2023: Life as a Garden Writer

Presenter: Tamsin Westhorpe
Tamsin and her family own and run the renowned Stocktonbury Gardens near Leominster. She is an RHS judge and produces a podcast ‘Fresh from the Pod’. Previously she edited The English Garden.

Saturday, 25th February 2023: Beyond the Garden Gate

Presenter: Mandy Bradshaw
Mandy is a journalist and life-long gardener living in the Cotswolds. She is a member of Gloucestershire NGS and blogs as The Chatty Gardener.

Saturday, 28th January 2023: New Varieties, Old Favourites

Presenter: Josh Egan-Wyer
Josh is Manager of Pershore College Shop and Wholesale Nursery. He will talk to us about the plants they are currently propagating at Pershore.

Saturday, 7th January 2023: Beth Chatto, A Life with Plants (on zoom only)

Presenter: Catherine Horwood
Catherine is a writer and garden historian. Her recent book about the life of Beth Chatto was very well received. She will tell us about Beth’s life.

Saturday, 26th November 2022: Modern Gardening Myths

Presenter: Ken Thompson

Saturday, 29th October 2022: The Garden at New Inn Farm

Presenter: Stephen Anderton

Saturday, 24th September 2022: Fifty Shades of Green

Presenter: Razvan Chisu

Saturday, 27th August 2022: Dilemmas of a Nobody

Presenter: Julian Sutton

Saturday, 30th July 2022: Late Summer Plants

Presenter: Jack Wilgoss

Saturday, 25th June 2022: Dianthus

Presenter: Joe Sharman

Go to top of page

Western Counties Group of the Hardy Plant Society