The CGS stand at Tatton Park RHS Show 2008 has been awarded a Gold medal

In 2007 the CGS celebrated its 25th Anniversary

A special issue of the June 2007 magazine was issued to mark this anniversary, and we held a weekend in the Cotswolds with 4 garden visits, AGM  and supper. The weekend events were described in last September's magazine.  Following his talk at the AGM, Nick Hamilton of Barnsdale Gardens, agreed to become our President  and we look forward working with him.  

Back in 1982, the founder-members of the CGS could not have dreamed the Society would survive, let alone flourish to celebrate a 25th anniversary. Cottage garden plants were then "unfashionable" and a whole range of plants like Dianthus (pinks) were no longer commercially available. The CGS was instrumental in protecting some disappearing flora, and remains a friendly and informal society, bringing together amateurs and professionals (in many different countries) who share an enthusiasm for this type of gardening.

Cottage gardens reflect your own personal mix of plants ‑ whether flowers, fruit or vegetables. You don't have to live in a cottage, or in the country: cottage gardens are very effective as the small plots of modern houses, or the narrow gardens of older terraces. The emphasis is on the year‑round pleasure of enjoying their form, flowers and scent ‑ not to mention picking your own salads, herbs, fruit and vegetables. Why bother with the drudge of maintaining lawns and regimented borders ‑ especially with problems of climate change?

Gardens now provide vital habitats for wildlife, as a result of changes in farming methods, increased use of chemicals, destruction of orchards, hedges and ponds. By growing simpler, traditional cottage garden flowers such as lavender, thyme and other herbs, foxgloves, pinks and so on rather than modern, double‑flowered varieties, we can help to maintain a variety of birds, butterflies, insects etc. Modern hybrid flowers are often sterile and produce no nectar for insects, who have an important role in pollinating our fruit and flowers. Bees in particular need gardeners help in providing nectar‑rich flowers ‑ bumble bees are especially affected by the loss of food plants, and their numbers have declined. Other beneficial insects, birds, frogs, toads, hedgehogs also contribute to our gardens in helping to keep down insect pests, slugs and snails. By encouraging biodiversity in our gardens, we can help maintain the precarious balance of nature.

Some of our 6,000 or so members seek help in swopping plants or seeds; our annual Seed Exchange is good opportunity to find 'treasures'. Others are hoping for answers to their gardening queries, through the pages of our quarterly magazine. Gardeners are generous souls and are invariably willing to help one another.

If you'd like to know more about the Society ‑ click on the links below