The Cottage Garden
Society,
Dorset Group
We are a friendly and enthusiastic group, established in March 1996, and membership numbers grow steadily. We have two speaker meetings a year at Brownsword Hall, Poundbury, with a plant table for members to "bring and buy". Several visits to members' and other Dorset gardens are organised during the growing season, covering a different part of the county each time. Details of our events are usually lpublished in February in time for our spring meeting. There is a £5 per annual membership fee, and members need also to join the national CGS.
The national Cottage Garden Society was formed in 1982 for the benefit of owners of small gardens who want to keep alive the tradition of gardening in the cottage style and to encourage an interest in old fashioned flowers of merit and their varieties and cultivars. It aims to be a friendly and informal Society, bringing together amateurs and experts who share an enthusiasm for this type of gardening. The subscription is £9 and the website is at http://www.theCGS.org.uk
Come and join us
If you'd like to join the Dorset CGS, send your name and address by e-mail to .
Members News
Suggestions for gardens visits are welcomed. We are particularly interested in gardens that are not normally open to the public - yours or a hidden gem you have discovered. If you are open for the National Gardens Scheme or other charity please let me have next year's dates ASAP for publicising in our Newsletter, also dates of interesting events, plants sales and village open days. Please email Rob Sharland - . Events planned for 2010//11 are as follows:-
Speaker Meetings
Our next meeting for 2010 is on Sunday 31 October 2010 at Poundbury when our guest speaker is Mary Benger of Burrow Farm Gardens. From the formal lines of her Millennium garden to the verdant jungle of the Bog Garden, Burrow Farm excels at relaxed, abundant planting schemes which fit perfectly with the rolling hills of the surrounding Devonshire countryside. We look forward very much to her talk.
Looking ahead, our Spring 2011 meeting will be held at Poundbury on 27th February 2010 or 6th March 2010 depending on speaker availability.
Recent Speakers
For our February 2010 meeting we were fortunate to have Steven Griffiths, the curator of Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens. He had a unique collection of pictures highlighting the garden’s changes and progress over the last 20 years, including details of many of the exotic plants. We are fortunate in Dorset to have such a facility and believe it would prove of significant interest to all those who have not yet visited these lovely gardens.
Garden Visits
Thursday 26th August 2010
Having had a very full day in and around Beaminster in May, we thought we would confine our August visit to the afternoon only. We are fortunate to have two very contrasting gardens. The first is a brand new formal garden at Charlton Down and the second a long established cottage garden at Lower Waterstone where tea and cakes will be available. For details and directions send a cheque for £3.00 per person and an SAE to Jenny Daultrey.
Recent visits
Membury 3 September 2009
In September, we ventured across the border to Devon to visit two NGS gardens. The first, Sixpenny Moon run by Ian Withycombe, was a delightful small nursery garden specialising in hardy herbaceous perennials. The second, Cleave Hill, was a larger garden owned by Penny Pritchard. Designed around a pretty thatched cottage, it had wonderful views and was artistically planted to provide all-season structure, texture and colour. We then went onto Chapel Thatch, which had extensive terracing and good views over their lake, for an excellent cream tea (with their dogs!)
Beaminster 27 May 2010
This proved a wonderful day. We had beautiful weather and enjoyed seeing 5 very different gardens. See pictures below. I am most grateful to all those who opened their gardens for us and special thanks go to David and Mary Wills who provided coffee and biscuits, Rose Smith who let us picnic in her lovely garden and Margaret Todd/Joan Holland who supplied us with delicious afternoon teas in abundance.
Speaker Meetings and Plant Sales
Speaker meetings are at Brownsword Hall, Poundbury, Dorchester, starting 2 pm. Arrive early for plants! Non members welcome, £3. Free to members. The Poet Laureate pub in the village square is popular for lunch.
Nurseries in the West Country
These are some favourite small nurseries used or owned by Dorset CGS members.
Coldharbour Nursery
(opposite The Silent Woman Inn), Bere Road, Wareham Dorset
Tel: 01202 696 875
Ferns, grasses, herbaceous perennials
Elworthy Cottage Plants
Elworthy, Lydyeard St Lawrence, Taunton, Somerset
Tel: 01984 656 427
Unusual herbaceous plants; penstemon, pulmonaria, hardy geranium,
grasses
Lower Severalls Nursery
Crewkerne, Somerset TA18 7NX
Tel: 01460 73234; Fax: 01460 76105
Herbs and herbaceous perennials, many ususual
Mill Cottage Plants
The Mill, Henley Lane, Wookey, Wells, Somerset BA5 1AP
Tel: 01749 676 966
Traditional, unusual and period plants. Campanaulas, pinks, hardy
geraniums, ferns and grasses.
R D Plants
Homelea Farm, Tytherleigh, Axminster, East Devon EX13 7BG
Tel: 01460 220 206 (8.30-9.30 am only, please)
Herbaceous and woodland plants; some alpines
Three Counties Nursery
Marshwood, Bridport, Dorset DT6 5QJ
Tel: 01297 678257
Hybrid and old fashioned garden pinks (mail order only).
The inclusion of the above establishments is for information only and does not imply any special endorsement by the Cottage Garden Society.