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, especially for visits early in the year. 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. Pease email Rob Sharland -
Our next meeting for 2009 is on Sunday 25 October at Poundbury when our guest speaker is Bob Brown Bob is the extrovert owner of Cotsworld Garden Flowers near Evesham - a small specialist nursery founded in 1991. He has a plant encyclopedia of about 10,000 plants and a reputation for easy and unusual hardy herbacious perennials and smaller shrubs.
The first meeting for 2010 is on Sunday 28th February where we are fortunate to have the curator of Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens, Steven Griffith.
Recent Speakers
On 26 October 2008 our guest speaker was Timothy Walker, Horti Praefectus of the Oxford Botanical Garden. He gave us a stunning digital presentation on ‘What have plants ever done for us’ revealing fascinating secrets about the plant world and explaining the unique contribution plants have made to our everyday lives.
On 15 March 2009 our guest speaker was Derry Watkins. She is an exceptional plant spotter and propagator with a visionary eye for beautiful, high-performing plants. She runs a small nursery called Special Plants and in 1999 won a RHS silver medal for her Black Garden. She bought many of her plants for sale and gave us a wonderful talk with her usual vesuvian enthusiam.
Garden Visits
Thursday 3rd September 2009 (2.00 pm onwards)
Three gardens with plenty of variety and interest near Axminster/Chard - for details and a map send a cheque for £2.50 and an A4 SAE to Jenny Daultrey.
Recent visits
Charlton Marshall
Many thanks go to Mary Mostyn Williams and her sister for arranging the visit to 4 gardens at Charlton Marshall on 28th May 2009. It was a wonderful afternoon enjoyed by 30 members and guests with tea and cakes provided by Mary on the banks of the river Stour which runs past her home. The 4 contrasting gardens were a delight and provided a great incentive to us to get cracking on our own gardens.
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
The Margery Fish Plant Nursery
East Lambrook Manor, East Lambrook, South Petherton, Somerset TA13
5HL
Tel: 01460 240 328; Fax: 01460 242 344
Hardy geraniums
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.