20th ANNIVERSARY OPEN GARDENS

February 3rd & 4th
Jane Norris, is our committee member who is responsible for the raffle each month, and who encourages members to propagate plants for our Plant Fayre and plant table. She opened her garden on Sat/Sun 3rd/4th Feb and as an enthusiastic galanthophile, she was an ideal person to start the year off. With a mixture of Hardy Plant members, Plant Heritage members, her friends from the Church and Alpine Society members, she was kept busy talking about her wonderful collection of snowdrops. The weather was kind and the homemade soup and cake went down a treat. Amazingly she raised almost £250 which will go to the Flower Fund at All Saints Church, West Parley and the Air Ambulance. Well done and thank you Jane. Thanks also to Leonie Oldfield for taking the photos. 

Monday May 21st
Dawn & Rick Trenchard, 2 new members, opened their garden in Eastleigh for us. They regularly open for the NGS so all donations were for the various NGS charities. The range of unusual plants were outstanding. 2 huge wisteria, many clematis and lilacs added a wonderful scent to the garden. The rain held off and we were able to wander around at leisure. A big plus - all the plants were labelled as well, although poor Dawn was running around answering everyone's questions.

​Thank you Dawn & Rick for letting us visit your beautiful garden

Sunday June 3rd 
Helen Powell, one of our members, opened her garden in Colehill on Sunday 3rd June, 2 - 5 pm in aid of Macmillan. It was a tremendous success and she would like to thank all those who came along to either help or support the good cause.

Sunday June 24th
Debbie & Dave Steel opened their garden in West Parley on Sunday 24th June, for Lupus UK & Forest Holme Hospice, Poole. There were almost 100 people who attended, from HPS and others. The day was right in the middle of the heatwave so everyone rushed to grab the tables underneath the shade of the silver birches in the back garden. The Plant Table stretched the whole length of the bungalow so plenty of bargains to be had! In all over £520 was raised for the 2 good causes. Debbie would like to thank all those who attended and spent, those who helped, those who provided plants for sale, and all those who baked such lovely cakes. 

Sunday July 1st
Colehill Gadabout and Summer Party. This event was held from 11 am to 4.30 pm with 6 gardens open around the Memorial Hall. The Hardy Plant's Plant Stall did really well and the 20% commission was donated to the Colehill Community Library. 

Sunday July 8th
Kevin and Paula Steele opened their garden in Ferndown, serving Burgers and Hot Dogs, along with the obligatory cake and teas! In addition there was a Stall of donated items which ranged from hose attachments to plants to pots and so on and lots of manure. Overall, after a lot of hard work, they managed to raise £546 for their charity, Wave 105's "Cash for Kids" which will help local youngsters.

Sunday August 19th
Elaine & Mike Lofthouse welcomed members to their walled garden in the centre of Blandford, one of the few remaining burgage plots. From the sale of plants and refreshments, they were delighted with the £144 raised for the Dorset Somerset Air Ambulance.

In addition, just down the road 2 miles from the centre of Blandford, Mary Phipps opened her wildlife friendly garden in aid of the Dorset Wildlife Trust. She too had plants and refreshments for sale and made almost the same amount as Elaine for the Trust.

Sunday September 30th "Little and Large" gardens. Open 2-5 pm.
Greenacres, Whitemoor, nr Broomhill, BH21 7DA
Pat Osman has a 1 acre wildlife-friendly garden, with adjacent 1 acre paddock. Many came to see her garden which looked fabulous with its colourful autumn berries and late flowering perennials. With family and friends' help, Pat was delighted with how much they managed to raise for her charity, Medical Detection Dogs.




Dolphins, Broomhill, BH21 7AR
Diana and Alan Guy started the garden only 8 months ago. All of us were amazed how much they had achieved in such a short space of time. Already brimming with colour, planted for all year interest. Pleached trees, raised beds, and  generously planted borders. Thank you to everyone who visited. Diana managed to raise £140 for her charity - the Tuberous Schlerosis Association.