Nidderdale Hardy Planters

Meetings are held on the second Tuesday each month from September to May, starting 7.30 p.m. at Holy Trinity Church Hall, Knaresborough. Guests are always welcome – come to a meeting and “try before you buy”. Current subscription rates are £5 pa for individuals and £8 for a couple. Guests pay £2 a session.

The Club invites expert speakers covering a wide range of gardening topics. At each meeting there's an opportunity to buy plants from the plant stall and to discuss gardening problems with fellow members over a cup of tea. You don't have to be an expert. Everyone is welcome, from absolute beginners to hardened hardy planters - we all have something to learn!

We try to attach a report of our meetings to this webpage – although we don’t always manage it!

A popular highlight of the club programme is the coach trips, organised during the summer months to take members and friends to outstanding gardens all over the North of England. Many seize this opportunity not only to purchase plants which, perhaps, they can't find at their local nursery, but also to gather ideas for planning their own garden. We always have a comfortable coach and members thoroughly enjoy their day out in good company.

Spring Newsletter (PDF 250KB) with season's programme

Autumn Newsletter (PDF 414KB)

Nidderdale Hardy Planters

Most gardeners have prejudices against certain plants. Dr. Andrew Ward, Nurseryman from near Newark, confronted us with some of those prejudices in this month's talk. We recognised most of them, either in ourselves or in gardeners we know. 

Yellow flowers just don't do it for some! Nodding heads in our audience confirmed this. Andrew, however, aimed to overcome prejudice against yellow by showing us that there are varieties of yellow plants which are difficult to dislike. Helianthus 'Lemon Queen', for instance. Not only does this give beautiful flowers in September but is a favourite with bees and hoverflies. Another lemon-yellow 'good-doer' is Chrysanthemum 'Cottage Lemon', an easy border plant.

Orange plants or those  with double flowers are not to everyone's taste. Many don't like variegated plants; rampant plants, often sold as good ground cover and hemerocallis (Day Lilies) are deemed to be all foliage and few, muddy coloured, flowers. Red Hot Pokers are often disliked, but this is probably because they've probably inherited one that harbours slugs and snails, has grown too big and gives a short season of red/orange flowers that die horribly. 

Andrew challenged our dark thoughts by introducing us to modern, attractive varieties without the faults of the past. Breeding efforts with the Day Lilies, for instance, have resulted in some beauties such as 'Canadian Border Patrol' and 'Dutch Gold' with gloriously large flowers. The Red Hot Poker family now boasts impressive new members. Look out for 'Percy's Pride' and 'Ice Queen'.

One by one, many of  our prejudices crumbled. Andrew's gentle, amusing style and his beautiful slides were convincing. His website www.norwellnurseries.co,uk is well worth a visit for anyone prepared to think again about plant varieties hitherto rejected.

We meet each second Tuesday of the month, September to May, at 7.30pm at Holy Trinity Church Hall, Knaresborough. Our next meeting is our annual Plant Auction on 8 April. New members and guests are welcome to attend all our meetings and they should enjoy this entertaining evening, where members bring and buy plants from and for their own gardens.  Currently our membership subscription is £5 and guests pay £2 per session.