Welcome to the 2011/12 program of talks and demonstrations at Llanover Garden School.

Many of you will have read the writings of Ursula Buchan, Anna Pavord, Ann Wareham,Jim Gardiner and James Alexander Sinclair in the gardening media. Andy McIndoe gave an excellent presentation at RHS Wisley last year, so I was delighted when he agreed to make his first visit to Llanover next Spring. All of the speakers are experts in their field and I am very grateful to each of them for making time in their busy working lives to come and share their expertise with us.

A new event this year is a study day for those who wish to understand the basics of plant identification. The morning will be spent inside learning the necessary definitions before an afternoon spent in the garden looking at and identifying various plants.

Given the speakers’ efforts I like to aim for a large audience. I feel it is more important to make the courses as accessible as possible by leaving the price of the lecture days unchanged for the sixth year in a row, despite rising costs. To encourage you to introduce friends to the school, I will continue to offer four tickets booked at the same time for £250, which represents a 11% discount to the usual ticket price. This offer does not apply to the Christmas workshops.

To save postage costs, I send the brochures only once a year. I do appreciate an email address so that bookings can be confirmed by email rather than post. Also if you really do not wish to receive this brochure, please do let me know so that I may remove your name from the mailout.

All the garden courses are held at my beautiful home in Monmouthshire on the Welsh border. The delicious two course lunches with wine cooked by Pavinee Taruschio, are served in our elegant reception rooms, with log fires lit and fresh flowers on the tables. The garden and park are here for your enjoyment too.

This has details of forthcoming speakers with links to related websites.

Gift vouchers which make excellent Christmas, birthday and thank- you presents are available to purchase throughout the year.

The garden will be open with a Rare Plant Fair on Sunday 18th September. This is the same day as the highly regarded Abergavenny Food Festival, to enable visitors from further afield to come to both events.

Guided tours of the garden can be booked by appointment during the year for groups with a minimum of 20 people. Morning coffee, lunch or afternoon tea can be arranged to tie in with the visit.

With best wishes

Elizabeth Murray