Welcome to the Llanover Garden School programme for Autumn 2009 and Spring 2010.  Several speakers are here for the first time. As regulars have come to expect, they are experts who wear their skills lightly. Some have transformed bare patches of earth into extraordinary beauty spots; others specialise in rarities; and one, it seems, has learnt to look at nature with the eyes of a bee, finding nectar in wild-flowers throughout the season. This year’s programme is notable for the number of superb plantsmen who seek out, propagate, then patiently assess new and unusual plants. What do they all have in common?  A taste for the wow factor.

Each Garden School day starts with coffee at 10am, followed by a talk and a two course lunch with wine, a chance to ask questions of our speakers and to explore the garden. In the afternoon, there’s another talk, before a home made tea at about 3.30pm.  

As past participants will know, the lunch – cooked by Pav Taruschio using the freshest and most seasonal ingredients – deserves to be a draw in its own right. Last summer, when we ran five garden school days in one month, she conjured up five different menus – each delicious.

Last year’s offer of a special reduced price of £250 for four people booking together at once proved a great success, so I have decided to extend it to this year.  

Gift vouchers for days at the Garden School are available to give as Christmas, birthday or occasional presents.

I was delighted that Helena Attlee included Llanover in her much-praised  recent book ‘Gardens in Wales’, which featured the view into the round garden on its front cover.  This was a great compliment to my ancestor who, 200 years ago, originally commissioned the design of the garden using the Rhyd y meirch stream, and local brick. Helena’s talk about ‘Gardens in Wales’ opens the 2009 season, and will be at the reduced rate of £60.

For all Llanover’s longevity, gardens do not stand still and following Mary Paynes ‘ Minimum effort, maximum effect’ talk last season, the two large borders in the round garden have been emptied, and prepared for replanting in September 2009 using her design.  The plan is to create a big effect in the autumn and winter, plus interest throughout the year, and all with minimal maintenance.  Over the next couple of years, you will be able to see the progress and judge the final effect for yourselves.

The website www.llanovergarden.co.uk has details of forthcoming speakers, pictures from the workshops, availability and additional events. 

With best wishes,

Elizabeth Murray