News
Our regular newsletters to members include articles on all aspects of gardening, information about past and forthcoming events and updates on the work of the SGT Council and committees. Members are invited to contribute relevant articles and/or photographs to the newsletters. See more news on our Instagram pages.
THE GARDENS TRUST FIGHTS FOR THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD BY PLANNERS [March 2025]
The Gardens Trust, of which Somerset Gardens Trust is a member, has launched an urgent appeal for help in the light of the Government’s proposed changes to the UK planning system.
Ahead of a new Planning and Infrastructure Bill, the Government has indicated that it intends to strip a number of organisations – including The Gardens Trust – of their right to be consulted on relevant planning applications.
Currently the Trust is a statutory consultee for all planning applications that might affect a site nationally designated on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.
Explaining the move, the Government has said the reforms are designed to remove the bureaucratic burden and speed up building as part of its agenda for growth.
In response, The Gardens Trust asks: ‘who will stand up for the landscapes we love? Who will safeguard our green heritage for future generations?’ It argues that its expertise ensures that development is done sensitively, respecting all that these special places have to offer while still allowing for progress.
Strong opposition to the proposed reforms has been mounted by the Trust which is asking for help in the form of donations towards legal fees, research, lobbying and advertising. It also wants people to spread the word and consider writing to their MP about the reforms.
Somerset Gardens Trust has an active role in researching historic parks, gardens and landscapes in the County and feeding into the comments made on planning applications by The Gardens Trust as a statutory consultee.
- Help Paint the Country Yellow [February 2025]
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is asking for our help in mapping the UK’s daffodils and in tracking down three of the rarest varieties.
Celebrating 100 years since it played a crucial part in preserving this cheerful harbinger of Spring, the RHS has launched a Daffodil Diaries project running until St David’s Day, calling on us to record where we see the flowers and describing them. By entering our findings on its website, we will be helping the RHS understand the environmental influences on the plants and come up with ways of preserving this diversity for the future.
The RHS is also keen for us to look out for three varieties it fears might be disappearing -Sussex Bonfire, Mrs R O Backhouse and Mrs William Copeland. Pictures and descriptions of these can be found on the project pages of the website: https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/daffodil-diaries
With their sunny colours and nodding habits, daffodils are a sign that Spring is coming but they are not just a pretty face. Grown originally for medicinal uses, the plants are currently being harvested for their source of galantamine which is used to treat Alzheimer’s.
Daffodils originated from the Iberian Peninsula and north Africa and may have been brought to Britain by the Romans but certainly we have made them our own now as 90% of the world’s cut flower daffodils are grown here.