A Year in John’s Garden
In this talk, Nigel Hopes will provide a Head Gardener’s behind the scenes tour of John Massey’s Private Garden at Ashwood Nurseries, with highlights through the year and plenty of practical advice.
January’s talk by Hugh inspired his audience and there have been many requests for more information on the shrubs he talked about. If you would like to a reminder of his talk, then his photographs and notes can be downloaded from the website on the Febuary Meeting News page:
Nigel did his work experience at Ashwood Nurseries, and then went on to study horticulture, becoming a student at Birmingham Botanical Gardens.
Nigel built up a huge knowledge in his time in Birmingham, enriching his work with placements at RHS Garden Wisley and a plant hunting trip to South Africa. He has been Head Gardener at Ashwood since 2018.

“John’s Garden” at Ashwood Nurseries is a wonderful three acre private garden created by nursery owner and Chelsea Gold medallist John Massey VMH. Informal borders, island beds, woodland dells and a wildlife garden are set against the beautiful backdrop of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Regarded as one of the finest private gardens in the UK, there are magnificent collections of trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials and conifers adding to the interest all year round with an abundance of rare plants as well as familiar favourites.

John’s garden has now become his sanctuary, as well as a trial ground for his many plant passions. He firmly believes that a garden should be “somewhere you want to go every day of the year,” and he doesn’t subscribe to the idea of putting the garden to bed for winter.
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