As Covid restrictions start to ease, volunteers will be allowed back to work in the Gardens from 29th March. Numbers working at any one time will be limited, but it will still be splendid to have them back and contributing to keeping the Gardens looking beautiful.

We’re hoping restrictions will ease enough by the summer that we can start up our programme of monthly public tours of the Gardens. Two tours are now pencilled in: one featuring the rose garden in June, and a high summer tour in late July. No need to book; you can just turn up.

Thanks to John Grimshaw for an inspiring talk this morning on the horticulture, places and people who have influenced him over almost 50 years as a gardener. A recording of the lecture is available in the password-protected Friends Area of the website.

The latest edition of our monthly newsletter News Shoots is now available in the password-protected Friends Area of the website. It will shortly be distributed to Friends by email, and print copies will be on the way to members without email addresses.

Today (1st March) Nicola Thorpe, our Education Project Officer, has submitted a grant application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for the second round of funding for the Education and Engagement project in the Gardens.

The easing of Covid restrictions sadly hasn’t come in time to save our planned Spring Blossom tour, which had been due to take place in March, but we do hope to launch a series of monthly public tours of the Gardens as soon as the regulations allow. Look out for news of the dates and themes of each tour on our Talks and Tours page and in our Events Calendar.

Our next online lecture should be a corker. It will be ‘Plants, Gardens, People’ by the director of the Yorkshire Arboretum, John Grimshaw. Access to the live lecture and the recording will be free for Friends. Members of public are welcome to join us for the live-streaming of John’s talk on Tuesday 9th March. Registration is easy and costs just £5.

Thanks to Simon Olpin for an excellent lecture this morning on his Sheffield garden. He explained how the site evolved into the small slice of suburban jungle that it is today, with hardier exotic shrubs and trees creating a permanent tropical effect, and all managed without chemicals. A recording of the lecture is available on the password-protected Friends Area of the site.

Simon Olpin's exotic jungle garden in Sheffield featured on BBC Gardeners’ World a few years ago. We’re delighted he’s giving an online lecture for the Friends next Tuesday on the garden's evolution and its plants. Members of the public are welcome to join us.

The latest edition of our monthly newsletter News Shoots is now available in the password-protected Friends Area of the website. It will shortly be distributed to Friends by email, and print copies will be on the way to members without email addresses.

Thanks to Pete Tomlin for a fascinating online session this morning about the Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust’s ‘Nature Counts’ system, which lets us as members of the public contribute to the larger environmental picture by recording our wildlife sightings. You can view a recording of Pete’s talk is in the password-protected Friends Area of our website.

Sadly we have had to cancel our first planned public tour of the Gardens in February, owing to the continuing Covid restrictions. We hope we may still be able to offer the March tour, which will have a special focus on Spring blossom, and will take place at lunchtime on Tuesday 23rd March.

We’ve added some new items to our online shop - a Friends tea towel and tote bag, and two lovely winter greetings cards, produced from beautiful watercolour paintings of the Gardens.

We have some exciting online lectures available for Friends over the next few months. Recent additions to the programme include talks by John Grimshaw, Director of the Yorkshire Arboretum, and historic parks expert Paul Rabbitts.

We’re delighted that top garden designer Jo Thompson will be giving an online lecture for the Friends next Tuesday, 19th January. Given Jo’s popularity, we are offering a limited number of places to non-members at just £5.