THE new Devon “Yellow Book” detailing gardens open for charity in 2017 has been published and is in Garden Centres and Tourist Information Centres now!

Gardeners from across Devon met up recently to celebrate the 90th year of the National Garden Scheme.

The gardeners also celebrated having raised a whopping £2.2 million (£160,000 of which was in 2016) during the last 90 years for Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK and the other nursing charities the scheme supports.

The money has all been raised from the generosity of the thousands of garden visitors and the generous gardeners voluntarily opening their beautiful and diverse gardens – most of which are completely private and never otherwise open to visitors.

Anne Swithinbank, Radio 4’s “Gardeners Question Time” panellist, gave an inspiring talk on “Grow something different” in your garden.

Anne also cut the birthday cake given by Exeter College for the 90th birthday celebrations.

This year there are more than 90 gardens in Devon which will be open to visit.

With Mary Berry as President of the Devon branch of the National Garden Scheme, the cream teas and cakes are bound to be good at selected gardens too!

Many of the gardens allow dogs and also have plants for sale.

To enjoy a great day out visiting a garden this year and helping Devon reach their next million for these important charities who touch all our lives just pick up a booklet or look at their website: www.ngs.org.uk .

Alan Quick