Look out for a new range of Friends merchandise, produced for us by Jo of Jam Artworks in celebration of our 40th anniversary.

A group of intrepid Friends spent a cold April morning exploring the medieval park at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire. The trip was arranged after our talk last summer on the history and horticulture of the park.

Our first plant sale of the year will be on Sunday 5th May 2024 on the lower lawns.

Our Gardens have been included in Homes and Antiques as one of ‘Six of the Best Botanical Gardens’ to visit.

The designer and first curator of the Gardens, Robert Marnock, has been commemorated in a new blue plaque on the main entrance gates on Clarkehouse Road. Click ‘Read More’ to see a video about the unveiling.

The Friends were founded in 1984, so 2024 is our ruby anniversary. We have a new version of our logo in celebration, and are planning various events and activities to look back on what we’re achieved and to plan for the next 40 years.

We’ve just published a bumper edition of our regular newsletter. It contains news and views of the Gardens, our plant of the month, reports on our trips and tours, updates from the Trust and the Education project, as well as a special Winter Quiz, with prizes!

The Gardeners’ Question Time team visited the Gardens in November and the show will be broadcast on Friday 5 and repeated on Sunday 7 January on Radio 4.

It was lovely to welcome so many Friends to our Christmas Social this morning.

Our final event for 2023 is our popular Christmas Social on Tuesday 12th December from 11am.

The BBC came to Sheffield over the summer and filmed a segment on the history of the Botanical Gardens, to be included in an episode of Bargain Hunt.

Our Christmas card for 2023 is now available. Thanks to Stephen Coates for supplying this year’s image of ‘Winter in the Gardens.’

We regret that due to illness Linda Heywood is unable to deliver her ‘In the Land of the Giants’ talk on echium which was scheduled for Monday 9 October and our meeting has been CANCELLED.

The Friends have been awarded a prestigious platinum award in this year’s Yorkshire in Bloom competition. The award, in the Parks, Gardens, Cemeteries & Public Buildings category, is the highest available.

A partial recording of Darren Myers’ talk on sowing and growing sweet peas is now available in the password-protected area of the Friends website