Societies & Associations
East of England Apples and Orchards Project is working to ensure a future for local orchard fruits and orchards. There are around 250 local varieties of apple, pear, plum, and cherry that come from the seven counties of our region – Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. These varieties and their orchard habitat need to be preserved for their local significance, genetic diversity, as local food sources and for their landscape and wildlife value. There are also hundreds of ‘lost’ fruit varieties known only from written records. Maybe you can help us find them? There are many ways to help us. You could become a member; buy our fruit trees; sign up for a workshop; come to an Apple Day; buy local-grown fruit or help us survey orchards.
The Royal Forestry Society has a diverse membership of 3,500+ members including woodland owners, professional foresters, arborists, countryside professionals, conservationists, lecturers, students and people with an active interest in learning about the care of woods and trees. Everybody is welcome. We do not represent the interests of any single group and so are a source of unbiased information for anyone caring for woodlands.
The work of the RFS is funded through donations, grants, legacies and corporate sponsorship, together with membership subscriptions.
The Hebe Society promotes the cultivation and conservation of hebes and other New Zealand native plants. The Hebe Society was founded in 1985. It is affiliated to the Royal Horticultural Society, New Zealand Alpine Garden Society and Tatton Garden Society. Most members are in the British Isles, but some are in the rest of Europe, North America and New Zealand.
Although initially formed for those interested in hebes, the Society now supports the cultivation and conservation of all New Zealand plants.
The Heather Society covers every aspect of this world, from the wild heathers of European heaths and moorlands to the rare and unusual splendours of South African or “Cape” heaths, from everyday cultivation, including choosing, growing and propagating hardy heathers, to scientific studies and nomenclature.
It now has members throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland as well as elsewhere in Europe, and in Africa, the Americas, Australasia and the Far East. Members receive an informative yearbook, as well as three newsy Bulletins which contain a diary of events to keep members in touch with Society activities and new developments. It organizes regional groups, visits to heather gardens, an annual week-end gathering and the occasional field-trip, and provides free advice to members on heather-garden design or any problems they may have.
Founded in 1941, Crowborough Horticultural Society is a friendly, educational forum for all gardeners and allotment holders in Crowborough and the surrounding area. We hold monthly meetings with expert speakers, an Annual Open Show and group visits to places of gardening interest.