Hillier Gardening Club

Welcome To The Hillier Gardening Club
Gardening is a hobby and an interest for millions. Some are experienced, skilled and know exactly what to do to get wonderful results. However many are grateful to find someone to talk to for a little help and advice. Through the Hillier Gardening Club we talk directly to our customers and aim to give budding gardeners the help they need to succeed in their gardens.

How it Started
The club was started in 1990 by Garden Centre Director Andrew McIndoe and Philippa Bensley, a contributor to, and editor of, the Club magazine to the present day. The club was launched as part of a National "Gardening for Beginners" campaign and has always had an ambitious agenda to reach a mass audience. At the start of 2007 membership was over 180,000 households.

It's Easy to Join
Joining the Hillier Gardening Club is easy. Simply fill in an enrolment form at any of our garden centres or, alternatively, click here to enrol online. It's free, so there is nothing to lose, and we promise not to pass on any of your details to other organisations. If you would like to receive our regular email newsletters, don't forget to include your email address too.


The Club Magazine
The Hillier Gardening Club Magazine, mailed direct to members three times a year, is the main way the Club communicates with members. It is packed with practical articles, design ideas, information on the latest plants, club workshops and holidays, not to mention special offers and promotions. What makes the magazine unique is the way it is created. No advertising agency or outside marketing organisation has an influence. The club "Mag" is researched, written and photographed by the Hillier team. It is opinionated, personal, quirky and always full of the best up-to-date information for gardeners.

It's All About Information
There is no shortage of expert advice available at our garden centres; our aim is to be there to help. However there will always be customers who visit and leave without getting the valuable advice that would help them achieve better results. The Hillier Gardening Club informs and backs up the expert advice given by the garden centre staff. The magazine covers topics such as basic design; from choice of paving to planting and colour combinations. Features on plants for chalk soil, gardening on clay and selection of ground cover plants are the type of article popular with thousands of members.

On the practical side helpful information on lawn care, or choice of the various composts and growing media available, attempts to answer some of the most frequently asked gardening questions.

Competitions
Our guest crossword is back by popular demand! The crossword is designed to test your botanical and horticultural knowledge. With fabulous prizes to give away in each issue!


Hands-on Workshops
There is a time for reading and thinking and there is a time to get your hands dirty; Gardening Club workshops have become a favourite. Held at the garden centres, workshops are informal, members turn up anytime during the day and stay as long as they like. We cover basic propagation techniques to get you started in March and in May and October basket and container workshops are a regular date in members' diaries.

Staff and customers share knowledge at workshops. They make as much mess as they like, have a good gossip and take home something that will flourish in the garden for months.

Events and Holidays
Events have always been a popular part of the club. Easy to organise in the early days with just 5,000 members we now have to think somewhat bigger! This year we are organising a series of informative talks in all our garden centres, which are free to attend. Subjects range from Planning and Planting for Drought, Creative Containers, Roses and Orchids.

The Hillier Gardening Club has now been everywhere from the island paradise of Madeira to The Floriade exhibition in Holland. All of our trips are bespoke and organised specifically with our members in mind. We take a lot of effort to make sure the trips are seeing gardens at their best and gaining special concessions such as private viewings and tours with owners or head gardeners. Our most popular trips are four-day coach based holidays visiting the gardens of a region. Four days is long enough to be a proper holiday and make friends with your fellow travellers, and is short enough to make sure there are no problems leaving home and garden commitments.

Leaflets and Offers
If our customers don't shop with us we can't go on! Gardening Club members are sent periodic special offer leaflets giving them prior notice of key promotions in our garden centres. Another member's privilege featured in the leaflets is occasional discount days. Members must show their membership card to qualify for the discount.

Ask the Oracle
Gardening Cub Members are always asking for advice, and we publish many of the questions and answers in the Gardening Club Magazines in our popular "Ask the Oracle" feature. If you would like to pose a question for the feature why not email it to us?