Plant Heritage started life in the 1970s as the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG). This is a bit of a mouthful, so we are now known as Plant Heritage. We are the leading Garden Plant Conservation charity in the UK and work closely with the RHS, National Trust and other major conservation organisations.

Although we are a national charity, we can trace our origins back to Dorset, where we held our first inaugural meetings at Athelhampton House. Our first National Collection was collected by one of our founder members and subsequently transferred to Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens.

The Dorset Group of Plant Heritage has approximately 110 members. We are a happy mix of amateur gardeners, horticultural professionals & lecturers, National Collection Holders, Botanists & some people who do not have gardens but enjoy plants, visiting other gardens of interest and attending illustrated talks, lectures & practical workshops.

Our routine monthly meetings are held on Thursday evenings in the Autumn, Winter and Spring in the Dorford Centre, Top O’ Town, Dorchester (which can seat 100 people comfortably). We also hold occasional specialist lectures, often with Celebrity Speakers, in the run up to Christmas. In the late spring and summer months we organise specialist plant fairs and visits to interesting gardens, including RHS Wisley & Rosemoor, plus some closer to home, not routinely open to the Public. Please see the Programme & Events pages for details.

Individual membership of Plant Heritage offers a variety of attractive benefits nationally but because the Dorset Group is thriving, we offer Dorset members an additional range of benefits including free access to our Plant Fairs (and the gardens which host them) plus subsidised or free trips, visits and workshops. We also offer Group Membership to other Dorset Garden Clubs or Societies, which allows their own members to enjoy many of these benefits.