Money grows on trees...

When you look around your garden, what do you see? Plants, perhaps a pond, a bit of decking? In Yorkshire, more than 100 gardeners see money – big money. They were the ones who last year opened their gardens for charity – and contributed tens of thousands of pounds to good causes.

The National Gardens Scheme makes donations to the likes of Macmillan Cancer Relief, Marie Curie Cancer Care, NGS Garden Bursaries (The National Trust), The Queen's Nursing Institute, Nurses Welfare Service, Crossroads Caring for Carers, Help the Hospices, Perennial (Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Society) Royal Gardeners' Orphan Fund and County Nursing Associations.

And all because gardeners were willing to open the gates to their private plots.

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This year, even more cash should be raised. The 2010 edition of Gardens of England & Wales Open for Charity (8.99) lists more than 3,700 gardens – 600 of which are opening for the first time – county by county, which open under the National Gardens Scheme Charitable Trust. The Yellow Book, as it's known, features gardens both formal and informal; big and small; gardens with woodland walks or fine views; gardens with National Plant Collections; gardens with dramatic features; gardens with a Mediterranean influence specialising

in exotics; secret gardens with hidden surprises; fascinating water gardens which are a haven for wildlife; gardens carpeted with spring bulbs or with wonderful autumn colour.

Yorkshire this year welcomes 13 new gardens which range upwards in size from a tiny but exotic oasis in the middle of Castleford, aptly named Little Eden; Dove Cottage, a superb nursery and garden on the outskirts of Halifax; the Plant Heritage Collection of Euphorbias (Sun Spurge) lovingly maintained by the owners of Firvale Allotment Garden, near Sheffield; and neighbours in Aston, a conservation area, offer two pretty cottage-style gardens.

Further north, larger gardens include Tudor Croft, Otterington Hall, Terrington House and Goldsborough Hall, which last opened for NGS in 1930 when the late HRH Princess Mary lived there.

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Copies of the free booklet, Yorkshire Gardens 2010, giving details of all 121 participating gardens, will soon be available from libraries, TICs, many garden centres and nurseries or by written request, enclosing an A5 size sae, to Felicity Bowring, NGS Press Officer Yorkshire, Lawkland Hall, Austwick, Lancaster, LA2 8AT.