Past Talks: Sept 2018 - March 2020

 April & May 2020

Sadly our talks for April and May were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic and lock down. We will resume our meetings when we are allowed and when we feel safe to do so.

March 2020

'Gardening for wildlife' was the subject of our talk this month, again a change from the one advertised in our programme. Rosemary Winnall hails from Bewdley and is fortunate to have a garden surrounded by open countryside which encourages a varied selection of creatures, birds and insects to visit it. The plants in her garden have been carefully chosen to provide food and shelter for a variety of wildlife including flies which many of us hate but which are an important food source for birds. Heather and mahonia flowers are popular with bluetits and in early spring flowers such as pulmonaria are a godsend to solitary bees coming out of hibernation. The different types of flowerheads attract different insects, umbelifers are useful for hoverflies who can easily land on their flat surfaces whereas the foxglove flowers attract bees who climb into the flowerpods in search of pollen. Rosemary has spent many happy hours in her garden recording her visitors on camera and video and we were enthralled by the variety. Perhaps we should spend more time in our own gardens just sitting quietly and seeing who or what is enjoying our space too.

February 2020

Hellebores, those spring stalwarts of the perennial border were the subject of our February talk by Andrew Mikolojski. (Andrew very kindly stood in for our original speaker who was unfortunately unable to leave her home in Bridgnorth due to flooding). Hellebores originate from Yugoslavia where they grow in open grassland.In the UK their ideal place is under deciduous trees where they can bask in the spring sunshine and then take shelter from summer sunshine as the trees grow leaves above them. Hellebores are difficult to divide unlike most other perennials and grow more easily from seed as anyone who has them in their garden will know as they can quickly colonise a suitable bed. From a growers perspective they take time to propagate from seed, often taking 2-3 years to have a suitably sized plant to sell so we shouldn't begrudge the price tag on mature plants for sale in nurseries and garden centres. Andrew had a large selection of slides showing the wide variety of colours and petal formations and gave lots of advice on the best varieties to look out for.

January 2020

New Year ,New Start and we had a summary of the gardening year at Old Court Nurseries in a talk given by Helen Picton who is now in charge at Picton Nursery in Colwall, Worcestershire, home of the national collection of asters. Lots of lovely slides helped to cheer us up and give us hope that spring is on its way and we can soon look forward to lots of colourful gardens again. They have been doing some major renovations to the gardens at the nursery to extend the seasons of interest and it will be well worth a visit when the weather warms up in the spring.

December 2019

Michael as usual gave an extremely interesting talk on what was eaten at Medieval banquets and the manners required of the invited guests. Two committee members successfully produced nibbles using recipes provided by Michael which only allowed ingredients that would have been available at the time. One of the many facts that came out of the talk was that ale was drunk in preference to water as the rivers and streams were used to dump rubbish in so were not healthy sources. Presumably the alcohol in the ale killed any nasties that might have been lurking in the water used to make it. Another one was that bread which was cooked in wood ovens was cut in half horizontally and the top halves were given to the guests on the high table and the bottom halves to the lower ranking guests as it would have ash on it. Hence the phrase 'upper crust' meaning people of higher rank. It was a very timely talk two weeks before our own traditional feast of Christmas.

November 2019

Andrew Mikolajski gave a fascinating talk on women gardeners entitles 'The March of the Women'. Until relatively recently the career of gardening was not considered suitable for women to do. Gertrude Jeykll was the first female designer of renown but even she worked with a man, Edward Lutyens who did the hard landscaping. It was interesting to hear that all of Gertrude's garden designs were bought by an American, Beatrix Ferrand, and are now in California. Andrew introduced us to over a dozen women who worked in garden design, some we recognised such as Vita Sackville West, Marjorie Fish, Rosemary Verey and Beth Chatto but others we didn't, Ellen Willmott, Norah Lindsay, Sylvia Crowe, Martha Schwartz and Isablle Greene. A great talk and one which made you want to find out more about these trail blazing designers.

October 2019

This month we were entertained by Howard Drury on the subject of 'Gardening as we get older'. Howard is a popular speaker and his talks are professionally prepared on his laptop together with full sound system. He gave sensible advice on how to continue gardening as we age such as wearing sensible clothing, in particular footwear and not going out in extreme weather both hot and cold. Also he made suggestions for the types of plants to grow - choose those that are self supporting - avoid plants that need a lot of attention and buy plug plants to save time growing them yourself from seed. His final advice was not to downsize just because the garden seems to be getting too much but buy in help if you can afford it or just let the garden grow a bit looser. The act of gardening is very beneficial to our well being both mental and physical and that is worth much more than a few extra weeds in the borders.

September 2019

Hardy Geraniums was the subject of our talk this month and we had an excellent speaker from Hoo House Nursery based in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. Julie Ritchie founded the nursery over 30 years ago and has an extensive knowledge of these versatile plants. There are geraniums for every soil type and situation and Julie had lots of slides to show us. Even she admitted that there are lots of similarities between some of the plants with regard to colour but as long as you know the specific genus of the subject then you know where it will grow best and how it will perform. They are easy to grow and don't need a lot of attention other than a haircut once or twice a year. There was one caveat, beware Geranium pyrenaicum 'Bill Wallis'. If he likes your garden you will have him for life!

Courtesy of anniesannuals.com

August 2019

This year we decided to offer an additional garden visit to the membership and 19 of us made the journey to visit the Royal Horticultural Society garden at Wisley in Surrey. This is the home of the RHS and this was borne out by the sheer size and variety of the site. Despite being there for 5 hours we still didn't get to see all of it. One of the most interesting parts of the garden are the trial grounds where various shrubs, plants and vegetables are grown to assess their performance over the seasons and to see if they are worthy of being awarded the prestigious AGM, award of garden merit, which is the highest accolade of the plant breeding world. These initials after the plant's name is a reassurance to the plant buyer that it will perform as described on the label as long as it is cared for as instructed.

A beautiful orchid in full flower at Wisley Gardens

July 2019

Our annual garden get-together was hosted this year by Tessa Sadler, one of our committee members. The weather was fine and over 20 members and guests enjoyed sandwiches and cake whilst strolling round Tessa's varied and well-stocked plot.

June 2019

Coton Manor Gardens in Northamptonshire was the venue for our annual summer trip, www.cotonmanor.co.uk. It is a delightful private garden covering several acres with well-kept herbaceous borders, woodland glades, a wild flower meadow and a herb and kitchen garden. It is also home to several pink flamingos who posed for photos by the lake. A well stocked nursery ensured that most of us came home with plants. The weather was kind to us and we all enjoyed tea and cake in the courtyard cafe.

May 2019

'The unexpected Role of Plants in Medicine' was the title of the talk that we enjoyed this month. Alison Foster gave a fascinating insight into the advances made in science using plant derivatives to assist in the treatment of our current ailments.

April 2019

This month saw a return visit by Geoff Hodges talking about the Life and Times of a Gardening Editor. Geoff has visited us twice before and is always a popular speaker.He gave a humorous and informative talk on his career starting with sowing wallflower seeds in a wall aged five, well to a five year old that would make sense, leading up to the present as a freelance gardening writer. He then took us through the process of editing a garden magazine. He didn't disappoint with his customary contribution to our raffle prizes bringing a new style deckchair that he had recently reviewed for a magazine. One lucky winner had a good evening.

March 2019

This month's talk was of local interest being the history and restoration of Hill Close Gardens in Warwick. Michael and Christine Sheldon gave a detailed account of the timely rescue of these 19th century pleasure gardens which were due to be destroyed in 1995 in order to build houses. The gardens were originally sold by a speculative land owner to the local business people who normally lived above their business premises and consequently had no outdoor space to enjoy in their spare time. Some were used to grow vegetables and keep livestock such as chickens and even pigs. Others had built summerhouses on their plots, some of which have been restored to their former glory following major restoration work financed by donations and a grant from the National Lottery Fund in 2005/2007.

The gardens are open to the public every day from April to October but please note the tearoom is only open on weekends and Bank Holidays! It was a very interesting talk on a local attraction that is very well hidden in the centre of Warwick. For more information look on the following site: www.hillclosegardens.com

February 2019

We were entertained this month by John Millington from Hillview Hardy Plants who gave an interesting talk on Primulas and Auriculas. His comprehensive slides showed us the many varieties that make up this colourful genera from the hardy garden favourites to the more delicate varieties that require more tender care. He also has a sideline in making auricular theatres which are the traditional way of showing these tough little plants. The Hillside Hardy Plants website is a treasure trove of all the different colours available at : www.hillviewhardyplants.com .  

January 2019

The talk this month was by Dave Cropp, with a talk about 'William Shakespeare, gardener'. Dave was an entertaining speaker, and his costume was well received, as was his prop - a very old spade! Dave gave us a lot of quotes from Shakespeare plays, particularly those that mention flowers, plants, and all things edible. He pointed out that bay trees are mentioned in Richard II , but they were not available at the time, so must have been added to the play at a later stage. Many quotes also included weeds, moss and mistletoe. Shakespeare used his local area too in his plays - Southam is mentioned in Henry VI, part 3, Act V, Scene I, Lines 10–16:

WARWICK

Say, Somerville, what says my loving son?

And, by thy guess, how nigh is Clarence now?

SOMERSET

At Southam I did leave him with his forces,

And do expect him here some two hours hence.

There are also plants that are NOT mentioned - such as lettuce, tomatoes, raspberries, currants, probably because they were either not recognised, or not available. All in all, a good night.

We now look forward to February’s talk by John Millington, on 'Primulas and Auriculas' to be held on Monday 18th February. John runs Hillview Hardy Plants at Bridgnorth in Shropshire, which specialises in Auriculas. John is a regular speaker at gardening clubs.

Christmas Meeting
This month we had a fun Christmas Gardening Quiz instead of a speaker. Philip Aubrey was an excellent quiz-master, and we had four tables of four on each. There were three rounds of 20 minutes including marking, when we swapped answer sheets with another table. Small prizes were awarded for each round:



-  Plants pests and diseases - picture identification
-  What where when - multiple choice questions
-  Found in a garden - anagrams.

Nothing was too difficult and Philip only allowed each table to win once. We all learned a lot about pests and diseases!
Stella Ellard won the prize for Best Christmas Table Decoration, which Philip judged,
and there were a good number of entries. Everyone had a very festive and enjoyable evening.
Nigel Chapman has had a good response to his request for members to help with the
Gardening Club's new project - the allotment at the back of the vet's surgery on Coventry
Street. This is currently run by Geoff and Liz King, who wish to give it up, so we have been offered this LARGE plot. Any member or family member can go along when they have some free time: just give your name to Nigel. Why not go along to check it out? All ideas most welcome!

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Gardens and Garden Visits
Little Malvern Court
(photo from their website)
In November Hugh Thomas, head gardener at Little Malvern Court, gave us a really
interesting talk in which, rather than show us a parade of photos of flowers and plants,
he discussed how we experience a garden visit and the subtle ways that first impress-
ions, setting, design, layout all form part of our appreciation. 
He used numerous well and less-known gardens as examples, comparing the highly closed-off design of Hidcote to a collection of discrete short stories, whereas gardens like Little Malvern Court,Coughton, or Wollerton Old Hall are designed to lure you through them with a form of narrative rather like a longer novel. Hugh's slides clearly showed the way that our experience of a garden can be influenced by the surrounding architecture, its context within the landscape, as well as topography, style, design - let alone the plants themselves!
Hugh drew his examples from many gardens, including: Thenford, Coughton Court, Scampston, Chatsworth, Kiftsgate, Hidcote, Painswick, Gresgarth Hall, Stourhead, Arley Hall, Perrycroft, WollertonOld Hall, The Dorothy Clive Garden,  Athelhampton and Mapperton, as well as his own place of work: Little Malvern Court.
Wollerton Old Hall Rill Garden
(photo: Gardenista.com)
.  

Gods in the Garden

Boar at Chatsworth House

The 'Historic Gardener', aka Michael Brown, gave a fascinating talk on the history of statues in gardens, reminding us how many of them feature numerous statues of classical and other subjects.  Michael also offered us a whistle-stop overview of Greek and Roman mythology, which can't fail to add a completely new dimension to our future visits to these stately home and National Trust sites.  Lovely photos, and an interesting subject - thank you Michael!
Hercules and Antaeus at Stowe
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Bee-Friendly Gardening: A Taste of Honey
Our September 2018 talk was by Elizabeth Gowing, who, whilst living in Kosovo, was given a beehive, which she kept on a farm owned by a farmer with a lot of hives, and who introduced her to beekeeping. Her bees were from the Balkans (as they are here) and so very hardy. There are 253 types of bees in the UK, one of which is our honey bee, the only one to produce honey in a form that can be harvested by humans.
You don't keep bees - they decide where to stay. To attract them in we need to grow flowers they like. Old-fashioned cottage garden and blue/purple flowers are best, as are highly scented flowers. Double-forms and hybridised flowers are not attractive to them as they can't access the pollen and nectar they are looking for from the flower. We should try to have plants that flower early and late in the season.
Throughout the world honey bees are responsible for one-third of pollination, so we need them. In one province in China there is so much pollution that bees have died out and humans are having to do the pollination, at great cost. Australia also has human pollinators.
There are 50,000 bees in an average hive, although there can be up to 150,000, and one bee will visit 125,000 flowers to make just one teaspoon of honey!
Even our superb NHS is using honey-impregnated dressings and bandages on deep wounds, due to its hygroscopic and preservative properties -  the link takes you to an NHS patient leaflet.
Much food for thought: let’s all do our best to support these wonderful insects.
Bee photo credits: genehanson.com
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