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Past Events
Thursday 8th August - Rosemary Verey - her contribution to 20th century gardening with Margie Hoffnung
For our August meeting we welcomed Margie Hoffnung, a professional gardener and Conservation Officer for the Gardens Trust, from Wotton under Edge.
Margie worked for Gloucestershire plantswoman and garden designer the late Rosemary Verey, for eleven years of her career.
What an extraordinary life she led. A Kent junior tennis champion Mrs Verey married at the age of 20 after studying Maths and then economics at The LSE under the future Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskill. She had four children two girls and two boys. Her husband David was drafted into the Navy at the onset of World War Two leaving her to raise the children and run their home and its estate Barnsley House near Cirencester.
After the war and with her children raised Mrs Verey was encouraged by her husband to start renovating and redesigning the Barnsley House Gardens. As time went on despite her not having any formal horticultural training Mrs Verey took like a duck to water to gardening. She was a prolific collector of gardening books, some dating back many centuries. Soon word spread out about her skills of garden designing and planting and soon she was commissioned and engaged by many wealthy garden owners to revamp or design and plant from scratch their own plots. She was soon travelling the world meeting all manner of influential fellow gardening enthusiasts. Mrs Verey soon realised that writing gardening books was a lucrative exercise and she co-authored two and wrote 14 of her own. She also lectured around the world. Margie illustrated her talk with many photographs of Mrs Verey's own plan drawings and also some of the gardens which she worked upon. Finally she was asked personally by the then Prince Charles to help him design and plant the Cottage garden at Highgrove. The two became great friends. Also Mrs Verey worked for Sir Elton John on and off for four years on parts of his own home estate and gardens. An Unlikely match, but both were perfectionists and both loved Gardens. Again they both became great friends with much mutual respect for each others talents.
Barnsley House was famed for its Laburnum walkway and we saw pictures of this. It influenced the planting of many others up and down the country.
Margie is quite understandably proud of her association with Mrs Verey. She wrote to her asking for a job, and initially she was rejected. However a re-think occurred before she was invited to join the team at Barnsley. Margie worked there for eleven happy years.
After speaking for 75 minutes she answered several questions and went on to tell us about her time at Highgrove, a posting for which her former boss gave her a reference for. Also she touched upon her job as a Conservation officer, and her ambition to start her own cut floor nursery.
Following this chairman Tom gave out a few notices regarding a plant fair to be held at the Village Hall next May, and also news of a discount deal for all club members arranged at a local plant nursery.
Our monthly garden voucher winner is Sian Tryner for photos of her produce, entered to the club's monthly newsletter. Margie then drew the 6 prize raffle organised and run by committee member Bev Lewis.
A vote of thanks then followed for another superb talk about a real trail blazer for womankind in horticulture, the Late Rosemary Verey.
With 10 of our diehard regulars away it was encouraging to see a turnout nonetheless of well over 50. Welcome to our new visitors from Dumbleton who came to us for the first time at this meeting. It was great to sit on the new super comfortable Village Hall chairs for the first time as well!
Margie worked for Gloucestershire plantswoman and garden designer the late Rosemary Verey, for eleven years of her career.
What an extraordinary life she led. A Kent junior tennis champion Mrs Verey married at the age of 20 after studying Maths and then economics at The LSE under the future Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskill. She had four children two girls and two boys. Her husband David was drafted into the Navy at the onset of World War Two leaving her to raise the children and run their home and its estate Barnsley House near Cirencester.
After the war and with her children raised Mrs Verey was encouraged by her husband to start renovating and redesigning the Barnsley House Gardens. As time went on despite her not having any formal horticultural training Mrs Verey took like a duck to water to gardening. She was a prolific collector of gardening books, some dating back many centuries. Soon word spread out about her skills of garden designing and planting and soon she was commissioned and engaged by many wealthy garden owners to revamp or design and plant from scratch their own plots. She was soon travelling the world meeting all manner of influential fellow gardening enthusiasts. Mrs Verey soon realised that writing gardening books was a lucrative exercise and she co-authored two and wrote 14 of her own. She also lectured around the world. Margie illustrated her talk with many photographs of Mrs Verey's own plan drawings and also some of the gardens which she worked upon. Finally she was asked personally by the then Prince Charles to help him design and plant the Cottage garden at Highgrove. The two became great friends. Also Mrs Verey worked for Sir Elton John on and off for four years on parts of his own home estate and gardens. An Unlikely match, but both were perfectionists and both loved Gardens. Again they both became great friends with much mutual respect for each others talents.
Barnsley House was famed for its Laburnum walkway and we saw pictures of this. It influenced the planting of many others up and down the country.
Margie is quite understandably proud of her association with Mrs Verey. She wrote to her asking for a job, and initially she was rejected. However a re-think occurred before she was invited to join the team at Barnsley. Margie worked there for eleven happy years.
After speaking for 75 minutes she answered several questions and went on to tell us about her time at Highgrove, a posting for which her former boss gave her a reference for. Also she touched upon her job as a Conservation officer, and her ambition to start her own cut floor nursery.
Following this chairman Tom gave out a few notices regarding a plant fair to be held at the Village Hall next May, and also news of a discount deal for all club members arranged at a local plant nursery.
Our monthly garden voucher winner is Sian Tryner for photos of her produce, entered to the club's monthly newsletter. Margie then drew the 6 prize raffle organised and run by committee member Bev Lewis.
A vote of thanks then followed for another superb talk about a real trail blazer for womankind in horticulture, the Late Rosemary Verey.
With 10 of our diehard regulars away it was encouraging to see a turnout nonetheless of well over 50. Welcome to our new visitors from Dumbleton who came to us for the first time at this meeting. It was great to sit on the new super comfortable Village Hall chairs for the first time as well!
Thursday 11th July - Happy Plants, Happy Minds with Nicola Hope
For our July meeting of the Alderton Gardening Club we welcomed from Malmesbury, organic gardener Nicola Hope.
Nicola holds a masters in horticulture after studying at Pershore college and Worcester university. She also took a course at the Cotswold gardening school in design. As a student she regularly used to volunteer at Highgrove for the then Prince of Wales, and after her training has held head gardener positions working at the Abbey House in Malmesbury, at Cole Park for Anoushka Hempel and at Lake House for Sting!
She now is a freelance, designing and planning organic gardens as well as doing lectures to gardening clubs and other groups.
Nicola took us through a whole year of gardening with superb photographs taken at places where she has worked as well as in her own garden. Countless plant, tree and shrub recommendations were given as well as lots of advice and tips on how to garden organically. Nicola is incredibly passionate about her work and her belief in not using chemicals. She is a firm believer in beer traps for slug control, and the use of seaweed extract feeds along with using bio-degradable jute twine. 'No dig' is also something she practices for vegetable growing along with production of her own compost and leaf mould. Our audience were given plenty of ideas and solutions for organic growing techniques, as well as plant/ bulb planting combinations in a thoroughly informative presentation. She cited our King Charles as her biggest influence with organic gardening, something which he was an early convert to at Highgrove in the early 1980s. After speaking for 80 mins Nicola answered a number of questions before taking a break whilst Chairman Tom read out the latest club news and village notices. He also presented Julie Plummer our winner of this month's £10 garden voucher with her prize for her photograph of a kiwi.
A special award then followed with the presentation of The RHS Banksian medal and certificate to Helen West for her many decades of community effort in Alderton. Helen was on the original steering committee when the Gardening Club was first mooted, and she and her husband Mike are both members and regular attendees at our meetings.
Nicola then kindly drew our seven prize raffle kindly organised by Julie Alvis, before Tom proposed a vote of thanks to her with loud applause. She said afterwards that she would very much like to return in the future with another talk.
With numerous absentees to illness or holidays our audience of over 50 was excellent, thanks to everyone who came
Nicola holds a masters in horticulture after studying at Pershore college and Worcester university. She also took a course at the Cotswold gardening school in design. As a student she regularly used to volunteer at Highgrove for the then Prince of Wales, and after her training has held head gardener positions working at the Abbey House in Malmesbury, at Cole Park for Anoushka Hempel and at Lake House for Sting!
She now is a freelance, designing and planning organic gardens as well as doing lectures to gardening clubs and other groups.
Nicola took us through a whole year of gardening with superb photographs taken at places where she has worked as well as in her own garden. Countless plant, tree and shrub recommendations were given as well as lots of advice and tips on how to garden organically. Nicola is incredibly passionate about her work and her belief in not using chemicals. She is a firm believer in beer traps for slug control, and the use of seaweed extract feeds along with using bio-degradable jute twine. 'No dig' is also something she practices for vegetable growing along with production of her own compost and leaf mould. Our audience were given plenty of ideas and solutions for organic growing techniques, as well as plant/ bulb planting combinations in a thoroughly informative presentation. She cited our King Charles as her biggest influence with organic gardening, something which he was an early convert to at Highgrove in the early 1980s. After speaking for 80 mins Nicola answered a number of questions before taking a break whilst Chairman Tom read out the latest club news and village notices. He also presented Julie Plummer our winner of this month's £10 garden voucher with her prize for her photograph of a kiwi.
A special award then followed with the presentation of The RHS Banksian medal and certificate to Helen West for her many decades of community effort in Alderton. Helen was on the original steering committee when the Gardening Club was first mooted, and she and her husband Mike are both members and regular attendees at our meetings.
Nicola then kindly drew our seven prize raffle kindly organised by Julie Alvis, before Tom proposed a vote of thanks to her with loud applause. She said afterwards that she would very much like to return in the future with another talk.
With numerous absentees to illness or holidays our audience of over 50 was excellent, thanks to everyone who came
Thursday 13th June - Life and Times of a Gardener with Christine Walkden.
Another milestone reached then for the Alderton gardening club, with the appearance of the great Christine Walkden.
This event like the one last year with Chris Beardshaw has been long in the planning, with the event selling out all of its tickets a month ago. Several became available last week, but were all smartly snapped up within minutes!
The day dawned fair but as the afternoon progressed intermittent rain fell, but this didn't dampen our spirits on this special occasion.
At 4p.m part of the committee met at the Village Hall and set up the 100 chairs, tables, the stage, the public address and the refreshments etc. All of this was done within 35 minutes!. Christine had requested a chair as she recently had a fall and her arthritic knees took the impact, so we put the stage up to afford her an elevated position.
I was dropped outside of the Gardeners Arms and walked up to Tally Ho B&B where Christine had arrived. I rang the door bell and the great lady came to the door, "hello Tom, will be with you in 5 minutes"
She had just arrived so after a chat with the proprietor John Dean, Christine appeared and we slowly walked down to the pub and started bantering about this and that. I invited Reg Moule over to the pub as he and Christine go back many years and Reg has a very high regard for his colleague. He hadn't seen her for about 20 years so there was alot to catch up upon!. We had an enjoyable meal and drinks together and we talked lots about gardening and life in general!
After almost two hours i followed these two great people out of the pub and took a photo of them by the aptly named pub sign. They join Terry Walton and Howard Drury who have also received the same Alderton accolade!. I must confess i felt at times like a division two player alongside two premiership stars!
Then Reg took us to the hall in his car, he prefers not to sit in other experts talks as he says" this is their night" which we totally accept and respect. Thanks Reg mate for coming over.
The Hall was beginning to fill up and an audible buzz could be heard even outside. I took Christine through the lobby and into the main hall. Immediately i clapped eyes on the wife of my friend Kevin Jarvis, ..Joy. She had driven up from Newport especially to see Christine and i told our star guest about this. Immediately Christine sprang to her feet and went across and talked to Joy, that was a lovely moment.
The clock soon swung around to 7.30p.m . I had briefed our guest about the structure of the evening beforehand. I then walked onto the stage and did my usual welcome and introduction, before handing over to Christine for her talk.. "the life and times of a gardener". What a story it was aswell. A tale of a young girl's initial struggle to get started in horticulture. Having had an interest at home at an early age she got her first allotment aged 10, and ended up with five in total! She was soon growing vegetables and plants and selling them to her teachers, local residents and at markets. Then she left school at 13 at got a job in the local council's parks and gardens department. But she drew the short straw and was given the job of digging graves !!. She suffered great bigotry, verbal abuse and overall humiliation from her fellow male colleagues who even missed her out of the rounds of mugs of tea. A lesser woman would have maybe buckled and thrown the towel in then and there, given her arduous work and the attitude of her fellow workers. But Christine is made of stern stuff and actually enjoyed studying the soils and their various profiles, changes in colour and even smells as she dug away. She then sought some horticultural theory instruction and this was obtained at Lancashire College of Agriculture. This though took alot of effort before she was accepted due to the fact that she had dropped out of school. More practical experience followed with work at two experimental horticultural stations in Warwickshire, working with ornamental stock and the other in Yorkshire working with Rhubarb and Red beet. Following this a post became available at The Royal Botanic gardens at kew, looking after the seed physiology unit there. Christine later as a result of this experience ended up working on the millenium seed bank! A move to Llangollen in North wales followed where she worked for Dobies, Carter and Cuthbert as a Technical Advisor. A move to South Wales in the Rhondda Valley then happened to set up a training Workshop for young offenders as part of the manpower services commission. Christine rehabilitated these young men, and "grew a crop of nurtured people, many of which went on to hold down important jobs involving trust and responsibilty. As she said in the talk" if you can grow plants, then you can grow people."
She then returned back to College at Pershore !, where she ironically boarded in the village where Reg lives, Drakes Broughton.
With yet more qualifications under her belt Christine found a post at Writtle College near Chelmsford, before becoming a Lecturer for a good number of years in Horticulture at Capel Manor in Enfield. Finally a move to work with the Baby Bio company owned by Dr David Hessayon followed as an advisory manager in the garden products division.
A big change then followed with Christine deciding to go freelance, working as a plantswoman and horticulturalist, and lecturing nationally and even internationally. Television then beckoned, and she told us of her initial reluctance to go into this. "Christine's garden" was her first big hit, and she explained how this was filmed and put together. As we know this led on to The Award Winning Glorious Gardens from above, appearances on Gardeners World, The One Show, The Great British Garden Revival, The Paul O'Grady show and presenting from The Chelsea flower show...to name but a few. Christine is still a regular pannellist on Radio 4's Gardeners Question Time.
There were many stories, anecdotes, humour and resulting laughter in the hall. Just like Chris Beardshaw our guest had her audience in the palm of her hands.
After speaking for 80 minutes Christine took a loud round of applause. I then rose and thanked her, and invited the audience to ask any questions. Christine had predicted earlier in the pub that there wouldn't be many. "You wait and see" i said and The Alderton audience didn't let us down with a healthy array of topics for her to answer.
More applause followed, and then i offered her a pause and a rest whilst i joined her on stage to talk about our club to the many in the audience who were attending for the first time.
The 12 prize raffle followed, which Christine kindly drew, followed by my usual vote of thanks and more applause.
Christine then mingled with the audience , signing books, advising and talking gardening. She, just like Chris Beardshaw had time for everyone.
What a force of nature this lady is. A real trailblazer for womankind, forging a path through determination and hard work to become one of the most knowledgeable and respected gardeners in the U K.
From a humble, down trodden gravedigger, to a gardening national treasure.She is a total inspiration.
Another night then for The AGC which will live long in our memories.
If i had been told in 2018 when we started this thing, that within the space of 9 months we would have had Chris Beardshaw, and Christine Walkden in the Village Hall giving us talks, then i just wouldnt have believed it !. But that is the power of gardening and its ability to bring people together through the vehicle of this club. If we continue to support it, then there will be many more nights like this to look forward to!
This event like the one last year with Chris Beardshaw has been long in the planning, with the event selling out all of its tickets a month ago. Several became available last week, but were all smartly snapped up within minutes!
The day dawned fair but as the afternoon progressed intermittent rain fell, but this didn't dampen our spirits on this special occasion.
At 4p.m part of the committee met at the Village Hall and set up the 100 chairs, tables, the stage, the public address and the refreshments etc. All of this was done within 35 minutes!. Christine had requested a chair as she recently had a fall and her arthritic knees took the impact, so we put the stage up to afford her an elevated position.
I was dropped outside of the Gardeners Arms and walked up to Tally Ho B&B where Christine had arrived. I rang the door bell and the great lady came to the door, "hello Tom, will be with you in 5 minutes"
She had just arrived so after a chat with the proprietor John Dean, Christine appeared and we slowly walked down to the pub and started bantering about this and that. I invited Reg Moule over to the pub as he and Christine go back many years and Reg has a very high regard for his colleague. He hadn't seen her for about 20 years so there was alot to catch up upon!. We had an enjoyable meal and drinks together and we talked lots about gardening and life in general!
After almost two hours i followed these two great people out of the pub and took a photo of them by the aptly named pub sign. They join Terry Walton and Howard Drury who have also received the same Alderton accolade!. I must confess i felt at times like a division two player alongside two premiership stars!
Then Reg took us to the hall in his car, he prefers not to sit in other experts talks as he says" this is their night" which we totally accept and respect. Thanks Reg mate for coming over.
The Hall was beginning to fill up and an audible buzz could be heard even outside. I took Christine through the lobby and into the main hall. Immediately i clapped eyes on the wife of my friend Kevin Jarvis, ..Joy. She had driven up from Newport especially to see Christine and i told our star guest about this. Immediately Christine sprang to her feet and went across and talked to Joy, that was a lovely moment.
The clock soon swung around to 7.30p.m . I had briefed our guest about the structure of the evening beforehand. I then walked onto the stage and did my usual welcome and introduction, before handing over to Christine for her talk.. "the life and times of a gardener". What a story it was aswell. A tale of a young girl's initial struggle to get started in horticulture. Having had an interest at home at an early age she got her first allotment aged 10, and ended up with five in total! She was soon growing vegetables and plants and selling them to her teachers, local residents and at markets. Then she left school at 13 at got a job in the local council's parks and gardens department. But she drew the short straw and was given the job of digging graves !!. She suffered great bigotry, verbal abuse and overall humiliation from her fellow male colleagues who even missed her out of the rounds of mugs of tea. A lesser woman would have maybe buckled and thrown the towel in then and there, given her arduous work and the attitude of her fellow workers. But Christine is made of stern stuff and actually enjoyed studying the soils and their various profiles, changes in colour and even smells as she dug away. She then sought some horticultural theory instruction and this was obtained at Lancashire College of Agriculture. This though took alot of effort before she was accepted due to the fact that she had dropped out of school. More practical experience followed with work at two experimental horticultural stations in Warwickshire, working with ornamental stock and the other in Yorkshire working with Rhubarb and Red beet. Following this a post became available at The Royal Botanic gardens at kew, looking after the seed physiology unit there. Christine later as a result of this experience ended up working on the millenium seed bank! A move to Llangollen in North wales followed where she worked for Dobies, Carter and Cuthbert as a Technical Advisor. A move to South Wales in the Rhondda Valley then happened to set up a training Workshop for young offenders as part of the manpower services commission. Christine rehabilitated these young men, and "grew a crop of nurtured people, many of which went on to hold down important jobs involving trust and responsibilty. As she said in the talk" if you can grow plants, then you can grow people."
She then returned back to College at Pershore !, where she ironically boarded in the village where Reg lives, Drakes Broughton.
With yet more qualifications under her belt Christine found a post at Writtle College near Chelmsford, before becoming a Lecturer for a good number of years in Horticulture at Capel Manor in Enfield. Finally a move to work with the Baby Bio company owned by Dr David Hessayon followed as an advisory manager in the garden products division.
A big change then followed with Christine deciding to go freelance, working as a plantswoman and horticulturalist, and lecturing nationally and even internationally. Television then beckoned, and she told us of her initial reluctance to go into this. "Christine's garden" was her first big hit, and she explained how this was filmed and put together. As we know this led on to The Award Winning Glorious Gardens from above, appearances on Gardeners World, The One Show, The Great British Garden Revival, The Paul O'Grady show and presenting from The Chelsea flower show...to name but a few. Christine is still a regular pannellist on Radio 4's Gardeners Question Time.
There were many stories, anecdotes, humour and resulting laughter in the hall. Just like Chris Beardshaw our guest had her audience in the palm of her hands.
After speaking for 80 minutes Christine took a loud round of applause. I then rose and thanked her, and invited the audience to ask any questions. Christine had predicted earlier in the pub that there wouldn't be many. "You wait and see" i said and The Alderton audience didn't let us down with a healthy array of topics for her to answer.
More applause followed, and then i offered her a pause and a rest whilst i joined her on stage to talk about our club to the many in the audience who were attending for the first time.
The 12 prize raffle followed, which Christine kindly drew, followed by my usual vote of thanks and more applause.
Christine then mingled with the audience , signing books, advising and talking gardening. She, just like Chris Beardshaw had time for everyone.
What a force of nature this lady is. A real trailblazer for womankind, forging a path through determination and hard work to become one of the most knowledgeable and respected gardeners in the U K.
From a humble, down trodden gravedigger, to a gardening national treasure.She is a total inspiration.
Another night then for The AGC which will live long in our memories.
If i had been told in 2018 when we started this thing, that within the space of 9 months we would have had Chris Beardshaw, and Christine Walkden in the Village Hall giving us talks, then i just wouldnt have believed it !. But that is the power of gardening and its ability to bring people together through the vehicle of this club. If we continue to support it, then there will be many more nights like this to look forward to!
Thursday 9th May - Crayfish on the Lawn with Joff Elphick.
For our May meeting, we welcomed professional gardener and podcaster from Cirencester, Joff Elphick.
Joff gave us a wide-ranging presentation. "Crayfish on the Lawn” was the title and it didn't disappoint. Our speaker has worked at some notable gardens and for some notable people including Raymond Blanc, Sir Chris and Lady Evans, the National Trust, and currently poet Pam Ayres. Joff played us a recording of her reading her poem about Hedgehogs. He also featured Judith Haan who appeared on Tomorrow's World for longer than any presenter.
The talk featured places where he has worked, unusual plants, moths, fungi, dragonflies, beetles and even snails. Joff told us how he had discovered a rare snail from Turkey which he noticed in a garden whilst at work, which had travelled here on imported plants. He concluded with a story about the crayfish and how he found it on the lawn!
After speaking for 70 minutes Joff took a couple of questions, and then Chairman Tom gave out the latest club and village notices, followed by a brief talk on Wisteria.
A seven prize raffle was drawn, and a vote of thanks was proposed by Tom.
Free Tomato and Sunflower plants were on offer, thanks to Louise Kennedy for helping the chairman out with the supply of these.
With 4 of the committee absent we were down to the bare bones staffing wise. We need not have worried though as Jono Lewis, Leonora Tovey, and Mike Patterson all put their shoulders to the wheel, thank you all!
Joff gave us a wide-ranging presentation. "Crayfish on the Lawn” was the title and it didn't disappoint. Our speaker has worked at some notable gardens and for some notable people including Raymond Blanc, Sir Chris and Lady Evans, the National Trust, and currently poet Pam Ayres. Joff played us a recording of her reading her poem about Hedgehogs. He also featured Judith Haan who appeared on Tomorrow's World for longer than any presenter.
The talk featured places where he has worked, unusual plants, moths, fungi, dragonflies, beetles and even snails. Joff told us how he had discovered a rare snail from Turkey which he noticed in a garden whilst at work, which had travelled here on imported plants. He concluded with a story about the crayfish and how he found it on the lawn!
After speaking for 70 minutes Joff took a couple of questions, and then Chairman Tom gave out the latest club and village notices, followed by a brief talk on Wisteria.
A seven prize raffle was drawn, and a vote of thanks was proposed by Tom.
Free Tomato and Sunflower plants were on offer, thanks to Louise Kennedy for helping the chairman out with the supply of these.
With 4 of the committee absent we were down to the bare bones staffing wise. We need not have worried though as Jono Lewis, Leonora Tovey, and Mike Patterson all put their shoulders to the wheel, thank you all!
Thursday 11th April - Making the most of your greeenhouse with Nick Morgan.
At the April 2024 meeting of the Alderton Gardening Club we were celebrating the 6th anniversary of our formation. Prosecco and superb cakes made by our secretary Julie Alvis were thoroughly enjoyed.
Our guest speaker Nick Morgan had an illustrious career as a tutor at Sparsholt College. After that he spent 23 years at RHS Wisley where he was superintendent of the glass house and propagation departments.
Nick's talk centred around maximising the usage of your greenhouse. In fact, he supervised the building and planting of the new set of greenhouses at Wisley in 2007.
He began by urging the audience to buy the largest greenhouse they can afford or accommodate. Three main elements are critical for success, light, temperature, and humidity. Ideally a greenhouse should be sited with its ridge running east to west, maximising light levels in spring and even autumn. Nick stressed the need to keep the glass clean not just for hygiene but for growth as 1% light loss equals 10% less growth.
Ventilation is also critical and he advocates bottom vents as well as automatic roof vents to provide good air circulation aiding the drawing up of nutrients by the plants in growth. Equally shading either by applying liquid paint on 'cool glass' or by blinds or netting should be applied externally to inhibit short wave light radiation. Watering is also critical, striking a balance between moist and aerated compost to avoid soggy growing conditions at the root level. Seep hoses can be used in greenhouse borders or drip feeds in pots. Water butts should be scrubbed out regularly, fitted with tight lids and down pipes into them should if possible have filters. Nicks main instrument to check if the compost is moist is his finger!
Nick then took us through a growing year in his own greenhouse with a season by season guide on sowing a wide range of crops from early salad leaves and radish and pea shoots, to later tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, peppers and chillies. He covered different types of feed and pests and diseases. Finally he instructed us on the heating and insulation of a greenhouse. All in all it was one of the most comprehensive, specialist talks we have ever had. We had with us a man who was totally in command of his subject matter.
After speaking for 90 minutes Nick took several questions from the audience and sat down to a loud round of applause.
Our guest speaker Nick Morgan had an illustrious career as a tutor at Sparsholt College. After that he spent 23 years at RHS Wisley where he was superintendent of the glass house and propagation departments.
Nick's talk centred around maximising the usage of your greenhouse. In fact, he supervised the building and planting of the new set of greenhouses at Wisley in 2007.
He began by urging the audience to buy the largest greenhouse they can afford or accommodate. Three main elements are critical for success, light, temperature, and humidity. Ideally a greenhouse should be sited with its ridge running east to west, maximising light levels in spring and even autumn. Nick stressed the need to keep the glass clean not just for hygiene but for growth as 1% light loss equals 10% less growth.
Ventilation is also critical and he advocates bottom vents as well as automatic roof vents to provide good air circulation aiding the drawing up of nutrients by the plants in growth. Equally shading either by applying liquid paint on 'cool glass' or by blinds or netting should be applied externally to inhibit short wave light radiation. Watering is also critical, striking a balance between moist and aerated compost to avoid soggy growing conditions at the root level. Seep hoses can be used in greenhouse borders or drip feeds in pots. Water butts should be scrubbed out regularly, fitted with tight lids and down pipes into them should if possible have filters. Nicks main instrument to check if the compost is moist is his finger!
Nick then took us through a growing year in his own greenhouse with a season by season guide on sowing a wide range of crops from early salad leaves and radish and pea shoots, to later tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, peppers and chillies. He covered different types of feed and pests and diseases. Finally he instructed us on the heating and insulation of a greenhouse. All in all it was one of the most comprehensive, specialist talks we have ever had. We had with us a man who was totally in command of his subject matter.
After speaking for 90 minutes Nick took several questions from the audience and sat down to a loud round of applause.
Thursday 14th March - It's not all about flowers with Paul Green.
Another meeting and another wretched evening for weather! This though did not deter our audience of 54 who braved the elements to enjoy another excellent talk from Paul Green of Green's Leaves Nursery in Newent.
In the audience Tom counted 5 people who were visiting us for the first time, so a warm welcome to them all.
Paul trained at Pershore College and afterwards set up his own nursery business. He attends plant fairs and shows throughout the country and talks about his plants regularly at gardening clubs such as our own.
As ever a large amount of stock was laid out on tables in the Village Hall with Paul talking about the plant or individual shrub's individual merits, growing conditions and maintenance requirements. Paul is a very engaging speaker and there was much interaction with the audience leading to much laughter. Some of the plants selected for his talk were Willows, Dogwoods, Egeworthia chrysantha, Prunus, Carex, Tradescantia, Polemoniums, Fatsia, Lonicera Fragrantissima, Phormiums, Salvias and Chaenomeles.
After speaking for 70 minutes Paul then took some questions. Following this Chairman Tom spoke for 10 minutes about Hydrangeas and then updated on everyone on the latest club news. He also presented our member Marie-Anne with a £10 gardening gift voucher for her winning photo of crocuses entered in the club's newsletter competition.
Following this the bumper 11 prize raffle was drawn by our guest speaker, and then it was time for everyone to buy plants!! Paul did a roaring trade on these and that was just for starters from the committee!
Nurserymen like Paul Green bring expert knowledge with fantastically interesting plants and shrubs to club's like our own. He is a great speaker and we will definitely have him back once again in the future. All in all it was another lovely and successful evening...despite the weather!
Next month we welcome Nick Morgan from the forest of dean. He will be talking about how to maximise the use out of your greenhouse. Nick trained with Reg Moule at Pershore institute of horticulture and went onto become the head of the glasshouse section at RHS Wisley....so i think he is qualified!
In the audience Tom counted 5 people who were visiting us for the first time, so a warm welcome to them all.
Paul trained at Pershore College and afterwards set up his own nursery business. He attends plant fairs and shows throughout the country and talks about his plants regularly at gardening clubs such as our own.
As ever a large amount of stock was laid out on tables in the Village Hall with Paul talking about the plant or individual shrub's individual merits, growing conditions and maintenance requirements. Paul is a very engaging speaker and there was much interaction with the audience leading to much laughter. Some of the plants selected for his talk were Willows, Dogwoods, Egeworthia chrysantha, Prunus, Carex, Tradescantia, Polemoniums, Fatsia, Lonicera Fragrantissima, Phormiums, Salvias and Chaenomeles.
After speaking for 70 minutes Paul then took some questions. Following this Chairman Tom spoke for 10 minutes about Hydrangeas and then updated on everyone on the latest club news. He also presented our member Marie-Anne with a £10 gardening gift voucher for her winning photo of crocuses entered in the club's newsletter competition.
Following this the bumper 11 prize raffle was drawn by our guest speaker, and then it was time for everyone to buy plants!! Paul did a roaring trade on these and that was just for starters from the committee!
Nurserymen like Paul Green bring expert knowledge with fantastically interesting plants and shrubs to club's like our own. He is a great speaker and we will definitely have him back once again in the future. All in all it was another lovely and successful evening...despite the weather!
Next month we welcome Nick Morgan from the forest of dean. He will be talking about how to maximise the use out of your greenhouse. Nick trained with Reg Moule at Pershore institute of horticulture and went onto become the head of the glasshouse section at RHS Wisley....so i think he is qualified!
Thursday 8th February - Cornwall to the Cotswolds with Lottie Allen.
This month we welcomed Hidcote Manor's Head Gardener Lottie Allen.
On a foul weathered evening, 60 hardy souls attended which is so encouraging. Thank you to them all.
Lottie has held the Hidcote job for over three years now moving there from a post at St Michaels Mount in Cornwall. She has been a national trust gardener for over 20 years now holding a couple of other gardening positions before her spell in Cornwall.
Her talk was superbly illustrated via a PowerPoint presentation and we learned all about the remarkable story of Major Laurence Johnston who purchased the manor and its then 287 acres in the early 20th Century. He was born in France to wealthy American parents and became a naturalised Englishman. He fought in the Boer War and in World War one at Ypres and the Somme. He was badly wounded and was thought to be dead, but thankfully pulled through. Laurence was educated at Trinity College Cambridge and soon developed an interest in Horticulture. He was made a fellow of The Royal Horticultural Society and between 1922 and 1931 he travelled abroad plant hunting. He brought many of his finds back to be planted at Hidcote, in the many 'room' sections the garden pioneered and is world famous for. He spent the last decade of his life in France but on his death in 1957 he was buried with his mother in nearby Mickleton church yard. He bequeathed Hidcote to the national trust in 1948 and his garden has been in their care ever since.
Lottie took us through a year in the life cycle of the gardens describing many of Hidcote's main attractions. There were some stunning views of the borders and their planting schemes, as well as the many trees, walkways, vistas, water features and topiaries.
There is a huge amount of maintenance requirements (especially hedge cutting) and Lottie has 14 full time gardeners and 35 volunteers under her Stewardship.
She took us through some of the restoration work involved with some ancient yew topiaries and holm oak trees which was fascinating with before and after views. All the garden machinery is now battery powered at Hidcote and the greenhouses have recently been converted from oil fired to electric heating.
The talk was rounded off with a superb video featuring Lottie describing the garden and some of the features and recent works completed there.
A rousing round of applause followed with our guest answering several questions from our audience.
Lottie then took a break with Tom doing his popular "jobs & tips for the month" feature. This time with a feature on rose pruning. Some club notices followed and then the ever-popular raffle drawn by Lottie with eight splendid prizes.
All in all, it was a great evening where we learned a deal more about one of Britain's great garden's, it's history and the ongoing maintenance programme required to keep it developing and in tip top condition.
It was great to see yet more fresh faces, with a warm welcome to Mr and Mrs Brush who travelled from Pershore to attend the meeting and to join as club members...Welcome both!
On a foul weathered evening, 60 hardy souls attended which is so encouraging. Thank you to them all.
Lottie has held the Hidcote job for over three years now moving there from a post at St Michaels Mount in Cornwall. She has been a national trust gardener for over 20 years now holding a couple of other gardening positions before her spell in Cornwall.
Her talk was superbly illustrated via a PowerPoint presentation and we learned all about the remarkable story of Major Laurence Johnston who purchased the manor and its then 287 acres in the early 20th Century. He was born in France to wealthy American parents and became a naturalised Englishman. He fought in the Boer War and in World War one at Ypres and the Somme. He was badly wounded and was thought to be dead, but thankfully pulled through. Laurence was educated at Trinity College Cambridge and soon developed an interest in Horticulture. He was made a fellow of The Royal Horticultural Society and between 1922 and 1931 he travelled abroad plant hunting. He brought many of his finds back to be planted at Hidcote, in the many 'room' sections the garden pioneered and is world famous for. He spent the last decade of his life in France but on his death in 1957 he was buried with his mother in nearby Mickleton church yard. He bequeathed Hidcote to the national trust in 1948 and his garden has been in their care ever since.
Lottie took us through a year in the life cycle of the gardens describing many of Hidcote's main attractions. There were some stunning views of the borders and their planting schemes, as well as the many trees, walkways, vistas, water features and topiaries.
There is a huge amount of maintenance requirements (especially hedge cutting) and Lottie has 14 full time gardeners and 35 volunteers under her Stewardship.
She took us through some of the restoration work involved with some ancient yew topiaries and holm oak trees which was fascinating with before and after views. All the garden machinery is now battery powered at Hidcote and the greenhouses have recently been converted from oil fired to electric heating.
The talk was rounded off with a superb video featuring Lottie describing the garden and some of the features and recent works completed there.
A rousing round of applause followed with our guest answering several questions from our audience.
Lottie then took a break with Tom doing his popular "jobs & tips for the month" feature. This time with a feature on rose pruning. Some club notices followed and then the ever-popular raffle drawn by Lottie with eight splendid prizes.
All in all, it was a great evening where we learned a deal more about one of Britain's great garden's, it's history and the ongoing maintenance programme required to keep it developing and in tip top condition.
It was great to see yet more fresh faces, with a warm welcome to Mr and Mrs Brush who travelled from Pershore to attend the meeting and to join as club members...Welcome both!
Thursday 11th January - A talk on Dahlias with Robin Pearce.
The 50th meeting of The Alderton Gardening club and the start of our 2024 programme. Our guest speaker was, from Worcester, Mr Robin Pearce.
Robin delivered an informative talk on the growing of Dahlias, plants which he has been growing since his childhood. Our guest has worked with the RHS as a floral judge and as the national chairman of their herbaceous plant committee. He has also exhibited Dahlia flowers all his life, being a national champion in several categories.
Robin described where Dahlias originated from, how they arrived in Europe and how to grow them. His talk covered all the main types of cultivars, and their merits and disadvantages. He also illustrated how to incorporate them effectively in a garden border. He covered their pests and diseases and the aftercare that is required after flowering. The amount of available flowering types and colours has really increased over the last couple of decades making Dahlias a reliable means of providing a wonderful show of late summer/early autumn vibrancy in our gardens.
After speaking for an hour Robin took questions from the 50 strong audience and provided some helpful Dahlia fact sheets.
Chairman Tom then took over and gave out some club news, including the supply of seed potatoes and compost for the members and details of two trips that the club have planned in 2024 to several interesting gardens. He then spoke about gardening jobs and tips for January.
Robin drew the 7 prize raffle, followed with a vote of thanks for his excellent talk.
Robin delivered an informative talk on the growing of Dahlias, plants which he has been growing since his childhood. Our guest has worked with the RHS as a floral judge and as the national chairman of their herbaceous plant committee. He has also exhibited Dahlia flowers all his life, being a national champion in several categories.
Robin described where Dahlias originated from, how they arrived in Europe and how to grow them. His talk covered all the main types of cultivars, and their merits and disadvantages. He also illustrated how to incorporate them effectively in a garden border. He covered their pests and diseases and the aftercare that is required after flowering. The amount of available flowering types and colours has really increased over the last couple of decades making Dahlias a reliable means of providing a wonderful show of late summer/early autumn vibrancy in our gardens.
After speaking for an hour Robin took questions from the 50 strong audience and provided some helpful Dahlia fact sheets.
Chairman Tom then took over and gave out some club news, including the supply of seed potatoes and compost for the members and details of two trips that the club have planned in 2024 to several interesting gardens. He then spoke about gardening jobs and tips for January.
Robin drew the 7 prize raffle, followed with a vote of thanks for his excellent talk.
Thursday 12th December - The Christmas Party with Reg Moule.
Well what fantastic way to end another successful year for the club. A year when our membership broke through the 100 barrier for the first time, and a year when we welcomed a serious 'A lister' in horticulture...Chris Beardshaw in September.
The last meeting of 2023 was equally fantastic and at times emotional as we welcomed back our great friend Reg Moule who launched our club in 2018. In recognition of his help, advice and support he has become our first honorary member.
Reg answered a great number of gardening questions from the 70 strong audience. Topics ranged from the box tree moth caterpillar, extending the cropping seasons on runner beans, fungal problems with lilacs; to what soil is required in raised beds.
Our members and guests tucked into some great food expertly laid on by our secretary Julie Alvis. The wine flowed all evening with Reg and Tom on the alcohol free beer!
The raffle had a bumper 20 prizes, and Reg said he has never drawn such a big one. Congratulations to Nick Andrews for winning a year's free membership with the last draw. The bottle of malt whiskey was won by John Kettle...good to see it going to a good home!
The programme for 2024 was read out and what a stellar cast it is. The current head gardeners of Hidcote and Kiftsgate will be joining us along with 3 seperate speakers who have gardened for the King at Highgrove. Old favourites such as Katherine Kear and Duncan Coombes will be returning as well. The headline act though will be Christine Walkden who will be coming on June the 13th.
Reg had a good night with his book sales with 14 handbooks being sold...a record.
Thank you to everyone who has attended our meetings in 2023, and thank you to all of the committee members who give so much of their time to this great club.
The last meeting of 2023 was equally fantastic and at times emotional as we welcomed back our great friend Reg Moule who launched our club in 2018. In recognition of his help, advice and support he has become our first honorary member.
Reg answered a great number of gardening questions from the 70 strong audience. Topics ranged from the box tree moth caterpillar, extending the cropping seasons on runner beans, fungal problems with lilacs; to what soil is required in raised beds.
Our members and guests tucked into some great food expertly laid on by our secretary Julie Alvis. The wine flowed all evening with Reg and Tom on the alcohol free beer!
The raffle had a bumper 20 prizes, and Reg said he has never drawn such a big one. Congratulations to Nick Andrews for winning a year's free membership with the last draw. The bottle of malt whiskey was won by John Kettle...good to see it going to a good home!
The programme for 2024 was read out and what a stellar cast it is. The current head gardeners of Hidcote and Kiftsgate will be joining us along with 3 seperate speakers who have gardened for the King at Highgrove. Old favourites such as Katherine Kear and Duncan Coombes will be returning as well. The headline act though will be Christine Walkden who will be coming on June the 13th.
Reg had a good night with his book sales with 14 handbooks being sold...a record.
Thank you to everyone who has attended our meetings in 2023, and thank you to all of the committee members who give so much of their time to this great club.
Thursday 9th November- Sally Nex - ‘How to garden the low carbon way’.
November's guest speaker at the gardening club travelled from Somerset, Sally Nex. A former radio journalist with the BBC who then did a complete about turn with her career and became a gardener!
Sally was unfortunately delayed by over an hour due to problems on the M5, and didn't enter the Village Hall until gone 8 p.m. Tom, bravely, held the fort with topical gardening jobs and tips for November!
Sally got underway at 8.10p.m and spoke for just over an hour. Her talk was 'Gardening the Low Carbon way". Much of the talk was centred around her own garden and allotment.
Our gardens are a real refuge for the natural world. Sally talked about plants, shrubs and trees that most efficiently sequester carbon, also she is a great recycler with most of her garden waste being composted or piled up to promote habitat for insects and wildlife. She hardly ever mows her grass and leaves it for wildflowers to grow. Sally is a great believer in 'no dig' allotment gardening and is virtually self-sufficient in vegetable growing. She advocates using organic fertilisers and makes her own liquid feeds from comfrey and nettles. She has switched to battery powered equipment due to the dangerous emission levels from petrol powered mowers.
Sally also took several questions from the audience, and afterwards Tom read out some village and club notices. The raffle, which is always so well organised by our committee member Beverly Lewis.
Tom proposed a vote of thanks and wished Sally a less taxing journey home than she had travelling up! Copies of her 2 books were on sale and members of the audience were keen to snap these up.
Sally was unfortunately delayed by over an hour due to problems on the M5, and didn't enter the Village Hall until gone 8 p.m. Tom, bravely, held the fort with topical gardening jobs and tips for November!
Sally got underway at 8.10p.m and spoke for just over an hour. Her talk was 'Gardening the Low Carbon way". Much of the talk was centred around her own garden and allotment.
Our gardens are a real refuge for the natural world. Sally talked about plants, shrubs and trees that most efficiently sequester carbon, also she is a great recycler with most of her garden waste being composted or piled up to promote habitat for insects and wildlife. She hardly ever mows her grass and leaves it for wildflowers to grow. Sally is a great believer in 'no dig' allotment gardening and is virtually self-sufficient in vegetable growing. She advocates using organic fertilisers and makes her own liquid feeds from comfrey and nettles. She has switched to battery powered equipment due to the dangerous emission levels from petrol powered mowers.
Sally also took several questions from the audience, and afterwards Tom read out some village and club notices. The raffle, which is always so well organised by our committee member Beverly Lewis.
Tom proposed a vote of thanks and wished Sally a less taxing journey home than she had travelling up! Copies of her 2 books were on sale and members of the audience were keen to snap these up.
Thursday 12th October - Sally Oates - ‘Adapting to Climate Change’.
This month we welcomed Sally Oates to Alderton Gardening Club.
It was Chairman Tom's first absence in 47 meetings and vice-chair Phil took over the introductions.
Sally has a garden and allotment near Tetbury where she grows fruit, vegetables and cut flowers organically.
Her talk was based around the theme of adapting to climate change, illustrated by slides of her growing area. Sally records the weather conditions daily using amazing visual diagrams to give a sense of how to adapt her growing to these conditions. She also marks out her plot on diagrams to identify the hot; windy; shady and exposed areas. All this combines to determine her planting scheme. She showed that where some ferns cannot tolerate extreme heat others actually thrive in it.
She grows phacelia, as a green manure, which has a number of uses. Dig it in before it flowers to add nutrients to the ground, leave some to flower for the bees. It is also good for covering exposed soil until planting can take place.
Sally avoids growing F1 varieties so she can save seed ready for next season's growing.
To close there were questions taken on some of the issues mentioned in the talk. The best way to speed up the composting process is to add wood ash. Comfrey, and also nettles, can be soaked and used as a fertiliser. It can be smelly and should be diluted before use!
Sally then drew the raffle numbers, with some cyclamen and a penstemon being the favourite prizes.
It was Chairman Tom's first absence in 47 meetings and vice-chair Phil took over the introductions.
Sally has a garden and allotment near Tetbury where she grows fruit, vegetables and cut flowers organically.
Her talk was based around the theme of adapting to climate change, illustrated by slides of her growing area. Sally records the weather conditions daily using amazing visual diagrams to give a sense of how to adapt her growing to these conditions. She also marks out her plot on diagrams to identify the hot; windy; shady and exposed areas. All this combines to determine her planting scheme. She showed that where some ferns cannot tolerate extreme heat others actually thrive in it.
She grows phacelia, as a green manure, which has a number of uses. Dig it in before it flowers to add nutrients to the ground, leave some to flower for the bees. It is also good for covering exposed soil until planting can take place.
Sally avoids growing F1 varieties so she can save seed ready for next season's growing.
To close there were questions taken on some of the issues mentioned in the talk. The best way to speed up the composting process is to add wood ash. Comfrey, and also nettles, can be soaked and used as a fertiliser. It can be smelly and should be diluted before use!
Sally then drew the raffle numbers, with some cyclamen and a penstemon being the favourite prizes.
Thursday 14th September - 100 Plants that almost changed the world with Chris Beardshaw
For our August meeting we welcomed Chris Beardshaw and he delivered an evening's entertainment that will live long in the memory. He spoke non -stop to our sell-out audience for 150 minutes and was with us in total for almost 4 hours! After beginning his day in Penzance!
With the hall full, Chris delivered part one of his talk, the history of Furzey gardens in the new forest. Famed for its informal woodland planted landscape with ultra rare plants and trees, its 40 fairy doors, its thatched tearooms and run by the Minstead Trust who support more than 200 people with learning difficulties throughout Hampshire to build skills that help them find employment and to live more independent and fulfilled lives.
The talk detailed the trials and tribulations of getting a garden accepted by the RHS for the show and how resources for this particular one were begged, "acquired" or borrowed for the project.
Chris has done this process many times over for many charities and at this year's Chelsea he won another gold medal for his garden designed for Myeloma UK. Myeloma is a form of blood cancer.
The second part of the talk was about his book "100 plants that almost changed the world". This contains a collection of concise reflections on the relationships has had with his plants. Pointing out the chemical components that makes each plant attractive and tells how each plant earned its name and the part it played in history. From ships made of carrot, 'Popeye’s' spinach to the hallucinogenic effects of lettuce! to the story of roman nettles around Cirencester, Chris wove together all the facts and stories using the projected sets of slide pictures.
With the hall full, Chris delivered part one of his talk, the history of Furzey gardens in the new forest. Famed for its informal woodland planted landscape with ultra rare plants and trees, its 40 fairy doors, its thatched tearooms and run by the Minstead Trust who support more than 200 people with learning difficulties throughout Hampshire to build skills that help them find employment and to live more independent and fulfilled lives.
The talk detailed the trials and tribulations of getting a garden accepted by the RHS for the show and how resources for this particular one were begged, "acquired" or borrowed for the project.
Chris has done this process many times over for many charities and at this year's Chelsea he won another gold medal for his garden designed for Myeloma UK. Myeloma is a form of blood cancer.
The second part of the talk was about his book "100 plants that almost changed the world". This contains a collection of concise reflections on the relationships has had with his plants. Pointing out the chemical components that makes each plant attractive and tells how each plant earned its name and the part it played in history. From ships made of carrot, 'Popeye’s' spinach to the hallucinogenic effects of lettuce! to the story of roman nettles around Cirencester, Chris wove together all the facts and stories using the projected sets of slide pictures.
Thursday 10th August - Practical Propagation Demonstration with Andy Pedrick
For our August meeting we welcomed the return of expert plant propagator and nurseryman Andy Pedrick, who we last saw in June of 2018. Andy also writes a column in the Vale Magazine and trained at Pershore Institute of Horticulture with our good friend Reg Moule.
Andy presented his propagation workshop complete with plant cutting material, pots of compost, rooting powder and secateurs! He took us through the many different types of cutting, how to prepare them, where to cut the material, the length and the reason for wounding the lower half.He uses either straight peat or coir fibre mixed 50% with perlite.The compost has very little nutrients whereas the perlite opens up the compost for air and drainage but also holds some water aswell. Andy said that the compost doesn't need too much firming, but needs to be level so a tap with pot on a hard surface with do the trick. He also said only a little dusting of rooting powder is required on th base of each cutting. Our speaker also stressed the importance of maintaining humidity around the leaves whilst growing the cutting and actually cutting larger leaves down to lessen the amount of water loss through them. He repeated each process several times so that the information could really sink in. The talk was delivered with many stories from his long time in horticulture and with much humour.
After taking a few questions it was then time for the audience to have a go and under Andy's supervision they had a twenty minute opportunity with much obvious enthusiasm to take their own cuttings.
It was a fabulous turn out for August, which is a month for holidays. We had 4 of the committee absent but we still had over 50 people in attendance and with even more new faces coming to their first AGC evening, so a warm welcome to them.
There was still time left for Tom to give a few jobs and tips out for August and then Andy did the honours and drew the 6 prize raffle.
All in all it was a fabulous evening of practical horticulture delivered by a top man practicing his expert trade. There was a lovely buzz of obvious happiness in the hall throughout evening.Two of our members Bill & Sophie Treen were celebrating their 49th wedding anniversary, so a congratulatory announcement was made and a round of applause followed. Well done to them both. Who needs the Ritz? when you have the AGC to go to!
Andy presented his propagation workshop complete with plant cutting material, pots of compost, rooting powder and secateurs! He took us through the many different types of cutting, how to prepare them, where to cut the material, the length and the reason for wounding the lower half.He uses either straight peat or coir fibre mixed 50% with perlite.The compost has very little nutrients whereas the perlite opens up the compost for air and drainage but also holds some water aswell. Andy said that the compost doesn't need too much firming, but needs to be level so a tap with pot on a hard surface with do the trick. He also said only a little dusting of rooting powder is required on th base of each cutting. Our speaker also stressed the importance of maintaining humidity around the leaves whilst growing the cutting and actually cutting larger leaves down to lessen the amount of water loss through them. He repeated each process several times so that the information could really sink in. The talk was delivered with many stories from his long time in horticulture and with much humour.
After taking a few questions it was then time for the audience to have a go and under Andy's supervision they had a twenty minute opportunity with much obvious enthusiasm to take their own cuttings.
It was a fabulous turn out for August, which is a month for holidays. We had 4 of the committee absent but we still had over 50 people in attendance and with even more new faces coming to their first AGC evening, so a warm welcome to them.
There was still time left for Tom to give a few jobs and tips out for August and then Andy did the honours and drew the 6 prize raffle.
All in all it was a fabulous evening of practical horticulture delivered by a top man practicing his expert trade. There was a lovely buzz of obvious happiness in the hall throughout evening.Two of our members Bill & Sophie Treen were celebrating their 49th wedding anniversary, so a congratulatory announcement was made and a round of applause followed. Well done to them both. Who needs the Ritz? when you have the AGC to go to!
Thursday 13th July - A Gardeners Year with Helen Picton
This month, we welcomed Helen Picton. She is the 3rd generation of her family to be involved with the Old Court Nurseries and Picton Garden, Colwall. Following on from her parents Paul & Meriel and her grandfather Percy, one of the great nurserymen of the 20th century. The 1.5-acre Picton Garden is a popular destination for garden plant lovers; especially during the early Autumn when the Michaelmas daisies are in bloom. The family nurture the national collection of these plants amounting to 240 cultivars. Many of which can be purchased along with so many fine perennial plants from the nursery there.
Helen's well illustrated talk took us through "a gardener's year in plants" from winter to winter.
Many of the scenes were taken at the Picton garden and Helen talked with great clarity and experience about each one featured. Many of the 60 strong audience were making lots of notes about the plants during the evening. There were many rare irises along with Hepaticas, Gentianas, Saxifrages and of course Michaelmas daisies.
Helen is married to Ross Barbour former head gardener at Ragley Hall. He met her at the nursery shopping for Michaelmas daisies, and as a result a romance well and truly blossomed! He now works with her and brings plenty of ideas and experience to their garden projects. After speaking for upwards of 75 minutes Helen then took questions from the members and then took a break whilst chairman Tom gave his gardening tips and jobs for July as well as news about some village events as well as club news.
A splendid six prize raffle was drawn by Helen followed by a vote of thanks and loud applause. She had brought some choice plants from Old Court Nursery for sale, and a brisk trade followed.
Helen's well illustrated talk took us through "a gardener's year in plants" from winter to winter.
Many of the scenes were taken at the Picton garden and Helen talked with great clarity and experience about each one featured. Many of the 60 strong audience were making lots of notes about the plants during the evening. There were many rare irises along with Hepaticas, Gentianas, Saxifrages and of course Michaelmas daisies.
Helen is married to Ross Barbour former head gardener at Ragley Hall. He met her at the nursery shopping for Michaelmas daisies, and as a result a romance well and truly blossomed! He now works with her and brings plenty of ideas and experience to their garden projects. After speaking for upwards of 75 minutes Helen then took questions from the members and then took a break whilst chairman Tom gave his gardening tips and jobs for July as well as news about some village events as well as club news.
A splendid six prize raffle was drawn by Helen followed by a vote of thanks and loud applause. She had brought some choice plants from Old Court Nursery for sale, and a brisk trade followed.
Thursday 8th June - Preserving the Harvest with Kev Alviti
For the June meeting of The Alderton Gardening Club we welcomed from Colwall Herefordshire, Kevin Alviti for a talk titled "Preserving the Harvest".
Kevin originally hails from the Ludlow area and also spent 5 years in the Vale of Evesham at Offenham.
Like the AGC chairman he grew up on a tenanted farm and so has always had an appreciation for the countryside and food production.
Kevin now has a 5 acre small holding "An English Homestead" where he lives with his wife who is a school deputy head mistress and their 3 delightful children. He is also a skilled carpenter and in between earning money from this is also a local scout leader. A recent addition to the Gloucestershire federation of gardening club's circuit, he is in much demand telling the story of his bid to be as self sufficient as possible in food by preserving as much as possible.
In a well put together talk he showed us via his powerpoint presentation how he achieves all of this. A great facility is is own bespoke preserving building which we constructed himself with its own hand crafted racking. Kevin showed us how he stores harvested vegetables in sand and also took us through the process of fermentation in which he makes his own elderflower champagne! Other drinks produced include beer, wine, nettle beer and of course cider. He buys in some meat and rears his own chickens and butchers and freezes the cuts and joints etc. He also freezes his own vegetable produce as well. Preserving with water bath canning (fruit & tomatoes) and kilner jars are other means he uses of stocking up the larder, and also makes his own pickles, jams, jellies, marmalade and cordials. Kevin invested in a de-hydrator and dries peas, apples, bananas, gooseberries and cherries.
All three of his children take part in these activities and are now all capable of preserving, preparing and cooking food. They all, as a result have a greater appreciation for where their meals are sourced and how precious food really is. Kevin had some of his nicely hand crafted compost scoops, 'tool carriers', and bird feeders etc on display
After taking a few questions Tom took over and gave his gardening Jobs, tips and advice for June feature followed by the latest club news and notices. We now have 101 members paid up in the AGC, absolutely fantastic, it was great meeting yet more new members on Thursday evening. Welcome and thank you for joining!
It was great to see Beverley Lewis our "Regal Raffler" back in action after her recent holiday to New Zealand and a couple of bouts of illness. The six prize draw was kindly then conducted by Kevin.
A presentation of the RHS Banksian medal was then made to club member Sian Tryner in recognition of her good works in so many ways in Alderton over many years. A vote of thanks was then proposed to Kevin for coming and giving the audience such an interesting insight into his "English Homestead" lifestyle.
Kevin originally hails from the Ludlow area and also spent 5 years in the Vale of Evesham at Offenham.
Like the AGC chairman he grew up on a tenanted farm and so has always had an appreciation for the countryside and food production.
Kevin now has a 5 acre small holding "An English Homestead" where he lives with his wife who is a school deputy head mistress and their 3 delightful children. He is also a skilled carpenter and in between earning money from this is also a local scout leader. A recent addition to the Gloucestershire federation of gardening club's circuit, he is in much demand telling the story of his bid to be as self sufficient as possible in food by preserving as much as possible.
In a well put together talk he showed us via his powerpoint presentation how he achieves all of this. A great facility is is own bespoke preserving building which we constructed himself with its own hand crafted racking. Kevin showed us how he stores harvested vegetables in sand and also took us through the process of fermentation in which he makes his own elderflower champagne! Other drinks produced include beer, wine, nettle beer and of course cider. He buys in some meat and rears his own chickens and butchers and freezes the cuts and joints etc. He also freezes his own vegetable produce as well. Preserving with water bath canning (fruit & tomatoes) and kilner jars are other means he uses of stocking up the larder, and also makes his own pickles, jams, jellies, marmalade and cordials. Kevin invested in a de-hydrator and dries peas, apples, bananas, gooseberries and cherries.
All three of his children take part in these activities and are now all capable of preserving, preparing and cooking food. They all, as a result have a greater appreciation for where their meals are sourced and how precious food really is. Kevin had some of his nicely hand crafted compost scoops, 'tool carriers', and bird feeders etc on display
After taking a few questions Tom took over and gave his gardening Jobs, tips and advice for June feature followed by the latest club news and notices. We now have 101 members paid up in the AGC, absolutely fantastic, it was great meeting yet more new members on Thursday evening. Welcome and thank you for joining!
It was great to see Beverley Lewis our "Regal Raffler" back in action after her recent holiday to New Zealand and a couple of bouts of illness. The six prize draw was kindly then conducted by Kevin.
A presentation of the RHS Banksian medal was then made to club member Sian Tryner in recognition of her good works in so many ways in Alderton over many years. A vote of thanks was then proposed to Kevin for coming and giving the audience such an interesting insight into his "English Homestead" lifestyle.
Thursday 11th May - Hanging Basket Demonstration with Mark Tsakarisianos
Thursday May 11th and on the opening day of the annual Malvern Spring gardening festival, Alderton gardening club held its' 5th meeting of 2023.
With tickets for Malvern admission priced at £40, the £3 AGC members paid on the night was i believe a little more affordable!
Our guest speaker for the evening was Gotherington Nurseries founder and owner Mark Tsakarisianos, or 'Mark from Gotherington' as he is known locally! Our Speaker came for a practical talk on planting hanging baskets
Mark and his eight staff are (as you can imagine) exceptionally busy at this time of the year. So the AGC were very grateful to him for making some time for us Both Mark and i came straight from work to the meeting and over a cup of coffee we had a chat on how our gardening related days had gone.
Mark by his own admission has not done much public speaking or gardening club evenings. So during our conversation we decided to do a joint presentation with me introducing, hosting and assisting and Mark demonstrating and talking through the hanging basket planting process. Even though I say it myself i believe this worked really well.
Mark brought a huge array of basket plants from the nursery with him, as well as wire and wicker baskets. He uses Bulrush multipurpose compost with osmocote slow release fertiliser to grow the basket plants in. For the wire baskets Mark prefers to use traditional moss rather than liners. He took us through the process of building each basket up. How to position the plants, and how to incorporate the compost and moss etc. We also learned about the maintenance and after care of them. Questions came in from the audience and a lively and often amusing answers and gardening conversation resulted. I asked Mark about the nursery, its history and how it works. It is a highly successful and well-run business that has grown from very basic and humble beginnings to the ever expanding, valued enterprise it is today. Mark's wife Liz is a co director and works at the marketing, admin and ordering side of things. All in all it's a real team effort, and what has been achieved has involved a great deal of hard work and dedication.
Mark built 4 baskets up and then incredibly offered them for auction at the meeting!. So another job for yours truly..as an auctioneer!. £110 was raised for club funds, Mark also donated some prizes for the raffle, so very kind of him.
Following the talk and a loud round of applause i delivered my gardening jobs and tips for May 'mini talk'. Also a few club notices were given out, along with travel arrangements for our sold out trip to RHS Wisley in June. Following this the bumper nine prize raffle was drawn by Mark and a vote of thanks to him was given. Finally members bought from the huge range basket plants for sale from the nurseries.
There was a fabulously happy atmosphere in hall at the meeting, it was another memorable AGC evening for sure. Membership numbers are now almost at 100, we have breached our pre-covid high point of 97, all so encouraging.
With tickets for Malvern admission priced at £40, the £3 AGC members paid on the night was i believe a little more affordable!
Our guest speaker for the evening was Gotherington Nurseries founder and owner Mark Tsakarisianos, or 'Mark from Gotherington' as he is known locally! Our Speaker came for a practical talk on planting hanging baskets
Mark and his eight staff are (as you can imagine) exceptionally busy at this time of the year. So the AGC were very grateful to him for making some time for us Both Mark and i came straight from work to the meeting and over a cup of coffee we had a chat on how our gardening related days had gone.
Mark by his own admission has not done much public speaking or gardening club evenings. So during our conversation we decided to do a joint presentation with me introducing, hosting and assisting and Mark demonstrating and talking through the hanging basket planting process. Even though I say it myself i believe this worked really well.
Mark brought a huge array of basket plants from the nursery with him, as well as wire and wicker baskets. He uses Bulrush multipurpose compost with osmocote slow release fertiliser to grow the basket plants in. For the wire baskets Mark prefers to use traditional moss rather than liners. He took us through the process of building each basket up. How to position the plants, and how to incorporate the compost and moss etc. We also learned about the maintenance and after care of them. Questions came in from the audience and a lively and often amusing answers and gardening conversation resulted. I asked Mark about the nursery, its history and how it works. It is a highly successful and well-run business that has grown from very basic and humble beginnings to the ever expanding, valued enterprise it is today. Mark's wife Liz is a co director and works at the marketing, admin and ordering side of things. All in all it's a real team effort, and what has been achieved has involved a great deal of hard work and dedication.
Mark built 4 baskets up and then incredibly offered them for auction at the meeting!. So another job for yours truly..as an auctioneer!. £110 was raised for club funds, Mark also donated some prizes for the raffle, so very kind of him.
Following the talk and a loud round of applause i delivered my gardening jobs and tips for May 'mini talk'. Also a few club notices were given out, along with travel arrangements for our sold out trip to RHS Wisley in June. Following this the bumper nine prize raffle was drawn by Mark and a vote of thanks to him was given. Finally members bought from the huge range basket plants for sale from the nurseries.
There was a fabulously happy atmosphere in hall at the meeting, it was another memorable AGC evening for sure. Membership numbers are now almost at 100, we have breached our pre-covid high point of 97, all so encouraging.
Thursday 15th April - Primulas and Auriculas with Ingrid and John Millington
Alderton gardening club celebrated its 5th Anniversary on the 13th of April, with Prosecco, superb cakes and a talk by Ingrid and John Millington of Hill View Hardy Plants.
Ingrid spoke about the different types of primula and the difference between polyanthus and primulas was also explained. We also saw the denticulata "drumstick" types. We also learned about the different countries where they grow. Then onto the auriculas. There are 8 different types and Ingrid described each one in depth and what growing conditions they require.
John filled us in on the preferred growing medium mix for these plants and also talked about control of slugs, snails, root aphids and vine weevils; some of their main pests. A short video showed how to split up a mature plant to make new plants.
They then both took a few questions, all in all a very comprehensive talk on these plants.
The 9 prize raffle was then drawn by John and a vote of thanks was then proposed to our speakers with a round of applause.
Hillview brought a choice selection of plants to buy, and a brisk trade ensued.
Ingrid spoke about the different types of primula and the difference between polyanthus and primulas was also explained. We also saw the denticulata "drumstick" types. We also learned about the different countries where they grow. Then onto the auriculas. There are 8 different types and Ingrid described each one in depth and what growing conditions they require.
John filled us in on the preferred growing medium mix for these plants and also talked about control of slugs, snails, root aphids and vine weevils; some of their main pests. A short video showed how to split up a mature plant to make new plants.
They then both took a few questions, all in all a very comprehensive talk on these plants.
The 9 prize raffle was then drawn by John and a vote of thanks was then proposed to our speakers with a round of applause.
Hillview brought a choice selection of plants to buy, and a brisk trade ensued.
Thursday 9th March - The Butterfly Garden with Chris Evans
March, and the third meeting of the AGC's 2023 programme took place on a cold, rain-lashed evening. With 4 committee members taking some well-earned leave from their duties, there was a feeling that our attendance numbers might be down... How wrong we were!! as 59 hardy souls braved the elements to attend. So very many thanks to you all for making the effort, it is so very much appreciated. We also welcomed four new members who joined the club on the night, with numbers up to 94 with almost a quarter now from outside of Alderton, all so very encouraging!!
Our speaker was a truly inspirational man, one of Gloucestershire's good guys. Chris Evans BEM. He owns and runs Dundry Nurseries, Bamfurlong, between Cheltenham & Gloucester where his charity project "The Butterfly Garden" is based.
Chris started by giving us his family history and how his grandfather who was a squadron leader in World War two, purchased it in 1947. Initially the four-acre nursery grew tomatoes, vegetable crops and bedding plants. Chris’s father joined the firm in the 1960s with Chris himself being involved from his childhood. Today the business is a thriving nursery and garden centre, famed for its excellent plants, seed potato selection and expert knowledge
The Butterfly garden project started when 6 autistic children came to spend some time one afternoon at Dundry. They had such a great time, that news soon spread with many more similar children attending and trying their hand at gardening. The seed of the project was then sown with Chris developing some of the nursery's spare land for a garden for his young students to work and learn in. Gradually more people came along and volunteered, with ideas and materials. The project grew and grew with more covered facilities (sheds) springing up on the site. With woodworking classes becoming another option for people of all age groups with disabilities, mental health, life threatening illnesses, strokes, or suffering from bereavement and drug or alcohol problems The Butterfly Garden now has gardening, woodworking, cookery, crafts, Zumba, drama, knitting, sewing, music as a selection of its classes and even a choir!
Recycling has been another part of the scheme and the processing of redundant VHS video cassettes is something the students tackle. Also, plastic pots, dvd cases are recycled and made into new products such a remembrance poppies.
Funding comes in from many donations and grants. The charity has 243 registered students with up to 60 on site at any one time. GPs, help the aged, stroke groups, schools, colleges and many other agencies have worked with Chris, the trustees and the project's many volunteers since it began in 2002. With Chris receiving the BEM in 2014 in recognition of all that this project has given to so many vulnerable, ill and troubled people. It’s a real team effort, a wonderful example of community cohesion. Dr David Bellamy and Celebrity gardener Christine Walkden have both visited the project, with the latter featuring the butterfly garden on her BBC series 'Glorious Gardens From Above’.
Chris has spoken to groups and societies for a long time now and we were delighted to hear his truly inspiring story at The Alderton Gardening Club. It was all so very interesting but delivered by Chris with much humour and resulting laughter from the audience.
After his talk Chris took a break, with Chairman Tom Cullimore giving his gardening jobs and tips for March, and latest club news.
Finally the bumper 12 prize raffle was drawn and a vote of thanks to our guest was proposed with much applause.
Our speaker was a truly inspirational man, one of Gloucestershire's good guys. Chris Evans BEM. He owns and runs Dundry Nurseries, Bamfurlong, between Cheltenham & Gloucester where his charity project "The Butterfly Garden" is based.
Chris started by giving us his family history and how his grandfather who was a squadron leader in World War two, purchased it in 1947. Initially the four-acre nursery grew tomatoes, vegetable crops and bedding plants. Chris’s father joined the firm in the 1960s with Chris himself being involved from his childhood. Today the business is a thriving nursery and garden centre, famed for its excellent plants, seed potato selection and expert knowledge
The Butterfly garden project started when 6 autistic children came to spend some time one afternoon at Dundry. They had such a great time, that news soon spread with many more similar children attending and trying their hand at gardening. The seed of the project was then sown with Chris developing some of the nursery's spare land for a garden for his young students to work and learn in. Gradually more people came along and volunteered, with ideas and materials. The project grew and grew with more covered facilities (sheds) springing up on the site. With woodworking classes becoming another option for people of all age groups with disabilities, mental health, life threatening illnesses, strokes, or suffering from bereavement and drug or alcohol problems The Butterfly Garden now has gardening, woodworking, cookery, crafts, Zumba, drama, knitting, sewing, music as a selection of its classes and even a choir!
Recycling has been another part of the scheme and the processing of redundant VHS video cassettes is something the students tackle. Also, plastic pots, dvd cases are recycled and made into new products such a remembrance poppies.
Funding comes in from many donations and grants. The charity has 243 registered students with up to 60 on site at any one time. GPs, help the aged, stroke groups, schools, colleges and many other agencies have worked with Chris, the trustees and the project's many volunteers since it began in 2002. With Chris receiving the BEM in 2014 in recognition of all that this project has given to so many vulnerable, ill and troubled people. It’s a real team effort, a wonderful example of community cohesion. Dr David Bellamy and Celebrity gardener Christine Walkden have both visited the project, with the latter featuring the butterfly garden on her BBC series 'Glorious Gardens From Above’.
Chris has spoken to groups and societies for a long time now and we were delighted to hear his truly inspiring story at The Alderton Gardening Club. It was all so very interesting but delivered by Chris with much humour and resulting laughter from the audience.
After his talk Chris took a break, with Chairman Tom Cullimore giving his gardening jobs and tips for March, and latest club news.
Finally the bumper 12 prize raffle was drawn and a vote of thanks to our guest was proposed with much applause.
Thursday 9th February - Four Seasons Cotswolds Style with Mandy Bradshaw
The freezing February evening weather didn't deter the attendees for the latest AGC meeting...Far from it!! A brilliant turnout of 60 was one of the highest since our return from the covid lockdown. Encouragingly 18 of the 60 were either renewing membership or joining for the first time!. Paid up members now stand at 88, ..outstanding!.
A particular highlight for us was the re-appearance of Mary-Anne and Heather from Thorncroft clematis nursery. Both have now joined the club...how good is that?! Welcome aboard ladies!
Our guest speaker was also making a return, from Charlton Kings, the chatty gardener Mandy Bradshaw. Famed for her gardening articles in Cotswold life and many other regular gardening publications. She is also a gifted photographer of gardens and has produced greetings cards using these which were on offer for sale after her talk.
The four seasons Cotswold style took us on a tour of some great gardens in this area of outstanding beauty. Beginning in Winter we started with the snowdrops at Colesbourne park and The Painswick Rococco garden before finishing at Cotswold farm snowdrops near Cirencester. Then onto spring with Westonbirt Arboretum and the Rhododendrons and Camellias there. Lydney Park then featured with Daffodils, Cherry Blossoms and Acers. In the garden at Trench hill Sheepscombe we saw displays of lovely tulips and alliums
Summer views of the sumptuous borders at Miserden park were quite stunning as were the pleached hornbeam hedges and canal at Temple Guiting Manor. The rose gardens at Sudeley Castle looked quite magnificent along with the finely clipped topiary.
Finally to Autumn and Mandy gave us views of Batsford Arboretum with the wonderful leaf colours of the Cherry and Acer trees there, and the marvellously planted borders of Aston pottery on the A40 to Oxford. The last garden featured was Cerney House near Cirencester and we saw what a great allrounder this one is for interest throughout the four seasons.
All in all a wonderfully illustrated talk, with Mandy's superb photography and eloquent descriptions of the gardens, their history, and their plants. She delivered in spades and was applauded warmly.
Mandy took several questions, and then took a breather whilst Chairman Tom Cullimore gave his jobs and tips for February. Detailed advice about seed sowing, rose and shrub pruning, autumn fruiting raspberry care, dividing snowdrops and dealing with recently frost damaged plants and shrubs featured as some of his topics.
Tom then updated everyone with the latest club news with the trip to Wisley on the 17th of June, and the AGM on March the 16th being mentioned. Chris Beardshaw tickets for our September meeting were also on sale. Well over half have now gone. These will be available to non members in March.
The 8 prize raffle, organised for this meeting by Julie Alvis was drawn by Mandy with a vote of thanks to her following with more applause. A brisk trade on Mandy's cards then finished the evening off.
A particular highlight for us was the re-appearance of Mary-Anne and Heather from Thorncroft clematis nursery. Both have now joined the club...how good is that?! Welcome aboard ladies!
Our guest speaker was also making a return, from Charlton Kings, the chatty gardener Mandy Bradshaw. Famed for her gardening articles in Cotswold life and many other regular gardening publications. She is also a gifted photographer of gardens and has produced greetings cards using these which were on offer for sale after her talk.
The four seasons Cotswold style took us on a tour of some great gardens in this area of outstanding beauty. Beginning in Winter we started with the snowdrops at Colesbourne park and The Painswick Rococco garden before finishing at Cotswold farm snowdrops near Cirencester. Then onto spring with Westonbirt Arboretum and the Rhododendrons and Camellias there. Lydney Park then featured with Daffodils, Cherry Blossoms and Acers. In the garden at Trench hill Sheepscombe we saw displays of lovely tulips and alliums
Summer views of the sumptuous borders at Miserden park were quite stunning as were the pleached hornbeam hedges and canal at Temple Guiting Manor. The rose gardens at Sudeley Castle looked quite magnificent along with the finely clipped topiary.
Finally to Autumn and Mandy gave us views of Batsford Arboretum with the wonderful leaf colours of the Cherry and Acer trees there, and the marvellously planted borders of Aston pottery on the A40 to Oxford. The last garden featured was Cerney House near Cirencester and we saw what a great allrounder this one is for interest throughout the four seasons.
All in all a wonderfully illustrated talk, with Mandy's superb photography and eloquent descriptions of the gardens, their history, and their plants. She delivered in spades and was applauded warmly.
Mandy took several questions, and then took a breather whilst Chairman Tom Cullimore gave his jobs and tips for February. Detailed advice about seed sowing, rose and shrub pruning, autumn fruiting raspberry care, dividing snowdrops and dealing with recently frost damaged plants and shrubs featured as some of his topics.
Tom then updated everyone with the latest club news with the trip to Wisley on the 17th of June, and the AGM on March the 16th being mentioned. Chris Beardshaw tickets for our September meeting were also on sale. Well over half have now gone. These will be available to non members in March.
The 8 prize raffle, organised for this meeting by Julie Alvis was drawn by Mandy with a vote of thanks to her following with more applause. A brisk trade on Mandy's cards then finished the evening off.
Thursday 12th January - A Complete Guide to Clematis with Peter Skeggs
A Fabulous start to our 2023 programme with our guest speaker for January being Peter Skeggs-Gooch of the nationally regarded growers and suppliers of Clematis: Thorncroft.
Peter is the third generation of the family to be involved with this business started in the early 1980s. Based in Norfolk, they have in the last two years opened another more centrally located branch at the old Rails End nursery in Ashton Under Hill. Peter travelled from Norfolk to be with us! All three of the lady staff Heather, Mary-Anne and Aimmie at Rails End also attended to support their boss!
Peter's talk entitled "A complete guide to Clematis" covered a year in bloom with varieties of these versatile plants. Beginning with winter and the cirrhosa group, through to spring with the macropetalas, alpinas and montanas. Then the large flowered hybrids of early summer to the later blooming jackmanii integrifolias, tanguaticas, orientalis and viticellas. A section of the talk also covered container display varieties for patios as well as ground covering types. The last part was the practical side of things with sections on planting, soil preparation, planting depth and fertilisers and the support and pruning of the three main groups of Clematis. The talk was illustrated with superb photographs of the Thorncroft range of plants. A final part featured some of the superb displays created by Thorncroft at some of the major gardening shows including Chelsea where they have won 12 Gold medals. These and their certificates were on display in the Hall, along with Thorncroft clematis range catalogues.
Our speaker was constantly engaged with the audience of 58 attendees, answering questions as his talk progressed.After speaking for 80 minutes Peter sat down to a loud round of applause. Chairman Tom Cullimore then invited the Ashton Nursery staff to talk for a few minutes about their roles at Rails end Nursery. Alderton Gardening club members can order and pay for a clematis online and collect them direct from the nursery. Thorncroft have always had a thriving mail order business and the ladies are always busy picking and dispatching the orders.
Tom then went on to give out his gardening jobs for January including ordering & chitting seed potatoes, pre-germinating broad beans and sweet peas, sowing onions and chillies, pruning apple and pear trees, forcing rhubarb, removing hellebore leaves, covering and pre -warming the soil on the veg patch and tool, seed tray, propagator cleaning. He also read out various notices and the latest club news
Beverly Lewis then brought up the tickets for the 7 prize raffle draw, which Peter kindly drew.
Finally Tom gave a vote of thanks to "Team Thorncroft" followed by more loud applause. There was a good selection of Clematis plants for sale with many purchases soon to be now planted in members gardens! Many of the audience stayed on afterwards chatting away full of anticipation at the beginning of a new gardening year. There was a great atmosphere in the Village Hall throughout the evening. Peter then was heading back to Norfolk afterwards as his son had a birthday the following day.
It was one of our best attendances since we re-started in October 2021. So encouraging to see new members signing up, existing members re-joining and over a third of The Chris Beardshaw tickets selling on the night!
Next month we welcome back celebrated, award winning gardening journalist and photographer Mandy Bradshaw. Her talk will be based on a journey through the seasons in some of the great gardens of the Cotswolds.
Peter is the third generation of the family to be involved with this business started in the early 1980s. Based in Norfolk, they have in the last two years opened another more centrally located branch at the old Rails End nursery in Ashton Under Hill. Peter travelled from Norfolk to be with us! All three of the lady staff Heather, Mary-Anne and Aimmie at Rails End also attended to support their boss!
Peter's talk entitled "A complete guide to Clematis" covered a year in bloom with varieties of these versatile plants. Beginning with winter and the cirrhosa group, through to spring with the macropetalas, alpinas and montanas. Then the large flowered hybrids of early summer to the later blooming jackmanii integrifolias, tanguaticas, orientalis and viticellas. A section of the talk also covered container display varieties for patios as well as ground covering types. The last part was the practical side of things with sections on planting, soil preparation, planting depth and fertilisers and the support and pruning of the three main groups of Clematis. The talk was illustrated with superb photographs of the Thorncroft range of plants. A final part featured some of the superb displays created by Thorncroft at some of the major gardening shows including Chelsea where they have won 12 Gold medals. These and their certificates were on display in the Hall, along with Thorncroft clematis range catalogues.
Our speaker was constantly engaged with the audience of 58 attendees, answering questions as his talk progressed.After speaking for 80 minutes Peter sat down to a loud round of applause. Chairman Tom Cullimore then invited the Ashton Nursery staff to talk for a few minutes about their roles at Rails end Nursery. Alderton Gardening club members can order and pay for a clematis online and collect them direct from the nursery. Thorncroft have always had a thriving mail order business and the ladies are always busy picking and dispatching the orders.
Tom then went on to give out his gardening jobs for January including ordering & chitting seed potatoes, pre-germinating broad beans and sweet peas, sowing onions and chillies, pruning apple and pear trees, forcing rhubarb, removing hellebore leaves, covering and pre -warming the soil on the veg patch and tool, seed tray, propagator cleaning. He also read out various notices and the latest club news
Beverly Lewis then brought up the tickets for the 7 prize raffle draw, which Peter kindly drew.
Finally Tom gave a vote of thanks to "Team Thorncroft" followed by more loud applause. There was a good selection of Clematis plants for sale with many purchases soon to be now planted in members gardens! Many of the audience stayed on afterwards chatting away full of anticipation at the beginning of a new gardening year. There was a great atmosphere in the Village Hall throughout the evening. Peter then was heading back to Norfolk afterwards as his son had a birthday the following day.
It was one of our best attendances since we re-started in October 2021. So encouraging to see new members signing up, existing members re-joining and over a third of The Chris Beardshaw tickets selling on the night!
Next month we welcome back celebrated, award winning gardening journalist and photographer Mandy Bradshaw. Her talk will be based on a journey through the seasons in some of the great gardens of the Cotswolds.
Thursday 8th December - The Christmas Social with Katherine Kear
Well what a brilliant way to finish off our club's activities for 2022 with an evening of festive floristry and folklore with Chelsea flower show gold medal winner Katherine Kear.
Despite receiving apologies from ten members prior to the evening, as well as it being a freezing cold night, just shy of 50 people attended this memorable occasion.
Having listened to Katherine on BBC Radio Gloucestershire on many occasions, it was really great to meet her. She is wonderfully gifted communicator and demonstrator of her folklore and floristry skills and there was much vocal interplay between her, the audience and the club chairman! Katherine talked through the creation of each display as slowly each masterpiece was put together. She described the foliage, the flowers and the folklore around them in relation to Christmas time. Five separate arrangements were created and included as prizes for the raffle, pictures of these are attached to this post.
Prior to, and during the talk, attendees enjoyed fine wines and food with tables positioned around the speaker. Many thanks to Nicky Broderick and Sheila Russell for organising the drinks and to Julie Alvis for the purchase and preparation of the food. John Marfell also handcrafted his sumptuous mince pies, as only John can. Sadly he had an appointment in Birmingham and was unable to attend, but thankyou once again for helping us again John, what a star! Many members also mucked in to set up and clear away, so thanks to them all as well.
Following her talk Katherine took a couple of questions and then took a breather as Chairman Tom gave some gardening tips and jobs for December. He also did a review of the AGC's year, a process of re-building following the chaos and cancellation caused by Covid. The Club's attendances have dropped a bit, but it has still managed to post a small profit despite operational and speaker's costs increasing. Tom gave a first read through of the 2023 programme of speakers, and then went on to mention a few other events and notices. He ended by thanking the committee and everyone who had attended the club during the last year.
Then the bumper 15 prizes raffle was drawn by Katherine with the first five winners opting for her Christmas themed displays as their preferred choice of prizes.
This was a really joyous occasion with a great atmosphere in the hall. It was heartening to see everyone obviously having such a good time. Free sprigs of holly and mistletoe were also available to attendees and virtually everyone left for their homes with some. Katherine Kear will be re-booked for a return in 2024, she has a talk entitled "tales from the potting shed", we will all be delighted to see her again.
Despite receiving apologies from ten members prior to the evening, as well as it being a freezing cold night, just shy of 50 people attended this memorable occasion.
Having listened to Katherine on BBC Radio Gloucestershire on many occasions, it was really great to meet her. She is wonderfully gifted communicator and demonstrator of her folklore and floristry skills and there was much vocal interplay between her, the audience and the club chairman! Katherine talked through the creation of each display as slowly each masterpiece was put together. She described the foliage, the flowers and the folklore around them in relation to Christmas time. Five separate arrangements were created and included as prizes for the raffle, pictures of these are attached to this post.
Prior to, and during the talk, attendees enjoyed fine wines and food with tables positioned around the speaker. Many thanks to Nicky Broderick and Sheila Russell for organising the drinks and to Julie Alvis for the purchase and preparation of the food. John Marfell also handcrafted his sumptuous mince pies, as only John can. Sadly he had an appointment in Birmingham and was unable to attend, but thankyou once again for helping us again John, what a star! Many members also mucked in to set up and clear away, so thanks to them all as well.
Following her talk Katherine took a couple of questions and then took a breather as Chairman Tom gave some gardening tips and jobs for December. He also did a review of the AGC's year, a process of re-building following the chaos and cancellation caused by Covid. The Club's attendances have dropped a bit, but it has still managed to post a small profit despite operational and speaker's costs increasing. Tom gave a first read through of the 2023 programme of speakers, and then went on to mention a few other events and notices. He ended by thanking the committee and everyone who had attended the club during the last year.
Then the bumper 15 prizes raffle was drawn by Katherine with the first five winners opting for her Christmas themed displays as their preferred choice of prizes.
This was a really joyous occasion with a great atmosphere in the hall. It was heartening to see everyone obviously having such a good time. Free sprigs of holly and mistletoe were also available to attendees and virtually everyone left for their homes with some. Katherine Kear will be re-booked for a return in 2024, she has a talk entitled "tales from the potting shed", we will all be delighted to see her again.
Thursday 10th November - Winter into Spring - Julie Richie
An audience of around 50 welcomed the return of "The Horticultural Heroine from Hoo House Nursery near Tewkesbury Julie Ritchie to the November Meeting of The Alderton Gardening Club.
Her wonderful talk was entitled "Winter into Spring". Julie has run her nursery just off the A38 for 37 years now. Specialising in perrenials, alpines and grasses she is an expert plantswoman. The nursery has been visited in the past by a fellow plantaholic expert, the nationally regarded Roy Lancaster.
Julie projected a superb series of photos taken mainly at Hoo House or at Ashwood nurseries run by John Massey. Our speaker as always spoke eloquently about each type of plant, its growing requirements, flowering and foliar characteristics. Starting off with hardy chrysanthemums, grasses, cyclamen hederifolium in early winter to snowdrops, aconites, cyclamen coum in early January, then epimediums, hepaticas, iris unguicularis and hellebores in february, then finishing off with erothroniums bergenias, pulmonarias, pulsatillas and the first daffodils and tulips of early spring. The standard of Julie's photography was quite simply superb, as was her pronunciation of the plants latin names...all done without a script!
After speaking for a good 70 minutes our guest took a few questions, then took a breather after a round of applause. A lady completely expert in her trade and with her nursery. You will struggle to find someone of her expertise at a larger national chain garden centre i would wager!
Chairman Tom then gave advice and instruction on gardening jobs for November including how to make leaf mould, selecting and how to plant bare root, roses, fruit bushes and trees, planting tulips, dividing rhubarb, and late autumn care of hellebores, and lawns. He then went on to bring everyone up to date with the latest club news and other pending village events. A bumper 8 prize raffle was drawn by Julie and a vote of thanks was given for her talk. Everyone came away bursting with ideas and options to make their gardens more colourful and interesting during the darkest months of the year. Julie brought some plants for sale from the nursery and a brisk trade ensued. Nearly all of the Tulip bulbs sold as well, and Will Hughes was on hand to sell his Alderton Village Calendars to raise funds for St Margaret's church.
Her wonderful talk was entitled "Winter into Spring". Julie has run her nursery just off the A38 for 37 years now. Specialising in perrenials, alpines and grasses she is an expert plantswoman. The nursery has been visited in the past by a fellow plantaholic expert, the nationally regarded Roy Lancaster.
Julie projected a superb series of photos taken mainly at Hoo House or at Ashwood nurseries run by John Massey. Our speaker as always spoke eloquently about each type of plant, its growing requirements, flowering and foliar characteristics. Starting off with hardy chrysanthemums, grasses, cyclamen hederifolium in early winter to snowdrops, aconites, cyclamen coum in early January, then epimediums, hepaticas, iris unguicularis and hellebores in february, then finishing off with erothroniums bergenias, pulmonarias, pulsatillas and the first daffodils and tulips of early spring. The standard of Julie's photography was quite simply superb, as was her pronunciation of the plants latin names...all done without a script!
After speaking for a good 70 minutes our guest took a few questions, then took a breather after a round of applause. A lady completely expert in her trade and with her nursery. You will struggle to find someone of her expertise at a larger national chain garden centre i would wager!
Chairman Tom then gave advice and instruction on gardening jobs for November including how to make leaf mould, selecting and how to plant bare root, roses, fruit bushes and trees, planting tulips, dividing rhubarb, and late autumn care of hellebores, and lawns. He then went on to bring everyone up to date with the latest club news and other pending village events. A bumper 8 prize raffle was drawn by Julie and a vote of thanks was given for her talk. Everyone came away bursting with ideas and options to make their gardens more colourful and interesting during the darkest months of the year. Julie brought some plants for sale from the nursery and a brisk trade ensued. Nearly all of the Tulip bulbs sold as well, and Will Hughes was on hand to sell his Alderton Village Calendars to raise funds for St Margaret's church.
Thursday 13th October - Dig for Victory with Fiona Warin
Three years after she last came to talk us Fiona Warin returned to give her follow up to "The Land girls"..."Dig for Victory"
Fiona lives in Stroud and is the Allotment officer for Cheltenham Borough Council and has been speaking to gardening clubs, women's institutes and rotary clubs etc for a good number of years now.
Just as she did with her previous talk, Fiona asked us all to imagine that it was 1939 and took us through the initial start of the "grow your own" campaign. This was a truly vital part of the war effort as Britain imported a huge amount of food from all over the world. With the U boats sinking lots of shipping, food shortages were a real possibility. If Britons had not taken up growing fruit and vegetables, the nation could have been forced into surrendering through mass starvation.
Fiona talked about the the different aspects of the Dig for Victory campaign and how it developed and improved as each year ticked by. Collecting manure, saving seeds and cutting seed potatoes up to increase their numbers for planting, demonstrated how resourceful everyone just had to be. Huge amounts of extra land were brought into cultivation including sports fields, parks and even domestic garden lawns. Rabbits, Chickens and even pigs were kept to increase meat availability. Fiona also mentioned some of the deadly cocktails of chemicals which were used to deal with pests and diseases, all now banned of course!. Our speaker is an old style performer using scripts and visual aids rather than the usual powerpoint style projection to deliver her talk. As with the her previous presentation about the Land Girls there was a huge amount of audience participation and Laughter. All in all it was another fabulous evening of entertainment, and a reminder of when the nation with it's back to the wall rose to the challenge of growing far more of its own food.
Following a big round of applause for Fiona, Chairman Tom talked about gardening jobs to do in the next month including hardwood cuttings, sowing sweet peas and autumn rose care. He then went on to give out some club notices. Bookings with the £22 for the trip to Wisley on June the 17th will be taken at the November meeting onwards to members. Also Tickets for an evening with Chris Beardshaw in September will be available to members who renew their membership or join the club in January 2023. For a period of 8 weeks, members will have the first opportunity to purchase these before they go on general sale to non members. Three varieties of Daffodil bulbs were on sale at the meeting at bargain prices and sold very well.
Our guest Fiona then drew the 6 prize raffle and was thanked for her appearance and applauded by the audience numbering 45.
Fiona lives in Stroud and is the Allotment officer for Cheltenham Borough Council and has been speaking to gardening clubs, women's institutes and rotary clubs etc for a good number of years now.
Just as she did with her previous talk, Fiona asked us all to imagine that it was 1939 and took us through the initial start of the "grow your own" campaign. This was a truly vital part of the war effort as Britain imported a huge amount of food from all over the world. With the U boats sinking lots of shipping, food shortages were a real possibility. If Britons had not taken up growing fruit and vegetables, the nation could have been forced into surrendering through mass starvation.
Fiona talked about the the different aspects of the Dig for Victory campaign and how it developed and improved as each year ticked by. Collecting manure, saving seeds and cutting seed potatoes up to increase their numbers for planting, demonstrated how resourceful everyone just had to be. Huge amounts of extra land were brought into cultivation including sports fields, parks and even domestic garden lawns. Rabbits, Chickens and even pigs were kept to increase meat availability. Fiona also mentioned some of the deadly cocktails of chemicals which were used to deal with pests and diseases, all now banned of course!. Our speaker is an old style performer using scripts and visual aids rather than the usual powerpoint style projection to deliver her talk. As with the her previous presentation about the Land Girls there was a huge amount of audience participation and Laughter. All in all it was another fabulous evening of entertainment, and a reminder of when the nation with it's back to the wall rose to the challenge of growing far more of its own food.
Following a big round of applause for Fiona, Chairman Tom talked about gardening jobs to do in the next month including hardwood cuttings, sowing sweet peas and autumn rose care. He then went on to give out some club notices. Bookings with the £22 for the trip to Wisley on June the 17th will be taken at the November meeting onwards to members. Also Tickets for an evening with Chris Beardshaw in September will be available to members who renew their membership or join the club in January 2023. For a period of 8 weeks, members will have the first opportunity to purchase these before they go on general sale to non members. Three varieties of Daffodil bulbs were on sale at the meeting at bargain prices and sold very well.
Our guest Fiona then drew the 6 prize raffle and was thanked for her appearance and applauded by the audience numbering 45.
Thursday 8th September - Plants of the Season with Paul Green
A night we will remember...
Our September meeting turned out to be a momentous one. Paul Green from Green's Leaves nurseries of Newent arrived at The Village Hall for 6.30p.m where I had just landed myself. I greeted him and then with other fellow committee members we started to set things in place. Then at 6.40p.m came the news we were all dreading, the death of our monarch Queen Elizabeth... What to do? Cancel or go ahead?
We decided on the latter, although we expected the attendance understandably to be down given the sad news. 34 though did attend. Thank you to you all.
With Paul's massive selection of grasses, shrubs and perennials in place, we commenced with an announcement of the Queen's passing and a minute's silence. Perhaps one of the first to be held in Her Majesty's memory?
Paul then gave a talk packed with fantastic plant knowledge and delivered with much humour. He trained at Pershore College in the early 90s and set Green's Leaves up as a business afterwards. He organises many plant fairs and travels throughout the UK with a van filled with plants from the nursery. All of the ones featured in the talk had Autumn interest, and were in superb condition. Soil and aspect requirement with pruning techniques of each one featured was included in this informative talk. He took some questions and afterwards drew the raffle and did a brisk trade with members as every plant was for sale!
Chairman Tom gave a detailed list of gardening jobs and advice for September as well as bringing the audience up to date with the latest club news. This included the date for our club's trip to RHS Wisley scheduled for Saturday the 17th of June 2023. With the AGC being affiliated to The RHS our members will only pay the coach fee.. which will be £22. The trip will leave from the Village.
Tom then went on to thank Paul for his presentation. He will be booked again in the future for sure, and we look forward to seeing another selection of seasonally interesting plants.
Paul Green is a proper nurseryman, with great knowledge and enthusiasm for his stock of more rarer plants. It was great meeting him.
Our September meeting turned out to be a momentous one. Paul Green from Green's Leaves nurseries of Newent arrived at The Village Hall for 6.30p.m where I had just landed myself. I greeted him and then with other fellow committee members we started to set things in place. Then at 6.40p.m came the news we were all dreading, the death of our monarch Queen Elizabeth... What to do? Cancel or go ahead?
We decided on the latter, although we expected the attendance understandably to be down given the sad news. 34 though did attend. Thank you to you all.
With Paul's massive selection of grasses, shrubs and perennials in place, we commenced with an announcement of the Queen's passing and a minute's silence. Perhaps one of the first to be held in Her Majesty's memory?
Paul then gave a talk packed with fantastic plant knowledge and delivered with much humour. He trained at Pershore College in the early 90s and set Green's Leaves up as a business afterwards. He organises many plant fairs and travels throughout the UK with a van filled with plants from the nursery. All of the ones featured in the talk had Autumn interest, and were in superb condition. Soil and aspect requirement with pruning techniques of each one featured was included in this informative talk. He took some questions and afterwards drew the raffle and did a brisk trade with members as every plant was for sale!
Chairman Tom gave a detailed list of gardening jobs and advice for September as well as bringing the audience up to date with the latest club news. This included the date for our club's trip to RHS Wisley scheduled for Saturday the 17th of June 2023. With the AGC being affiliated to The RHS our members will only pay the coach fee.. which will be £22. The trip will leave from the Village.
Tom then went on to thank Paul for his presentation. He will be booked again in the future for sure, and we look forward to seeing another selection of seasonally interesting plants.
Paul Green is a proper nurseryman, with great knowledge and enthusiasm for his stock of more rarer plants. It was great meeting him.
Thursday 11th August - Growing fruit in small gardens
For our August meeting we welcomed back Reg Moule "the godfather of soil". Reg was our launch speaker when the club started in April 2018.
Growing fruit in small gardens was the subject matter, and this was an area of horticulture which we haven't covered as a club before, so a great addition to the programme.
Reg initially trained at Pershore college and learning fruit growing was one of the reasons why he studied there. In his 50 years in the industry he has witnessed a huge amount of changes and the growing of fruit is no exception!
He talked about both tree and soft fruit growing, varieties, rootstocks, pests and diseases, pruning and growing requirements. Our as ever inquisitive members asked all manner of questions during and after the talk.
Growing fruit in our gardens is something we may all have to do more of soon, with food cost inflation and supply issues becoming real problems for a lot of people. All in all a most valuable insight into the subject courtesy of our knowledgeable friend Reg..so thank you mate!
After the talk chairman Tom went through a few gardening jobs to tackle during August and read out some club notices. He also invited the audience to give suggestions for talk subjects to be included, where possible, for our 2023 programme. These were all duly noted.
The 7 prize raffle was drawn by Reg, after which he signed copies of his handbooks 1 & 2 which were for sale on the evening. It was good to see yet more new faces joining us for the first time, so good to see them and welcome!
Our Next meeting is the 8th of September when Paul Green will be coming with some of plants of the early Autumn season, Doors open at 7 for a 7p.m start, with a raffle and refreshments. It promises to be another great evening so we look forward to seeing all you there!
Growing fruit in small gardens was the subject matter, and this was an area of horticulture which we haven't covered as a club before, so a great addition to the programme.
Reg initially trained at Pershore college and learning fruit growing was one of the reasons why he studied there. In his 50 years in the industry he has witnessed a huge amount of changes and the growing of fruit is no exception!
He talked about both tree and soft fruit growing, varieties, rootstocks, pests and diseases, pruning and growing requirements. Our as ever inquisitive members asked all manner of questions during and after the talk.
Growing fruit in our gardens is something we may all have to do more of soon, with food cost inflation and supply issues becoming real problems for a lot of people. All in all a most valuable insight into the subject courtesy of our knowledgeable friend Reg..so thank you mate!
After the talk chairman Tom went through a few gardening jobs to tackle during August and read out some club notices. He also invited the audience to give suggestions for talk subjects to be included, where possible, for our 2023 programme. These were all duly noted.
The 7 prize raffle was drawn by Reg, after which he signed copies of his handbooks 1 & 2 which were for sale on the evening. It was good to see yet more new faces joining us for the first time, so good to see them and welcome!
Our Next meeting is the 8th of September when Paul Green will be coming with some of plants of the early Autumn season, Doors open at 7 for a 7p.m start, with a raffle and refreshments. It promises to be another great evening so we look forward to seeing all you there!
Thursday 14th July - An evening with Terry Walton.
Well what another brilliant occasion for The Alderton Gardening Club !
These superb photographs taken by our very own Will Hughes chart part of the day's activities with a returning visit from The King of the crops himself Terry Walton. After a meal at the Hobnails Inn with Terry and Anthea we then dropped luggage off at Corner Cottage where our guests stayed overnight. Then a tour of Alderton Allotments followed with Terry having a thorough look around with plot holders and comparing the progress of the Alderton plots and crops, with his own in the Rhondda Valley.
After this we headed, with other members of the committee to the home of Tim and Lyn Court, at the old Methodist Chapel in Beckford Road for refreshments, cakes and savouries. The latter proving to be very popular with Terry and the AGC Treasurer. enjoying these tasty treats in particular!
Then it was countdown to showtime ! Terry and Anthea were taken back to their overnight accommodation to freshen up , whilst the committee descended enmasse to the Village Hall to set everything up. With it all in place, our guest speaker and wife arrived and soon afterwards with them the audience. This is the fullest attendance we have had since our restart last October. It was great to see so many new faces, and members from other local gardening clubs as well. A warm welcome to you all!
Then it was showtime.. , not Tom and Jerry... But Tom and Terry! with the chairman welcoming our star guest up to the stage. A three part conversation illustrated with slides charting Terry's life story, media work and most importantly his allotment plot then continued for over an hour. Then a break followed for some club notices and announcements. After which some cracking questions from the floor were offered to Terry, ranging from control of ground elder, the successful sowing of carrots, tomato blight, care of recently moved gooseberry bushes and watering techniques in very hot weather.
Following this, the eight prize raffle was kindly drawn by Anthea, and a presentation of a thankyou gift to her was given by AGC secretary Julia Alvis.
Finally chairman Tom thanked our guests for visiting Alderton again, and for another memorable club evening to loud applause. Terry then finished off by signing copies of his popular Allotment Almanac. A final debrief followed in the aptly named, as ever, The Gardeners Arms.
Thoughts are with several Alderton Gardening Club members who sadly had to miss this occasion due to Covid or other illnesses
These superb photographs taken by our very own Will Hughes chart part of the day's activities with a returning visit from The King of the crops himself Terry Walton. After a meal at the Hobnails Inn with Terry and Anthea we then dropped luggage off at Corner Cottage where our guests stayed overnight. Then a tour of Alderton Allotments followed with Terry having a thorough look around with plot holders and comparing the progress of the Alderton plots and crops, with his own in the Rhondda Valley.
After this we headed, with other members of the committee to the home of Tim and Lyn Court, at the old Methodist Chapel in Beckford Road for refreshments, cakes and savouries. The latter proving to be very popular with Terry and the AGC Treasurer. enjoying these tasty treats in particular!
Then it was countdown to showtime ! Terry and Anthea were taken back to their overnight accommodation to freshen up , whilst the committee descended enmasse to the Village Hall to set everything up. With it all in place, our guest speaker and wife arrived and soon afterwards with them the audience. This is the fullest attendance we have had since our restart last October. It was great to see so many new faces, and members from other local gardening clubs as well. A warm welcome to you all!
Then it was showtime.. , not Tom and Jerry... But Tom and Terry! with the chairman welcoming our star guest up to the stage. A three part conversation illustrated with slides charting Terry's life story, media work and most importantly his allotment plot then continued for over an hour. Then a break followed for some club notices and announcements. After which some cracking questions from the floor were offered to Terry, ranging from control of ground elder, the successful sowing of carrots, tomato blight, care of recently moved gooseberry bushes and watering techniques in very hot weather.
Following this, the eight prize raffle was kindly drawn by Anthea, and a presentation of a thankyou gift to her was given by AGC secretary Julia Alvis.
Finally chairman Tom thanked our guests for visiting Alderton again, and for another memorable club evening to loud applause. Terry then finished off by signing copies of his popular Allotment Almanac. A final debrief followed in the aptly named, as ever, The Gardeners Arms.
Thoughts are with several Alderton Gardening Club members who sadly had to miss this occasion due to Covid or other illnesses
Thursday 9th June - Dave Crop - New plants from old.
Another meeting completed and with three committee members away on holiday and numerous regulars unable to attend, a turnout of 44 people was a good result. This reflects the resilience of the AGC attendance numbers, and the 'churn' of people who attend our gatherings. With two renewals and one new member signing up, our membership numbers are now in the mid 80s! So So encouraging! Welcome to Jean Hilton ( our latest new member)
For June we welcomed seasoned gardener from Martley Dave Crop who gave a practical demonstration on how to split a carex plant and as a result produce over 30 new plants from it! These were given away free to the attendees. Dave had a great way of interacting with the audience and being a former teacher was well used to dealing with any unruly behaviour! There was much laughter in the Hall all through the talk. He also gave us some tips about composts and how to treat and prepare plants whilst propagating them. He answered several questions then went on to talk about the book that he wrote about former Martley Village resident Thomas W Sanders who rose from humble beginnings to end up working in the gardens of Versailles, and becoming the editor of Amateur Gardening magazine for 40 years. He also helped to start some of the first gardening societies and Clubs. Both Prince Charles and Alan Titchmarsh have obtained copies of this biography. Dave sold several of these books at the meeting, kindly donating £2 for each sale to our club. He also gave us several as future raffle prizes. So very generous!
Chairman Tom then went on to give out a list and description of gardening jobs for June and brought the attendees up to date with the latest club news.
A Magnificent seven prize raffle was drawn by our guest speaker, and he was then thanked by the chairman for his talk.
Preparations are now underway for our next meeting with the celebrated allotment gardener from the Rhondda valley Terry Walton on the 14th of july. 51 advance tickets to members have now been sold, and they are now on general sale.
For June we welcomed seasoned gardener from Martley Dave Crop who gave a practical demonstration on how to split a carex plant and as a result produce over 30 new plants from it! These were given away free to the attendees. Dave had a great way of interacting with the audience and being a former teacher was well used to dealing with any unruly behaviour! There was much laughter in the Hall all through the talk. He also gave us some tips about composts and how to treat and prepare plants whilst propagating them. He answered several questions then went on to talk about the book that he wrote about former Martley Village resident Thomas W Sanders who rose from humble beginnings to end up working in the gardens of Versailles, and becoming the editor of Amateur Gardening magazine for 40 years. He also helped to start some of the first gardening societies and Clubs. Both Prince Charles and Alan Titchmarsh have obtained copies of this biography. Dave sold several of these books at the meeting, kindly donating £2 for each sale to our club. He also gave us several as future raffle prizes. So very generous!
Chairman Tom then went on to give out a list and description of gardening jobs for June and brought the attendees up to date with the latest club news.
A Magnificent seven prize raffle was drawn by our guest speaker, and he was then thanked by the chairman for his talk.
Preparations are now underway for our next meeting with the celebrated allotment gardener from the Rhondda valley Terry Walton on the 14th of july. 51 advance tickets to members have now been sold, and they are now on general sale.
Thursday 12th May - Harriet Rycroft - Pots for Hot Spots and Shady Characters.
Our guest expert speaker was container gardening expert Harriet Rycroft from Moreton in Marsh. She delivered a two part talk with a very well illustrated digital slide projection as the first part. This gave us an insight into her own garden and at her former place of employment Whichford Pottery, where she was head gardener. The presentation was full of ideas about plant and pot combinations, in both sunny and shady aspects. She talked at length about what composts to use, what plants to use and watering techniques. The displays that she produces are quite simply stunning. As well as doing this for a living it is quite obvious that Harriet is a real plant enthusiast as well!
In part two Harriet gave a practical demonstration of how to plant up a pot with succulents. The audience were transfixed by this and asked questions as she gradually built the display up. Harriet talked about the book which she combined to produce with the then head gardener at The Cotswold Wildlife Park, where she also worked. She also has another book of her own coming out in the Autumn about container and pot gardening.
After drawing the seven prize raffle a vote of thanks was proposed by Tom the chairman who also filled the audience in with the latest club news and a list of monthly gardening jobs to tackle in May.
Committee member Sarah Hughes ran the plants stall this evening, thank you to everyone who brought plants and seeds along for this. She also sold 32 advance tickets for our July meeting for an evening with allotment gardener, star of the Jeremy Vine radio show Terry Walton!
In part two Harriet gave a practical demonstration of how to plant up a pot with succulents. The audience were transfixed by this and asked questions as she gradually built the display up. Harriet talked about the book which she combined to produce with the then head gardener at The Cotswold Wildlife Park, where she also worked. She also has another book of her own coming out in the Autumn about container and pot gardening.
After drawing the seven prize raffle a vote of thanks was proposed by Tom the chairman who also filled the audience in with the latest club news and a list of monthly gardening jobs to tackle in May.
Committee member Sarah Hughes ran the plants stall this evening, thank you to everyone who brought plants and seeds along for this. She also sold 32 advance tickets for our July meeting for an evening with allotment gardener, star of the Jeremy Vine radio show Terry Walton!
Monday 2nd May - Morton Hall Gardens Tulip Festival.
On bank holiday Monday 5 AGC members went on expedition to Morton Hall Gardens Tulip Festival. Morton Hall Gardens cover 7 acres of gardens and park. Over 3000 tulip bulbs are planted every year in formal borders and pots along with displays of cut tulips. Morton Hall’s 2 full time and 2 part time gardeners were on hand passing on tips and answering questions. At the end of May the bulbs are dug up and composted in a very hot compost pile. The compost produced is used elsewhere in the garden to avoid tulip blight contaminating the next year’s planting.
Needless to say we had a great time questioning the gardeners, accosting members of the public who had plant identification apps on their phones to help us put names to plants, and enjoying the beautiful tulips. We enjoyed looking around the rest of the garden which includes a shady stroll garden with ferns and water, a Japanese Tea House, and extensive wild flower meadows with Camassias spiking up above the grass. Despite the day being overcast and a little chilly we took packed lunches for a picnic and those of us who sat on the grass managed to get back up again! There was an opportunity to order bulbs for the autumn and we had lots of favourites. How many did we order? I couldn’t possibly say! (Beverly Lewis)
Needless to say we had a great time questioning the gardeners, accosting members of the public who had plant identification apps on their phones to help us put names to plants, and enjoying the beautiful tulips. We enjoyed looking around the rest of the garden which includes a shady stroll garden with ferns and water, a Japanese Tea House, and extensive wild flower meadows with Camassias spiking up above the grass. Despite the day being overcast and a little chilly we took packed lunches for a picnic and those of us who sat on the grass managed to get back up again! There was an opportunity to order bulbs for the autumn and we had lots of favourites. How many did we order? I couldn’t possibly say! (Beverly Lewis)
Thursday 14th April - Howard Drury - The very best garden tips
What a great way to celebrate our 4th anniversary as a club. The Village Hall was packed for an evening with Howard Drury.
Prior to the meeting, Howard and Andrea kindly looked around the immaculate garden of AGC members Rob and Judy Albutt which was a lovely gesture.
Howard's talk entitled "The very best garden tips" covered such a vast range of practical gardening know-how from pests and diseases, to plant care, bird feeding equipment, and issues surrounding peat free compost, soil erosion and even The RHS.
At the end of the evening he took a couple of questions, then Howard's wife Andrea drew the numbers for our 8 prize raffle.
After updating the members on the club's latest news, Chairman Tom gave a few topical gardening tips himself and then proposed the vote of thanks to our guest speaker.
The evening's celebrations were enhanced with Prosecco and birthday cakes. Thanks to Nicki, Sheila, Julie and John Marfell for providing this wonderful fare.
Prior to the meeting, Howard and Andrea kindly looked around the immaculate garden of AGC members Rob and Judy Albutt which was a lovely gesture.
Howard's talk entitled "The very best garden tips" covered such a vast range of practical gardening know-how from pests and diseases, to plant care, bird feeding equipment, and issues surrounding peat free compost, soil erosion and even The RHS.
At the end of the evening he took a couple of questions, then Howard's wife Andrea drew the numbers for our 8 prize raffle.
After updating the members on the club's latest news, Chairman Tom gave a few topical gardening tips himself and then proposed the vote of thanks to our guest speaker.
The evening's celebrations were enhanced with Prosecco and birthday cakes. Thanks to Nicki, Sheila, Julie and John Marfell for providing this wonderful fare.
Thursday 10th March - Aaron Pleciak - Preparing and maintaining your garden space
Tonight we welcomed a young nurseryman just starting out on the gardening club speaking circuit. Aaron Pleciak a manager at Mill lane Nurseries, Drakes Broughton, near Pershore. In front of an audience totalling 45 he delivered a talk packed with topical gardening advice, always so useful! Our guest speaker brought a good stock of plants, shrubs, roses and even a tree with him! Aaron described many of these and what growing conditions they prefer. He also talked about Mill lane, its plants and range of gardening products which they stock. After a 55 minute presentation he then took questions and with chairman Tom joining in with these the evening was filled with discussion about topical gardening tasks and how to do them.
Thursday 10th February - Jo Worthy Jones
A fabulous 51 people attended this evening's February meeting for the Alderton Gardening Club with a talk by Jo Worthy Jones of Haven for Wildlife on Bumblebees. She described many types of this insect which amount to 27 different ones in total in the U K. Jo went through their life-cycles and how we can identify them, and help their survival in our own gardens by what plants we grow and what habitat we can create. All in all a wonderful talk which was delivered with great enthusiasm and humour. Our speaker then answered several questions afterwards and then drew the bumper 8 prize raffle. So thank you for a splendid insight into one of the more larger pollinators.
Refreshments were served once again, with supplies for these being purchased from Alderton Shop. Members were brought up to date with the latest club news, and chairman Tom gave a few more topical gardening tips for February.
A presentation was made to our two retiring committee members, Liz Sissons and Ann Pegg. Two ladies who have been on the committee since the club began. Another presentation will be made to Laura Dansie who hasn't been able to attend the meetings due to having long covid. We wish Laura well, and she will receive her goodies down on her plot at Alderton Allotments. These ladies have been superb and are hard acts to follow.
Refreshments were served once again, with supplies for these being purchased from Alderton Shop. Members were brought up to date with the latest club news, and chairman Tom gave a few more topical gardening tips for February.
A presentation was made to our two retiring committee members, Liz Sissons and Ann Pegg. Two ladies who have been on the committee since the club began. Another presentation will be made to Laura Dansie who hasn't been able to attend the meetings due to having long covid. We wish Laura well, and she will receive her goodies down on her plot at Alderton Allotments. These ladies have been superb and are hard acts to follow.
Thursday 13th January - Roger Umpleby
Well a new year and the start of our 2022 programme for the Alderton Gardening club. Despite the freezing cold evening, 40 people attended a presentation by our good friend Roger Umpleby. A renowned entomologist and also chairman of Beckford Gardening club his talk was entitled "useful, beautiful but unloved, an alternative look at weeds. Roger talked about virtually every aspect of this subject, with a comprehensive but amusing lecture describing the negative and beneficial aspects of these plants as well as their culinary and medicinal uses. He also featured the toxic weeds and the consequences of ingesting or even just touching them! Naturally being an entomologist there were also many superb photographs of insects and butterflies, illustrating their connection with these plants. Roger is one of the most prolific and regular speakers on the gardening club circuit and it is always a pleasure to have him visit us from his home in Ashton under Hill.
Thursday 9th December - David Morgan
Home made Mince pies and Sausage rolls, Wine and Mistletoe and another healthy turnout for our December Meeting of The Alderton Gardening club. We welcomed Worcestershire county organiser for the National Open Gardens Scheme Dave Morgan and his good lady wife from Bromsgrove. Dave delivered a well illustrated, informative and amusing talk on this fabulous charity that raises enormous amounts of money annually for good causes. He told us about the history of this scheme, his duties as the county organiser and how gardens are selected for being open to the public. Dave is totally dedicated to his voluntary role, and is a credit to this organisation. He took questions from the audience afterwards, and then drew the 7 prize raffle.
Thanks to Julia Alvis, and John Marfell for the night's tasty treats. John for the brilliant mince pies complete with AGC logo icing and Julia for the Sausage rolls. Nicki Broderick & Sheila Russell did the honours with the wine.
Tom was presented with The RHS Banksian medal on behalf of the committee tonight by vice chair Ann Pegg.
Thanks to Julia Alvis, and John Marfell for the night's tasty treats. John for the brilliant mince pies complete with AGC logo icing and Julia for the Sausage rolls. Nicki Broderick & Sheila Russell did the honours with the wine.
Tom was presented with The RHS Banksian medal on behalf of the committee tonight by vice chair Ann Pegg.
Thursday 11th November - Dominic Hamilton
Director of the Painswick Rococo Garden Trust gave a talk on the restoration of this famous Cotswold garden.
He delivered a fascinating, illustrated talk on the origins, history, restoration and operation of this totally unique garden in Gloucestershire. All of its funding is self generated, with full time staff to pay but also with a healthy team of volunteers who work until the direction of the head gardener. It has been a difficult time for attractions such as the Rococo, but Dominic said they have managed to weather the Covid storm .The feature with Pam Ayres on her series on Channel 5, has certainly given them a bumper Autumn following that exposure. Dominic took questions from the audience, and was thanked for his presentation.
He delivered a fascinating, illustrated talk on the origins, history, restoration and operation of this totally unique garden in Gloucestershire. All of its funding is self generated, with full time staff to pay but also with a healthy team of volunteers who work until the direction of the head gardener. It has been a difficult time for attractions such as the Rococo, but Dominic said they have managed to weather the Covid storm .The feature with Pam Ayres on her series on Channel 5, has certainly given them a bumper Autumn following that exposure. Dominic took questions from the audience, and was thanked for his presentation.
Thursday 14th October - Victoria Logue
Victoria Logue from Whitehall Farmhouse plants gave a talk on extending the season in your garden.
Victoria gave us an interesting talk regarding autumn performing plants; shrubs and trees. Alongside a slide presentation, she discussed the importance of focal points in the garden and complimentary planting leading to them. She was able to provide us with many useful hints, tips, ideas and experiences from her on garden high up on the Cotswolds.
Victoria gave us an interesting talk regarding autumn performing plants; shrubs and trees. Alongside a slide presentation, she discussed the importance of focal points in the garden and complimentary planting leading to them. She was able to provide us with many useful hints, tips, ideas and experiences from her on garden high up on the Cotswolds.
13th March 2020
Alderton Gardening Club welcomed Glyn Jones, Head of Gardens at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Glyn started work at the Trust in 2016, charged with developing a new direction for the five gardens. He gave a fascinating talk about how he is developing a visual difference for each of the gardens. The themes include a countryside garden for Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, a Physic Garden at Hall’s Croft, a Tudor feel for the 60 acre Mary Arden’s Farm, revitalized long borders and yew hedging at Shakespeare’s Birthplace and a new design for Shakespeare’s New Place in the heart of Stratford. Members were inspired to visit the gardens and the range on offer was unknown to many, even though it is so close. You can see more about the gardens and the educational work of The Shakespeare Trust at www.shakespeare.org.uk. Do have a look and perhaps a visit (when permitted). One ticket (usually 23.00) lasts 12 months so a real treat for unlimited visits to five gardens.
Snowdrops at Colesbourne Park - 13th February 2020
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The Alderton Gardening Club's first trip of the year was to one of the great snowdrop gardens; Colesbourne Park between Cirencester and Cheltenham. This is the home of the Elwes family, who have many varieties of snowdrop named after them. The former Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire Sir Henry Elwes was walking around all day, chatting with the 450 or so people from clubs as far away as Dorset, Leicestershire and Berkshire. Freddie Elwes and his wife were the main organisers of this inaugural event, helped by volunteers, local school children and Colesbourne staff.
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Mick Poultney - Composting 13th February 2020
Our thanks this month go to our guest speaker Mr Mick Poultney "The Compost King" who came to our February meeting on Thursday the 13th; travelling to Alderton from Halesowen.
A former sailor and firefighter Mick fully lived up to his billing, and covered every aspect of the composting process with a superbly illustrated digital slide presentation. His knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject was obvious.
All in all it was a very informative evening, with Mick following on with questions after talking for 75 minutes. He even donated some composting goodies for the raffle!
Several of our audience who attended have already said that they are now taking up composting, or changing their techniques with their own bins after this presentation.
A former sailor and firefighter Mick fully lived up to his billing, and covered every aspect of the composting process with a superbly illustrated digital slide presentation. His knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject was obvious.
All in all it was a very informative evening, with Mick following on with questions after talking for 75 minutes. He even donated some composting goodies for the raffle!
Several of our audience who attended have already said that they are now taking up composting, or changing their techniques with their own bins after this presentation.
Gail Plant - Scented Gardens 9th January 2020
We were delighted that despite yet more rain and poor conditions our guest speaker Gail Plant arrived full of cheer and with a wonderful selection of fragrant winter flowers from herbaceous plants and shrubs. Gail talked about each one and shared samples amongst the audience. We were not only able to admire the look and smell of the plants but also hear how the smell was described by the experts - honey, violets, lemon, rosemary. As each persons sense of smell differs there were both positive and negative reactions around the room. Gail designs gardens with a particular interest in scented plants and winter is a season of particular interest for her.
The Christmas Social and talk by Julie Henderson 13th December 2019
The Alderton Gardening Club's annual Christmas gathering was attended this year by over 70 people. We also had the added extra of a guest speaker, Julie Henderson who came from Bristol. She gave us a fascinating talk on "The 12 plants of Christmas". Superb food was provided by our Julie Alvis and Liz Sissons, with caterers extraordinaire John & Sue Marfell doing us proud as well. Wine flowed by the gallon full. A bumper 11 prize raffle was organised by Laura Dansie, with free Holly and Mistletoe by the wheelbarrow load. There was a fantastic atmosphere in the village Hall with everyone enjoying themselves in true Christmas festive fashion. We finish 2019 with 96 members on the books, an average attendance of 65 people per meeting, two trips already organised for 2020 and a full programme of speakers booked! As Chairman I'm thrilled with this year's progress, but none of this would be possible without the help and support from our Committee, so thank you all and let's keep it going!!..
More photos on Tom Cullimore's Facebook page!
More photos on Tom Cullimore's Facebook page!
The Land Girls - Fiona Warin October 10th
This was an engaging and informative talk. Fiona took us back to 1942 and interviewed members of the audience about their suitability to enrol in the land army. She described the multiplicity of their daily tasks, and the clothing provided for the work. Sharing the memoirs from several land girls showed how proud they were to have done their bit for King & Country.
Every aspect of this crucial work on the home front was covered; from the work of lumber Jill's to the 24 hour shifts managed by the women driving and maintaining the tractors clearing and ploughing the land. The session finished with the audience singing with Fiona a women's land army song. All in all a real fun evening, with the longest round of applause yet heard for a speaker at a club meeting! Fiona does another talk entitled Dig for Victory, so we will inviting her back to Alderton again.
Every aspect of this crucial work on the home front was covered; from the work of lumber Jill's to the 24 hour shifts managed by the women driving and maintaining the tractors clearing and ploughing the land. The session finished with the audience singing with Fiona a women's land army song. All in all a real fun evening, with the longest round of applause yet heard for a speaker at a club meeting! Fiona does another talk entitled Dig for Victory, so we will inviting her back to Alderton again.
Mr Don Everitt - Autumn the Forgotten Season
With a wealth of knowledge and a range of original photographs we indulged in the plentiful season and were encouraged to plan for the future. Tips included a Facebook page about hydrangea's (HydrangeaHappiness) , sowing fresh seeds from Larkspurs and late flowering annuals and noting down good combinations to attempt to repeat them next year!
Terry Walton visits Alderton Allotments and Alderton Gardening Club - 8th August 2019
Terry visited Alderton Allotments during a balmy afternoon and met some local gardeners. Tom, our Chairman, showed him round and Mr and Mrs Walton enjoyed tea at the Gardeners Arms before Terry's talk at the village hall. The village hall was packed with over 100 people and the buzz of talk could be heard through the open windows as gardening club members and guests approached the building. We were well entertained by Terry's professional talk and anecdotes and the evening finished off with a book signing. Thank you to all who helped the Gardening Club with this event: the allotment holders, The Gardeners Arms and Corner Cottage B&B.
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Visit to Hestercombe Gardens - 6th July 2019
A beautiful day dawned and 38 members were smoothly transported to Hestercombe near Taunton. The varied from a Georgian landscape with ponds, woodland paths and arbours to the formal gardens of Gertrude Jekyll framed by architecture by Sir Edwin Lutyens. The nursery was particularly appreciated and many boxes of plants found their way to the coach for the trip home. Our Chairman was seen taking at least two armfuls of flowers - where does he put them all? Tom has some lovely photos on his Facebook site: here are a sample.
The House and formal gardens
The Orangery
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The lower lake and start of the valley walk
The Rhyl from above full of Iris and yellow mimulus.
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Thursday 13th June - George Alway - Vegetables without Tears
George Alway talked with warmth and humour about his (and his nieces) allotment experiences. He discussed the trials and tribulations of taking over a neglected allotment and the benefits of weed suppressant for new and experienced gardeners. He was generous with his hints and tips, in particular using deep root trainers for a variety of seeds in addition to sweet peas.
The Brooks Gardens - an evening with Marion Stainton
21 gardening club members were rather fortunate to enjoy a dry and clear evening at the Brooks Gardens. We were warmly welcomed by Marion and her two dogs and she conducted us on a tour of the gardens. Spring and early summer flowers were out and many flowerbeds were packed with interesting flowers. We were fascinated to see how a mature garden and orchard had sprung up in only 10 years - Marion had kept a photographic record of the early days. Tea and delicious cakes followed and some members were kindly gifted with some seed (Alliums) and others made some purchases of divided plants.
Tom has many more photos on his Facebook page - it's worth a look! |
Lovely combination of Bleeding Heart and Irises....
Marion (right) discussing the garden
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Thursday 9th May David Austin Roses A talk by Mervyn Reed
Mervyn Reed visited to tell us how David Austin Roses began, look at how they breed their new varieties and review the last 2 years releases. It was amazing to hear that in order to breed these roses over 50,000 roses are hand pollinated and labelled each year. From 250,000 seedlings growth and trials result in only 6 new varieties in 10 years time. In addition to the development of garden roses trials are now being made of cut roses, to see how they last and unfurl.
David Austin use no pesticides for whitefly, just netting and sticky tabs in the greenhouses and the services of nature in the fields.
Growers transfer buds to root stocks to create the commercial scale of roses required for mass production and sale, a process still done by hand with skill and dedication. Three years later up to 200,000 of these roses are lifted, and prepared for dispatch by post in temperature controlled sheds by this successful business.
David Austin use no pesticides for whitefly, just netting and sticky tabs in the greenhouses and the services of nature in the fields.
Growers transfer buds to root stocks to create the commercial scale of roses required for mass production and sale, a process still done by hand with skill and dedication. Three years later up to 200,000 of these roses are lifted, and prepared for dispatch by post in temperature controlled sheds by this successful business.
Tom Cullimore presenting local school parents Amy and Therese with a £100 gardening voucher to support activities at the school.
Mervyn with a picture of David Austin during the talk
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Thursday 11th April - Alderton Gardeing Club's First Birthday Meeting
Gardeners Question Time - with Reg Moule and Dominic Cotter from Radio Gloucestershire
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The Club's 1st Birthday was celebrated with this beautiful cake made by Julia Alvis, some bubbly and an entertaining Gardener's Question Time format meeting hosted by Dominic Cotter from Radio Gloucestershire. Reg Moule ‘The Godfather of Soil’ returned to celebrate with us, along with Roger Umpleby adding his advice and knowledge to answer audience questions.
When to crop potatoes, plants for dry north walls, and rhubarb were discussed and a surprise free gift of a radio Gloucester pen and excellent raffle completed the evening. Over 70 members and guests attended and the programme for the year was distributed. |
Thursday 14th March - Pruning Shrubs and their Aftercare - Duncan Coombs
Duncan Coombs was a Pershore Horticultural College lecturer from 1983 and is a passionate plantsman, plant hunter and adviser to the RHS.
He proved an entertaining and popular speaker dealing with a variety of questions about how and when to prune a large range of shrubs.
He reminded us about the 3 D's - Dead, Damaged and Diseased and brought along some tools........
Thursday 14th February 2019- Wildlife in the Garden - David Cramp
David Cramp is Chairman of the Gloucestershire Local Group of the RSPB and for five years until October 2018 a member of the RSPB Council. David shared images of the creatures found in his Alderton garden, local roads and on his allotment. His local and wider knowledge was invaluable in discussing how to make our village and gardens better homes for wildlife by embracing slugs, snails and bugs and even ants as part of our ecology. Moss in lawns can be used for nest material and ants nests provide useful food for woodpeckers. David encouraged everyone to plant more herbs to support the insects that we rely on, and even to tolerate the odd nettle patch to encourage butterflies.
Thursday 10th January 2019- A Perennial Year - Julie Ritchie
Julie Ritchie is the proprietor of Hoo House Nursery (hoohouse.co.uk) and has been growing and propagating plants using peat-free compost for many years. She maintains around 900 varieties of perennials and illustrated her talk with colourful perennials and discussed how old and new varieties suited our clay soil and can enhance your garden throughout the year.
Late summer perennials in the sale beds
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Julie Ritchie (left) discussing plant selection with a customer
Thursday 8th November - Michael Jones - Mistletoe, Fact, Myth and Legend
On Thursday 8th November we learnt about mistletoe. Dr Michael Jones expert knowledge was shared in an entertaining and informative way as he discussed the facts, myths and legends that surround this fascinating parasitic plant. Our local area has an abundance of mistletoe possibly linked to the historic apple orchards - a favourite host of the plant. Although we learnt that the UK is on the edge of the range of European mistletoe, which needs a summer temperature of 16 degrees Celsius, there are over 1000 varieties of this plant. Michael's travels had taken him to Europe and Africa to study varieties of the tropical mistletoe and to churches and towns across the UK to study stories about this plant. Tenbury Wells celebrates a mistletoe fair and the 1st December is mistletoe day - let's all celebrate this fantastic plant.
Thursday 11th October - Roger Umpelby - Bugs: the good, the bad and the ugly
Roger entertained us with a fascinating look at the bugs in our gardens. These invertebrates, mainly sucking creatures, included ladybirds, scorpion flys, wasps , beetles, aphids and many more. Illustrated with some wonderful close up photographs, some of which Roger has kindly shared with us below, we learnt about the positive role of wasps, hoverfly and lacewing larvae in controlling aphids. The range of tiny predators and the brutal world where bug eats bug was eye opening. Encouraging a variety of insects to a range of plants in the garden benefits all wildlife - so even if your fushias are getting eaten remember that it's the Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar that is being fed to develop into a beauty later.
All Pictures CC Roger Umpelby
All Pictures CC Roger Umpelby
Asparagus beetle larva and damage
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Bumble bee and apple flower
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Green apple aphids with ant and honeydew
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Seven spot ladybirds on blackberry
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Male scorpion fly
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Thursday 13th September - Mandy Bradshaw - Beyond the Garden Gate
On Thursday 13th September Mandy Bradshaw provided a professional and entertaining talk despite having recently broken her arm! She gave the group an excellent picture of the range of private gardens that are a hidden treasure in the Cotswolds - often only open on selected occasions. Mandy also writes for newspapers and our local magazines and illustrated her talk with some excellent photographs.
Thursday 9th August - Marion Stainton gave a talk - For the Love of Blue Poppies
On Thursday 9th August Marion Stainton gave a talk - For the Love of Blue Poppies - What have the Himalayas ever done for us? She told a fascinating tale of plant collectors in the Himalayas and the historical introduction of many very garden plants and the influence they had on styles in gardens at the time. We heard about the challenges that collectors had in those times, including being covered with leeches, and the astounding number of plants that died and were lost due to long sea journeys and lack of knowledge about the plants' requirements. Over 200 species of primulas and over 4000 species of rhododendrons originated in the Himalayas. An informative and well presented talk it reminds us of the international nature of many of our own gardens.
Tuesday 17th July - Trip to Morton Hall Gardens
Fourteen Alderton Garden Club members made the trip to Morton Hall Gardens on Tuesday 17th July. We were relieved that the weather was cloudy and noticed a cooling breeze as this late 18th century manor house is perched atop an escarpment with breathtaking views over the Vale of Evesham.
We were treated to an informative talk by Anne Olivieri and the Head Gardener. The Stroll Garden, the South Garden and the Vegetable garden - which contained as many flowers were full of interest. The novel use of clematis within the mixed flower borders through using special supports between the roses was a particularly attractive feature. We learnt that the beautiful grounds also have a magnificent display of spring Fritillaries and over five hundred tulips, tempting members to a repeat visit.
We were treated to an informative talk by Anne Olivieri and the Head Gardener. The Stroll Garden, the South Garden and the Vegetable garden - which contained as many flowers were full of interest. The novel use of clematis within the mixed flower borders through using special supports between the roses was a particularly attractive feature. We learnt that the beautiful grounds also have a magnificent display of spring Fritillaries and over five hundred tulips, tempting members to a repeat visit.
Anne Olivieri guiding us to the Japanese tea house and stroll garden
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AGC members walking round from the orchard to the rear garden
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June 2018 - Andy Pedrick - Shrubs, Perennials and climbers of interest
Andy has had a long career as a nurseryman and was trained at Pershore College. His range of shrubs, climbers and perennials proved popular and one lucky audience member received an unexpected free gift.
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10th May 2018 - Frank Hardy
On the 10th May Frank Hardy provided an entertaining and creative evening discussing focal points in the garden. Frank brought with him an array of shrubs and perennials and got the audience to really look at shapes, colours, textures, shadows and viewpoints. He established some basic principles such as thinking about evergreens for 50% of the border then thinking about colour. The audience were challenged to pick a 'star plant' and then Frank went on to build a border layout from the assortment of shrubs in the room. It was fascinating to see how he created order and complementary planting from the apparently random mix of shrubs available.
Assorted shrubs and perennials with different qualities
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Frank reviewing the final arrangement
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12th April 2018 - Reg Moule, Radio Gloucestershire's gardening expert
An evening with Reg Moule proved a popular launch for Alderton Gardening Club and attracted an audience of over 60 people. With more than 50 new members the club looks forward to a successful year. Reg entertained the audience with a talk that ranged from organic compost to lawn care and added some detail to our knowledge about the chemical composition of different fertilisers and when they are best used.
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Tom, Gardening Club Chairman, getting the meeting started.
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