Meetings 2012-13
October 12th - Reliable late Bloomers For Every Garden—by Martin & Janet Blow
Late colour in the garden requires planning and work at the right time. This talk recommends late flowering perennials for every garden and gives proven tips to make sure they are ready to perform. Martin and Janet are owners of a garden nursery in Hankelow, Cheshire. The garden is open for the Yellow Book and includes a National Plant Collection of helenium, over 300 varieties of hemerocallis and one of the largest selections of centaurea and geum in the country.
November 9th - TRANSFORMING YOUR GARDEN by Bunny Guinness
Chelsea Gold Medallist. www.bunnyguinness.com
How to make the most of your garden using plants, colour and materials. Bunny Guinness is a Chartered Landscape Architect and garden designer. She exhibits at Chelsea Flower Show where she has won 6 gold medals. A regular panellist on Gardeners Question Time and garden writer appearing on gardening magazines and newspapers.
December 14th Christmas Party and Quiz
A quiz hosted by past-chairman Joan Stanway
Our past chairman, will entertain us with a garden-based quiz before we have a buffet and chat to round off the year. The Committee usually provide the sweets whilst members bring the savouries.
January 11th - The Wonderful World Of Weeds by Sally Smith
Why are weeds so successful and what strategies are available to the organic gardener? Sally is a freelance organic gardening consultant, teacher and trainer. She has worked at Garden Organic as an adviser, taught horticulture to RHS diploma level and worked with the media as a researcher for BBC gardening programmes.
8th February - Peonies I Have Grown by John Hudson
Chairman of The Rutland Group.
John is Chairman of the Rutland group of the Hardy Plant Society and member of the HPS Peony Specialist Group. He is a real enthusiast and is hugely knowledgeable about peonies. He hopes to have some of his own seedlings to bring to the talk. John's review of Peonies of the World by Hong De-Yuan is on the Hardy Plant website.
8th March - AGM followed by Seasonal Herbaceous Perennials by Rosy Hardy.
Rosy is giving one of her noted live plant talks. She owns Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants from Whitchurch, Hampshire, which is recognised as one of the UK's leading plantsmen's nurseries. An exhibitor at Chelsea, Hampton Court, Tatton
Flower Shows and Gardeners' World Live and gold medals winner (16 times at Chelsea alone!).
April 12th - Variegated Delights by Howard Drury
The talk looks at variegated plants for around the garden, greenhouse and home. Needing a little more care than their all green counterparts they are fascinating plants that are becoming more popular today. Howard is from Kings Heath in Birmingham from where he writes for publications such as Nottinghamshire Today and the Black Country Bugle on gardening matters. He frequently lectures at Ashwood Nurseries where his expertise in modern PowerPoint presentations is used to bring life to the gardens he knows and visits. He is a horticultural broadcaster, lecturer, writer, and consultant.