On a lovely sunny spring evening, members at our April meeting enjoyed a lively talk by Darren Rudge with his ‘tricks of the trade’ on this subject, followed by a practical demonstration of making up a hanging basket which he then kindly donated to our raffle. His initial presentation recommended different types of pots and baskets as well as plants to go in them, depending on the effect that we want to create and our colour palette preference, as well as how best to fill and a good peat-free compost to use.

There were quite a few questions afterwards, and extra raffle tickets were sold – Sue was the lucky winner of his finished basket. Darren then judged the last of this season’s monthly competitions, and the member with the most points will receive the Trudi Brearley Challenge Trophy at our AGM in May. This month our winner was Anita’s chaenomeles, with Sylvia’s rhododendron 2nd and Sue’s delicate epimedium 3rd. All the entries were beautiful again as you can see from the photo. Please also scroll down to the bottom of this post to spot two dandelions posing amongst forget-me-nots in a shady garden area – serendipity!  

We also announced our 7th July coach trip to Waterperry Gardens, guests welcome, details on our events page, and talked about our Open Gardens Weekend on 28th and 29th June.

In March we welcomed back Diane Clement, this time sharing her vast knowledge of cyclamen & hepaticas – her ‘jewels of the garden’. Her enchanting photography showed us their natural habitats and why they favour similar conditions, then the wide variety available and how to grow & propagate them in our area. There are so many more cyclamen varieties than we knew, and the way that hepatica flowers change colour from year to year was fascinating, also the differences between some of the mums and their babies! Diane’s passion for breeding both these plants really shines through, and she recommended places to source them for those of us who don’t have her patience with hepaticas…..

After her talk she drew our usual raffle then judged our well-supported monthly competition, with Sue’s delicate white erythronium taking first place, Denise’s hellebore in 2nd and Anita’s camellia 3rd. Members enjoyed their refreshments and choosing from the ‘bits & bobs’ table, also collecting their free Teddy Bear dwarf sunflower seeds to grow for the special class in our August Produce Show, with spares that can be used for our 28th & 29th June Open Gardens weekend plant stall.

On a dreary February evening, members and visitors enjoyed ecologist Richard Sunter’s beautifully illustrated Virtual Fungi Foray, which he brought to us with great enthusiasm. We learnt, amongst other fascinating facts, that our local Gentleshaw Churchyard is a waxcap grassland site of regional importance with over 14 species of interest. The colourful group includes earthtongues as well as coral and club fungi, some with distinctive smells of honey and cedar. Thank you to Christie for the photos from a local autumn foray with Richard.

Richard explained that Fungi form a biological kingdom of their own, closer to humans than to plants from a molecular perspective! Many species of grassland fungi are rare and declining, as they prefer ancient pastures and grasslands that have not been agriculturally improved, hence the particular importance of churchyards. After his talk Richard answered questions and drew the raffle before judging our monthly competition.

There were some lovely entries again, so varied, as you can see from the photos below – all single stem. Sue’s wonderfully perfumed sarcococca took 1st place with Angela’s unusual yellow hellebore 2nd and Ena’s heather 3rd. Members and guests enjoyed looking at the display over refreshments as well as browsing our popular spare seeds/plants/recycling table.

 

We launched New Year on a fairly mild January evening with an informative talk by Marc Brimble and Catherine Baxter on ‘Winter colour in the garden’. Marc started with a screen presentation on all the different ways that we can bring colour into our gardens at this time of year then he and Catherine passed round a selection of stems from fragrant, coloured and textured plants for us to examine (and inhale the perfume in some cases!). They ranged from evergreens such as sarcococca and eleagnus through witchhazels, rubus and cornus stems to seedheads on phlomis, sedums and grasses.

After their talk and Q&A, Catherine drew the raffle while Marc judged our monthly competition, won this month by Sylvia, with Angela second and Anita third, with all the entries showing the beauty that can be found in our gardens at this time of year. We also announced our coach trip survey and details of our Open Gardens weekend coming this summer, requesting volunteers to help with various tasks. Members and guests enjoyed their refreshments chatting to Catherine and Marc and browsing our ‘bits and bobs’ table.

A great start to 2025!   

This year we held our first-ever Christmas dinner at The Rag, instead of our usual event at the village hall. We enjoyed a delicious three course meal followed by coffee and mince pies, although most of the mince pies were taken home to be eaten another day! The food was generous and beautifully presented, as you can see from the photos, with a lovely jolly festive atmosphere in the room. We were seated at two long tables with lots of opportunity to chat, exchanging news and plans for the season. Time just flew by and we all had a lovely evening, please do scroll through all the photos to get a real ‘flavour’… Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody!

At our November meeting we welcomed back the popular Howard Drury of Thedrurys.com with his beautifully illustrated talk on Bulbs for year round colour in the home & garden, including two sequences set to music. It had been postponed from March when he injured his back but was well worth waiting for. As always Howard gave us a wealth of information delivered in his professional but very engaging manner, such as choosing ‘mother & daughter’ bulbs for naturalising and ‘singles’ for a good display in pots, as well as colour and plant combinations, types and situation/soil suitability. His very useful fact sheet is available by clicking on the link above.

After his talk Howard drew the raffle, which included a box of jumbo tulips, and judged our monthly competition. The two fatsias clearly caught his eye, with Sylvia’s taking first place and Anita’s second, with Audrey’s dahlia 3rd, and other lovely entries too, as you can see from the photo. He had also brought some small succulents for sale, and we had our usual spare seeds/plants/recycling table.

Last but not least, our new pocket-sized list of 2025 speakers and events was hot off the press for members to take home. Details are now on our Programme page and we’re looking forward to another packed year!

We welcomed Matthew Nichols from Haywood Park Farm Shugborough, to our October meeting on a damp mild evening. He explained how his family developed their apple growing and juicing business as part of diversification, with his talk covering how to choose a dwarfing rootstock to make picking easier (M26), the grafting process they use, and tips on good apple varieties to grow. These included Katy and Discovery which both produce pink juice.

He also showed us some interesting videos of the pressing, bottling and pasteurising process. They sell their own juice from the farm and supply local shops, cafes and pubs. They also press and bottle customers’ own apples which is now a very popular service. All their leftover pulp is recycled as pig feed or compost, so zero wastage, and they also re-use customers’ bottles if available. 

After his talk, Matthew answered questions then drew our raffle and judged the monthly competition which was won this time by Sylvia, with Anita 2nd and Joan 3rd, with entries showing up well against the smart new backdrop of our recently redecorated hall. Over refreshments, we were able to choose spare seeds, plants and new magazines all brought in by members to share, with donations to the club. It was dark and foggy when we left after another good evening.

At our September meeting we had the welcome return of Philip Aubury former Director of Birmingham Botanic Garden to give a masterclass on the art of pruning. He explained in a very understandable way the “why, what, when and how” including practical demonstrations and some useful tools. We were particularly intrigued by his Darlac Snapper for longer-reach pruning and deadheading, which can also hold the cut stems or blooms.

After Philip’s talk and Q&A session he drew our raffle and judged the monthly competition which as you can see from the photos had some beautiful entries again, with Jean taking 1st place, Pia 2nd and Denise 3rd. Then we enjoyed refreshments browsing the good range of plants that Philip had brought for sale as well as some charming greetings cards painted by his wife. There was also our usual recycling/spare plant table. If this is your first visit to the site for a while please scroll down below the photos to see the previous post about our Annual Show!

We held a brief Special General Meeting on August 13th to update our Constitution, before welcoming Jane Rock of the Staffordshire Bat Group branch of the Bat Conservation Trust with a passionate and fascinating talk about these amazing flying mammals that are more closely related to humans than they are to mice. We could really see that resemblance from drawings of their skeletons.

Jane explained the history of bats, their geographical spread and roles around different parts of the world as pollinators, reforesters, biodiversity indicators and insect control. In the UK, they can eat up to 2000 biting insects a night! She also shared with us the Group’s important care and rehab work, and had brought two delightful Pipistrelles in a specially designed transport case that is fully compliant with BCT requirements (bats are protected by law). They were clearly a relaxed and happy pair and you can see one stretching its wings for us in the photo; we all enjoyed this rare opportunity.

After her talk, Jane drew our raffle then judged our monthly competition which she said was a tricky task with such lovely entries, won this time by Jean, with Rosalie 2nd and Sue W 3rd (photos below). We had our spare plants and recycling table too.

Members paid their deposits for our Christmas meal and kindly put their names down to provide cakes for the refreshments at our Garden and Home Produce Show on Saturday 31st August (full details on our Annual show page) which we’re all looking forward to, not long to go!

At our July meeting we welcomed Robert Barlow of North Staffordshire Hostas sharing his knowledge of how to choose and care for these perennials, having brought some beautiful exhibition plants and other smaller ones to buy. He showed us how propagation by seed rather than division can result in some unusual results, also how leaf colour will change through the seasons especially the paler ones. There was also a four-foot long flower spike which escaped the camera but the other photos give an idea of the range.

After drawing the raffle Robert judged the competition and was impressed with the quality of the entries, this months’ winner was Pia with Anita second and Pam third (photos below). We also had our new recycling table (including hedge trimmer, leaf collectors, bird feeders and fertiliser spreader!) plus plant divisions and seeds for members to take home in return for small donations to the club. 

There were also schedules and booking forms for our 31st August Annual show plus posters to take for display at local outlets. Members were also keen to put their names down for our Christmas social evening! And given the current weather, it feels like it won’t be long to wait…..although at least it was a dry evening.