Summer is (nearly) here and earlier hard work in the garden is starting to pay off. Take a break from weeding on June 8th for our monthly talk at the ChristChurch Centre at 7.30 when Samantha Hope from Hopes Garden Plants will tell us about Plants with a Story as she shares 25 of the most interesting she has come across so far – from where they were collected, how they are pollinated to folk law and old wives tales.

Our bus trip to Coton Manor at the end of May was a great success and you can find more photos over on our Photo Gallery page.
Lots of gardens are open under the NGS scheme this month – collect a booklet at our monthly meetings or look on their website for details. If you download the NGS app onto your smart phone you can find gardens that are open wherever you may be when you go on holiday.
There are also plenty of places holding Open Gardens events this month such as the one in Eccleshall on Saturday 17th – Sunday 18th. Barlaston are also hoping to organise one later this year – see their website for details. There are many other towns and villages holding Open Gardens weekends in Staffordshire listed on the website and as we are close to Derbyshire, Cheshire and Shropshire it is worth searching those counties too..

We are blessed with lots of beautiful gardens locally that we can visit such as Trentham Gardens (pictured), the Dorothy Clive Gardens, Shugborough, Weston Park, Dunham Massey, Chatsworth, Cholmondeley Castle and Gardens, Kedleston Hall near Derby and Lea Gardens near Matlock; not to mention RHS Bridgwater.
You can find more on the Great British Gardens website.
We have two local Plant Hunters Fairs coming up this month – Saturday 10th – Sunday 11th at Hodnet Hall and Saturday June 17th at Sugnall Walled Garden (two more great gardens to visit!).
Will there be time for gardening (or even just sitting in the garden) with all this going on??