The Journeys and Plant Collections of William Lobb are explored this month by Mark Paviour from Wigmore in Herefordshire. Employed by James Veitch & Sons of Exeter, William Lobb was one of the Victorian Plant Collectors responsible for many of the plants we have in our gardens today, including this Crinodendron or Chinese Lantern Bush.

Mark has been involved in horticulture for forty years including managing a nursery, Head Gardener of seven prestigious gardens, and arboricultural work. He now works free-lance and is co-owner of Paviour & Davies Plants which specialises in South American plants.

Also in June Great Bridgford have their “Scarecrows and Gardens Sunday” on June 10th from 10am to 5pm and Eccleshall Open Gardens Weekend is June 16th – 17th.

Barlaston Community Group also have some garden-related events between May and June. This coming weekend –  Sat 12th & Sun 13th May 2pm-5pm – Barlaston Hall opens for the National Gardens Scheme and on May 29th at 7:45pm Hooks Green Herbs – Barlaston Gardens Question time at Barlaston Village Hall. Further details on the website.

This month we travel further afield to the Gambia to explore its flowering plants with Dr Michael Jones – an enthusiastic botanist with a particular interest in parasitic plants. Some of you may recall he came and gave us a fascinating talk on mistletoe back in December 2016. Until recently he was Head of Science at Newman University, Birmingham and has taught in both the UK and Africa. He is also the author of a book on the flowering plants of the Gambia, published in 1994.

We look foward to seeing you on May 10th.

Don’t forget our Annual Plant Sale on May 5th at St. Michael’s Hall, Further details on the Events page.

Brian Ellis from Avondale Nurseries in Coventry is bringing a slide show of pictures from the ‘Library Garden’ at the Nursery. He describes hinself as an enthusiastic plantaholic – he just can’t stop collecting.

“We are now National Collection Holders for three plant families, Symphyotrichum (Aster) novae-angliae, Anemone nemorosa and Sanguisorba. Our Wood Anemones are stunning when the nursery opens in March. Our Sanguisorbas are in flower throughout the summer, and over 50 varieties of Michaelmas Daisies are on show in our display garden in September.”

An article in The English Garden , March 2018 has a lovely article about the Nursery and the wood anemones in particular. They have about forty varieties for sale, many not available elsewhere.

Advance Notice – Don’t forget our Annual Plant Sale on May 5th at St Michael’s Hall. Further details on the Events page.

Kevin Pratt from Village Plants, Stockport will be talking about the Private Plants and gardens of Cheshire – “For 30 years I was a gardener for the footballers and the millionaires in Hale and Alderley Edge, Cheshire. This is a rare look at the gardens you can’t visit. A look behind the electric gates of some footballers’ and racing drivers’ gardens and one TV celebrity chef, but certainly the very rich households. . . . A light hearted look at the gardens that are strictly PRIVATE.”

And while it is still February, it is not too late to go and look for snowdrops. The National Trust has a list of gardens in the Midlands renowned for their snowdrops here and the Great British Gardens website also has a list here with links to NGS gardens with snowdrops. Not metnioned by either is Hopton Hall  near Wirksworth in Derbyshire – their snowdrop walk is open until March 4th.

This photo of Mesa Verde National Park is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Dr Peter Thomas Reader in Plant Ecology at Keele University will be giving a talk on the Canadian Rockies. He has been at Keele since 1986. Following degrees in Biology and Ecology and after working for a year, he moved to the University of New Brunswick, Canada supported by a Commonwealth Scholarship to work for a PhD on the regeneration of trees after forest fires.  While at Keele he has spent sabbatical periods as Visiting Professor at the University of Alberta, Canada and as Bullard Fellow at Harvard University, USA.

Dr Thomas is also involved with the National Collection of Cherry trees at Keele, which we will be visiting later this year – see the Events page for details.

Our first meeting of 2018 starts at 7.30 with our AGM for Members only.

Non-members are welcome at 8pm to hear Gwen Johnson from Staffordshire Wildlife Trust talk about British Wildflowers.

Our December meeting is on Thursday 14th December when Robert Barton will talk about the Endon Well Dressing Festival. His talk will cover 170 years of history of the event. If you have been inspired by this talk and wish to see well dressings for yourself you can find a calendar of these on the well dressing website – the 2018 calendar will be available in the New Year.

There will also be our usual light refreshments with mince pies etc.

In conjunction with Regent Travel we have a trip to London on June 9th for three days when on Sunday we will explore some of the gardens open during London Open Garden Squares weekend. Saturday’s excursion is to RHS Wisley shown in the picture from Visit Surrey. The fully escorted trip also includes a visit to Oxford Botanic Gardens on Monday 11th. You can find further details of the trip here. This holiday is now open to all, not just members, so please contact Regent Travel in Stone (01785 818202) for full details and pricing.

Our November meeting sees Duncan Coombs return to give us a talk on The Gardens of France which will focus mainly on the gardens of Bagatelle and Giverny. Duncan Coombs has recently retired from Pershore College where he lectured in Decorative Horticulture. He now writes a monthly blog for the college cataloguing the changing seasons at Pershore.

If you would like to know more about gardens to visit in France there is a useful website to bookmark for your next holiday – ‘French Gardens‘.

On October 12th Rob Potterton of Pottertons Nursery in Lincolnshire will give a talk on Alpines and Bulbs – from Mountains to Market. You may well have come across this nursery at various Plant Fairs locally and they will be bringing plenty of plants for sale after the talk as well. You can pre-order plants for collection on the evening (save postage!) – look at the catalogues on their website for further details. It promises to be a fascinating evening.