We hope you have all enjoyed your summer breaks.We have already had a few holiday photos to put on our Photo Gallery page – do have a look – and please bring your photos to a meeting to add to the Gallery. All photos, memory sticks or discs will be returned, or of course, you could send them via email.

Our first meeting for the Autumn season is on Thursday 14th September when Paul Green of Greens Leaves Nursery will be bringing a van full of plants to talk about. You can find more details here.

On Saturday September 16th it is time for the 31st Annual Open Show at Walton Community Centre. Further details are here.

The Stone Chrysanthemum and Dahlia Society will be holding its 31^st Annual Open Show on Saturday September 16^th at Walton Community Centre, Whitemill Lane, Stone and is open to the public from 2pm. The Show is well-known in the region with growers coming from all over Staffordshire, the West Midlands and Derbyshire to take part. We are a very friendly group and novices are more than welcome to take part in the Show in both the Chrysanthemum and Dahlia sections – plenty of help can be given if required. You can download an entry form here. You will also need to download the brochure of Show Regulations for details of entry classes and the address to send your entry form. These General Show Regulations, classes for entry and further details can be downloaded here.

Blooms are brought to Walton for setting up on Friday from 3.30 – 8pm and on Saturday from 7 – 10am. Chrysanthemums will be judged, under National Chrysanthemum Society Rules, by Mr Arthur Wright and Dahlias by Mr Barry Smith under National Dahlia Society Rules. Stone Town Mayor will be presenting the trophies at 3pm and flowers will be for sale throughout the afternoon for collection at 4pm.

Walton Community Centre is in Whitemill Lane off the A34 northbound (towards Newcastle-under-Lyme) – the first turn on the left after the Shell garage on the roundabout. A link to a map via the postcode can be found on our Events page.

Please note that there is no meeting in August.

Our September meeting is on Thursday 14th at 7.45 when our speaker at the Christ Church Centre, Stone will be Paul Green. Paul will be talking about the plants he will bring with him from his nursery, Green’s Leaves in Newent – this is a specialist nursery of rare plants from around the world and is a regular at Plant Hunters Fairs. Paul Green has always worked in commercial horticulture, including a year in a specialist nursery in Oregon, USA. He has run his own nursery for over twenty years. There will be no members’ plant sale table as Paul will be bringing a whole van full of plants with him to illustrate his talk and to sell.

If you are out and about visiting gardens or shows during the summer why not share some of your photos with us. Either email one or two of them or download them onto a disc or memory stick to hand over at the next meeting. (You will get your disc/stick back!).

You can find ideas for gardens to visit on our Links page, including a link to the NGS website, but don’t forget that you can download the NGS app to your phone or tablet as well.

There are a few photos from the RHS show at Tatton Park on our Photo Gallery page.

Jessica Pannett from Shropshire is our speaker for the July meeting on Thursday 13th July at 7.45pm in the Christ Church Centre, Stone. Her talk will concentrate on the use of foliage in the garden.Jessica is a lecturer and broadcaster for local radio on gardening topics.

On July 27th we have a bus trip to Middleton Hall near Tamworth and to a private garden – The Burrows. Further details are on our Events page.

Please note that there is no meeting in August. If you are visiting gardens over the summer why not share your photos with us by emailing (one or two) or downloading onto a memory stick to bring to the September meeting – they can then be added to our Photo Gallery page.

Photos from our June meeting and from RHS Chatsworth can be found on the Photo Gallery page.

Garden Visits.  Don’t forget to check for NGS gardens open locally this month . In addition Barlaston Community Group had such a success with an Open Gardens weekend last year that they are running it again this year. On the weekend of July 15 – 16th a range of gardens across Barlaston will be open from 11am until 3pm. Tickets (programmes) cost £2 from Kitson’s Chemist in Orchard Place.

Our June meeting will be held on Thursday 8th June at Christ Church Centre, Stone at 7.45pm. Our speaker is Jack Swann from Congleton whose talk is entitled ‘The Beauty of Trees and Shrubs’. Mr Swann was responsible for the management and maintenance of the Arboretum at Jodrell Bank from 1975 to 1998. Having taken early retirement he now works as a volunteer with the Cheshire Wildlife Trust surveying the health of Cheshire’s Black Poplars.

On the 22nd we also have our bus trip to Whichford Pottery and Meadow Farm Garden and Nursery – further details on the Events page. There are still a few places on the bus as I write this (June 1st).

For photos of last month’s trip to Wildgoose Nursery see our Photo Gallery page. There are also some photos of dahlia and chrysanthemum displays at Chelsea. Photos from RHS Chatsworth and from Mr Swann’s talk can also be found there.

Garden visits for June – don’t forget to check for gardens locally open under the NGS scheme.  June 17 -18th is Eccleshall Open Gardens weekend, a total of fourteen gardens to see over the weekend of all sizes and sorts with plant sales and refreshments available. Tickets (programme) for this event are £5 which goes towards the cost of maintaining the High Street flowers.

The Annual Plant Sale of General Garden Plants takes place on Saturday May 6th from 9am – 2pm at St Michael’s Hall, Lichfield Street. Lots of bargains and NO admission charge! Further details on the Events page.

This month’s meeting will be held on Thursday May 11th, 7.45pm at the ChristChurch Centre. Our speaker will be Danny Wells with a talk about Joseph Paxton – “the busiest man in England”. Discover more about the man and his designs for gardens, conservatories, parks and lots more.

Also this month is our bus trip to Ludlow and then Wildegoose Nursery and Garden on May 25th – tea and cakes to end the day are promised! Further details on the Events page.

Finalist in the Daily Mail National Garden Competition. 6.8.2015
Gorden Malt

Our meeting this month is on the first Thursday (not the second) – April 6th, ChristChurch Centre at 7.45pm. Our speaker will be Gordon Malt with a talk entitled ‘Salvias I Grow and Love’. Gordon originally trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh and says he has spent ‘half a lifetime’ in horticulture/agriculture, including ten years teaching. He loves to propagate his own plants and also opens his garden near Shifnal to visitors.

Nxt month sees the Annual Plant Sale on May 6th – details on the Events page.

We’ve also been asked to provide a link to the Plant Hunters’ Fairs Newsletter for this month – find it here or look on our Links page for a link to their website. It is 48 pages packed with ideas, gardens (and Fairs) to visit, plants to buy, articles about some of the specialist nurseries you will find at the fair . . . and all in glorious technicolor. Of local interest are articles about the Dorothy Clive Garden, Sugnall Walled Garden, Consall Forge, and the Staffordshire Gardens and Parks Trust.