Our next meeting is Thursday 13th March, 7.30pm, at the Christ Church Centre, Stone.
Our speaker, Duncan Coombes, will talk about Japan’s Gardens and Countryside.
It is peak Snowdrop time so now is your last chance to get out and about to see various collections. Attingham Park is still open with plenty to see, as is Rode Hall, among others. These ones are in the woodland at Loynton Moss near Woodseaves.
Don’t forget our coach trip to Ashwood Nursery and John’s Garden on Thursday February 27th. If you booked a place on the coach you will soon have all the details sent to you – look out for them. The coach will leave the Stone House at 9.00am prompt.
Our Summer coach trip on May 29th is to Norwell in Nottinghamshire. We will visit Norwell Nurseries and Garden followed by a walk around the village when we will visit the Saxon church of St Laurence. Details and booking forms at the March meeting.
Our next meeting will be our AGM starting at 2pm on Thursday February 13th for members only. This will be followed at 2.45pm by a talk – Exotic Gardening – given by Zdenek Valkoum from the Dorothy Clive Garden.
Please note the change of time and that daytime parking charges will apply.
Last year many of our members attended a talk on Snowdrops by Val Bourne at the Moorcroft Heritage Centre. This year on Friday February 7th she will be the speaker at their event A Celebration of the Winter Garden. Booking is required and you will find full details on their website.
Somewhat belatedly we have noticed that Tatton Park Gardens are free to visit on Tuesdays to Fridays until Friday February 14th; you will still have to pay for parking.
Trentham Gardens have a series of Winter Tree Walks on Wednesdays throughout February (you need to book) and in March their Spring Bulb Festival starts. Don’t forget that if you are an RHS member you can visit the Garden free (January – March) on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The Dorothy Clive Gardens are also open for winter visits (and free for RHS members) until March 1st on Thursdays – Sundays. They have several events and workshops (including one on pruning) coming up too so look on their website for details.
In addition to all that, it is Snowdrop season. Some are out in Trentham Gardens as well as our own gardens but there are special Snowdrop Walks you can book at Rode Hall until March 1st. You will also find displays of snowdrops at the Lovell Quinta Arboretum, free admission for RHS members. For snowdrops in the wild you can visit the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust Reserve at Loynton Moss where they carpet the woodland at this time of year. They are also starting to flower in our local lanes and woodlands.
There are some talks from TSGCN coming up this month – free for our members to log in.
Wednesday Feb12th – Katherine Crouch – Grow the Food You Can’t Buy
Thursday Feb 20th – Catherine Horwood – Penelope Hobhouse & her great contribution to horticulture
Monday Feb 24th – Charlie Harpur – Re-wilding – the planting at Knepp Castle
Our next meeting will be our AGM starting at 2pm on Thursday February 13th for members only. This will be followed at 2.45pm by a talk – Exotic Gardening – given by Zdenek Valkoum from the Dorothy Clive Garden.
Please note the change of time and that daytime parking charges will apply.
Tendershoots Garden Club Network (TSGCN) have several Zoom talks coming up in the next few weeks including one on bulbs for year-round colour on Monday 27th January and Schrodinger’s Garden on February 7th. You can find details to join these and others on their Programme page.
If you missed our January Zoom talk on Gardening in a Changing Climate you can find the recording on the Tendershoots Private Members page, but it is only available for a few more days.
In the meantime the talk on the Flowers and Gardens of Barbados the following day was well worth watching and the recording of this is still available on the Tendershoots website.
The photo (by the way) was taken over Christmas in Cambridgeshire. We were not eating outside that week.
Helen and the Committee would like to thank you all for your continuing support throughout 2024. We have a packed programme booked for 2025 and will soon be planning for 2026. However we do need help from January 2025 onwards to keep this thriving club going. Please contact any current committee member if you think you could find an hour or so each month to assist with planning, phone calls, emails or any of the other admin involved in putting our programmes and trips together and making sure everyone knows about them.
Our next meeting is January 9th via Zoom with Tendershoots. Sue Fisher from Devon will be talking about Gardening in a Changing Climate. This is a private members-only meeting for which you will need the members’ code. If you can’t remember it don’t worry – just look out for your usual Update email with the information. You can find details of this talk and others on the Tendershoots website.
Don’t forget that our February meeting on the 13th is the AGM and is being held in the afternoon – at 2pm followed by the talk from Zdenek Valkoum on Exotic Gardening. Remeber you will need to pay the daytime parking fee too. Further details next month.
Meanwhile thank you once again for your support in attending our meetings and bringing plants to sell (and buying even more). We wish you a very happy Christmas and successful gardening in the New Year.
Our next meeting is on Thursday December 12th at 2pm in the Christ Church Centre. Our Speaker is Margaret Thompson, a National Trust Guide at Little Moreton Hall and her talk is A Medieval Christmas.
Admission is free but by ticket only. There will be a draw for the lucky ticket number. If you haven’t yet got your ticket you need to contact Helen (or Dawn) by Monday Dec 2nd.
Remember that daytime parking charges will apply.
There are two Tendershoots Zoom talks to join with before then – Thursday Nov 28th Hilary Hutson – Patio Panacheand Thursday Dec 5th – Wayne Williams – Cyclamen, all 20 species & their cultivation. Both start at 7.30pm.
If you want to continue to receive news from TSGCN you will need to re-register on their website. This will also give you the new Zoom link and password for these Members- only talks.
It may be winter (or wintery) but there are still gardens to visit. Those of you who are RHS members will be able to visit Trentham Gardens free on certain days for the next few months as well as the Dorothy Clive gardens and Biddulph Grange. Check the Handbook for others.
We hope to see you all on the AFTERNOON of December 12th for mince pies and an interesting talk.
Our next meeting will be held on Thursday November 14 when Sarah Haisley will talk about The Sweet Peas (Lathyrus odorata). Based in Chorley, Sarah has been growing and exhibiting sweet peas for the last ten years. She is an active member of the National Sweet Pea Society.
Don’t forget that the Dorothy Clive Gardens will be open for the Autumn/Winter season on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10am – 4pm.
Tendershoots have some more talks in the coming weeks including one on Monday 28th October when Saul Walker will talk about Woodland Gardening: The art of Growing in Shade. Details on the Tendershoots website. If you wish to receive emails from Tendershoots about upcoming talks you will need to register (or re-register) as they have a brand new email newsletter service which will replace the existing email system. So to ensure you continue to receive email newsletters, please signup on the website by clicking the purple button on the homepage.
Our October meeting is on Thursday 10th at 7.30 at the Christ Church Centre when Andrew Ward of Norwell Nurseries and Gardens will give a talk – The Late Show, Autumn’s Floral Finale. He tells us don’t put your garden to bed at the end of August; September and October can provide better weather and an absolute cacophony of colour. Norwell Gardens are renowned for their autumn display stretching through to November, led by asters that don’t get mildew, glorious richly coloured salvias, Gauras with their light wafty butterfly-like blooms all against a backdrop of stately, elegant grasses, and many others. Find the right ones for you and how to grow them easily.
Andrew trained as a Plant Breeder and started Norwell Nurseries and Gardens 29 years ago with his wife Helen. The garden holds over 2,500 different varieties of plant and has featured in many magazines. It is renowned for colour from spring but especially in the autumn when the National Collection of Hardy Chrysanthemums can be seen.
Please note that we will not have a plants sale table this meeting as Andrew will be bringing plants with him for sale – you will be able to pay by cash or card. You can also pre-order for collection at the meeting by going to the website.
A few photos from our trip to RHS Harlow Carr are now up in the Photo Gallery as well as some photos from other garden visits by members. In the meantime the Dorothy Clive Gardens will be open for the Autumn/Winter season on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10am – 4pm.
Our next meeting is on Thursday September 12th at the Christ Church Centre at 7.30 – tea and coffee will be available from 7pm. Admission is £2 and guests are welcome.
Our speaker this month is Simon Gulliver with a talk Gardens of a Golden Afternoon which looks at how the Arts and Crafts movement inspired architects and the gifted amateur owners of some of our most beautiful houses to create masterpieces of garden design; combining quality of materials, craftsmanship and artistry. Embedded in it is a case study on the original inception for the landscape around Stoneywell and Ernest Gimson’s and the Barnsley Brothers’ homes in the Cotswolds. The talk debates what constitutes an Arts & Crafts Garden: is it the values that led to its creation that makes it Arts & Crafts, or merely a style consisting of a collection of typical garden design elements found in gardens of that period?
The picture above is taken from the 5th edition of The English Flower Garden by William Robinson, published on 1896, and shows the borders at Broadway in Worcestershire.
Also this month is our coach trip to RHS Harlow Carr on September 19th. There are still a few places available – contact Helen for details.
August is here – let’s hope the weather makes it mind up this month instead of being too cold and wet one minute and too hot the next. The poor gardens have suffered from drowning, slugs and snails and then excess heat and so have we (apart from the slugs and snails).
Take the opportunity to go garden visiting and see how others have coped and perhaps get a few ideas to weather-proof your own garden. Open locally with the NGS this month are Yew Trees near Eccleshall and also Colourmill near Leek on August 10th, Yew Trees is also open on Sunday the 11th. The Wickets at Wheaton Aston is open on August 25th. Those of you who enjoyed last year’s talk from Samantha and Nigel Hopes may like to venture a little further afield on Sunday 18th when their garden in Halesowen is open for NGS. Full details are on the NGS website (along with plenty of other gardens to visit if you are on holiday).
There are few ideas on our Photo Gallery page as well as a couple more photos from our visit to Powis Castle last month. National Trust have plenty of other gardens to visit so its worth having a look on their webite too. Another place for gardens to visit is the Great British Gardens website and, of course, we have RHS Bridgwater (almost) on our doorstep as well as Trentham Gardens and the Dorothy Clive Garden.
Our next meeting will be on September 12th when Simon Gulliver talks about Gardens of a Golden Afternoon – gardens inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Our next meeting will be on Thursday July 11th when Ruth Plant will give a talk entitled Dieramas – the Harebells of Africa. Ruth will tell us about Dierama (commonly known as Angels Fishing Rods): where they come from, the different types, heights and colours, their history and how to successfully grow this elegant plant in the UK. She has been collecting and growing Dierama in her cottage garden in Staffordshire for the last 15 years. She now has 31 species and 23 cultivars growing in her garden and on her allotment, and was awarded Plant Heritage National Collection status in 2016, one of only 3 UK National Collections of Dierama. Her garden at Haughton near Stafford is open under the NGS ‘Yellow Book’ Scheme (including this month – see below) and in July 2018 her collection in the garden was featured on BBC Gardeners’ World.
Before the end of June there is just time to squeeze in a Flower Power Fair:-
Sandon Plant Fair – Sunday 28 June 2024 at The Dog & Doublet. The Dog & Doublet, Sandon Road, Sandon, Staffs ST18 0DJ, is literally opposite the main gates to Sandon Hall and will be offering food and refreshments all day. ADMISSION IS FREE to all. As always there will be a wonderful selection of quality plants on sale for you to buy, as well as accessary stands and a warm welcome back to Staffordshire Wildlife.
During July and August several local Staffordshire gardens are open under the NGS Scheme including Ruth Plant’s garden – Yew Tree Cottage on July 4th, 11th, 18th and 21st. Check in your yellow book, on the website or the app for full details of all open gardens.
There are also three Shropshire gardens open for the Shropshire Historic Churches Trust – details on their website but the one in August is not too far away, near Newport.
Have a look on our Useful Links page for websites listing gardens to visit over the summer break and send us your photos for the Gallery – it might prompt a few more visits. There are already some there.
As many of you will know Kathryn, our Treasurer, has been seriously ill. We recently sent her a bouquet of flowers, beautifully arranged by Peggy Leslie, to wish her well.
We hope you have a lovely summer – maybe the weather will improve (!) – and manage to get out and about. Our next meeting in September features Simon Gulliver who will look at gardens inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement. Full details on the Programme page.
Stone Chrysanthemum and Dahlia Society 