Newsletter

Too Many Plants, Too little space!

Bob Brown of Cotswold Gardens, 11 March 2008.

The title of Bob Brown's talk referred to the fact that many of us buy plants on a whim when carried away at the nursery by shape, colour, fragrance or fashion. Then we spend ages walking round the garden trying to find a suitable place to plant.

The secret is to have a small garden. It makes us more discriminating so that we buy the right plant for the space. Plants to be avoided generally are those that are in fashion as they may not thrive. Plants that have been fashionable and are tried and tested will do well. Those that are special or rare often may not thrive. Plants need vigour. One very attractive plant that Bob mentioned is almost certain to die and sometimes will even before it is sold!

Brown has been a very fashionable colour for plants. Bob showed slides of a variety of brown flowering plants which looked rather dreary or dead. Why would one want those? He also showed pictures of many plants that are good doersand attractive, among them Papaver Snow Queen, Forsythia Fiesta and Pulmonaria Diane Clare. Plants that he had brought for sale were soon snapped up. It is to be hoped that, following the talk members and visitors have the right place to plant them!

Patricia Bricknell 11.03.08

Ticknall Garden Club Holiday, 25th – 29th June 2007

On Monday, 25th June 44 members of the club, led by Mrs Marjorie Collis–Hastie, set off by coach  in the rain to see gardens in Somerset. The rain abated as a stop was made in Wells for lunch and a visit to the town and Cathedral. Onward then to Sherborne and the Sherborne Hotel for five days to see East Lambrook Manor Gardens, designed by Margery Fish, Barrington Court, Hestercombe, Cothay Manor and the Sticky Wicket Wild Life Garden. In spite of the weather forecasts, it only rained at Cothay. On the return journey the afternoon was spent at Sudeley Castle, last home of Catherine Parr, the 6th wife of Henry 8th. The grounds there, seen in the sunshine, boast an impeccable knot garden. The little lanes of Somerset posed a problem for the coach which was stuck for a while at a narrow bridge but that was the only difficulty in a week of beautiful gardens – well worth the visit!

To download a high resolution printable version of this photograph please use the link below. Right-click on the link and choose "save target as" or something similar, depending what web browser you use, then navigate to a folder on your hard drive where you wish to save the picture - or just save it to the desktop. It's a big file - 1.8MB!

Download photograph here. Photo courtesy John Rooks.

Patricia Bricknell,  Assistant Secretary, 30th June 2007

For your diary

The Garden Club next meets on Tuesday April 8th when Mr. and Mrs. Nick Hamilton from Barnsdale Gardens will talk about Penstemons with demonstrations as well.

Another event in April, on the 13th will be the Club’s Plant Sale in the Village Hall from 10.30am until 1.00pm, admission 50 pence - a plant chance not to be missed. Also on sale, books and garden accessories. Refreshments will be available too.