We are lucky this year to have booked two well known speakers for the Garden Society this year, Tony Russell on ‘2000 years of British Garden History’ in February and Tom Hart Dyke with a talk entitled ‘Plant Hunter and Gardener with Passion’ in November. Here are some details about these two speakers which might interest you. Tony Russell is a BBC writer and broadcaster and former Head Forester of Westonbirt Arboretum and editor of the annual publication ‘Gardens to Visit’. He gives many entertaining talks and lectures to Garden Societies, Horticultural Societies and other clubs around the country. Many of them are about the various gardens he has visited in the UK. I have been fortunate enough to hear him speak twice, unfortunately the same talk, but I enjoyed it as much the second time around as the first and very much look forward to hearing him again as he is a very entertaining speaker. Tom Guy Hart Dyke is a renowned plant expert, plant hunter and TV personality. He Is also patron of the British Cactus and Succulent Society and has been a great supporter and advocate of the Society. Tom first shot to fame in 2000, when he was unfortunately kidnapped for nine months in the Colombian Jungle on a plant hunting expedition that went dangerously wrong. After Tom’s return to his ancestral home of Lullingstone Castle in Kent, he and Paul Winder wrote the best-selling book ‘The Cloud Garden’ detailing their experiences in the jungle. Tom’s jungle antics - building gardens in the mountains, much to the annoyance of his captors – cemented his reputation as a ‘plant nut’. Since his release from captivity, Tom has been busy building the ‘World’ in his back garden at Lullingstone Castle, commandeering his granny’s 18th Century Walled Garden. The idea of the World Garden was born out of a time of despair while in captivity. His dream garden contains the plants he has collected from across the globe, planted out in their respective countries of origin. In this fascinating talk Tom will discuss his interests and great passions with stories from an exciting (perhaps too exciting at times?). This promises to be a very entertaining evening and we are lucky to have speak to us. |
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Here are the proposed outings for 2023
Please book at the meetings or by contacting Janet for tickets.
More details will be added as the trips are fully arranged.
Visit to: Evenley Woods Snowdrop Walk
Date: Wednesday 15th February
Drive yourself
Evenley Woods, Brackley,
NN13 5SH
This is an easy drive along the A43, past Brackley to Evenley where the woods are signposted down a long non paved drive.
Park in the field and make your way to the tented café for 11.00am, about 10 mins from car to café.
We will share coffee/tea and cake together and then you can make your own way round the woodland walks, all clearly marked with coloured posts to follow.
Book now £12.50 made up of £7.50 for entry and £5 for refreshments.
A lovely sunny day and the outing was much enjoyed. Beautiful swathes of snowdrops including lots of named varieties was not all there was to be seen. There were loads of crocus, cyclamen and hellebores and even a few early narcissus to be seen too.
Visit to: RHS Wisley
Date: Saturday 29th April
Coach booked
This is our annual free visit to Wisley, just the coach to pay for, but in the Spring for a change.
WFGS Members £20
Non WFGS Members £22
Leaving from the Rectory Church Way at 9.00 am
ETA Home 6.00 pm
Visit to: Waterperry Gardens and Oxford Botanical Garden
Date: Saturday 10th June
Coach booked
Waterperry is only a few miles from Oxford so only a short drive further on to Oxford Botanical Garden.
WFGS Members £32
Non WFGS Members £34
to include cost of coach, entry to Waterperry Gardens and Oxford Botanical Garden
Leaving from The Rectory, Church Way at 9.30 am
ETA Home 5.30 pm
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2nd July Weston Favell Open Gardens
August Evening visit to local garden
(tba)
November Winter Lights
(tba)
Trevor started this method last year as a good way to water his Alpine sinks. His are planted with a mound of soil and dressing stones well over the level of the top of the sink which makes watering difficult as it tends to run off before it gets a chance to soak in, but does look good, as those of you who have seen his talk on 'Sinks and Troughs' may remember
Trevor took 4 pint plastic milk bottles and pierced a small hole in the bottom. These were then filled with water, the tops screwed on and balanced, often rather precariously on top of preferably stones or rocks in the sinks but sometimes on the actual plants and then left to drip through slowly over an hour or more. Not a drop ran away as it soaked in slowly drop by drop. Mind you your feet can get quite wet as you carry them to wherever you want to position them. I've got round that by carrying a few at a time upside down in a bucket so you don't lose any water before you get there. You may need to loosen the cap a little if the water doesn't run through.
I then found some special spiked tops with two holes at the end of the 6" spike which fit onto either 1 litre plastic bottles straight away or using an extra screw top would fit a larger bottle. These are easier as you carry them the right way up and you don't lose any water until you push the spike into the pot, trough or sink you want to water, and even better they can be pushed down to the roots of special plants to give them a whole litre of water around the root and not a drop wasted. Unfortunately I can't remember where I bought mine, possibly at Workbridge, but they have some at 'Neat Ideas' Water Spikes 6 pack for £6.99 and of course they will last for many years once bought.
Both very successful. Look for pictures in Members' Photos under Watering.
The Village Show was a great success, with lots of entries in the fruit and vegetable classes, a surprisingly large amount from Weston Favell Allotments in the end, after allotment holders spending weeks telling me they had nothing growing because of the extraordinary hot, dry weather!!
We had lots more entries than usual for the Children's classes which everybody so enjoys seeing but a disappointing three entries only over all three of the adult flower arranging classes, though again the children did us proud with lots from them, thank you children.
Both Handicrafts and Baking and Preserves were rather low on entries too, but lots of beautiful flowers and plants in their classes, though everyone struggled to find many roses and dahlias.
Barbara Bream has written the article below about her impressions on the day.
Here is an article written for the Parish Magazine, Cornerstone, about a garden which was open for Open Gardens, ("Gardens Unlocked"), which has been completely transformed in the last five years, written in their own words.
Click on the word transformed in the previous paragraph, highlighted in blue, to read this article.