Blog
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The dark months; not just snowdrops!
We had a good turnout of members and guests on a miserable February night to hear Diane Clement’s excellent talk on bringing colour and perfume into our gardens in winter. It was beautifully illustrated with a wide selection of plant choices, from bulbs through perennials to shrubs, including well known varieties and the more unusual,…
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Successful Clematis Growing
Our new season’s programme started on a chilly but dry evening with a good turnout of members & guests enjoying Mark Smith’s talk. His engaging and refreshing approach blew away some of the old techniques and myths, with a simple “mean method” of care and pruning that he learnt some years ago from renowned Clematis…
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2023 Christmas social evening
At the end of another dreary wet day our members & guests enjoyed a festive evening with cheese, biscuits, pickles & mince pies and some very jolly entertainment by “Lichfield Ukulele Massive”. These four chaps had a very different fun slant on all sorts of traditional and modern music, with Christmas carols and songs to…
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Gladioli in October
An unusual subject for this time of year perhaps but Mick Poultney’s much-postponed talk finally took place, sharing his interest in growing and showing different varieties of gladioli, with tips and techniques. A bonus was that he kindly brought with him a good selection of his freshly prepared excellent quality corms and cormlets to give…
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Vegetables for small gardens
At our monthly meeting on 10th October we welcomed back Jeff Bates whose topic of “Vegetables for Small Gardens” shared useful well illustrated information on different ways of growing our own supplies as well as more quirky ones such as carrots grown at height in the frame of an old bunk bed to avoid the…
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June meeting
At our June meeting we had an unusual topic for our talk: “The History of Silk” from Clive Garner of The Mulberry Worm explaining how it was first made in China followed by the development of the famous Silk Road and and the industry eventually reaching Britain via Italy and France, with reminiscences of Cash’s…
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AGM 2023
At our AGM on May 9th the usual reports were received then all the committee who were standing for one more year were re-elected and members endorsed a proposed annual membership fee of £20 for the 2023/24 year. The official business was followed by a raffle then an amusing multiple-choice gardening quiz with some very…
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SAGG Trophy Winners!
Hot on the heels of our coach trip was the SAGG (Staffordshire Association of Garden Guilds) AGM on Saturday 22nd April and for the first time ever we had entered the Photographic Competition. Much to our delight we won the trophy for the most points in show, with three first and two second places in…
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Spring Coach Trip
We finally made it back on the road for our first trip of the year to John’s Garden Ashwood Nurseries on Wednesday 19th April. Our club members and guests were whisked by coach to Kingswinford with time for a coffee before our personal guided tour with Head Gardener Nigel Hopes. The garden is an absolute…
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Growing Herbs through the Seasons
We were pleased to welcome Malcolm Dickson of Hooksgreen Herbs to our April meeting on a very wet and windy evening. He gave an interesting presentation about their herb nursery and how they prepare for plant fairs and flower shows, where they have won several prestigious gold and silver-gilt medals with their displays. He talked…