Category Archives: News

First Lecture of the 2018/19 Winter Programme

Our first lecture is on the Wednesday 3rd October. Leila Jackson grows, shows, and speaks about salvias. Leila also holds the national collection of abutilons. A popular and recommended speaker, who will bring plants for...
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Blackthorn in Summer and Autumn

Jon Evans talked about the former Blackthorn Nursery near Alresford, Hampshire, which is now a private garden. He photographs regularly there, and showed us a succession of beautiful pictures of plants in summer and autumn. Many of these plants are from former nursery stock, once common 30 years ago, now rarely offered. Others have been bred by the owners or have freely naturalised. Amongst many stunning images, one of a grassy bank covered in orchids which, undisturbed for 30 years, have hybridised freely, will remain in the minds eye for a long time. We look forward to hearing Jon again next year talking about Wildside, another unusual...
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House Plants

Geoff Hodge is a freelance garden writer and product tester. He studied botany at Reading University, under our president, Michael Keith-Lucas. His ebullient style, no-nonsense delivery, and humour, made for a great evening’s entertainment. He covered all aspects of buying and caring for houseplants, such as how to choose, feed, water, position, prune, propagate, repot and display plants. Although starting with the basics, it quickly became obvious that his knowledge was deep and wide, his advice succinct and practical, and his enthusiasm contagious. As a gardening product tester, he had numerous items to add to our raffle, all of which were snapped up...
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Jerusalem Botanic Garden Lecture

After a career in the City in insurance, Neil Miller made a complete change in life and became a gardener, joining the staff of Hever Castle in Kent in 2002. Remarkably quickly he became the head gardener there, a post he has held since 2006. He has strong links with Jerusalem Botanic Garden, a 38-acre site in the heart of Jerusalem. Open to all, it walks a delicate line in a politically-charged situation, but manages to attract visitors and volunteers from all communities. It has a unique collection of Mediterranean flora. November is the beginning of the growing season, March the end: the rest of the year is virtually rain-free. Neil leads a group...
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Soil Safari – Lecture 1 November 2017

Reading Gardeners’ speaker focused on the creatures that live in a square metre of garden soil. ‘Soil is not dirt,’ she told us, and gave a rundown of the millions of life-forms in our soil. On the surface are beetles and molluscs, below that earthworms (27 species in the UK), then arthropods, springtails, tardigrades, mites, nematodes, protozoa, and bacteria. The numbers of creatures in healthy soil are impressive: from dozens of earthworms near the surface, we move through the hundred thousands to teeming millions of bacteria a foot or so down. And then there are the funghi: 10,000 metres of fungal threads in every pound of soil. Lois’...
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