NEWSLETTER APRIL 2024 Next Meeting Wednesday 3rd April at 7.45 in the Sports Pavilion OX49 5BZ Speaker: Dan Winter
The title of Dan’s talk is Evenley Wood Gardens. This is a 60-acre privately owned woodland garden that contains a large and notable collection of plants; ranging from unusual trees and shrubs to a wide selection of lilies and other bulbs. The garden’s unusual band of acid soil, in this otherwise predominantly alkaline area of Northamptonshire, provides the opportunity to cultivate plants such as rhododendrons, camellias, and magnolias, which would not ordinarily thrive in this location.
Last Meeting: Ruriko Kojima gave us a demonstration Ikebana Flower arranging. This was a revelation to almost everyone. Her arrangements were quite different to the huge blowsy arrangements we normally see, using little more than twigs, a couple of leaves and three flowers she showed us how to arrange them in beautiful groups.
VISITS: We have already had two ‘pop up’ visit this year. A snowdrop visit in February and in early in March a small group of us went the Ashwood Nursery to immerse ourselves in hellebores. A lot of plants were purchased too.
As was announced last month we have arranged a visit to Evenley Wood Gardens in May and I hope our April talk will motivate you to join the visit. This will be self- drive, on Thursday 9th May at 2pm. It is a 50 Minute drive. Cost £20.00 includes tea and cake and a 1 hour tour of the Gardens. Non-members are welcome paying £23.00. The form is below.
We have a second garden visit for Tuesday 4th June at 3pm to Lime Close. This is also a self-drive trip. Cost is £14 for members includes tea and biscuits and 1 hour tour. Non-members pay £17.00. It is a five acre plantsman's garden with rare trees, shrubs, roses and bulbs. Mixed borders, raised beds, pergola, topiary and shade borders. Herb garden by Rosemary Verey. Cottage garden by MCL Garden Design, planted for colour, an iris garden with 100 varieties. Arboretum with rare exotic trees and shrubs from Asia and America and new field planted by continents.
Application Forms for both Gardens are attached for you to complete and forward to Liz Gordon. We are giving priority to members over guests, so there will be an initial booking period for members only and then the booking will be thrown open to guests and members. Details in the forms.
PLANT TABLE: We will have a plant table this month so if you have any extra plans to sell do bring them along.
EXTRA GARDEN WASTE COLLECTION For those of you who live in SODC and subscribed to the brown bin garden waste service you can have extra garden waste collected for free, on your normal collection day during week 15 to 26 April. For Watlington this means the 16th April collection. ‘You will be able to put out a maximum of up to four additional sacks of garden waste,per brown bin subscription, next to your brown bin. To be eligible for collection, the extra waste must go in standard sized (60L) sacks and should only contain natural garden waste such as cut grass, plants or branches. Alternatively, it can be placed in boxes / containers totalling no more than a standard bin full’. (Last time I left my extra waste out in black bags).
Next Meetings: On Wednesday 1st May to continue our Japanese theme Kate Woods/Hershee(The tea break gardener) will present Japanese Gardens and Cherry Blossom. On Wednesday 5thth June Lucy Bradley will talk about Climate Change and our Gardens.
Website: You can check on our Website for the list of future speakers, copies of visits and subscription forms: watlingtongardeningclub.co.uk. I write up a short report on most of our talks which are also on the Website if missed a talk or forgot details.