NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2022 Next Meeting ; Wednesday 2nd February at 7.45 in the Sports Pavilion OX49 5BZ Speaker: Timothy Walker The title of Timothy Walker’s talk is “The Subtle Art and Exact Science ofPruning”. You will remember that Timothy Walker, who before retiring was the Director of the Oxford Botanic Gardens, has given several talks to our club, he is a skilled and knowledgeable speaker Last Meeting: Chris Day gave his talk, The All-new A-Z of Fool-Proof Gardening. It was a fun but informative talk and he brought lots of plants to sell, many of which he mentioned in his talk.VISITS: I think we have been lucky that we no longer have a January meeting as it saved us from having to make any cancellations due to the new Omicron which is now seems to be in retreat and we are becoming more used to living with it. However, although we have not seen each other for two months your Committee has not been idle. We have got three garden visits organized for you for the summer months. These will all be car share trips so there will be no worries about being shut up in a coach for a long trip.
Here are details for the visits, put the dates in your diaries. We will organise booking and payment closer to the date. St Timothee Garden near Maidenhead for Thursday June 30th. It will include a full talk. It has been named as the best NGS garden by House and Garden. Folly Farm on Wednesday 24th August. A rather special place and very hard to get into, it's a fabulous Gertrude Jeykll garden modified a few years ago by Dan Pearson. The estate is owned by the Oppenheimers (South African diamond dealers!) so money has not been a problem. The owner was a very keen & hands on gardener, the garden is her legacy. There will be a tour and a tea. It is near Reading. Crockmore House: Tuesday 6th September, 2.30 pm. It will include a two hour tour and refreshments, tea, cake and water. This is a good Autumn garden and is very local, in Fawley, Henley on Thames.
SNOWDROPS We have information about two snowdrop gardens in Berkshire open under NGS. You can either pre-book on line or pay at gate. Both gardens ask for payments by CASH only
1) Welford Park, Newbury, Berkshire RG20 8HU. Open: Wednesday 9th February 11.00 – 16.00. Light refreshments available.
2) Stubbings House, Stubbings Lane, Henley Road, Maidenhead, SL6 6QL. Open: Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th March 10.00 – 16.00. Light refreshments available. Plants for sale.
Don’t forget the Snowdrop Teas at St Botolph at Swyncombeon 12th -13th, 19th-20th and 26th-27th, 2-4pm.
FLOWER FESTIVAL The Friends of St Leonard’s Church are having a Flower Festival in church to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee over the June Bank Holiday, Thursday June 2nd to Sunday June 5th. The theme of the Flower Festival is “Happy and Glorious” which can be interpreted as widely as you like. They have asked if the Gardening Club would be interested in participation, I find it hard to arrange a bunch of daffodils in a tumbler, but if anyone or a group of you is interested in doing something on behalf of the Gardening Club, please let me know.
Next Meeting: In March the speaker is Paul Barney talking about “Shipwrecks, Bombsand Buggles, 28 years of Edulis Nursery”. You can check speakers on our website: watlingtongardeningclub.co.uk.