Blog
John and Daphne Tuck
It was my pleasure to meet John and Daphne Tuck one September morning in their Cleobury garden at The Hurst. John first came to The Hurst in 1952 and lived here intermittently until 1980 when Daphne joined him. Together they tackled the derelict cottage and the...
History of Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Philip Aubury became the Director of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens in 1987, from a previous career in local government. He remained Director for 20 years, and his presentation to our Monday meeting covered the history of Birmingham Botanical Gardens from its...
Gardening and getting the best out of clay soils
At our Monday Meeting, Howard Drury DHE(Hons), offered us the endless depth and extent of his knowledge and experience of gardening and getting the best out of clay soils. Having learned his craft the hard way – making other people rich by his labour – Howard...
A reminder of the unpredictability of the seasons
As gardeners we sometimes forget that gardening can be unpredictable and we proceed on the basis of total control. We make our plans, buy our stocks and book our diaries to put our dreams into existence. And then Nature throws a googly, like this year, when the...
Gardening in historic places
At our Monday meeting, Claire Tatler M. Hort shared details of her professional experiences “Gardening in Historic Places”, a talk not so much about garden design, but how the activities of the properties themselves, determined the way in which she planned and...
Hostas
Monday’s meeting involved a presentation by Ben Matthews on hostas. Ben talked of his first awareness of hostas, when, as a six-year-old, his parents bought home two hostas for their new garden. Over the next few years Ben learned about planting and growing from the...
Mycorrhizal networks
The enforced leisure of COVID gave Kit Smith, one of our members, the opportunity to further his relationship with a magnificent Quercus Rubor – his favourite oak tree on the Ridgeway beyond Hobsons Brewery in Cleobury Mortimer. The fact that his garden was...
Learning to grow food competition brief 2024
Competition for pre-school settings and primary schools Sponsored by Joyce Wakeman’s legacy Competition brief: Does pollination matter? The competition will focus on the role of pollinators and pollination in producing the fruit and vegetables that we grow and eat:...
Creation of a dry garden
Creation of a dry garden was the title of a presentation to our Monday meeting, by our Chair, Flo Hadley. The mature cherry tree in Flo’s garden, together with a few drought years, had produced an area of poor, barren ground, and felling the tree was not an...
Why apples are interesting
This is the title of a presentation by Wade Muggleton at one of our Monday Evenings. It certainly was interesting, very entertaining and informative. We were given original history; which apples to choose to plant and why; advice on pruning; details of the...