Programme 2026

Saturday 31st January: Fruit Pruning and Grafting – a two-hour practical demonstration’

Billy Auger, owner of Augernik, a local organic fruit farm in Hopton Wafers will show us how to winter-prune blackcurrants, blueberries and other fruits, such as gooseberries.  He will also show us how to carry out the technique of grafting.  There may be an opportunity for us to practise the skills we’ve been shown, so bring your clean secateurs and gloves.

After a very wet January, with the ground saturated at Billy’s fruit farm, this visit was cancelled and has been re-arranged for Sunday 1st March.

Monday 9th February

7pm at Cleobury Country Centre, Love Lane CM DY14 8PE

Cleobury Gardeners Question Time

We have held these successful events in the past where members share their expertise and knowledge in order to help answer those troublesome gardening niggles.  This time, we will also be joined by two local horticultural professionals to help answer our questions.  It will take the form of a self-help, round the table discussion, so come along to the session with your questions at the ready.

Sunday 1st March – 10am -12noon

Re-Arranged visit to Billy Auger’s fruit farm – Fruit Pruning and Grafting techniques – 2 hour practical demonstration

We are hoping that March will be kind to us weather-wise for this re-arranged visit to Billy Auger’s fruit farm.

Arrangements are the same as for the January visit: meet at Cleobury Country Centre car park at 9.30am for us to be at Billy’s farm by 10am.  We will have to car share because car parking at the farm is very limited.

Monday 9th March

7pm Cleobury Country Centre

Emma Tipton – Wildlife in the garden

So often, we hear great advice about encouraging wildlife in our gardens as a contribution towards attempting to halt the decline in numbers and reducing damage to the environment.  But we are often left wondering what exactly we should/can do and how do we best do it in our individual gardens?

The aim of this presentation is to help answer some of those questions, as well as giving us an opportunity to share ideas on the things that we currently do.

Monday 20th April

7pm Cleobury Country Centre

Rosemary Winnall – A Fascination with insects

Rosemary will provide an overview of the different groups of British insects, and describe a few of their interesting life histories.  Insects are important pollinators of many of our garden plants and crops.  Understanding more about the lives of our insects may enable us to admire the beauty, diversity and inter-relationships of some of the creatures that share our gardens.

Monday 11th May

Visit to Farlow Farm Nursery – How to be a better plant shopper!

Mark Link, owner of the family-run Farlow Farm Nursery, will welcome us to his nursery and help us to identify what key factors we should consider when buying trees, shrubs and other plants to make sure we choose the ‘best’ ones on offer.  He will take us round his nursery, focusing on the key characteristics of healthy plants be they conifers, ornamental trees, shrubs such rhododendrons, heathers and so on.  Of course, there will be opportunity to buy if something catches your eye – and by now you’ll know which one is the best one to choose!

Friday 22nd May

Visit to Wollerton Old Hall Garden, Market Drayton, Shropshire

This is an outstanding garden with so much to see and explore so it’s best to take your time looking around it.  Maybe you will want to take a rest and take advantage of the inside/outdoor restaurant which provides snacks or meals before you continue to wander round.

Saturday 30th May: Plant Sale at the Market Hall – 9.30am until 11.30am.

Week commencing 31st May to the 6th June:- Annual trimming of Cleobury’s lime trees

Choose one or more of the 17 trees in the High Street, and bring along your secateurs to trim the growth that sprouts from the trunks during spring and early summer and remove the weeds from the gravel bases.  This restores the smart pleached appearance of the trees and makes a very valuable contribution to the environment and the appearance of the town.

Monday 8th June

7pm at Cleobury Country Centre

Nick Morgan – Greenhouses & cold frames

Nick Morgan will take us through the purchase, siting and erection of greenhouses and cold frames, as well as how to clean them to keep the plants within them as healthy as possible.  He will also advise on shading and watering systems.  This will underpin his main focus of the presentation, which is how to maximise the use of greeenhouses and cold frames throughout the seasons, as well as dealing with pests and diseases and other common pitfalls.

Friday 12th June – Visit to Claire Austin Hardy Plants/Perennial Garden & Nursery, White Hopton Farm, Wern Lane, Sarn, Newtown, Powys SY16 4EN

We have been very lucky to secure this visit, since it is not generally open to the public, so it is a rare treat!  It is a wholly owned British nursery that holds the National Collection of Bearded Iris and the Hybrid Herbaceous Peony.  In addition, there is much else to see to inspire amateur and more experienced gardeners alike, such as geums and geraniums to name just two!

Monday 6th July:  6.30pm for 7.00pm

Evening Summer Social – Venue to be Confirmed

Monday 13th July

7pm Cleobury Country Centre

Marion Stainton – Good companions – extending interest in the smaller garden

Do you go to garden centres, can’t resist buying a plant, but then get home and think ‘where shall I put it?’  We all do that!  Marion will help us to make best use of these purchases.  Planting design concepts, including use of colour, texture and structure will be covered with the smaller garden in mind.  She will suggest planting combinations to provide inspiration, including bulbs and ‘fireworks’ for increasing interest, with a chance for members to describe the plant combinations they use.

Sunday 19th July: Allotments Barbecue

Open to all our members, come along to the BBQ, wander the plots to see the variety of fruits and vegetables being grown on this beautiful elevated site that overlooks Cleobury Mortimer.  There is also the opportunity to see who wins the best plot and half-plots trophies 2026!

Monday 20th July

7pm – Katja Jones – Flourish and nourish – talk and tour of the Community Garden

Members of Flourish and Nourish, a hands-on community project in Cleobury Mortimer, will take us on an evening tour of the community garden developing in the town.

They will explain the aims of the project and the many contributions it will bring to members of the local community, and we’ll see the progress being made. A very pleasant and enlightening summer evening treat.

Monday 10th August

7pm Cleobury Country Centre

Nigel Hopes – A Year in John Massey’s Garden

Many members will have visited the highly acclaimed garden belonging to John Massey, owner of Ashwood’s Nursery in Kingswinford and a celebrated horticulturalist and Gold medal winner.  This is his private garden spanning eight acres, including a wildlife extension, with a huge plant collection and many innovative design ideas.

After training and working at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Nigel Hopes of Hopes Garden Plants, became John’s Head Gardener.  In this presentation, he will take us through the highlights of the gardening year, together with lots of practical advice.

Monday 14th September

7pm Cleobury Country Centre

Speaker to be confirmed

Monday 12th October

7pm Cleobury Country Centre

John Scrace – Bugs & slugs – spots & rots

John Scrace has over thirty years’ experience in the identification and management of plant diseases.  He is a qualified pathologist who has worked as part of the RHS Plant team and is also known for his focus on ‘the invaders’, new threats and diseases threatening the UK.  If something is really bothering you in your garden, maybe bring a photo or specimen along!

Saturday 17th October – St Mary’s Church – Farmers Market – 9.30am – 12noon

Fund raising event for Cleobury Gardener’s contribution to the annual lime tree pleaching in the High Street.  We shall have a stand and will be on the lookout for a few volunteers to help staff it.

Monday 9th November

6.30pm Cleobury Country Centre

Annual General Meeting, social evening & speaker

Join us for a short AGM, drinks and nibbles, before welcoming Pip Smith as our speaker.  He is a landscape designer, creating gardens and open spaces, as well as having a wide breadth of horticultural knowledge.  In this talk he will give advice on preparing your garden for winter, entitled ‘In the Bleak Mid-Winter’, a very appropriate subject for the time of  year.

Sunday 29th November – Billy Auger’s Fruit Farm

Billy Auger at Augernik Fruit Farm started our year with his session on fruit bush pruning: he now ends our year with a demonstration at his farm on how to prune apple and pear trees.  A timely end to the year and something to give us hope for heavy crops of fruit in 2027.