At our April meeting we welcomed Duncan Coombs standing in for Howard Drury who hopes to be with us later this year when he is fully recovered. Duncan’s very engaging talk took us on a beautifully illustrated Spring Trip to Japan away from our dreary British rain, visiting the main island Honshu with wild volcanic areas as well as botanic and cultivated gardens. Some of the plants were familiar to us although in completely different settings, and others would be defeated by our climate.

The trip covered both modern and historic settings, from cultivated cherry blossoms in Tokyo to wild magnolias and azaleas, via tranquil gardens of Zen Buddhism in Kyoto and temples set in carefully landscaped gardens, with reflections in the still water of lakes and pines trained like huge bonsai. Plus an imperial villa and totally unexpected mass tulip and muscari plantings!

After he drew the raffle Duncan judged the monthly competition which is proving very popular in its new format with high quality entries, Sylvia in first place this time with Rosalie second and Sue third. We took bookings for our trip to Bridgemere Gardens in May and talked about the forthcoming SAGG AGM and our own, then members and visitors enjoyed refreshments chatting and browsing the magazines to take home. It was lovely to arrive in the daylight and at least it was dry when we left.

As our planned March speaker unfortunately had an accident two days beforehand, we were so lucky that our April speaker could come a month early! With less than 24hours’ notice, Samantha Hopes of Hopes Garden Plants gave a very professional and enthusiastic talk, introducing us to one of her favourite plants, the little-known Roscoea, a hardy member of the ginger family. She shared her passion for this greatly underused tuberous perennial that has so much to offer, with a great range of colours from white to deep purple. By planting different varieties we can also have flowers from early summer till late autumn.

Samantha explained how best to grow and propagate them, accompanied by excellent photos with a very good video of division and repotting. She’d also brought two varieties for us to buy, R. ‘Harvington Summer Deep Purple’ and R. ‘Harvington Evening Star’ which weren’t showing in their pots just yet but checked for growth under the compost, plus some other lovely indoor and outdoor plants. Then she drew our raffle and judged our monthly competition, which is attracting good entries with its new format, a dozen this time, well done to everybody who entered. Anita took first place with Sue second and Rosalie third, all shown here. There’s also a pic of Chris’s cymbidium on her table at home, which we thought you’d like to see.

We displayed the photos we’d chosen for the SAGG photo competition from the excellent selection provided, not easy as they were all so good and it’s a real team effort again, with photos from four members in the entry. Fingers crossed we do well again! Another thoroughly enjoyable evening with members and guests also able to choose free books and magazines to take home as well as chat over refreshments.  

We had a good turnout of members and guests on a miserable February night to hear Diane Clement’s excellent talk on bringing colour and perfume into our gardens in winter. It was beautifully illustrated with a wide selection of plant choices, from bulbs through perennials to shrubs, including well known varieties and the more unusual, all able to withstand tough conditions. She will kindly provide us with a plant list to share with members, and brought some small pots from her own garden for sale.

We also presented the Trudi Brearley Challenge Trophy for the most points earned in the monthly competitions to our 2023 winner Joan Brookes, who was surprised to have won in a close-fought year, and then took first place with her Sarcococca in the February round of 2024! Rosalie’s Hellebore was 2nd and Anita’s Iris 3rd, with some lovely entries being received in the new format of the competition, where members can bring a single seasonal home-grown stem, rather than being restricted to a certain type of plant which they might not grow or has been affected by the vagaries of the weather.

Diane had judged the competition after her talk and drawing our raffle, and was able to chat to everybody over refreshments. The usual free books and magazines were available for members to take home. Luckily by then the rain had stopped and it was an unseasonally mild 10deg C.  

Our new season’s programme started on a chilly but dry evening with a good turnout of members & guests enjoying Mark Smith’s talk. His engaging and refreshing approach blew away some of the old techniques and myths, with a simple “mean method” of care and pruning that he learnt some years ago from renowned Clematis breeder Raymond Evison. He gave details of some good new varieties and had a range of suggestions for more unusual uses too, such as in hanging baskets and as ground cover.

After his talk he drew our raffle and judged the first of the new round of competitions for the Trudi Brearley Challenge Trophy, which will be the same each month so less restrictive and encouraging members to bring whatever’s looking good in their gardens: “A single seasonal stem, home-grown”. Points are awarded each month and the highest total over the whole period wind the Trophy. This time the winner was Pam, with Sylvia 2nd and Rosalie 3rd.

Our usual refreshments followed the raffle, with free books and magazines to take home as well as catching up with friends after the festive season. A very good start to 2024 with several new members joining too, onwards and upwards!