Bulbs for year-round colour

Howard chatting after his talk

At our November meeting we welcomed back the popular Howard Drury of Thedrurys.com with his beautifully illustrated talk on Bulbs for year round colour in the home & garden, including two sequences set to music. It had been postponed from March when he injured his back but was well worth waiting for. As always Howard gave us a wealth of information delivered in his professional but very engaging manner, such as choosing ‘mother & daughter’ bulbs for naturalising and ‘singles’ for a good display in pots, as well as colour and plant combinations, types and situation/soil suitability. His very useful fact sheet is available by clicking on the link above.

Succulents for sale

After his talk Howard drew the raffle, which included a box of jumbo tulips, and judged our monthly competition. The two fatsias clearly caught his eye, with Sylvia’s taking first place and Anita’s second, with Audrey’s dahlia 3rd, and other lovely entries too, as you can see from the photo. He had also brought some small succulents for sale, and we had our usual spare seeds/plants/recycling table.

Last but not least, our new pocket-sized list of 2025 speakers and events was hot off the press for members to take home. Details are now on our Programme page and we’re looking forward to another packed year!

All our competition entries
Raffle prizes

Building an apple orchard

October’s cheerful competition entries

We welcomed Matthew Nichols from Haywood Park Farm Shugborough, to our October meeting on a damp mild evening. He explained how his family developed their apple growing and juicing business as part of diversification, with his talk covering how to choose a dwarfing rootstock to make picking easier (M26), the grafting process they use, and tips on good apple varieties to grow. These included Katy and Discovery which both produce pink juice.

Sylvia’s aster

He also showed us some interesting videos of the pressing, bottling and pasteurising process. They sell their own juice from the farm and supply local shops, cafes and pubs. They also press and bottle customers’ own apples which is now a very popular service. All their leftover pulp is recycled as pig feed or compost, so zero wastage, and they also re-use customers’ bottles if available. 

Anita’s dahlia

After his talk, Matthew answered questions then drew our raffle and judged the monthly competition which was won this time by Sylvia, with Anita 2nd and Joan 3rd, with entries showing up well against the smart new backdrop of our recently redecorated hall. Over refreshments, we were able to choose spare seeds, plants and new magazines all brought in by members to share, with donations to the club. It was dark and foggy when we left after another good evening.

Joan’s purple-berried ophiopogon
October’s raffle prizes

“Keep them in shape”

Some of Philip’s plants

At our September meeting we had the welcome return of Philip Aubury former Director of Birmingham Botanic Garden to give a masterclass on the art of pruning. He explained in a very understandable way the “why, what, when and how” including practical demonstrations and some useful tools. We were particularly intrigued by his Darlac Snapper for longer-reach pruning and deadheading, which can also hold the cut stems or blooms.

After Philip’s talk and Q&A session he drew our raffle and judged the monthly competition which as you can see from the photos had some beautiful entries again, with Jean taking 1st place, Pia 2nd and Denise 3rd. Then we enjoyed refreshments browsing the good range of plants that Philip had brought for sale as well as some charming greetings cards painted by his wife. There was also our usual recycling/spare plant table. If this is your first visit to the site for a while please scroll down below the photos to see the previous post about our Annual Show!

Lis Aubury’s lovely greeting cards
Jean’s Pyracantha
Pia’s dahlia
Denise’s sunflower
All the monthly competition entries

2024 Annual Show

Beautiful single roses in Class 1
Ivy presenting the Tom Ethelstone Memorial Trophy to Anita Harper

Our Annual Show on Saturday 31st August was a great success in spite of a challenging growing season. There was a beautiful display in the hall, with several first-time entrants and very close scoring. Steve Wroe won the Lewis Cup for the most points in the vegetable classes, presented by Jonathan on behalf of his parents Alan and the late Val Lewis. Anita Harper retained the Tom Ethelstone Memorial Trophy for the most overall points, presented by Ivy Evans on behalf of Sue Ethelstone.

Jonathan presenting the Lewis Cup to Steve Wroe

The show was open for public viewing from 2.30 with all our visitors also enjoying the delicious donated homemade cake with their refreshments, and the hall was buzzing! Thank you to all our helpers and to everybody who entered and supported the show, also to our exhibitors who generously donated their vegetables and fruit to the Burntwood Be A Friend Community Store on Sankeys corner, gratefully received by volunteers in the shop. Please scroll down to see more photos on this post then have a look at lots more of this wonderful day across all the classes on our Gallery , all taken by our members, including the lucky raffle prize winners with their spoils!

Scrumptious scones in Class 43
Outstanding onions
Burntwood Be A Friend volunteers receiving the produce
A superb display across all the flower classes

Bats

Our August monthly meeting competition entries

We held a brief Special General Meeting on August 13th to update our Constitution, before welcoming Jane Rock of the Staffordshire Bat Group branch of the Bat Conservation Trust with a passionate and fascinating talk about these amazing flying mammals that are more closely related to humans than they are to mice. We could really see that resemblance from drawings of their skeletons.

Jane chatting to members after her talk
A stretching pipistrelle in its BCT-compliant travel case

Jane explained the history of bats, their geographical spread and roles around different parts of the world as pollinators, reforesters, biodiversity indicators and insect control. In the UK, they can eat up to 2000 biting insects a night! She also shared with us the Group’s important care and rehab work, and had brought two delightful Pipistrelles in a specially designed transport case that is fully compliant with BCT requirements (bats are protected by law). They were clearly a relaxed and happy pair and you can see one stretching its wings for us in the photo; we all enjoyed this rare opportunity.

After her talk, Jane drew our raffle then judged our monthly competition which she said was a tricky task with such lovely entries, won this time by Jean, with Rosalie 2nd and Sue W 3rd (photos below). We had our spare plants and recycling table too.

Jean’s penstemon

Members paid their deposits for our Christmas meal and kindly put their names down to provide cakes for the refreshments at our Garden and Home Produce Show on Saturday 31st August (full details on our Annual show page) which we’re all looking forward to, not long to go!

Rosalie’s phlox and Sue’s dahlia
Some items on our plant & recycling table

Hostas

Some of Robert’s hostas for sale
One of the exhibition plants

At our July meeting we welcomed Robert Barlow of North Staffordshire Hostas sharing his knowledge of how to choose and care for these perennials, having brought some beautiful exhibition plants and other smaller ones to buy. He showed us how propagation by seed rather than division can result in some unusual results, also how leaf colour will change through the seasons especially the paler ones. There was also a four-foot long flower spike which escaped the camera but the other photos give an idea of the range.

More exhibition plants

After drawing the raffle Robert judged the competition and was impressed with the quality of the entries, this months’ winner was Pia with Anita second and Pam third (photos below). We also had our new recycling table (including hedge trimmer, leaf collectors, bird feeders and fertiliser spreader!) plus plant divisions and seeds for members to take home in return for small donations to the club. 

There were also schedules and booking forms for our 31st August Annual show plus posters to take for display at local outlets. Members were also keen to put their names down for our Christmas social evening! And given the current weather, it feels like it won’t be long to wait…..although at least it was a dry evening.   

Pia’s dahlia
Anita’s dahlia
July’s lovely competition entries
Pam’s penstemon

Creepy crawlies, friend or foe?

Ken chatting to Pat over refreshments

Our speaker for June, Ken Whittaker, recalled that he was last with us exactly five years ago to the day on 11th June 2019, one of those strange coincidences. This time he gave an amusing talk on the change of approach in the gardening world to what we once considered as “pests”, a wide range including next door’s cat, slugs and aphids amongst others. He shared his thoughts on how to live alongside them, create the right environment to deter them and control problems without chemical intervention, welcoming audience participation as he went along.

Christie’s rose

Ken was accompanied as before by his wife Toni, his Executive Logistics Facilitator (ELF) whose helpful interventions added to the enjoyment of the evening. After his talk he drew the raffle whilst Toni had the difficult task of judging the monthly competition which was again well supported with beautiful entries. Our club photographer was in the kitchen doing refreshments this month so apologies for the quality of the pictures which don’t do them all justice especially against the brown curtain. Christie’s deliciously perfumed rose took 1st place with Audrey’s peony 2nd and Pia’s foxglove 3rd. There was a lot of member interest in Rosalie’s Deutzia ‘Strawberry Fields’ too.

Audrey’s peony

Members chatted to Ken and Toni over refreshments as well as collecting plants and seedlings for a small donation to the club, brought in this month by Brenda & Christie. We had earlier discussed replacing our monthly book and magazine stall with gardening paraphernalia as well as spare plants, and that will start next month. We even talked about Christmas!

Pia’s foxglove
Competition entries before judging
Rosalie’s Deutzia ‘Strawberry fields’

AGM & Spring Trip

Rhododenrdons at the end of the 2nd (wet!) tour

At our AGM on Tuesday 14th May the usual reports were received then all the committee who were standing for one more year were re-elected and members endorsed a proposed annual membership fee of £20 for the 2024/25 year. The official business was followed by a quiz with two tables sharing the seed prizes then we had our usual raffle. Members collected their free Tigridia bulbs to grow on for the members’ only class at our August produce show, plus SAGG membership discount cards for some nurseries.

Calycanthus x raulstonii ‘Hartlage Wine’

Then two days later we enjoyed a spring trip to RHS partner BridgemereShowGardens near Nantwich, with the first guided tour being luckier with the weather than the second one! There was some beautiful colour to enjoy with rhododendrons, cornus kousa and calycanthus as you can see from the photos, with more on our Gallery page.

Cornus kousa ‘Moonbeam’

There are 13 individual gardens set in 6 acres, including 8 Gold and Silver Medal award-winning gardens from RHS Flower Shows plus 3 more recent Silver Gilt winners such as the ‘Down Memory Lane’ dementia garden. Wildlife is also actively encouraged and there’s a blend of formal and informal planting to great effect, with something to admire in every season.

The peaceful pond
Topiary in the Victorian Garden

Importantly there are also two restaurants (with highly recommended cake mezze!) plus a large garden centre with good quality plants, and a myriad of retail therapy options with a large indoor shopping village. The coach luggage area certainly had quite a few large purchases in it….

A spring visit to Japan

Duncan after judging the competition

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.

Rosalie’s camellia

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.

Sue’s tulip
Sylvia’s azalea
Some of the other lovely entries

March meeting

Some of Samantha’s other plants

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.

Anita’s camellia

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.

Sue’s fritillary

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.  

Rosalie’s hyacinth
Chris’s Cymbidium (boat orchid)