At our September meeting we welcomed Lizzie Pellow of the team currently creating an environmentally sustainable Forest Garden at Shugborough, with a resilient eco-system, that feeds, waters and fertilises itself. Lizzie’s great enthusiasm in sharing the science behind the project, which should open in spring 2026, really made this subject come alive. She explained how the diverse range of plants reduces competition, enabling them to thrive and build resilience to pests, disease and the effects of climate change.

We were surprised at how many common plants have edible berries such as berberis and mahonia, as well as unusual trees such as Toona Sinensis whose leaves taste like beef and onion crisps! No matter how big or small our plots, we discovered that we can all apply some of the forest gardening principles at home. And we’re hoping to arrange a guided tour too.

After her fascinating talk, Lizzie drew the raffle and judged our monthly competition then answered many more individual queries over refreshments. We had a sign-up sheet for the Parish Council’s Bee Squared wildflower seed project which fitted well with the talk, and a list for a potential guided fungi foray with our speaker from February, Richard Sunter, as well as lots of plants and other gardening goodies on our bits and bobs table.

The seasonal single-stem competition was won this time by Christie, with Joan second and Anne (P) third. Well done to everybody, and all the entries create a real talking point, please scroll to the end of this post to see them all.