At our June meeting we enjoyed a lively talk from Mark Smith with a combination of anecdotes from his 30 plus years working in horticulture and useful advice on growing plants. His suggestion of chopping back all deciduous clematis hard in the autumn then several times the following year, regardless of type, to keep producing successive flushes drew gasps from the audience but his photos demonstrated the results of the tactic. He regaled us with tales of what goes on behind the scenes at garden centres, nurseries & flower shows, and how things have changed over the years. Not just an amusing speaker though as he volunteers in schools & clearly cares passionately about inspiring the gardeners of the future. His column in the Derby Telegraph resulted in him appearing regularly on BBC Radio Derby doing live question & answer sessions plus live coverage of Chelsea Flower Show, where he was nearly thrown out for taking a photo on press day! He also had some very interesting photos of all his activities shall we say from the sublime to the ridiculous - clearly a good sport.

After his talk he judged our monthly competition (a vase of 5 stems of a variety of roses) which was very well supported. As you can see from the photos (thank you to Anna) there were some beautiful colours and types. Mark found it a difficult to choose but eventually went for 1st Deborah Jackson, 2nd Sylvia Nunn and 3rd Maureen Brearley. Deborah & Sylvia had both included Munstead Wood in their entries which is the fabulous deep wine colour with a wonderful scent, although there were several other lovely fragrances & types too.   

We held our AGM the week after our trip to Calke Abbey so the photo on the left is of the gardener's shed there! All our committee were re-elected after reports given by the chairman, treasurer & secretary. There was also agreement to increasing our membership subscription to £12.50 for the coming year. After this official business was completed, complimentary cheese & wine was served to everybody whilst Phil Colclough & chum Colin were setting up their "sound & vision" presentation for us. This was a popular return visit for them and this time they showed us their stunning photographs of “The Four Seasons” accompanied by beautiful classical music as the rest of the evening drifted happily away. We also held our usual raffle and handed out Acidanthera mureliae bulbs to everybody for the annual members' competition at our show to be held on the 8th September.

Our April meeting was heralded in by thick fog & seemed more like a November evening! Fortunately our stalwart members, now used to winter dragging its heels, were undeterred & we had good attendance for a hands-on talk from the renowned Primula specialist Bob Middleton to remind us that spring must be on its way. He used the plants that he brought with him to illustrate some of the many different groups within this plant genus from alpine auriculas to primroses. He demonstrated how he prepares them for showing, what the breed standards are and how best to care for them, answering varied questions from a keen audience.
He clearly sets very high standards for himself & laughingly referred to several lovely specimens as being "rubbish" from a showing perspective so it is easy to see how he wins! He also breeds new varieties, pollinating plants by hand to achieve the best results, and calls them after local pubs. He had brought with him a large primula in a terracotta bowl that had recently won several prizes at the recent National Auricual & Primula Society's show at Knowle although he was disappointed that it had started to "go over". Club members were happy to rehome many of his smaller specimens!
Unfortunately I forgot take any photos on the night so these are just boring old "Lemon & Lime" primulas in my own garden which flower most months of the year. Hopefully we'll be able to add some of Bob's pictures in due course. Also photo-less was our competition, this month's winner Brenda Brettell with her decorated Easter bonnet. Sorry folks!

At our February meeting we enjoyed a return visit from popular speaker Diane Clement, Director of the Seed Exchange for the Alpine Garden Society, who used wonderful photographs from her own garden to demonstrate how we can have flowers in bloom every day of the year, even in challenging areas such as heavy shade & steep slopes. She provided us with strategies to achieve this & gave examples of unusual varieties of plants that will extend their flowering season, after explaining initially what had influenced her approach to gardening & inspired her style. After her talk she judged our monthly competition "A photograph of your winter garden" which was won by Rosalie Allden (see bottom left). One of Diane's beautiful blue Meconopsis is below. 

We had an excellent start to 2018 when our first speaker, David Wood, shared with us how he followed through a childhood interest with a 7 year apprenticeship to become a Master Thatcher, illustrating his fascinating talk with the tools of his trade, a dovecote & a portable roof section! We also launched our new website and started arranging refunds following the unfortunate cancellation of our Christmas social evening due to the heavy snow.

It was a shame to finish such a good year for our club with the cancellation of our Christmas social evening but the conditions were treacherous & we couldn’t risk any injuries to our members! Here are some photos that give an idea of how beautiful it was, plus one of the lovely table decorations that 2 of our committee members had prepared.