Wildlife in the Garden
For our first meeting of 2019, Neil Lovesay will give a talk on how to attract wildlife into our gardens. The meeting will start at 7.30 pm with tea and biscuits available from 7.15 pm. There will also be the usual raffle.
New members will be very welcome.
On December 6th our Christmas meeting went very well. The evening began with a quiz, followed by a lovely supper. There were festive prizes to be won in the raffle and the forty-three members attending had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
We have a break now until February 7th when Neil Lovesey will give a talk on Wildlife in the Garden.
We wish all of our members a Very Happy Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.
On 1st November Martin Young gave us another very interesting talk. This time the subject was Hostas, Hellebores and Heucheras. He brought along several examples and explained about their history and how to look after them, including some interesting ways to deal with slugs! His talks are always enjoyable and informative.
Martin with some of the plants used in his talk.
During the evening members were able to view the trophies and prize cards won at the D.F.H.S. Inter-Society Show, an impressive display.
The next picture shows some of the members who supplied exhibits for the show.
The evening ended with the raffle which included a lovely cyclamen, donated by Martin.
A very enjoyable evening.
Our next event is the Christmas supper and fun quiz on December 6th. The quiz is not entirely horticultural and should appeal to all. Please phone 814887 to book your place if you have not already done so. The supper will be home-cooked turkey with salad followed by mince pies and cream.
Members may also be interested in the following event;
Saturday 1st December at Broadmayne Village hall. A talk entitled ‘Conserving the Plants of he National Trust’. The speaker will be Simon Toomer, Author and former Director of the National Arboretum at Westonbirt, National Trust Tree Advisor and Member of the Plant Heritage Plant Conservation Committee.
A special pre-Christmas Event organised by Plant Heritage Dorset. Tickets £7.00 including refreshments.
Doors open 1.30pm for 2pm start (finish by 4.30pm?)
Broadmayne Village Hall is easy to find from the A352 . Postcode is DT2 8EW. Disabled access & toilets. Free parking.
Top quality Prize Raffle, Horticultural Book & DVD stall, Cake Stall, Garden Sundries & Gifts.
Tickets available from Plant Heritage meetings at the Dorford Centre, Dorchester and by email from martinyoung100@btinternet.com Tel 01305 814473
Our Harvest Supper was held on Thursday 4th October at St. Nicholas and St. Laurence School.
The evening began with a floral demonstration given by Mark Read, entitled Autumn Colour
Mark preparing the third arrangement.
Ham and cheese ploughman’s suppers ready for collection, to be followed by apple cake and cream.
After the meal, the arrangements were included in the raffle.
This arrangement included vegetables, depicting Harvest Time.
It was a very good evening indeed, enjoyed by all who attended.
Our next meeting, on November 1st, is entitled ‘Hostas, Heucheras and Hellebores’, a talk to be given by Martin Young. There will be the usual raffle, refreshments and Flower and Plant of the Month competitions.
Our September meeting was very well attended. The Gold Club were unable to supply a speaker as scheduled but fortunately, Martin Young kindly stepped in at short notice.
Instead of a talk on houseplants, we were treated to a very interesting illustrated account of Martin’s time spent on Ascension Island whilst serving in the RAF. He clearly enjoyed his time there which is not surprising as the scenery looked breath-taking.
On Sunday 16th we took part in the Dorset Federation Inter-Society Show at Tarrant Keynstone, near Blandford.
Exhibits ready for judging
We did extremely well, winning five trophies and then we were surprised and delighted to win the RHS Banksian Medal for the highest points in Horticulture.
This large collection of vegetables was supplied by Mark Read
This mixed collection, also staged by Mark, won the Hambro Cup
Three vases of annuals, Best Floral Exhibit (Ashton Cup) , sweet peas, zinnias and marigolds.
We were very pleased to win the Dorset Produce Association Cup for this Collective class. Five exhibits are awarded points out of ten with ten more available for presentation. Our theme was Tea for Two. We gained fifty-one points (three nines and three eights), six more than the second placed exhibit!
The Harry Dawes Trophy was won for the Best Pot Plant and the Bob Jones Salver for the highest points in flowers.
A very good day indeed. A huge thank you to all those members who supplied exhibits.
Important Information
On October 4th our Harvest Supper will take place at the School as last year. There will be a ham and cheese ploughman’s supper followed by Dorset apple cake with clotted cream. The cost is £5 and members should ring 814887 or 813942 to book a place if they haven’t already done so.
The evening will begin with a floral demonstration by Mark Read entitled Autumn Colour followed by the meal. We hope to see you there.
This year’s show, held on Saturday August 18th, was again very successful. The standards of vegetable, flower and pot plant exhibits were very high despite the very dry weather recently. In fact, standards were high across the show with wonderful floral arrangements and handicrafts. Our photography and cookery entries continue to increase as do the children’s entries. There were 300 entries in total. Judges commented on the excellent exhibits.
The hall is ready for exhibitors.
exhibits begin to arrive
More exhibits
children’s decorated flower pots
the Trophies are set up
some lovely orchids
Special Awards
N.V.S. Medal. Best Vegetable Exhibit (Leeks) Mark Read, N.V.S. Runner – Up to Best Vegetable (Onions) Mark Read, Silver Challenge Cup. Best Vegetable Collection Mark Read, Charles Read Memorial Cup. Highest points in Vegetable Classes Bill Howarth, Tomato Trophy. Best Exhibit Mark Read, Produce Challenge Cup. Best Mixed Collection John Morris, Garden News Shield. Lady with the Highest Points in Vegetable Calsses Jean Wyman and Dot Emblen, Springfield Cup. Best Exhibit, Fruit Classes Bill Howarth, National Dahlia Society Silver Medal and Bronze Medal Frank Newbery, The Beaton Challenge Cup. Highest Points, Flower Classes Bill Howarth, Bincombe Cup. Best Exhibit, Cut Flowers Peter Read, The Gladioli Award. Best Exhibit John Morris, Pelargonium Shield. Best Exhibit Mark Read, Begonia Award. Best Exhibit Peter Read, Amateur Produce Challenge Cup. Highest Points, Novice Classes Sharon Power, Pridham Rose Bowl. Highest Points, Floral Decoration and Sackville Hamilton Cup for Best Exhibit Brenda Woodsford, Howard Cup. Highest Points, Preserves and Cookery and Richards Trophy. Best Exhibit Chris Warner, Westbrook Cup. Best Exhibit, Handicrafts Jane Hambleton, Redlands Cup. Highest Points, Photography in Spring and Summer Shows Adrian Read, Cup for Highest Points, Group 1 Children’s classes George Gant, Virgin Challenge Cup. Highest Points, Group 2 Children’s Classes Isla Brown, The R.H.S Banksian Medal. Highest Points in Horticulture Classes John Morris, The EFCO Trophy. Highest Points in Show Bill Howarth
plenty for the cookery judge to taste!
It was a wonderful show and plenty of visitors came to enjoy the colourful display. The hall is ideal for this sort of event as there was still room for tea tables. These were soon taken up by people enjoying tea and home-made cakes. Awards were presented by our President, Mr Peter Read.
A huge thank you to all who exhibited and all who helped in any way to make the show the success that it was.
The Society meet on September 6th at St. Nicholas and St. Laurence school at 7.30 pm for a talk on House Plants.
Members should bring the plants supplied by the Gold Club for judging.
Our Summer Show is drawing near and preparations are well under way. It takes place on 18th August at Upwey and Broadwey Memorial Hall.
We are hoping for plenty of entries for members of the public to enjoy. Schedules can be downloaded from the website, click on the ‘Shows’ link. You will see that there are classes in many categories, so why not have a go ?
The Show is open to the public from 2pm with tea and home-made cake served throughout the afternoon.
On a beautiful evening, thirty members gathered at Immy and Bob Turner’s garden in Broadwey. We visited two years ago when the garden was newly planted and it was lovely to see how the plants had flourished. The borders looked spectacular with well planned colour schemes and a wide range of plants, all complementing each other.
Everyone enjoyed a perfect evening looking around the garden and having a good chat. Drinks and a light buffet were provided to complete an excellent occasion.
Our next event is the Summer Show on August 18th at the Memorial Hall. Click on the ‘Shows’ link for details.
On the weekend of 28th/29th April, our Society history was displayed as part of the Local History Exhibition at the Memorial Hall. Visitors were able to look back at past events with newspaper clippings, old minute books and Flower Show results, dating back to when the Society was formed. This resulted in two new members signing up.
Our May Meeting was very well attended for the talk by Martin Young on Climbing Plants. 
Martin gave an excellent talk, supported by slides, covering a wide range of climbers. He gave us plenty of information on the growing and care of such plants and answered members’ questions at the end.
The Plant Sale, held on 12th May, was a very busy event. Plenty of buyers queued up for bargains and quickly cleared the stalls.
Perennials neatly displayed.
Plenty of Hostas, lovely healthy plants.
A good range of plants were on offer.
When the buyers had completed their purchases, they enjoyed a cup of tea and slice of cake, making it a very sociable afternoon.
£220 profit was made, a valuable addition to Society funds. Many thanks to all who helped on the day, made cakes or supplied plants, and of course, those who made purchases.
We look forward to seeing everyone at The Dairy House, Watery Lane from 6 pm on the 21st June. (See previous post).
On May 3rd at St.Nicholas and St. Laurence School, Martin Young will be speaking about Climbing Plants. The meeting starts at 7.30 pm with refreshments available.
Martin, who runs a nursery on Dorchester Road at Upwey, is very knowledgeable and always gives us an excellent talk.
May 12th sees our Plant Sale at the Memorial Hall at 2pm. There will be a Society stall where members can donate plants or, if desired, members can have a stall of their own. In this case, the table will be free but 20% of takings will go to the Society.
On June 21st, at 6 pm (please note, not 7th) we have again been invited to Immy Turner’s garden at the Dairy House, Watery Lane.
We went 2 years ago, when the garden was newly landscaped, so it will be very interesting to see how it has matured.
Plenty of chat in 2016
This will be a very pleasant evening spent by the river with drinks and nibbles provided.