The AGM and Mini-show will take place on April 4th at the Memorial Hall, Victoria Avenue. The meeting starts at 7.30 pm but the hall will be open from 7pm to stage exhibits. No need to enter in advance. If you need a schedule, please ring 813942.

We would welcome new committee members, so if you are interested please ring 814887 or just come along.

Members’ Gardens

This will be a new monthly feature, so if you have photos of something special or interesting in your garden, please email the image to shows@budhs.org.uk.

Blossom in Broadwey

New shoots in Nottington

Our February meeting was very well attended. The audience, including several new faces, enjoyed the talk on Wildlife in the Garden, given by Neil Lovesay of Picket Lane Nursery in South Perrott. He gave us a new perspective on garden wildlife with the help of some excellent slides. A superb talk delivered without a single note!

We now look forward to a busy March, with the meeting on the 7th and the Spring Show on the 16th.

The March speaker will be Peter Read talking about vegetables to grow for the coming season. This is sure to be a very enjoyable and informative evening.

Our Spring Show, on 16th March is always worth a visit with plenty of exhibits to see and delicious teas with home-made cakes. Do try to enter a few classes, the schedule can be found on the ‘shows’ link. Entries can be made by email to shows@budhs.org.uk

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.