On 4th May Jan Willment of Island Gardens Nursery will be talking about and demonstrating hanging baskets. This is always enjoyable and fascinating to see how many plants she manages to squeeze in. Tea and coffee will be available from 7.15 pm prior to Jan’s talk.

1st June sees our visit to The Walled Garden at Little Bredy. Our visit is timed for 3pm and cream teas are available. We need to know numbers so please let us know if you wish to come and also if you would like to book a cream tea. The cost will be £4 for entry and another £4 for a cream tea.

The easiest way to get there is via Portesham. Take the coast road to Portesham and turn right at the King’s Arms. Proceed through the village and up the hill. Over the top of the hill Little Bredy is signposted to the left. There will be an A-board on the road to the village showing us to turn left past the village green. There is ample parking outside the garden.

If anyone needs a lift we will try to arrange one.

Our Annual General Meeting held on 6th April was very well attended and the number of entries in  the Members’ Mini Show  was the highest for several years. Mark Read was the judge and awarded prizes to Ros Gant for a wonderful pot of tulips and Jean Wyman for best single bloom, coincidentally, also a tulip.

Officers remain the same but Jean Fairbrother said she would have to give up the post of Treasurer at the end of the financial year (December 31st). If anyone is able to take  this over, please let Ros Gant know. One new committee member was appointed which is very good news.

On April 20th members will be visiting Poundbury Garden Centre. Meet in the restaurant at 6.45 pm for coffee followed by a talk. Then browse around the garden centre and any purchases will attract a 25% discount. This is always a very enjoyable evening.

Our Next Meeting is on 4th May when Jan Willment of Island Gardens Nursery will be demonstrating Hanging Baskets. 

The Plant Sale on the 13th May will soon be here. The Memorial Hall will be open from 1 pm to receive plants with the sale starting at 2 pm.

Another successful Spring Show, the 35th, was held on Saturday 18th March at Upwey Memorial Hall.

Almost 200 entries, up 20% on last year, produced a wonderful display of colour and scent. The daffodil and hyacinth displays were spectacular.  Other areas to do well included cookery with a surprising surge in gentlemen’s cake-making. The Floral Art classes produced some wonderful exhibits as always.

The judges commented on the high standard of entries across all sections.

Awards were well spread out this year and new exhibitors shone in the daffodil and novice sections.

Well done to all who contributed to a very good show.

SPECIAL AWARDS

Junior Cup, Highest Points, Children’s Classes           Erica Pickard

Downer Cup. Best Photographic Print                          Ron Warner

Nottington Cup. Best Exhibit, Handicrafts                    Anna Banks

Littlemead Cup. Highest Points, Preserves and Cookery, excluding Class 68             Anna Banks

Ridgeway Cup. Highest Points, Propagation                       Bill Howarth

Shield. Highest Points, Novice Section                                Erica Pickard

Best Exhibit, Floral Art                                                        Brenda Woodsford

Grandshaw Cup. Highest Points, Pot Plants                       Bill Howarth

Golds Candelabra. Best Exhibit, Pot Plants, excluding bulbs  Adrian Read

Golds Shield. Best Exhibit, Bulbs in Pots                                 Bill Howarth

Ladies’ Spring Cup. Highest Points, Sections 1 to 6                Mary Edgell

Spring Show Cup. Runner up to Highest Points, Sections 1 to 6  Mark Read

Benson Cup. Highest Points, Sections 1 to 6                               Bill Howarth

Shield. Best Exhibit, Class 23                                                                  ”

Silver Trophy. Best Exhibit, Other Cut Flowers, excluding Class 23      ”

Daffodil Diploma for Best Vase                                             Mark Read

Daffodil Diploma awarded at Judge’s discretion                   Eric Pickard

Best Bloom in Daffodils                                                         Ray Hayward 

Medal for Best Exhibit in Daffodil Classes                          Darlene Hayward                

Broadwey and Upwey Daffodil Championship Salver     Mark Read

JUDGES

Daffodils, Mr D Phillips
Horticulture, Mr. D. Luther
Floral Art, Mrs S Bendall
Cookery, Handicrafts, and Children’s Classes, Natalie Green   Photography, Mr. J. Downer

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Brenda Woodsford’s interpretation of

‘A touch of Magic’

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On March 2nd members old and new gathered to hear a talk on vegetable gardening in containers.

Vice-Chairman, Ros Gant welcomed everyone and, after reminding us of the Spring Show on 18th and the A.G.M. in April, introduced our speaker, Mark Read.

Mark is a very knowledgeable horticulturist and National exhibitor. He gave us an excellent talk covering suitable containers, vegetables that thrive in containers, the best compost to use, combatting pests and diseases and which feeds to use. He grows a lot of his own vegetables in containers so had first-hand experiences to share.

Members enjoyed his easy, friendly style and the amusing anecdotes included. Mark answered a variety of questions from the floor before the meeting closed.

Our A.G.M. is on 6th April which includes the Member’s Only Mini-Show. Entries can be staged from 7 pm.

Please click on the Shows link for details of our Annual Spring Show on 18th March to be held in The Memorial Hall.

The Dorset County Show committee are holding their Spring Show on April 2nd and 3rd at Sunninghill School in Dorchester. More classes have been added this year so it should be well worth a visit, open to the public between 2 and 4 pm.

For further details go to www.dorset-county-show-competitors.co.uk/page/schedules

Our February meeting attracted a large audience with several potential new members. Sally Fielding gave a fascinating talk on Dry-stone Walling illustrated with slides. She explained how the walls are constructed and that different parts of the country have different styles of building. It was a very enjoyable evening.

On March 2nd, Mark Read will be talking about vegetable growing.  This is sure to be very informative as Mark is a renowned grower and exhibitor.

The talk will include growing veg. in containers so that everyone can have a go regardless of garden size.

Don’t forget our Spring Show  on 18th March, details on the ‘Shows’ link.

We hope you have had a good festive season and are now looking forward to another gardening year.  No doubt the seed catalogues have been browsed over and plans made.

Our first talk of 2017 will be on February 2nd when Sally Fielding will be speaking about Dry-stone Walling. This promises to be very interesting.

We look forward to seeing friends old and new from 7-15 pm when coffee and tea will be available prior to the talk.

We returned to the Hix Academy restaurant on Thursday 8th December for Christmas Lunch.

We all enjoyed a superb meal with excellent service in very pleasant surroundings.   Highly recommended!

The school hall looked very festive for our last talk of 2016 with the Christmas tree twinkling and mince pies available with tea and coffee.

Tom Amery of The Watercress Company gave us a very interesting insight into the history of his company and watercress growing in general.

He answered a variety of questions during his illustrated talk and finished by giving us all a bag of delicious watercress to take home.  A very good evening.

25 members will be having a Christmas lunch at the Hix Academy on the 8th December.

There is no meeting in January so we meet again on February 2nd when Sally Fielding will be speaking about Dry-stone walling.

Happy Christmas to all our members.

The November meeting was very well attended when Nigel Hewish of Kingston Maurward College spoke to us about penstemons. He brought a good selection of varieties for us to see and spoke very knowledgeably about the subject, all without notes! His very informative talk was backed up with slides. He ended the evening by answering members’ questions.

On December 1st we welcome Mr. Tom Amery whose talk will be ‘My Life in Watercress’ We have decided to try changing the format of the evening this month, so refreshments will be available from 7.15 pm prior to the talk. If this is successful we will adopt this arrangement permanently.