Due to the school being closed because of Easter holidays, our April meeting was held on 30th March. Bridget Kitley gave us a talk about growing plants in South Africa.

We were shown slides of her garden when she lived there. There were some lovely plants on show and she introduced each slide with a lot of knowledge and some humour.

Damson blossom

Our next event is the visit to Poundbury Gardens on 27th April when we will be greeted with a short talk at 6pm. This will be followed by discounted shopping. Purchases can be delivered the next day if required.

Our next meeting will be on 4th May when The Gold Club will give a talk on Low Maintenance Gardening. New members always welcome, come along and try us out!

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 Our Spring Show was held on Saturday 18th March. Entries were down on previous years due mainly to the long cold spells of weather. The daffodil entries suffered the most, however, Bill Howarth produced some lovely blooms including ‘Midas Touch’ which won Best Bloom and ‘Heamoor’ Best Vase.

The Floral classes were very well supported with Karen Boyce staging the Best Exhibit, pictured below.

It was a beautiful sunny day for the many visitors who arrived to view the exhibits and enjoy tea and cakes. A lovely community event.

We wish to thank the members who helped set up and dismantle the staging and all members and non members who exhibited and made the show a success.

Trophy Winners

Junior Cup     Highest Points, Children’s Classes , Evie-May Warner   Downer Cup  Best Photographic Print, Ron Warner  Nottington Cup   Best Exhibit, Handicrafts,  Sarah Studley   Prospect Cup   Highest Points, Preserves & Cookery, Neil Coad  Ridgeway Cup  Highest Points  Propagation, Bill Howarth    Novice Shield  Highest Points  Novice Classes,  Gill Wilkinson  Society Rose Bowl Best Exhibit, Floral Art,  Karen Boyce    Grandshaw Cup  Highest Points, Pot Plants,  Bill Howarth   Silver Salver  Best Exhibit, Pot Plants (excl. bulbs),  Shaun Vallard   Golds Shield   Best Exhibit, Bulbs in Pots, Bill Howarth    Spring Show Cup  Runner -up to Highest Points Sections 1-6,  John Morris  Benson Cup   Highest Points Sections 1-6, Bill Howarth   Silver Cup  Best Exhibit, Class 23,  Adrian Read    Silver Trophy  Best Exhibit , Other Cut Flowers,  Bill Howarth   Diploma   Best Vase, Daffodils,  ‘Heamoor’ ,   Bill Howarth   Best Bloom in Daffodils  ‘Midas Touch’ , Bill Howarth   Medal for Best Daffodil Exhibit,  Bill Howarth   Championship Salver  Bill Howarth

More photos 

Our next meeting is on March 30th when Bridget Kitley will speak about Growing Plants in South Africa.

Our talk for March was given by Steve Jeffries, who explained how and when to prune and feed shrubs. He demonstrated on a collection of shrubs.

Steve encouraged our members to ask questions during his talk and there were plenty of questions to answer.

It was a really interesting talk given with plenty of humour which made for a very pleasant evening.

The flower and plant of the month winners;

Our Spring Show is on 18th March. If you have any trophies, won last year, please return them to P & M Read’s florist by 11th March.

If you wish to enter, please click on the ‘Shows’ Link for details or collect a schedule from P & M Read’s.

The school will be closed for Easter at the beginning of April so our next meeting will be on 30th March. Bridget Kitley will speak about Growing Plants in South Africa.

On April 27th members will be visiting Poundbury Gardens for a short talk followed by discounted shopping. Any large items can be delivered free of charge.

Arrive at the restaurant by 6pm.

Our first meeting of 2023, held on 2nd February was very well attended when Martin Young gave an interesting talk on Hydrangeas.  He spoke about the different types of Hydrangea and the best soil for each type in order to keep the colours true, for example, blue flowers require acid soil. He also covered feeding and pruning.

Martin also brought some shrubs for members to purchase. A very pleasant evening.

Some of the snowdrops at Kingston Lacy, well worth a visit.

Our March meeting, on the 2nd, will be a talk by Steve Jeffries  a horticultural subject of his choice.

Also in March, our Spring Show  is on 18th. Full details and downloadable schedule can be found on the ‘Shows’ link on the home page. We look forward to receiving your entries.

The Committee wishes all members, old and new, a

VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

The Christmas supper and quiz was well attended and enjoyed by all. During the evening, the Flower of the Month award was presented to Kay Graham. The award is a beautifully painted plate, decorated by the late Mary Middlemass, who was a member for several years.

There is no meeting in January so we look forward to seeing you all at our next meeting on February 2nd when Shaun Vallard will talk to us about his trip to the Galapagos Islands.

It’s never too early to think about our Spring Show,  full details can be found on the ‘Shows’ link.

We have received this newsletter from the Gardens Group,

New Year & Christmas Leaflet

On 24th November Mark Read took a wreath making class at the Memorial Hall. Greatly enjoyed by all. Mark provided the basic essentials.

Autumn is here and gardens are being tidied for the winter ahead. Meanwhile, we can enjoy the lovely colours.

Our November meeting was well attended despite the bad weather. Our planned talk  (on orchids) was changed due to the unavailability of the speaker. However, we were treated to an excellent talk on pruning fruit by Malcolm from Castle Gardens. He covered every kind of fruit from apple trees to soft fruit.

Our next meeting is on December 1st when we will enjoy the Christmas meal and quiz. If you have not already booked your place, please phone 814887 or 813942. The cost is £7 for members and £7.50 for guests, payable on the night.

The Gold Club are unable to send a speaker on Orchids for Thursday 3rd so the talk will be on ‘Plants that changed the world’.  Sorry for any disappointment.

Our Harvest Supper was held on 6th October at St. Nicholas School. Forty two members enjoyed the usual ham and cheese ploughman’s supper followed by home-made apple cake with clotted cream.

There was also a tribute to our late President, Peter Read. His son. Mark, brought along a display of photographs showing Pete’s early days of exhibiting as a child through to winning at the national shows with his dahlias, roses and begonias. He is sadly missed.

Following the meal, we held a short A.G.M. Officers elected were;

President              Mrs. E. Morris

Chairman             Mr. S. Vallard

Vice Chair            Mrs. R. Gant

Secretary             Mr. N. Coad

Treasurer             Mrs. D. Caves

Show Secretary   Mrs. E. Morris

Committee members; Mrs. G. Wilkinson, Mr. & Mrs. C. Seal, Mrs. I. Turner.

Our next meeting is on November 3rd when the Gold Club will give a talk entitled ‘Orchids at Home’.

The Society entered the Dorset Federation Show on September 18th at Durweston Village Hall. A lovely hall in a quiet village just outside Blandford.

We had a successful day, coming home with three awards. The Best Cactus or Succulent Exhibit, Best Exhibit in the Domestic Classes (Collection of 3 Preserves) and the Banksian Medal for the Highest number of points gained.

Some other 1st Prize Exhibits

Dessert and Culinary Apples both won 1st prize.

Our Homecraft Collection of five items. Second Prize.