Hardy's lecture - 18th September

Guess who hadn't been to Hardy's before?!

Another lovely late summer morning, another clubbers' outing - to Hardy's nursery for a talk on autumn flowering perennials.  

The temperature in the barn was about 10 degrees lower than outside, but Rosy's garden chat is so compelling that we sat scribbling feverishly on our plant lists for 90 minutes.  There seemed to be more people than usual, and a few of them had plenty to say.  Claire and I are to be congratulated on keeping our giggles contained at the mention of Erigeron karvinski-anus (good for growing in cracks?).

Despite Greg's 'recorded message' on Corinne's phone "This is a message from Hardy's Nursery.  The biscuits have now been finished.  Please proceed directly to the lecture theatre", the chocolate biscuits at half time were plentiful and as excellent as ever. 

Next time, let's make time to have lunch in the Watership Down pub at the end of the road.  Rabbit stew anyone?

Attendees: Helen, Kate, Claire, Corinne, Tracey, Debbie, Vicky 

Wisley Flower Show - 7th September

Attendees: Debbie, Kate, Jo, Tracey, Corinne, Vicky

Hankies still wet with tears from waving off our children back to school (!), our thoughts turned to the other kind of nurturing and we assembled here early and ready to spend.  Outside, the traffic was backing up along the A3; inside was a mass of well-dressed ladies of a certain age enjoying refreshments from the pop-up stalls.

The gardens, displays and stands looked glorious in the bright sun and we enjoyed chatting to helpful and knowledgeable stall-holders, and yielding to various horticultural temptations.  We had a quick lunch in the shade of a big tree, before confronting the near-impossible task of finding our cars amongst so many others.

Tips for future attendance:
Tie a balloon (or other distinguishing item) to your car; bring a shopping trolley.

Garden Club Weekend

9-10th June

Attendees: Debbie, Fiona, Helen, Tracey, Jo, Kate, Claire, Corinne, Vicky

Saturday:
Rendezvous at Brook Cottage, Alkerton (near Banbury), where we were revived after our early start with hot drinks and home-made biscuits.  The informal garden nestles into a slope and wraps around a chocolate-box stone cottage with a lake.

From there we drove to Coughton Court, Alcester, only to find that the 9th June was one of the 3 days that it closed in 2012 (along with Christmas Day and New Year's day)!  Thanks, NT.  Undaunted, we diverted to Ragley Hall, a classical stone mansion on a hill with sweeping views of an avenue of green and purple leaved trees in the distance and some phallic sculptures close to.  We sheltered from the blustery damp weather under the portico and had an animated lunch followed by group photo on the steps (see above).  The few other visitors melted away quickly.

From Ragley we drove to Whichford Pottery and admired the beautiful hand thrown pots adorned with butterflies, scrolls, flowers and nipples.  We admired the planting in the courtyard garden from the comfort of the cafe area and were the last to leave.

Full steam ahead to Cirencester, where we checked in at The Fleece.  Despite the free public parking right outside, the helpful (teenage) staff directed us to the £3 per night parking behind the hotel, some distance away thanks to the one way system, and very difficult to locate.  When we eventually found it, it was full.  Ha ha ha!

After a few drinks at the bar, we set out for Piazza Fontana.  Hidden down a dingy alleyway, its interior reminded me strongly of the BHS cafe in Bournemouth, circa 1978.  But the food was good.  We pretended it was Debbie's birthday in the hope of being presented with a large and impressively endowed pavlova which the birthday boy on the next table had been given.  Alas, she was only given a flaming Sambuca (and serenaded in Italian), but the rest of us were plied with free Limoncello.

Sunday:
Still full of the previous night's food, we rolled down to breakfast where Debbie, Claire and Fiona's smugness at being first up was soon dispelled as they found that 'the first shall be last'.  After waiting patiently for everyone in the whole hotel to be served, the waitress finally admitted she had lost their order!

Our first excursion was to Moor Wood, Woodmancote.  It began well, with us being invited into the kitchen, complete with Aga and box of 8-day-old black lab puppies.  We all fell in love with the puppies, the house, and Henry, our host.  He explained that he couldn't afford to employ the 4 full-time gardeners his grandfather had there in 1911, and that we should therefore regard the garden as "a landscape, an Impressionist painting".  He boasted of having the national collection of ground elder (along with the national collection of rambling roses, for real).  Henry and his wife Suzie accompanied us around the garden explaining its history and evolution, culminating in the revelation that Suzie makes Henry get into bed first in the colder months to warm it up for her.  Sadly, we were too early for many of the roses, due to the weather this year, but we were all impressed by the cedar tree which is though to be almost 300 years old.

Still reeling from the romantic beauty of Moor Court, we went on to Cerney House, also in Woodmancote.  This was a more cultivated affair, with vistas, glorious geraniums, beautiful walls and an extraordinary pavlova (again!).  This time we all tucked in, with a few sausage rolls for good measure.

After Cerney we drove to Waterperry Gardens, near Oxford.  Some of us went into the gardens, some of us went into the shops.  We converged in the tea-shop before a final scurry to buy plants and other souvenirs, and a wistful farewell in the car park.

When Harry Met Sally at Wolverton Garden Centre

Friday 25th May

Attendees: Jo (driving), Debbie, Claire, Vicky

A blind person in the garden centre that day would have blushed to hear the sighs and squeals of four excited ladies.

I was sceptical as we approached the scruffy and unkempt entrance, but we emerged from the car (the only one in the car park) into bright, hot sunlight and into an Aladdin's horticultural cave.  This is a true nursery, with not a sniff of a scented candle or the clink of china in the tea-shop.  Instead, it has rows and rows (and rows and rows...) of vigorous plants in myriad varieties - mostly at £3 or £5 per pot.  Every few seconds one of us would gasp with pleasure at yet another choice specimen, as every turn of the head or few steps' advancement brought sight of a blooming delight.  We left with a full car - and the desire to come again.

Bury Court - Wednesday 30th May

Attendees: Claire, Fiona, Vicky

My first time to BC, after hearing Claire bang on about it for the best part of a decade!

I wasn't disappointed.  The garden is set against a backdrop of mellow oast house and rolling Hampshire downs speckled with sheep.  The hot midday sun beat down on us and lit up the drifts of poppies and alliums.  We glanced appreciatively over the garden, before heading inside to the sale of vintage bits and bobs in the barn.  From there we took our seats (back row, of course) for the 'Stars of Chelsea' talk.  One of the stars was Dianthus cruentus, which we had purchased at Wolverton Garden Centre the previous week.  In horticultural terms, this makes us as fashionable as Kate's nude LK Bennets.

After the talk and some more in-depth appreciation of the planting we ate a delicious lunch of roasted veg and salmon pasta, salad and a lemon meringue roulade.

I just pulled a receipt out of my coat pocket which looked like it had been through the washing machine - crumpled, damp and blurred - a souvenir of our recent trip to Hardy's nursery.  Those of us who had been before dressed for an expedition to the Arctic, but it was still not quite enough and Debbie and Claire resorted to crocheted blankets on their knees.  Rosy treated us to a cheerful show of spring plants, with a little lecture on each and personalised gardening tips along the way while the rain thundered down on the tin roof.  New land speed records were set as we sprinted across the barn at half time to get our hands round a hot drink and some very decent chocolate biscuits.  Miraculously, the rain stopped just as the talk ended and we were able to wander around and yield to temptation.  Hands up who's planted everything they bought that day...

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