Daffodil Champ 2014

Back at the end of 2014 when we had our AGM members were offered "Carlton" daffodils to grow, and to bring them back to a spring meeting to let the remaining membership chose  the entry  they thought to be the best. Here is our winner Margaret seen at the April Meeting with her prize winning entry.

FUCHSIAS PT 2

Here we see Carol Gubler presenting her talk at our April Meeting. A quick fire fact filled hour or so without slides, but with actual potted examples of fuchsias. Another of our speakers with unbounded enthusiasm for their chosen topic.

Your Fuchsia is here......

Come and join us on Wednesday 2 April at 8pm in the Red Cross Hall, Oxted for our monthly meeting. The guest speaker is Carol Gubler who will be talking about fuchsias through the season.
Carol has written a step by step guide to fuchsia growing, and will, without doubt, inspire us to grow some this year
In addition members will be bringing their "Carlton" daffodils, and those present at the meeting will be judging which they think is best.

Eyes to the Right!

You may want to take a look at a couple of additions to the is site. We have a new page for the LIMPSFIELD COMMUNITY ORCHARD, with their latest Newsletter, and a link for THE TWEET OF THE DAY. This link is to the BBC website giving access to all their broadcast Tweets of the Day. You can just listen to them or download them to your own computer.
Just give a couple of click on these links which you will find just to the right of this note.

 

 

Simon Waddilove

Simon is a dedicated orchid enthusiast, and these distinctive plants fill his professional life.
However, his personal passion is for the caniverous plants to be found in the southern United States, amongst a really inhospitable environment (eg: heat, humidity, snakes, water, bogs, ants, mosquitoes etc). These extraordinary plants can grow to about 4ft high in this area, and the photo is an example of what can be seen. 

Despite their size the plants consume just one fly per year.
To find these locations really falls in to the category of modern exploration, as they are not easy to find, and are becoming rarer as land is drained and developed.
Julie brought along some the books her father (John Blowers) wrote about orchids, and is seen below chatting with Simon.
A very worthwhile evening. Catch him when you can.

2014 SCHEDULE ADDENDUM

Sorry to say the gremlins were about when we prepared the 2014 schedule for printing, and only part of the Hurst Green Summer Evening Flower Show schedule was printed.
Here is an addendum, to hopefully put matters right. Ready printed versions to size A5 will be available at the Monthly Meeting on Wednesday 5 March.
Apologies to all concerned for the inconvenience and especially to the Hurst Green Gardening Club.
To print, just click on the schedule below and proceed.

JAMES MASTERS 2

  

James gave us a fascinating talk on the work he and his professional and volunteer teams are undertaking on the grounds and gardens at Standen. There is still some way to go, and the project will not be complete until 2016. So, if you have not seen the gardens for some years, you will find a number of surprises, not least along the entrance drive where all the rock surfaces are now exposed. He is seen in the photo with Rick and Jenny Meakin who are volunteers at Standen.

Below is a stop motion camera shoot of the recent planting of 500 trees.

JAMES MASTERS

Our first talk for 2014 will be on Wednesday 5 February at 8pm in the Red Cross Hall, Oxted.
Our speaker is the Head Gardener of the National Trusts property Standen, near East Grinstead. he will be telling us about the restoration programme for the gardens.
Our evening will include the first Monthly Competition of the new season. Do bring something along if you can. For a small charge, non members are always welcome to our meeting. 
Here is a comment from Standen (by James we think) that may be of interest:
Many more of the 500 new trees have been planted on the Top Terrace this week, but  everywhere is so wet! I have been recording the weather in Mid Sussex for 30 years and January was the wettest month by far in that time with 320.5 mm / 12.6" rain 

Below is a brief preview of James, talking about Standen.