The next meeting will be a trip to Rode Hall on February 19th, 2014.

The gardening group is a small group which meets in each others' houses and gardens, and visits nearby public gardens.
 
Meetings are held monthly, on the third Wednesday in each month.  Nearer the dates, confirmation details of meeting times/place will be sent to group members by email and letter.

NOTE THAT THE GROUP HAS A FULL COMPLEMENT AT PRESENT.  ENQUIRIES FOR THE WAITING LIST TO WALTER MASON.

MEETINGS FOR GROUP MEMBERS –

JAN 16
FEB 20    DUNHAM MASSEY
MAR 20  SHAHNAZ CHOWDREY’S HOUSE
APR 17   VISIT TO BLUEBELL COTTAGE
MAY 14  VISIT TO DUNGE VALLEY
JUNE 19  JACKIE'S GARDEN
JULY 17  MOUNT PLEASANT GARDEN
AUG 21   ARLEY HALL GARDENS
SEPT 18
OCT 16
DEC 4

GARDENING REPORT 16 JANUARY 2013

Beryl Boswell held a friendly house meeting for 7 of the group, who discussed the 2013 programme, each other’s garden problems, and puzzled over a quiz and photo-collages prepared by the (absent) group leader.

Walter Mason


GARDENING GROUP VISIT – WEDNESDAY 20th FEBRUARY 2013.

  A chill air greeted  8 of us at Dunham Massey, but it didn’t stop our
  admiration of the Winter Garden, as its massive planting scheme is now
  coming into fruition.

  Snowdrops were in abundance, backed up by cyclamen, iris, and a few
  early daffodils. A large variety of unusual herbacious plants, shrubs and
 trees formed the background planting, with  rhododendron “Christmas
Cheer”, hellebore “Green Shade Spotted”, cornus (dogwood) alba “Siberian Pearls”, and massed ranks of  betula (silver birch) szechuanica “Liuba White” catching the eye.  A few modern structures had been  strategically positioned to add interest, around the garden.  
Obviously, many more flowers are due to appear soon – especially 85 varieties of narcissus (daffodil)  and 50 varieties of camellia;  but there were notable exceptions in the planting scheme – not a single spring crocus is planted, and only 2 varieties of primrose.  What has Roy Lancaster, who designed the garden transformation, got against crocus and primula?

But all in all, our group seemed well pleased with the visit, as they clutched their purchases of dwarf irises, and went to warm up again in the National Trust tea rooms.

Walter Mason

GARDENING REPORT – WEDNESDAY 20th MARCH

  Shahnaz Chowdrey was a welcome host for 8 of the gardening group,
  and we saw a number of garden slide shows, looked at a small
  collection of Hellebore flowers, and discussed a number of garden
  issues.



Walter Mason

GARDENING REPORT WEDNESDAY 17th APRIL

  Eight of us travelled to Bluebell Cottage Garden/Lodge Lane Nursery on
  a windy, but sunny day. With the extremely cold Spring, plants are weeks
  behind schedule, so no bluebells.  The cowslip meadow was still in bud,
  and the flower garden had hardly sprung into life, so we were given free
  entrance.  But there were plenty of varied primulas, pulmonarias, and
  others, and the woods had wood anemones, celandines, and many badger
setts, so plenty to interest us.  Interestingly, the RHS magazine “The Garden” has just featured this garden/nursery, and showed how gorgeous it can look at its Summer best.
The current owner is Sue Beesley, a former winner of Gardener of the Year, and she was busy with a potting workshop for a group of 12 – a useful reminder that Spring must spring soon, and there will be plenty of gardening jobs to keep us busy.

Walter Mason

GARDENING REPORT – 14th MAY 2013

A group of five braved the rain to visit Dunge Gardens in Kettleshulme, but after a pleasant sandwich lunch in their conservatory, the rain ceased and enabled a pleasant stroll round. Plenty of rhododendrons were in bloom, accompanied by late spring flowers, so it made a worthwhile visit.  Walter Mason

GARDENING REPORT – 19th JUNE 2013
 
The hottest day of the year gave eight in the gardening group a rest from visits, and a chance to relax in hot sunshine with a glass of wine, and later with strawberries and cream. All this in Jackie’s very pleasant garden. We did have some serious discussion on gardening problems as well, to justify our later relaxation, but thanks to Jackie it was a lovely friendly afternoon.

Walter Mason

GARDENING REPORT – 17th JULY 2013

Mount Pleasant Garden, just off the A556 near Kelsall, deserves to be much better known.  The 7 of us were bowled over by the lush vegetation, a lovely blend of unusual plants and bushes, and the maze of wandering paths, all coexisting beneath specimen trees and woodland.

The gardens hug the sandstone slopes beyond Delamere, with views towards the Dee valley plain, and vary from real hot suntraps with tropical palms, to  cool areas with candelabra primroses and even a Japanese garden, too.  The gardens are punctuated with fascinating carvings and features, and are less planned than most, but our group found them very appealing.  A hot sunny day was ideal for a garden visit, but the cups of tea before leaving, were very welcome.  Also welcome to see, was a nearby garden centre, with good choice at reasonable prices.  Altogether a good day out!

Walter Mason

GARDENING REPORT – 21st AUGUST

Seven travelled to Arley Hall Gardens and had a very good visit in warm sunshine.  The double herbacious border was looking really lovely, and there was plenty to see in the rest of the garden too. Thoughts of visiting the hall as well were thwarted by a wedding party in progress, but this didn’t detract from a very pleasant day.

Jackie Hadfield

GARDENING REPORT – 18th SEPTEMBER

Poor weather and other activities prevented the advertised visit to Biddulph Grange. Instead a group of 3 enjoyed a light lunch and retail garden therapy at Woodford Park garden centre.

Walter Mason

GARDENING REPORT – 16th OCTOBER
  6 members came to Walter’s house, and discussed various plants (eg Cordyline
  and Yucca – this was in bloom - a fairly rare event). There was still plenty of
  colour from a large selection of Michaelmas Daisies (in the Aster family), and
  several late flowering yellow herbacious plants (eg Rudbeckia).  There was an
  exchange of Southernwood cuttings grown by Betty, and Michaelmas Daisies and
  Golden Rod offcuts were taken from the garden. – until the approaching cool
  damp weather caused a retreat inside to mark the first year of the re-formed
  group with sherry and cake.

We discussed several gardening topics, viewed pictures taken over the last 12 months, a programme was agreed for 2014, and a booking made at the White Horse, Disley for a pre-Christmas meal.

Walter Mason

GARDENING  4th DECEMBER
Members of the gardening group had a pleasant lunch at the White Horse in Disley.

Walter Mason

Group Leader, Walter Mason