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.


GARDENING GROUP VISIT – WEDNESDAY 19th FEBRUARY 2014
A small group of 5 visited Rode Hall to admire the snowdrop woods. An easy journey, pleasant lunches, and a first class art exhibition, combined with the varied and extensive displays of snowdrops to make it a good start to the year.



GARDENING GROUP VISIT - WEDNESDAY 19TH MARCH 2014
In pleasant sunshine 10 of the group visited the Quarry Bank garden at Styal, a garden under restoration, and requiring considerable reconstruction after years of neglect. Daffodils, camelias, and formal beds of pansies were the main colour, but the hillside banks, although being replanted, were rather bare, especially a problem since Japanese Knotweed needs to be eradicated – not easy at all.

Gentler paths to reach the upper garden had created circular routes, and extended the garden; while one of our number with walking difficulties was well catered for, by a NT buggy transporting her here, there, and everywhere.The outstanding feature of the garden is undoubtedly its superb position by the river Bollin, with wonderful views all around, and all the groupseemed to appreciate that, and enjoyed the day out.



APRIL MEETING
11 visited Carol and John’s garden in Marple, and enjoyed looking at their well established Pieris tree, early alpine clematis, and yellow rhododendron “Conroy”, amongst other things. We did discuss one or two gardening problems, and Betty brought some cuttings. Pleasant sunshine helped our visit, together with generous helpings of seasonal hot cross buns – Thanks John and Carol.

MAY - VISIT TO LEA GARDENS

Seven travelled to Lea Gardens near Matlock, and after a lovely sunny scenic drive through Derbyshire, were bowled over by the gorgeous Rhododendron garden. Sheltered in a former millstone quarry, and by tall trees, is a unique collection of rhododendrons and azaleas in a myriad of colours. Particularly striking were the banks of deciduous azaleas with their powerful scent, the large flower heads of late rhododendrons, and the lush acers and dwarf evergreens in the pools area.

 Plenty of seats, a friendly and homely tea room, and tempting choice plants for sale, all helped to make it a memorable trip.

JUNE – STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM AT BETTY’S

Strawberries and cream, sparkling wine, hot sunshine, and an attractive garden to sit in – at Betty’s house - made a lovely change from our usual visits, and was much appreciated by the 10 who attended. Definitely a first class event.     

JULY – VISIT TO DOROTHY CLIVE GARDENS

It was a lovely relaxing garden to walk in for the seven who travelled in two cars into this Staffordshire garden, originally created by an Army colonel for his ailing wife. It was easy to get lost in the many paths, whilst admiring the unusual flowers and shrubs, or exploring the walks in the quarry garden (DVDs showing how colourful this could look in late Spring). Our two sub-groups finally met up again in the pleasant tea rooms, with tasty home made sandwiches and cakes, whilst Walter tried to define the changes made since his last visit. A visit of almost 5 hours on a balmy bright day showed how much there was to see in this excellent, very English, garden.

AUGUST – VISIT TO ABBEYWOOD

Only four were able to dodge various commitments, but were lucky to see the outstanding Abbeywood gardens, near Delamere. Only opened to the public in the last 5 years, and still being extended in striking new ways, they were very colourful, and displayed lots of novel ideas.

 First step outside was into a lush tropical / exotic garden, with bananas, echiums, and brugmansiae interwoven with strange colourful flowers we struggled to name, then a traditional set of geometric water gardens but unusually with verbena bononiensis planted in clumps for effect. Next was the narrow Pergola walk, bordering colourful herbacious borders, which led to the newest features – ten island herbacious beds in wide grassland  - four with mixed plants, and six in sweeping curves of contrasting colours using masses of individual varieties for effect. A superb display, and there was much more in the gardens too.

 Bright modern tea rooms, doubling as wedding function rooms at weekends, served slightly pricey, but good quality food, to complement our visit. Many thanks to Sam and Irene for recommending this garden.

SEPTEMBER – BARBECUE AT JOHN’S

Eight of us were royally entertained by John Ainscoe, and his barbecue assistant. We dined on tasty hotdogs and burger buns, followed by cake and ice cream, and washed them down with Bucks Fizz, All this while we sunbathed on John’s warm patio, and admired his colourful home grown rudbeckia and cosmos, plus some attractive dahlias. We even found the time to discuss our winter lunch – to be at Platform One, Romiley, and next year’s programme! It was a great meeting, thanks to John – although we know that Manchester rains will return eventually, and future meetings will be more low key.

OCTOBER – VISIT TO TATTON

Six went in two groups to Tatton Park gardens, and enjoyed leisurely strolls on a warm cloudy day. Obviously, on a mid-October day, flowers were sometimes on their last legs in the borders, but trees and bushes were starting to change colour, and made for pleasant walking in the woods. The piece-de-resistance is always the Japanese Garden, and this did not disappoint. The small leaved maples were a myriad shades of gold, pink and orange, and made the trip well worth while. Visits inside were possible for a small charge, but an hour standing to hear a long information talk seemed a bit heavy, so we opted instead for comfy seats admiring the views, particularly nice in the formal area before the house. It made a very pleasant end to our year of garden visits, and with our annual lunch moved on to January, to our last event of the year.

Group Leader, Walter Mason