Our Meeting in April was very well attended by Members and Guests to hear the Talk by Helen Picton on “The Cultivation of Clematis”.
At this Meeting, we were the first organisation using the Hall, to test the latest equipment, installed at Eaton Bishop Village Hall by the Village Hall Committee, consisting of the new Screen and Projector. This new equipment will certainly enhance our Meetings from now on and was very much appreciated by our Members. So, our thanks for this additional equipment must certainly go to the Village Hall Committee.
The occasion was certainly marked with an excellent talk, when Helen took us through the Gardening Year showing the varieties of Clematis, that could be grown in each Season. Many of us were certainly not aware that by combining varieties of Clematis you can have colour throughout the year. Helen gave us a selection of plants for each season, advising on the best growing conditions and the best planting combinations, with other trees and shrubs in the garden.
Regular pruning of Clematis encourages strong growth and flowering and keeps the growth in check. If left unpruned, Clematis can turn into a mass of tangled stems with bare base and flowers well above eye level. Helen explained that although there are numerous Clematis species, hybrids and cultivars, for pruning purposes, they are split into three distinct pruning groups, based on the time of flowering and the age of the pruning wood.
- Pruning Group 1 comprising of early blooming clematis should be pruned in mid-to late spring after flowering and once the risk of frost has passed.
- Pruning Group 2 comprising of the large-flowered cultivars that flower in May to June and possibly again later in the year, prune in February and after the first flush of flowers in early summer.
- Pruning Group 3, this group comprises clematis that flower from mid-late summer are best pruned back hard in February each year to the lowest pair of buds.
Helen will be visiting us again in June 2024 to give a talk on Michaelmas Daisies. Her Picton Garden and Nursery at Colwall hold the “National Collection” of Michaelmas Daisies.
Also, in April, members of Gardening Club were invited to visit the local Madley Plants Nursery by owners Simon and Michele. They spoke to us about what they had managed to achieved, since they took over the Nursery some eight years ago and their plans for the future.
Their range of plants has been significantly increased since they have been at the Nursery and Michele made a point of stating, that where possible they get their supply of plants, trees and shrubs from local growers. Their range of summer bedding plants is now quite extensive and can cope with most of their customers’ needs.
Michele then gave a demonstration on planting up containers, to give lasting summer colour.
We were then invited to view the Nursery and Shop and to make any purchases.
We rounded off the evening with tea/coffee and of course cake, and we made ourselves comfortable in the Nursery Coffee Shop, one of the Nursery polytunnels, which was rather cosy, on a rather chilly evening.
In May we did not hold a Meeting as during the third week of the month, it would have clashed with the Gardening Club Holiday. This year we visited gardens in the Cumbria Area and a report on this will feature in the next edition of Tracking the News.
For our Meeting in June, we are pleased to welcome back to Gardening Club, Catherine Beale, a well-known local historian, who is going to give a talk on the Herefordshire Hampton Court House and Gardens.
We are hoping to follow the talk, with a visit to Hampton Court, when Catherine will take us on a guided tour of the House, which we are hoping to arrange, for some time in July or August.
We are looking to invite the Eaton Bishop Historical Society to this meeting as we feel the subject matter will also be of interest to them.
A report on the Meeting and Visit will feature in a later edition of Tracking the News.
Also, at the June Meeting we will hold our Mid-Summer Flower Show. Can Members please do their best to support this event with plenty of exhibits.
Schedule is as follows:
- Rose, one specimen bloom.
- Roses, three stems of any one type, in one vase.
- Trees and/or shrubs in flower, one or more kinds, in one vase.
- Trees and/or shrubs, foliage of one or more kinds, in one vase.
- Any flowers not listed above, three stems of one variety, in one vase.
- Any flowers not listed above, five stems of more than one kind, in one vase.
- A plate of soft fruit.