Annual General Meeting of the Society
To be held at Ash Village Hall on Thursday 24th of October 2024 at 7.30 pm.
AGENDA
1. Opening the meeting
2. Apologies for absence
3. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 26 October 2023
4. Matters arising
5. Financial Report
6. Election of Accounts Scrutineer
7. Chairman’s Report
8. Election of President
9. Election of Officers
a) Chairman
b) Vice-chairman
c) Treasurer
10. Election of Committee, (nominations invited)
11....
Talk Report: Tim Gillian Ingram – Woodland Plants
We had a wonderful talk from Tim and Gillian Ingram on Woodland Plants, illustrating their nursery garden and plants through the year.
Tim’s first love was for alpines after visiting Joe Elliot’s nursery in the Cotswolds when he was young and he devotes time and space to growing these in special beds. Allied to love of alpines are the spring plants which take advantage of the early light and moisture. Snowdrops have great charm and diversity followed by Hellebores which continue for months, then a flood of woodland species like Anemones, Hepaticas and Trilliums. As summer approaches ...
Talk Report: Dr David Roberts – Carnivorous Plants
Dr David Roberts from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) at the University of Kent gave us an enthusiastic talk on these fascinating plants. His interest started as a small boy, when his father built him a large tank to grow his collection of orchids and carnivorous plants. His collection was transferred to Kew where he worked for several years.
After Charles Darwin had published his magnum opuses (or magna opera), On The Origin of Species and the Descent of Man, he turned his attention to Insectivorous plants, which were defined as ‘those plants which by some...
Talk Report – Rachael Castle: Shining a light on bulbs
At the end of November Rachael Castle was shining a light on bulbs. This was not a talk for electricians – for them, there would be no double entendre. For them bulbs can only be plants, not sources of illumination, for electricians they are lamps.
We were taken through the year of bulbs in the garden, starting with aconites, with bright yellow flowers looking like choirboys with their ruff of petals. These were followed by snowdrops. For galanthophiles (see last January) we were shown a favourite, Diggory, with puckered petals looking like seersucker. Snowflakes followed.
The Spring...
Talk Report – Steve Edney & Louise Dowle: Seedheads – Organising a Chelsea Gold Medal Winning Display
What do you do when the speakers arranged for the evening talk phone up at lunchtime to say they are indisposed?
There must be no other horticultural society which can arrange for not one, but two speakers to continue the talk they gave on Gardeners’ World less than a week beforehand.
Lou Dowle and Steve Edney demonstrated their enthusiasm for the architectural delights of seedheads in winter gardens. Or rather in the drier winter gardens of Kent, not the soggy gardens in the west, where even the stateliest plants turn to mush.
Steve and Louise brought a range of seadheads to demonstrate...
Talk Report – Adam Frost – Becoming a gardener
Well, we now know that we can seat 150 people in the Hall (but only with the generous loan of extra seating from Westmarsh Village Hall – thank you). He spoke for nearly two hours and we were all riveted.
He began by describing his path into horticulture and designing gardens. It began with gardening with his grandparents (Tiny Nan and Scruffy Nan) in East London. (So please encourage your own grandchildren..)
His move to Budleigh Salterton, where he did not fit in. His smart London fashions had not yet reached Devon. He left school with no qualifications. At 17, he was accepted for the...