Our gardens are certainly getting a battering lately with extreme wet and windy weather, so here at Amberley Gardening Club, after a few late season garden visits, we are battening down the hatches.
Members have still managed to get out and about in the brighter spells. Matthew managed a week in Cornwall admiring the sub-tropical gardens of St. Ives and the very colourful Japanese garden at the Eden Project.
Closer to home, Gillian’s azaleas dazzled us all and we were amazed to learn they flower twice a year – quite a bonus.
With planting now dying down for the winter, it’s an ideal time to tackle those structural garden tasks in readiness for next year. Matthew has been busy removing a leylandii hedge to make space for more plants and has also taken delivery of some bare root yew to create a new hedge. Rosemary suggests there should be a “leylandii tax”, rather like the old window tax – I think many of us are in agreement on that point!
We enjoyed a very informative talk this month about the restoration of the Old Priory at Woodchester, delivered by Jeremy Hill. This building is a Grade 1 listed house on an ancient Roman site. Members were very impressed to hear about the many challenges he faced during the restoration.
We are looking forward to next year’s programme of talks, a lively mix of subjects. On Thursday 13th January we will welcome Caroline Sheldrick with her talk “From Cadfael to Caroline: herbal medicine, past and present”. Our AGM will take place on Thursday 10th February, to be followed by a quiz and on Thursday 10th March, Richard Harvey will be presenting a “Visual Tour of Gloucestershire and Cotswold Gardens”.
Everyone is welcome to these monthly events at the Amberley Parish Rooms. We usually start at 7.30, and liquid refreshments are available. We hope many of you will enjoy them and become members.
In addition to these monthly meetings, we also arrange a programme of garden visits from spring to autumn interspersed with social events.
You can keep up to date with our latest news via the Amberley website and Everything Amberley Facebook page. For membership details, please contact Christopher Bailey at christo.p.bailey@outlook.com.