The July meeting of the Club featured Dr. Paul Bygrave. If he was once a medical man, he kept the fact quiet but he certainly knew all his Latin terminology. Paul leads the nursery attached to the garden at Forde Abbey. There he reckons to grow 30,000 plants a year in order to stock the gardens and sell others to the public. That many plants must feed a lot of slugs! He has previously worked at Kew and the Chelsea Physic Garden and is a keen follower of the ‘Prairie’ style of planting promoted by the legendary Piet Oudolf. The title of the talk related to plants which continue to provide colour into the late season or indeed the fabled ‘Indian Summer’. Dr. Bygrave spoke well and amazed the audience with his capacity for remembering the common, Latin and varietal names for the plants in his slides. Coneflowers, dahlias, chrysanthemums and many others featured in his talk and a visit to the Abbey would appear to be highly recommended!
Paul undoubtedly had more to give, yet, without in any way being rude, the suitably august members of the committee who welcomed him to the Parish Hall did suggest that a bit of brevity might not be a bad thing. The reason for such a request was that the Club had things to celebrate. 20 years in existence without ever a cross word! The traditional gift for being married for that time would appear to be china but being an alternative group, Club members dispensed with China tea in porcelain and went instead for Prosecco in (not) cut-glass flutes with which they drank a toast to the past twenty years, the current health of the Club and continued success in the future.
Moreover, the continued development of the organisation was evidenced by the formal opening of the new, all-singing and dancing Club website.
www.lydfordanddistrictgardeningclub.co.uk
The address above will lead to a wealth of photographs, information, advice and news. Everything horticultural all in the same place. Members and non-members are encouraged to browse the pages and attempt to recognise where the photographs were taken and when. A Q.R. code, the black and white square thing which doesn’t work at National Trust places, is available to ‘help’ access the site and this may be available elsewhere in the Magazine.
Due to fatigue, the after effects of Prosecco and holidays, the Club did not meet in August.
In September, due to the organisational efforts of Lynne and Ralph, a professional tool and knife sharpening service will be available on Saturday 14th September from 10.00 to 13.00.
