Do marshmallows grow on trees?

Not quite!

Marshmallow is a shrub whose boiled roots, combined with rose water were for long used to make the delicious sweet.

This was one of the fascinating facts mentioned in a talk to the Stonehouse Gardening Club last Wednesday, August 3, at the Community Centre.

The speakers were a father and son team, Robert and Peter Biggs from Wanborough Nurseries, Swindon, who are expert at herbs.

They described and passed around a wide range of aromatic herbs, inviting the audience to pinch, smell, identify and also to buy from the great array they had brought.

They gave tips on growing, harvesting and keeping herbs in winter, dried or frozen.

Finally the club all smelt the delicious tangy lemon verbena, whose uses include flavouring drinks and even butter icing!

Stonehouse Gardening Club meets on the first Wednesday of every month at 7.30pm. The next session will be a talk on keeping chickens and pigs in your back garden, on September 7.