Stonehouse Gardening Club with Jenny Bailey - Colour in the garden all year round

AT THE start of the Stonehouse Gardening Club last Wednesday evening, many people came to sign up for the year as members, so as Chairperson I could have been forgiven my mistake.

I was looking out for our speaker Jenny Bailey, and when a new face appeared I was delighted to welcome a new member, although puzzled that she was carrying a basket of fragrant flowers and greenery.

She gently put me right, and proceeded to charm the whole meeting with her excellent talk on Colour in the Garden all Year Round.

Jenny’s slides focussed on a whole range of garden design ideas, from plant shapes, foliage, flower and berry colour, varied bark varieties, shades of pots and even shed door colour.

Full of gardening tips and firmly in favour of organic and wildlife friendly gardening, Jenny kept the 22 of us spellbound.

She then went over the basketful of flowers in detail and offered the shrub cuttings to any member who wished to try their skills.

The stunning fragrance came from the Winter Honeysuckle (lonicera purpusii).

Thank you Jenny.

I couldn’t wait for a cutting to take, but spent a tenner on one instead!

Our next meeting is on Wednesday, March 1, at 7.30pm at Stonehouse Community Centre.

Jan Broadway will be talking about The History of a Commercial Nursery, (JC Wheeler’s Nursery 1750 - 1974).

All visitors are welcome.