Our next meeting is this Sunday 19th April at Wickham Bishops Village Hall. For those who have booked a place we start with our seedling swap at midday (members only). For anyone that has not booked a placed for the seedling swap you need to let us know as soon as possible so that we know numbers for lunch.

This is followed at 2.00pm by our guest speaker Dr Andrew Ward subject ‘Success in sand’, afterwards there will be the raffle, tea & cakes and plant sales.

This talk, Andrew developed in 2022, has been modified to include the ranunculaceae that he has grown successfully in his sand beds. This will include the pulsatillas which have done surprisingly well. “Are echinaceas expensive annuals for you? So many plants’ cultural instructions proclaim the virtues of a well drained soil but 25+ years of trying to improve our clay to enable us to grow plants like Echinacea had proved disappointing. We now have over 20 beds filled with nothing but sharp sand and grow over 30 different echinaceas as perennials plus hundreds of North American, Mediterranean and alpine plants thriving and astounding on an austere diet. Includes, amongst many others, salvias, nepeta, gaura, bulbs, grasses, coreopsis and a few that like well drained but moist! Also, good advice for those of you that naturally garden on a sandy soil.”

We look forward to seeing you there, don’t forget to bring a mug and your name badge.