Lavant Horticultural Society,
Chichester
OCTOBER
MEETING
Wednesday 10th October
The Garden in
Autumn
Patricia Elkington
Patricia gave an impressive presentation of many plants that enhance the garden in autumn.
Click below for notes on
some of
She spoke with the authority of first-hand knowledge, from growing them in her 3 acre chalk garden near Winchester, that she has been opening for the
National Gardens Scheme since 1984.
Click above for more on Patricia's
garden
NEXT
MEETING
Wednesday 12th December
Dahlias
Nick
Gilbert
Nick runs his specialist dahlia nursery and production field near Romsey so we can
expect some expert advice on growing
these very rewarding flowers.
Lavant Christmas
Fayre
Saturday 24th
November 2-4pm
Lavant Memorial Hall
Visit us on the Lavant
Horticultural Society
stand for your Christmas
plants, wreaths etc.
GARDEN
VISIT
Wednesday 13th June
Mottisfont
Abbey
44 members and guests enjoyed an excellent day
out at Mottisfont. Its world-renowned collection of old-fashioned roses was at its best, with magnificent
displays of numerous varieties and
colours.
Many shrubs & herbaceous perennials were also in
full flower and their combination with the roses played
an important role in the overall
effect of the gardens.
There were magnificent trees in the grounds
and shady walks along the flint
clear River Test.
Click any picture to
enlarge
SEPTEMBER
MEETING
How to Design a
Winning Garden
Barry
Chambers
Barry, a professional designer of
gardens both large & small based in Bognor Regis, gave an
insight into the creation of show gardens for major RHS
events
Following a silver-gilt at the Malvern Spring Show, he
set about designing a garden for RHS Hampton Court.
The theme was English poems; he chose John Keats' "To the Sea", with childhood memories of playing on
the shore underpinning his commitment to the garden.
He regarded this personal involvement in the concept
as key to the winning of the
coveted Gold Medal.
Click above for Barry's own
website.
JANUARY
MEETING
How to Grow
Better Sweet Peas
Roger Parsons
There was a very good turn-out at
our one afternoon meeting of the year to hear an excellent
talk.
Roger is Chairman of the National Sweet Pea Society
&
holds the National Collection of Sweet Pea
cultivars.
He
gave a brief history of the cultivation of the sweet pea,
describing the different types of
varieties.
With
more than 30
years' experience of growing sweet peas, winning top awards
at major national exhibitions and producing top quality seed, Roger
gave reliable advice on growing sweet peas. He also answered many
questions from an attentive audience
You can also find out more from Roger's own website www.rpsweetpeas.com
LAVANT VILLAGE
FETE
Saturday
16th
June
The Plant Stall, run by LHS, was overflowing with colourful plants and attracted a lot of custom, in
spite of the grey skies and the
odd shower.
Sales went well throughout the afternoon and
exceeded the previous record by a wide margin.
making a substantial contribution to the proceeds of
the Fete, used to support a range of village causes.
Many thanks to all who donated plants,
particularly those organised by Mick Bleach of
JULY
MEETING
A Year of Wild Flowers in Chichester Harbour AONB
John Arnott
John had used his in-depth
knowledge of the flora of Chichester Harbour to put together a
really excellent presentation for us. Fortunately, in spite of the
World Cup Semi-Final, there was a turn-out to do it
justice.
He divided the AONB into 5 types of environment: Woodland, Paths & roadsides, Vegetated shingle (a nationally rare habitat), Saltmarsh (threatened by coastal squeeze, as rising sea levels push up against sea defences) and Sand dunes,
John gave a good description of
each plant and its ecological role, as well as its traditional uses
(e.g.food, medecine) and the folklore surrounding
it.
APRIL
MEETING
The Tuppenny Barn
Project
Maggie
Haynes
Click above for Tuppenny
Barn's own website.
Maggie gave an inspirational talk on Tuppenny Barn, the result of her vision to promote sustainable
organic growing and nutrition, particularly to children.
There is year-round vegetable production, an orchard & plenty of soft fruit. Produce sold at the shop, open on Thursdays and Fridays, provides some income to help finance Tuppenny Barn's educational activities.
Years of hard work &
indefatigable enthusiasm have
transformed
an overgrown field
into a thriving centre delivering on these aims
and still being developped.
The building of the iconic round barn, beautifully combining unusual, ecologically sound methods
& materials was an interesting
story in its own right.
ANNUAL PLANT
SALE
Sunday 13th May
The good weather helped ensure an
excellent
turn-out of visitors from the local community
Sales went very well, both of the plants from East
Ashling Nursery and from the
members' plant stall.
The café was bustling all afternoon, many catching up with friends over a cream tea or home-made cake, some enjoying the sunshine on the Village Green .
Many thanks to
all who donated plants for
sale
For information from previous
talks and events, please go to the
Archive
