OUR June talk was by Rachel Salisbury, whose career has been a combination of practical nursery work and teaching, including running courses at Birmingham University, on The Cottage Garden.

Rachel began her presentation with a brief potted history of the cottage garden which came originally from the gardens of ordinary working folk. There are no written records of what people grew but they basically reflected who their owners were. Most worked from dawn till dusk six days a week either on their own plot, or as part of a large estate.

The cottage garden needed to be easy to maintain and productive, with plants that were easy to propagate. Pigs and poultry would be a regular feature to be shared amongst the community – there was no need for planning or design, and almost certainly you would not find any lawns or conifers as gardens were functional, not a place for leisure as nowadays.

Flowers grown would need to be hardy so they could withstand an English winter it would unlikely to see such plants as penstemons for example, and roses and bulbs were expensive so would have been beyond the reach of most gardeners.

Herbaceous plants, some of which had medicinal use, or were good for wildlife, and which have been traditionally associated with cottage gardens included geum, geraniums, pulmonaria (lungwort), primroses, wood anemones, lady’s smock, polemonium, violets, musk mallow, foxgloves, astrantia, pinks, forget-me-nots, lamium. Hardiness would need to be a key feature as there were no insecticide sprays to combat disease.

The most commonly grown trees probably would have been fruit trees - again as they had a practical rather than decorative use.

Floral societies began to spring up in the 17th and 18th centuries and with them the introduction of a wider variety of plants to include in the garden such as valerian, poppies, campanulas. From the end of the World War 2, additions have included snapdragons, diascia, osteospurnun and nasturtiums, and peonies.

Nowadays the trend for cottage gardens has been to mimic the overgrown nature of the original cottage garden, but using colourful plant combinations are as much a feature. Encouraging wildlife such as bees and butterflies has become popular and letting plants do want they want with no gaps so the effect is to get as natural a look as possible. Rachel concluded her fascinating talk by saying that there are basically no rules on how to create a cottage garden and you should create one which pleases you.

The Club’s next talk is on Wednesday, July 1 at 7.30pm at the Villages Hall, Bishampton is by Philip Aubery, former director at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, on Labour Saving Gardening.

Places are still available for our annual outing by coach is to Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire on Sunday, July 19 leaving the Villages Hall at 9.30am and returning about 5.30pm (£20). Non National Trust members will need to pay an entry fee.

Bishampton Gardening Club meets on the first Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm at the Villages Hall, Broad Lane, Bishampton WR10 2LY. Annual membership is just £5. Visitors to meetings pay £2. For further information see our website www.bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk, telephone Pete Chamberlain, 01386 861438 or email info@bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk

LESLEY MILLER