AT our February Meeting the AGM was preceded by an illustrated talk about six gardens from around Europe, namely:

1. Monet’s Garden at Giverny in France famous for the Water Lilies

2.The Schynigge Platte Alpine Garden situated at over 6,500feet in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. There are over 690 plants there all native to the Swiss Alps and all labelled!

3.Sissininghurst Castle Garden in Kent is the most visited garden in England and is maintained by the National Trust. It is divided into intimate garden ‘rooms’ that offer an array of colour all year round. It’s White Garden is world famous.

4.Holehird Garden is an extensive 10 acre site near Windermere in the Lake District. It is the home of the Lakeland Horticultural Society whose members have restored the former overgrown site. The gardens continue to evolve with the opening of a new Walled Garden Display House in 2017.

5.Kells Bay Gardens, County Kerry, Ireland. This is an old Victorian Garden containing one of the foremost collections of Southern Hemisphere sub-tropical plants in Europe assembled from Australia originally but more recently from New Zealand. The Primeval Forest is the undoubted centrepiece of the gardens and consists of an extensive collection of tree ferns.

6. Caher Bridge Garden in County Clare, Ireland. The garden is based around a restored riverside cottage. It was created from what was a dense hazel and blackthorn scrub. There are large collections of snowdrops, daffodils, hostas, lilies, crocosmia, woodland plants and ferns. The owner imported over 200 tons of soil and hand sieved it all to provide top soil for his plants. An amazing garden restored by the owner into a series of garden rooms that provide shelter from the constant Westerly winds.

Finishing with a new garden in the village! After the talk we held a very successful AGM and are all looking forward to the year ahead.

JOHN AND SUE CLARKE