Alcester Gardening Club

In February the club held its 21st AGM. The report of 2016 was of another successful year but with slightly reduced member numbers. The speakers and trips had been well-received and another interesting year of speakers and trips is planned for 2017.

After that the speaker was Philip Aubury, retired Director of Birmingham Botanical Gardens. His talk was on propagation and dealt with seeds, cuttings and division. He started with seed sowing with important tips for sowing very fine seed, medium and larger seeds and the compost and depths necessary for each. He went on to techniques for pricking out which is done much less these days because of sewing in cell trays. His tips on cuttings included leaf cuttings such as begonia rex, streptocarpus, and African violets. Then he went on to nodal and internodal cuttings suitable for pelargoniums and fuchsias respectively. Lastly he covered hardwood cuttings and conifer cuttings and even how to propagate cacti. Philip Aubury is an experienced grower and lecturer and always informative and approachable.

Next month on March 2 the speaker will be Victoria Logue and her subject is Getting the Most from your Garden by Extending the Flowering Season.

Any enquiries can be made to the secretary on 01789 765105. Membership is still at £10 a year. Meetings take place at the Centre, Jubilee Court, accessed via Lea Close Alcester, usually on the first Thursday of the month. Everyone is welcome and there is a charge of 2.50 for guests but this does include refreshments.

Join in on the Facebook group Alcester Gardening Club.