THE club outing to Trentham Gardens in July was very much enjoyed by everyone and once again, the rain nearly held off for the day.

The gardens looked beautiful and quite unlike most other herbaceous borders with their graduated colour themes. The Piet Oudolf style prairie planting was magical with the wind rippling through the grasses.

Many enjoyed walking the track around the lake and some even went to Monkey Forest and experienced the closeness of the tribe of macaques that live there.

In August, the members enjoyed an evening in a members garden, provided by Liz and Julian Davey.

Although not as warm as it might have been, they enjoyed a buffet supper and pleasant company till dark.

The September meeting was given over to a talk by Martyn Cracknell entitled ‘Friends and Foes in the Garden’.

Mr Cracknell is a retired lecturer from Pershore, an expert beekeeper and enthusiast for all sorts of pests. He started off by describing his greatest pest to date this year, a badger which has decimated his fruit and vegetables in an indiscriminate way.

His talk was mainly given to insect pests with the theme that, if you know what pest you have, you can treat for it or at least accommodate its lifestyle in how you grow your plants.

Tomorrow members and guests can be entertained by the wit and wisdom of Howard Drury, a TV and radio gardening personality of many years standing.

All Alcester Gardening Club indoor meetings are at 7.30pm at the Jubilee Court Centre, St Faiths Road, Alcester and all members and guests are very welcome.

Guests are charged £2.50 and refreshments are included.

Please call the secretary on 01789 765105 for any details.