Whitwick & District U3A - Gardens Group
This group is for those with a general interest in all aspects of gardening. The programme is varied including visits local gardens of interest, member's gardens for social events, speakers and demonstrations.
Timing
Normally Thursday, approx Monthly.
Programme for 2018
Thu Feb 8th A visit to Felley Priory, Underwood, Nottingham to view the snowdrops, aconites and hellebores. We will be meeting in the car park of the Priory at 10.30am. There is a cafe on site for coffee and a light lunch following the walk around the garden. There is also a good nursery selling a variety of plants.
Thu Mar 8th Visit to Chevin Brae, an NGS garden near Belper. There are swathes of daffodils in the orchard and extensive wild flower planting along the edges of the wood featuring snowdrops, aconites, wood anemones, fritillaries and dog tooth violets. There should also be hellebores and early camellias. We are to have a guided tour of the garden at 2.00 pm followed by homemade cake and tea.
Thu Apr 12th A talk by Anna Barker, a garden designer who owns a nursery at Blackfordby. Anna will speak on the subject of How to make the most of your beds. There will be a charge of £3.50 for this meeting to cover the cost of Anna's fee and hire of the venue which will be Thringstone Methodist Hall. The meeting will commence at 2pm and there will be light refreshments after the talk.
Thu May 10th A visit by coach to John's Garden at Ashwood Nurseries , Kingswinford. John's Garden is a 3 acre, privately owned garden created by John Massey. It has informal beds, woodland dells, wildlife meadow and much more. It is a plantsman's garden with unusual plants and old favourites as well. The adjacent nursery has a good reputation and the cafe comes well recommended. We are to have a guided tour of the garden and time to spend in the nursery and cafe. This visit is fully booked but there is a waiting list for any spaces which may come available. Please contact Fran for this.
Thu Jun 14th We travel with Days Out by coach to the NEC for Gardener's World Live. Please book with Days Out for this trip, there will be no other Garden Group meeting this month.
Thu Jul 12th We visit Grafton Cottage, Barton-under-Needwood. An NGS garden with colour themed borders and unusual herbaceous planting and perfume from old fashioned roses, sweet peas, violas, dianthus and phlox. This garden was featured on Gardeners' World in 2017 and looked to be a beautiful garden, well worth visiting. The guided tour will commence at 2.30pm and will be followed by a homemade cream tea. The charge for the tour will be £4 and the tea £3.
Thu Aug 9th This will be our annual BBQ and Plant Swap and will be held at the home of Ian and Sue. The BBQ will commence at 12pm and arrangements for food and drink will be made nearer the time.
Fri Aug 17th Please also note that the WAD U3A 10th Birthday event will be taking place this day and the morning will be an Open Morning during which our group will be providing an information stall focussing on what we do during the year. Further details to follow, your help will be needed.
Thu Sep 13th The September meeting of the Garden Group will be a visit to Green Wicket Farm, an NGS garden near Lutterworth. The garden was created in in 2008 on a working farm and is now looking established. We will see unusual hardy plants, lets hope they are hardy in the face of a drought, and lots of old favourites. There are formal ponds and water features. This will be an afternoon visit and there will be an opportunity for tea and cake I believe. For further details please contact the Group Leader although existing group members will receive and email beforehand.
Thu Oct 11th A visit to the Leicester University Botanical Gardens where we hope to see, amongst other things, some Autumn colour. Cost, timing and travel arrangements nearer the time.
Thu Nov 8th An afternoon spent at the Thringstone Methodist Hall enjoying a quiz on a garden theme compiled and delivered by the WAD U3A Quiz Group. Last year's quiz was very well received and I am sure this one will be just as much fun, and hopefully not too challenging. Quiz to be followed by tea and homemade cake. Meeting commences at 2pm
Thu Dec 13th Our annual Take and Share Christmas Lunch at the home of Roger in Griffydam. An opportunity to chat together and discuss the draft programme put together by Fran and her willing assistants! We will commence at 12pm and food and drink arrangements will be made nearer the time.
Other items of interest
Dates for your diary should you be interested in going along but not organised by the Garden Group Plant Hunters Fairs at Donington-le-Heath Manor House, 5th May and 5th August.
Contact
For further information on any of the garden days contact Fran Johnson
at 
Please note that as an anti-spam measure e-mail addresses on this site are NOT links, but should be manually copied
Pictures
Below are pictures from a recent Gardens event. More pictures are in the gallery.
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BBQ and Plant Swap - August 2018
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