Brailes Gardening Club

With autumn not far away, our September meeting on the topic of plant propagation was a timely reminder on how to prepare new plants for the next season.  The guest speaker was Andrew Mikolajski, a gardening author and RHS judge with over 20 years’ experience of writing, editing, lecturing and speaking, talking on the enticing topic of “Plants for Free”.

A full house in the village hall watched as he conducted a demonstration of the various methods of propagating plants.  Andrew started with the simple methods of plant division but soon moved on to the slightly more complex taking of plant cuttings and layering, the latter two methods requiring more time and patience to create new plants.  Along the way, members learned how to encourage healthy new growth from plants purchased from low cost garden centres where poor quality compost and compacted root systems result in disappointing growth after planting.  Important points to consider included how to improve root contact with the soil by freeing up root systems, using mycorrhizal fungi and adding grit to the compost when planting newly purchased treasures.

There followed an intriguing demonstration on bulb division, a method which, with patience, can offer as many as 32 plant cultures from a single garden bulb!

The stirring of interest in the hall and lively questions session afterwards was reward for an exuberant speaker who may well be making an early return to Brailes in the coming year.

Our last talk of the year will be on Thursday, 16^th October, at 7.30pm in the village hall as usual.  Timothy Walker, by common consensus the most entertaining speaker in last year’s programme, returns to give a talk on “Colour in a Small Garden”.  Timothy is a botanist and horticultural lecturer who spent many years at Oxford Botanic Garden, where he rose to become Director.  Now semi-retired, he still lectures at Oxford University.

His talk is inspired by the Botanic Garden’s Gold Medal winning exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show and explains some of the theory employed by artists and gardeners to achieve a variety of effects.  Theory is supported by examples of specific colour combinations from his wife’s garden of 1/5 acre, and the new much smaller garden.

Vic Lee

With autumn not far away, our September meeting on the topic of plant propagation was a timely reminder on how to prepare new plants for the next season.  The guest speaker was Andrew Mikolajski, a gardening author and RHS judge with over 20 years’ experience of writing, editing, lecturing and speaking, talking on the enticing topic of “Plants for Free”.

A full house in the village hall watched as he conducted a demonstration of the various methods of propagating plants.  Andrew started with the simple methods of plant division but soon moved on to the slightly more complex taking of plant cuttings and layering, the latter two methods requiring more time and patience to create new plants.  Along the way, members learned how to encourage healthy new growth from plants purchased from low cost garden centres where poor quality compost and compacted root systems result in disappointing growth after planting.  Important points to consider included how to improve root contact with the soil by freeing up root systems, using mycorrhizal fungi and adding grit to the compost when planting newly purchased treasures.

There followed an intriguing demonstration on bulb division, a method which, with patience, can offer as many as 32 plant cultures from a single garden bulb!

The stirring of interest in the hall and lively questions session afterwards was reward for an exuberant speaker who may well be making an early return to Brailes in the coming year.

Our last talk of the year will be on Thursday, 16^th October, at 7.30pm in the village hall as usual.  Timothy Walker, by common consensus the most entertaining speaker in last year’s programme, returns to give a talk on “Colour in a Small Garden”.  Timothy is a botanist and horticultural lecturer who spent many years at Oxford Botanic Garden, where he rose to become Director.  Now semi-retired, he still lectures at Oxford University.

His talk is inspired by the Botanic Garden’s Gold Medal winning exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show and explains some of the theory employed by artists and gardeners to achieve a variety of effects.  Theory is supported by examples of specific colour combinations from his wife’s garden of 1/5 acre, and the new much smaller garden.

Vic Lee

The Gardening Club had a short summer break in August and so there is no report of a talk or garden visit this month. 

Our next meeting will be on Thursday, 18th September, at 7.30pm in the village hall as usual.

The guest speaker that evening will be Andrew Mikolajski, who will be talking on the intriguing topic of “Plants for Free”. 

Andrew is a gardening author, with over 20 years’ experience of writing, editing, lecturing and speaking.  He will be conducting a demonstration/workshop on propagating plants – how to collect and prepare seed, taking cuttings and bulb division.

With autumn not far away, this looks like an opportunity not to be missed!  

Vic Lee

The hot and arid summer has been a big challenge for gardeners here in Brailes and the surrounding areas. Not that it was obvious from the two beautiful private gardens we were lucky enough to visit in Oxfordshire, although it was astonishing to actually see some rainfall briefly during the visit.

The first destination was in the hamlet of Denton, with tea/coffee and cake in the garden room of the house starting the day perfectly. Denton House has a large walled garden surrounding a handsome Georgian mansion, which was rescued from a planned demolition some sixty years ago by its current owners who could see the potential of the property. Talking to them, it was obvious that their love for the house and garden remains undiminished. At 92, he still plays golf at a prestigious Oxfordshire club and she was an accomplished equestrian rider. Shady walks, topiary, trees, lawns, herbaceous borders, roses, walled fruit garden and the wild garden demonstrated what can be achieved, even under the challenging conditions of this summer. The style of the garden was informal but, on closer inspection, one could see that tight horticultural design principles had been applied.

We were shown around the garden by the Head Gardener, with the owners also present. His engaging manner and obvious wealth of horticultural knowledge as well as the history of the garden made the 90 minute tour pass by all too quickly. Members then had time to take lunch, everyone choosing to do so with their own picnics, either in the grounds or in the garden room.

We travelled next to nearby Garsington, to visit a two acre garden with a listed granary and a one acre mixed tree plantation with unusual trees and shrubs. The house was altogether more modern than at Denton and the garden much more formally arranged into “rooms” and maintained meticulously. Some of us who thought that we had well maintained gardens realised that there is still some way to go! Terraces, stone walls and hedges divided the garden and the planting reflected a Mediterranean influence. There was also a vegetable garden, orchard and woodland garden. Once again, the owners were constantly present and available to talk to, not only about the garden but conversation also stretched to the annual Garsington Opera Festival as well as fine dining restaurants in the locality! Tea/coffee and cake were again included in the visit, the afternoon sunshine providing an idyllic end to our day.

The Gardening Club has a short summer break in August, followed by a meeting on 18th September at 7.30pm in the village hall as usual. Our speaker that evening will be Andrew Mikolajski on the intriguing topic of “Plants for Free”. Andrew is a gardening author, with over 20 years’ experience of writing, editing, lecturing and speaking. He will be conducting a demonstration/workshop on propagating plants – how to collect and prepare seed, taking cuttings and bulb division. With autumn not far away, this sounds like an opportunity not to be missed!