Newsletters | wnh-horticlub

WOODHAM AND NEW HAW HORTICULTURAL CLUB NEWSLETTER ON 24th MARCH 2025,

We continued our excellent start to our 2025 programme of evening meetings with a talk on Roses by Alan Goold and it was probably the most comprehensive talk we have had on a particular topic. It covered everything you need to know about choosing, planting and caring for roses and delivered in a humorous and entertaining way with some very interesting asides about commercial rose growing.

We started the meeting with our AGM, this year only 17 minutes! Thank you for your positive support for the Committee and we are looking forward to delivering the programme for another year.

The evening also saw the start of our mini-shows for 2025 and covered daffodils. The results were as follows:

Class 1. Five long stems in a vase

1st - Margaret White

2nd - Rob Moore

3rd - John Foster

Class 2 - Five short stems in a vase

1st - Janet Hodges

2nd - John Foster

3rd - Louise Clubley

Thanks to those who entered. Daffodils were later this year and looked like being at their peak last week so well done those who had flowers ready to enter.

We continue our programme with the April talk by David Rose who will be telling us about Woking Nurserymen on Friday, 4th April in our usual meeting place, All Saints New Haw Church Hall starting 7.45. Melissa’s conserves will be there and refreshments are included, all in the entry fee of £4 for members and £5 for visitors.

The sheets for both Ashcombe and the coach outing to Hughenden (Thurs 19 June) will be out at the meeting for those who have yet to sign up.

The Annual Plant Sale is on Saturday 17th May, now 8 weeks away! Apart from being a very social event, it is also the biggest source of funds for running the Club as well as advertising our presence in the area. The main planting season is here now so if you are sowing seeds, why not use the remains of the packet and plant an extra tray for the Plant Sale. All plants will be welcome – along with its label! If splitting your perennials, pot up some for the sale. Note that indoor plants are always welcome as many are limited in or lacking any outdoor space. Last year, we raised £1,065, used as you will have heard, towards a wider range of speakers.

Look forward to seeing you all on Friday 4th April.

WOODHAM AND NEW HAW HORTICULTURAL CLUB NEWSLETTER ON 16th FEBRUARY 2025

What an excellent start to our 2025 programme of evening meetings! Claire Brown’s talk about her cut flower business was an eye-opener and shows the dedication, hard work and rewards of running a small business. Many of you have already signed up to visit her site and Louise is sorting out a date with her.

We continue our programme for the new year with a talk by Alan Goold who will be telling us about Roses, their planting and growing thereof on Friday, 7th February in our usual meeting place, All Saints New Haw Church Hall. The Meeting will start with our AGM at 7.45, details of which have been published separately. Melissa will be there with her conserves and refreshments are included, all in the entry fee of £4 for members and £5 for visitors.

The evening will also mark the start of our mini-shows for 2025 and will be for daffodils. There will be two classes:

Class 1: Five long stems daffodils

Class 2: Five short stems daffodils

Please bring your entries in a vase for each class you wish to enter and register them with Rupert before the AGM starts.

A large number have already paid their annual subscription of £6 per person. For those who haven’t paid yet, please note payment entitles you to vote at the AGM and thus play a full part in the running of the Club and well as reduced entry. As the AGM is on the 7th March, there is time to pay by any of the following methods:

Cash at the meeting but it must be in a sealed envelope with your name(s) on the envelope and passes to Louise.
Cheque at the meeting to Louise.
Bank transfer to WNHHC Barclays Account, number 23118096, Sort Code 20-11-43 with your initials and surname and the word ‘Subs’ as the reference
By card at the meeting – see David

Details of the AGM and the Agenda will be circulated beforehand. This will include nominations for the Club Committee. The present committee have been in place for 6 years and while all are offering themselves for re-election, new members would be very welcome. In addition, if you have any comments, questions or suggestions, this is your chance to ask them formally. They will need to be with the Secretary (Melissa) a week before the AGM to allow time for a considered answer to be prepared.

Thank you to those who signed up for the proposed visits. The NGS visit to Ashcombe will go ahead on Tuesday 8th July - £12.50 for tea, cake and a guided tour. Please note they can only deal with 10 cars so car-sharing will be needed and will be arranged nearer the time. The visit to Wildwood will not be going ahead as they have now changed their opening to a single day this year and open to all, due to family circumstances.

The sheets for both Ashcombe and the coach outing to Hughenden (Thurs 19 June) will be out at the meeting for those who have yet to sign up.

One warning. You may or have received an email purporting to come from Ingrid Shears who was the Club Secretary for a short time about 2018. Do not open it but delete it immediately as it is a scam phishing email. Be assured that our current system ensures your data is properly safeguarded

Look forward to seeing you all on Friday 7th March.

WOODHAM AND NEW HAW HORTICULTURAL CLUB NEWSLETTER ON 28th OCTOBER 2024

Dear Members,

The clocks have just gone back so it gets dark much earlier – we should, of course, start in the garden an hour earlier to make up for the loss of daylight! Today was a lovely, sunny and quite warm day – hopefully more of them to come, but looking at the forecast, a forlorn hope!

At our meeting on Friday 4th October, we welcomed Pip Bensley who told us ‘All we need to know about Climbers’. As the author of the Hilliers Guide to Climbers, we benefited from the experience of an expert in her field and had an enjoyable and informative evening.

This month we welcome our celebrity speaker, Bob Flowerdew, on the 1st November at 7.45pm. He is known as a positive and inspirational speaker with a deep knowledge of organic horticulture based on wide experience and a fascinating background. The talk promises to be really entertaining so please spread the word and bring your friends and neighbours – the title alone ‘No-work Gardening’ should be a draw in its own right! As we are expecting a larger number than usual, parking will be tight. Could we therefore ask members who are able to, to park over the road from the Hall to allow the less mobile and our visitors the use of the car park.

There will be the usual table where you can donate anything horticultural and a member can give it a new home for a donation. We have had a wide variety of items in the past – including cuttings, excess produce, small tools and pots – all now in new homes (or consumed!), so see what you can reduce and recycle

We had planned the Photographic competition for November, but with likely larger numbers, there could be a space problem so we are postponing this competition until the December Meeting. To give you more time to prepare your photographs, the topics for the classes will be as follows:

Class 1 – Architecture
Class 2 – A Local Scene – taken within 5 miles of the Church
Class 3 – A single flower in close-up
Class 4 – A Black and White Picture

Rules:

1. All photographs must be originals, taken by the entrant and not exhibited before.
2. Pictures to be no larger than 7” x 5”, unframed and with a background mount, no larger than 1” outside the photo, coloured to complement the picture.
3. Pictures may be titled if you wish but the title must be within the mount
4. You may enter all categories, but only one entry per person per class

Look forward to seeing you all on Friday.

NEWSLETTER OF 24TH APRIL 2024

Our April meeting with Ray Broughton telling us about 'The Alternatives to Peat' was excellent. Those there will recall Ray saying he would send us some handouts about the topics he raised during his talk. Louise now has them and the topics covered are as follows:

1 Displaying/growing plants in the home

2 Important Christmas Preparations - 4 pictures -Poinsettia

3 Important Vegetable Notes

4 Plant Identification 2023 - 22 pages

5 Planting bulbs in containers - 10 pages of pictures, no narrative

6 Pond construction - 17 pages of pictures

7 Potato handout

8 Potatoes in barley straw

9 Pruning principles - The science behind pruning plants successfully

10 Pruning revision

11 RJB Fact Sheet Moss Control

12 RJB Fact Sheet No. 7 - Allotment Holders

13 RJB Fact Sheet No. 8 - Pond and Water Plants

14 RJB Fact Sheet No. 9 - Home made Nutra Ball

15 The quick cook method of compost making

16 The Narcissus

17 The Nutra Ball photographs

18 Vegetable revision - 16 pages

19 Vegetable revision - 18 pages - cultural operations for outdoor food production

20 Vegetable production notes

21 Dry Nettle Compost Tea

Louise will bring hard copy of the handouts to the May meeting so you can decide if you would like to receive them by email. There is no charge for these and the Club has made a donation to Perennial as Ray requested.

The May meeting will be on Friday 3rd May at 7.45pm when we will have a talk by Jon Evans on the World of Alpines. Jon is an expert on this subject as well as a talented photographer. As an example, see https://www.alpinegardensociety.net/garden-diaries/photographers-diary/

Our annual Plant Sale will be on Saturday18th May at the Black Prince car park as usual. It will run from 9 till 12 o’clock with set-up starting at 8 o’clock. David will be asking for volunteers to help with the set-up and running of the stand at the May meeting. The funds raised at the plant sale have exceeded £800 for the last three years and the funds raised help all members by ensuring that the subscriptions and meeting fees can be kept low. Please therefore help by bringing plants to sell. In passing on your surplus, it ensures the plants are nurtured by someone else who can enjoy them – winners all round! You can all help by:

Bringing plants to sell – a small tray of seedlings can always find a home and the spares from splitting established plants are very welcome. Anything is welcome and plants in flower are especially popular.
Bringing your plants before 8.30 if you can
Ensuring that your donations are labelled clearly
Volunteering to help set up and run the stall
Spreading the word about the sale
Coming and buying the stock – and even better, bring your friends and neighbours to buy the stock!

Club Trip to Cliveden: Details are as follows:

Tuesday 18th June – confirm your booking on May 3rd. Still open for booking.

NT Members - £24 Non Members - £42 Payment due by 17th May

Optional Garden Tour £10

House Tour – Free. Note: Uneven surfaces and periods of standing on the tour

Meet at 9am at The Institute Car Park Return - approx 5.15pm

On Thursday 2nd May, 7.30 for 8pm in Mayford Village Hall, Woking/West Surrey Alpine Garden group will be having a talk by Julia Corden on Alpines from New Zealand Southern Island and Stewart Island. Visitors £2

NEWSLETTER OF 27TH MARCH 2024

Just when we thought things were getting better, the rain came back! On the positive side, lots of plants are well in advance of last year. Tulips are now in flower and there is a bank of bluebells in flower in Pyrford already. It would be good to think this is an indication of future good weather but I’m sure it is actually a reaction to past weather!

The March Meeting started with the AGM – all 17 minutes of it - at which you said that you wanted the same Committee to deliver a similar programme as last year – and it will be delivered as planned, complete with a celebrity speaker in November. The Meeting then heard a talk by Chris Stewart on The Earthworm - everything you wanted to know but did not dare ask! It was an interesting talk, packed with facts about something so small that is essential to cultivation.

There was also the Mini-Show for daffodils which produced many entries of different varieties, this year being a particularly high standard which challenged our judge, Jo Graham, to identify those entries with just that bit extra. The results of the classes are as follows:

Long stemmed daffodils

1st - Bob Hodges

2nd - Rosemary Thompson

3rd - Gill Munslow

Short stemmed daffodils

1st - Rosemary Thompson

2nd - Louise Clubley

3rd - Lynne Moore

Our next meeting of the 2024 programme will be on Friday 5th April 2024 when we are delighted to welcome back Ray Broughton (remember his excellent talk on 80 things you may not know about horticulture!) who, this time, will be telling us about 'The Alternatives to Peat.' As the use of peat is being banned for amateur gardeners, this is a very topical subject and one which will be relevant to any grower both indoors and outdoors.

You may be interested in another talk by Ray Broughton on Companion Planting for the National Vegetable Society Surrey DA at East Horsley Village Hall KT24 6QT (20 minutes drive away). There will be familiar faces there so you know there will be a warm welcome. Only £1 entry as an Associate member – start at 8pm.

Anyone who would like to pay their subscription, please bring either a cheque or cash in an envelope with your name on the front.

All Saints Church members are gathering on Good Friday, 29th March from 10 – 12 noon to decorate the raised bed cross planter in their garden for Easter. Everyone is welcome. Please bring a pot of spring flowers so we can all celebrate the season. Refreshments, including hot cross buns will be available.

Look forward to seeing you all on Friday week.

NEWSLETTER OF 9TH FEBRUARY 2024

This is an earlier Newsletter than usual as it includes the Calling Notice and the papers for the Club Annual General Meeting, which will be held at the start of the meeting on Friday 1st March, which have to be sent out 3 weeks in advance.

We started our programme for the new year with a talk by Julie Verity who told us about the so-called Wild Gardener, William Robinson (1838-1935) who was quite a character outside his garden exploits – an interesting talk about an unusual topic.

The Meeting on Friday 1st March members will hear a talk by Chris Stewart, also known to us as the Mole Man, for those of you who remember him from a few years ago. His topic this time is The Earthworm - everything you wanted to know but did not dare ask! In addition, there will be a Mini-Show for daffodils. There will be two classes:

Long stemmed daffodils
Short stemmed daffodils

For both classes bring 5 stems in a vase and register with Rupert on arrival.

AGM Papers. The following documents are attached for your perusal before the AGM part of the Meeting – if you need hard copy, please print off your own copies where possible:

Calling Notice and Agenda
Financial Report for 2023
Minutes of last year’s Meeting

Subscriptions. For the fourth year in a row, subscriptions will remain at £6 per person. It entitles you to vote at the AGM and thus play a full part in the running of the Club. As the AGM is on the 1st March, there is still time to by bank transfer - -Remember, membership payment is needed before you can vote at the AGM!

RHS Wisley News. Three points, following up the announcements at the February Meeting:

Discover familiar houseplants mixed with other weird and wonderful plants, among fossils and footprints. Be transported back to long, long ago in a Plants Before Time exhibition in the Glasshouse. The whole of the lower level of the Glasshouse has been used and it is well worth visiting – though note it is half-term next week. Do also include the orchids which are in a side room. It is on until the 10th March (last entry 3.15 daily), is free entry and out the cold, wind and rain! Suggest you pick up the leaflet – Time Travel Passport – as it has lots of information about the plants.
As an RHS affiliated club, we have a card that gives 2 visitors a 50% discount to any RHS Garden. Please contact Louise if you would like to use it for a visit.
Wisley is shut on the 24th-25th February as the A3 just outside is closed that weekend.

Look forward to seeing you all on Friday in 3 weeks’ time – with your daffodils!

NEWSLETTER OF 19TH JANUARY 2024

A Happy New Year to all at the start of the new calendar year. After the really wet spell then the biting cold, the gardens are beginning to come to life already. The crocuses, snowdrops and early daffodils are in bloom as well as the camelias, daphne and witch hazel – at least they are at RHS Wisley! Actually this is what I wrote this time last year but it is already starting now in spite of the fact it is -5º while this Newsletter is being written!

We start our programme for the new year with a talk by Julie Verity called ‘The Wild Gardener’ on Friday, 2nd February in our usual meeting place, All Saints New Haw Church Hall, starting at 7.45. The Wild Gardener is not actually Julie but one William Robinson(1838-1935). Look around the gardens of southeast England and you will find his influence. At Munstead Wood, Sissinghurst and Gravetye (to name but a few), naturalistic planting, drifts of plants, cottage and woodland garden plantings have found their place – because of this man. Robinson’s influential ideas about wild gardening led to the popularisation of the ‘English cottage garden’, transforming the gardens of the rich to look like those of the working classes.

Melissa will be there with her conserves (do bring any empty jars, please) and refreshments are included, all in the entry fee of £4 for members and £5 for visitors.

For the fourth year in a row, subscriptions will remain at £6 per person. It entitles you to vote at the AGM and thus play a full part in the running of the Club. As the AGM is on the 3rd March, there is time to pay at the end of the meeting on Friday by any of the following methods:

Cash at the meeting but it must be in a sealed envelope with your name(s) on the envelope
Cheque at the meeting to Louise
Bank transfer to WNHHC Barclays Account, with your initials and surname and the word ‘Subs’ as the reference
By card at the meeting – see David

Details of the AGM and the Agenda will be circulated 3 weeks beforehand. This will include nominations for the Club Committee. The present committee have been in place for 5 years and while all are offering themselves for re-election, new members would be very welcome. In addition, if you have any comments, questions or suggestions, this is your chance to ask them formally. They will need to be with the Secretary (Melissa) a week before the AGM to allow time for a considered answer to be prepared.

The programme for the evening meetings for rest of the year is on the website at https://www.wnh-horticlub.co.uk/monthly-meetings. Some speakers later in the year have had to be moved round because of availability changes but all the dates given in your bookmark, distributed before Christmas, are still the same. You will also note a reduction in the number of mini shows. While the popular ones will be in place, the less well-supported one will not be run this year.

For those of you who like to listen to gardening topics on the radio, we have received an email about a slot on BBC Surrey Radio. On Sunday mornings from 1030 – 1200 on the Pat Marsh Show, there is a phone-in session to an expert who will answer your gardening questions, live on air. We have listened to a couple of them and they are very interesting, covering a wide range of horticultural topics about ‘real’ problems that listeners would like answered. Nice relaxing listening on these cold, wet or windy (or perhaps all three!) January mornings.