Two coffee mornings have been arranged this year and we are grateful to everyone who offered to host one. They both start at 10:30am and finish at 12:30pm. The cost is £2 (includes coffee). The person holding the coffee morning may also ask for a contribution to, or sell plants for, their favourite charity.
Alwyn Stanley's, Baynhall Farm, Flyford Flavell, WR7 4BY
We look forward to welcoming the Worcestershire Group to the garden at Baynhall Farm. Keith and I came to live here in 1959. There was no electricity, a tin bath hung on the back of a door, and the outside toilet was a horror story! Of course, there was no garden, just lots of plum trees.
My first priority was to make a vegetable garden. Peas and beans made excellent progress and were duly staked. Alas, one morning I noticed the stakes were all askew - the sheep had been in overnight and eaten everything. I wept - and that was the end of my vegetable growing.
Then came an introduction to flower arranging through the WI, and l became hooked on a hobby that encouraged me to grow suitable plant material; especially leaves. There's such an enormous variety - and l do find them fascinating. In fact Charles Darwin said 'if man is a traveler, then he should be a botanist, as leaves form the chief adornment'.
But how does one create a garden when every spare penny has to go into the business? Where there's a will, there's a way, and l soon learnt that very heavy alkaline clay is not suitable for many plants. My mother propagated my first shrubs, whilst other family and friends donated their spare plants, and of course, I grew things from cuttings and seed.
Developing the garden has been a slow process, but so rewarding. Needless to say, I am never satisfied; and am always changing some part of the garden. Will it ever be to my liking?!
Hazel Bartlett's, 1 Hays Close, Willersey, Broadway, Worcs WR12 7QA
I have lived here for just over ten years. The garden is small/medium sized. The previous owners were not great gardeners: the back was mainly grass with a paved patio and some large trees, including apple trees at the bottom of the garden. Since moving in I have put in borders down each side of the lawn with a variety of herbaceous perennials and shrubs. Running along the side of the bungalow and the side of the garden I have a kitchen garden with vegetables and soft fruit. When I moved in all this was covered in paving slabs, most of which I have removed but left some to make paths round the veg. beds.
