In January 28 members of the Garden Group went to Bishops Lodge in Toronto for a New Year lunch and a 50-question quiz. Jean H and Sue McG created the quiz and we had seven tables, each making up a team. There was much laughter and whispering on the tables so that potential answers were not shared with others nearby. Sue and Pam marked and cross-checked the quiz papers. The winning team consisted of Alison P, Eileen D, Janet P, and Norman P, who won a box of Celebrations each. Runners up were Kath S Margaret T, and Andrew T, who won a box a biscuits each. Everyone who spoke to Sue and Pam said how much they had enjoyed the lunch and the quiz and we shall probably do something like this again next January. Hopefully Jean will avoid the dreaded lurgy next year.
Early February our own Dr Norman P ran a session for the group entitled ‘Gardens of Italy’. Norman has visited many gardens in Italy but focused on three main ones while referencing others in passing.
The main gardens were Villa Taranto and Isola Bella (photo left) both in the Lake Maggiore area, and the Brera Botanical Garden in Milan. His talk was accompanied by a multitude of photos from his travels that demonstrated the points he was making about the structure of an Italian garden and how it differs from those elsewhere. The features that mark an Italian garden are, the strict geometrical principles, the terrace, the parterre, the staircase, the pergola, water, and ornamental sculptures.
The talk was informative and humorously delivered. The reference to cheese toasties was not overlooked (thanks Alison).
Our March talk was delivered by Thomas Wilson who works at Eggleston Gardens nursery. There was a tech issue but, for once, this was nothing to do with us! Thomas had created his main slides in one format and converted to a different format to display on his Windows laptop but the file was too large to open. This didn’t faze him and he held up his Chromebook so people in the first few rows could see his photos. Thomas began by telling us how he went to Eggleston on work experience and never left. Since then he has been on secondment to Kew Gardens and the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh amongst other places and it was interesting to hear how he has learned his trade over the years. Thomas’s second presentation did open, and he told us what spring jobs we should be doing month-by-month. He demonstrated how to prune various plants. Group intakes of breath were audible as he was quite brutal in his pruning but he stressed that this was best for the plant to increase strength and to produce better flowers. Thomas has volunteered to come and talk to us again so watch this space.