June Guest Speaker Report

Due to unforeseen circumstances, this month`s advertised speaker was unable to attend, so it was with a big thank you that we welcomed Sheena Crossley, one of our regular speakers, who stepped in at the last minute.

Sheena always has many stories to tell about the plants in her garden and her talks are always very entertaining as well as informative. Sheena`s topic this month was hardy annuals and biennials, the seed of which can be sown now. The hardy annuals will flower later this summer and early autumn, and the biennials will form young plants which can be planted out in the autumn to flower next spring.

Sheena pointed out that some hardy annuals and biennials that have been grown for many years aren`t as available in garden centres as they once were, so by sowing seed of these plants means they can still be included in our own gardens. Some can be sown directly outside, preferably in rows so that weeds can be distinguished from seedlings, and others can be sown in pots or seed trays and transplanted to their final positions.

Sheena`s talk was supported by a slide show of colourful varieties of many annuals and biennials including clarkia, godetia, nasturtium, nigella, foxgloves, sweet williams, wallflowers and many more. Sheena had also brought along a selection of flowering and seed heads and we were welcome to take any that we wanted.

A big thank you to Sheena for saving the day, and to everyone who attended the talk. Our speaker next month will be David Llewellyn, an agronomist who will be discussing the pros and cons of bulk growing of crops/vegetables.