WELCOME TO LAVENHAM GARDENING CLUB
Lavenham Gardening Club holds monthly meetings at Lavenham Village Hall, Church St, Lavenham CO10 9QT.
We invite a variety of speakers, arrange outings and hold social events throughout our annual programme, as well as a plant sale, a produce show, and a quiz.
We currently have approximately 70 members and new members are always welcome. The annual subscription is £20 which includes entry fee to the monthly meetings and refreshments (excludes celebrity speaker events). Once a year, we have a celebrity speaker – these are ticketed events costing £20 per person. Non-members are welcome to attend monthly meetings, with an entry fee of £4.
Celebrity speaker events are open to members and non- members alike, and are ‘ticket only’, bookable in advance.
If you are interested in joining us, please contact Gwyneth Arnott (membership secretary) on 01787 247919.
Lavenham Gardening Club is affiliated to the RHS.
To view our upcoming sales, trips, talks and other events, please go to the Events page.
PLANT SALE
LAVENHAM Gardening Club holds a Plant Sale in May. The Plant Sales are well established events, supported locally and a perfect opportunity to fill your garden at reasonable prices.
The plant sale includes perennials, shrubs etc. Donations of plants are always welcomed and obviously increase the variety of plants on offer. The plant sales provide the club with a main source of income, so if you have plants to divide or surplus cuttings and seedlings please let us know!
SOCIAL EVENTS
Our main social events are the summer garden party, usually held in August, and the New Year Party, held at the end of January. Both are very enjoyable events, with catering and wine provided. The New Year party, held at the Village Hall, also includes entertainment during the evening.
Our Garden Celebrations Event will be launched in 2025.
Our events calendar is packed with talks, trips, social events and Celebrity speakers – with Nick Hamilton and Sue Kent appearing this year!
Our events for the coming year have now been added to the website, so remember to note them on your calendar! We have several trips out to some stunning venues and also have some great celebrity speakers, including Nick Hamilton and Sue Kent. Check out the Events page.
Our gardens are filling up with wildflowers, bulbs, flowering shrubs and trees. Displays of camellias, magnolias, azaleas and rhododendrons are spectacular in gardens with acid soil. We grow them in pots of ericaceous compost, kept damp with rainwater. Gardens like Leonardslee in W. Sussex are superb but, nearer home, visit Place for Plants or Blakenham Woodland Garden. Remember to deadhead finished bulbs, let their leaves die down naturally and give them a feed for more flowers next year.
It’s not too late to raise plants from seed in a greenhouse or on a windowsill – take care they don’t get too hot on sunny days or too cold on frosty nights. As seedlings grow they will need moving on to give them more space, light and food. ‘Pricking out” can be a time consuming but satisfying task. It is so easy to sow too many seeds so either be ruthless and throw some away or share with friends. Summer bedding will suffer from late overnight frosts so wait to plant out. Alliums are hardy and colourful during May. Greenhouses need to air on warm days so leave doors and windows open but remember to close them in the evening- tomatoes will yellow if cold. I start beans off indoors, then plant out after the last frost, adding more bean seeds for crop succession.
The mixed spring weather makes lawns grow quickly but reduce the mowing height gradually and seed any bare patches. ‘No Mow May” is well established now and can be extended into June, keeping at least one patch of grass long to benefit insects. Wild flowers may come back amongst the grasses and adding pot grown wildflower plants (available online) is often more successful at creating a meadow feel than sowing seeds.
Encouraging natural predators helps control garden pests but a first application of nematodes now can target slugs, vine weevil and box moth caterpillar. And for plenty of flowers on roses in June, feed and keep them watered.
Plants for April-May: spring flowering bulbs,cowslips, camassias,aubretia, polyanthus, kingcup, violet,fritillaria, dicentra, allium, aquilegia, euphorbia, foxglove, delphinium, clematis -armandii, alpina & montana,
Carolyn Jenkins
Wednesday 9th October: A Visit to Hyde Hall Chelmsford. The coach will leave the village hall car park around 11.45am and return around 5.45pm. The only costs will be the coach which will be £15 per person. Refreshments can be purchased from the restaurant at Hyde Hall. Please contact Sandra to let her know if you wish to come along, no later than the 1st September please. I can give you details re payment options. Telephone 01787 311707.
Wednesday 11th September: Lavenham Gardening club – A GARDEN CELEBRATION.
We encourage members to please support this event and with 18 Categories there will be a category for all members to bring along an entry. Further emails to follow with schedule and times. (This is a members only event and replaces our usual produce show).
We held our annual summer garden party on Wednesday evening 7th August, in the delightful setting of Little Hall gardens Lavenham. Over 50 members joined us for a very sociable evening. A bonus was a dry evening for us all. Please go to the Gallery to see all of our photos, including this event.