This month we have invited Chaz Friend, founder of Wayside Willow based in Nuneaton, to come and talk to us on Monday 9th December.
At our evening meeting Chaz will tell the story of his journey into willow, talk about some of the processes of his craft, looking at some of the seasonal elements and talk about some of the different basketry styles and how the are built.
He’ll mention the sculptural styles he uses and conclude with looking at living willow structures and the sustainability of willow and why it’s good to use it.
Doors open at 7:30 as usual and the meeting will start around 7:45.
We’ll be having a glass of wine and a mince pie too, as it’s our last meeting before Christmas.

We were sorry to hear that Stan, who was a long standing committee member, died recently.
There will be a celebration of Stan’s life on the 1st of November at 1pm at Queens Road Baptist Church.

Amazingly the trip to Broughton Grange Gardens and Arboretum was a dry and rain free day. After the recent heavy rains, 34 of our member were fortunate to enjoy walking round the impressive gardens surrounded by the rural landscape.

The gardens consists a woodland garden, stumpery, water meadow and an arboretum, The orangery and beautifully planted beds were still in glorious colour to enjoy before the start of autumn

Quite a few members took the opportunity to purchase from the plant nursery before
enjoying the tea, coffee and cakes available  before leaving late afternoon to return to Coventry.

We’ve just set up a new Facebook page for the club which will give details of upcoming meetings, trips and other news. Please follow and share with friends family and interested gardeners.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564822805185

This year’s show is on September 7th. Schedules and show details are available to download here

Our recent trip to RHS Harlow Carr was very successful and the weather was very kind, one of the few dry days we have had this year.

Arriving at 11.30, with 37 members looking forward to browsing the plants and flowers which were looking amazing. Refreshments were available at Betty’s Tea Room and the recently renovated Harrogate Arms.

At the end of our trip members had the opportunity to visit the Plant Centre and purchase from the huge array of plants on display.

Arriving back in Coventry at 7.30pm, a long and successful trip was enjoyed by all our members.

Out thanks to Helen Jackson for the photos

We had a sunny day for our recent club trip to The National Herb Centre at Warmington followed by Thenford Gardens and Arboretum, the renowned garden of Lord and Lady Heseltine. Here’s a few of our group braving the windy conditions for a photo opportunity in front of the famous Rill

We’ve just heard about a new website for gardeners and the horticulture industry – thedirt.news brings together news from every corner of the horticulture industry, condensed onto a single platform. Accessible to all, thedirt.news informs, enlightens and entertains with light hearted to more serious industry news, digests and reviews.

Balsall & District Horticultural Society are hosting a recording session for the BBC Gardeners’ Question Time on February 13th 2024. Contact details for tickets are shown below.

On October 18th the club visited Batsford Arboretum in the Cotswolds. We’d booked it some months earlier and had kept our fingers crossed for good weather and good autumn colour. There was a fabulous aroma from the Toffee Apple tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) but we were a bit early for the Acers and most of the autumn colour. We didn’t allow that, or the rain, to dampen our spirits and everyone enjoyed a walk around the grounds and then made the most of the cafe and the garden centre.