Free gardening event at Wisley

I popped into the RHS garden centre at Wisley, Surrey on Saturday and noticed a flier for a free Royal Horticultural Society event on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th June. 

Adrian Bloom who is an author, plantsman and  many times gold medal winner at Chelsea will be giving talks and signing copies of his new book, Bloom's Best Perennials and Grasses at 1.30 pm and 3 pm on both days. The talk is Take 12 Plants - the key to a successful garden. Worth combining with a browse round the garden centre - or even better a whole day at Wisley Gardens.

While I was browsing for plants, I overheard a husband and wife conversation which amused me. Husband spotted a plant and declared passionately "I love these. Let's get one!"

She replied, very testily, "How many times do I have to tell you that's not right for the theme."

He shrugged his shoulders, looked very peeved and said "I don't understand the bloody theme anyway."

"I've told you it's Seaside garden and that plant is English Country Garden. How many more times..?"

I wouldn't be bothering to save up for the Silver wedding  present! 

It  made me feel a bit sad for the way so many TV gardening programmes have made many people think it's all about rules and sticking to a rigid design. For me one of the beauties of gardening is the way the garden evolves in its own way over time. And it's always a shame when real passion for a plant gets subjugated to the desire to conform to a pre-ordained plan (assuming of course the soil and conditions are right for it).

Clare F

Not a scrap of common sense!

We all hate it when somebody says I told you so, so I won’t say it, but rest assured I am doing my silent I told you so dance.  Why, because the car scrappage scheme has got to be one of the worst thought-through UK government initiatives for a long time.


Months ago we mentioned our concerns about the financial and sustainable credentials of this scheme and it seems we were right.  These pictures which appeared in the Daily Mail show this former airfield in Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, one of a number of 'holding areas' packed with vehicles sold through £400million scrappage scheme.
Who in their right mind thought this would be good for the individual, the country or the environment?

Not only have unscrupulous dealers taken advantage of the situation putting up car prices to cover their losses or make even more profit, but we now also have the motorised equivalent of the European butter mountain!

It seems we now have over £28 million worth of perfectly serviceable cars lying around going to waste, merely waiting to be crushed.

Surely it would have been more effective to have given us the cash to have our elderly cars serviced and made more road worthy rather than being coerced into buying a new car that we didn’t really need, plus having to get a loan to pay for it.
>> Read the original piece Would you scrap it or save it?

Hilary B