RIP JOHN LOGAN

On Friday 24th October, our former President and 50-year+ member John Logan slipped away peacefully surrounded by his family. John, pictured here (middle) in 2019 with former chairman Eddie duCann and Secretary Diane Kirkness, was a staunch supporter of the Society and the wider local community for so many years and will be much missed by us all. Back together with Joan now, John. Our thoughts are with his family to whom we send our deepest condolences. Funeral details will be sent out once received.

ZOOM TALK, TUESDAY 18th NOVEMBER, 7,30PM

November ushers in the start of our Zoom season of talks and with the darker evenings and likelihood of bad weather, the opportunity to watch a stimulating talk from the comfort of your own home! It also affords us the chance to bag some of the best speakers around the country, regardless of their location.

Our November Zoom meeting is on Tuesday 18th November at 7.30 pm, and Steve Edney will talk to us for about an hour on ‘Think beyond the flower, perennials for winter structure’.

Steve owns a nursery called ‘The No Name Nursery’ in Sandwich, Kent with his partner Louise Dowle and is one of the UK’s most knowledgeable younger plantsmen, as well as a Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal winner! The photograph above shows them celebrating their Gold Medal win in the Pavilion a couple of years ago.

He’s a lovely guy and a very enthusiastic speaker - I’m sure his talk will be entertaining as well as informative. It’ll concentrate on why planting for some structure is so important visually when looking wistfully out of the window during those long winter months and what plants to use; some of them will no doubt be quite unusual and different! We’re really looking forward to it and hope a lot of you can join us.

Members will automatically be sent the free Zoom link a few days before the talk; non-members pay £5. If you have any friends who would like to join in, please contact chair@mayfieldhorticulturalsociety.org.uk for details of how to pay.

HARDY ANNUALS WORKSHOP

On the rather damp and windy morning of Thursday 23rd October, we held a free hardy annuals workshop for 11 members in the lovely greenhouse of committee member Sue Dickinson. We warmed ourselves up with coffee/tea and biscuits whilst setting up!

Sowing seeds now of hardy annuals such as poppies, calendula (marigold), larkspur, antirrhinum (snapdragons), ammi majus (posh cow parsley!), cerinthe and many more, means much bigger and better plants, with many more flowers next year in the border.

There were demonstrations of seed sowing and pricking out, following which members had a go themselves. It was fun! The plants will be quite happy outside in a covered (rodent-free!) cold frame or unheated greenhouse through the winter.

All these young plants will be available to buy at Seedy Saturday on Saturday 7th February. Late February or early March is the ideal time to get these plants into the garden.

The fruits of our labours above

AN EARLY ADVERT FOR SEEDY SATURDAY!

Our third Seedy Saturday will be held once again in Mayfield Scout Hall on Saturday 7th February 2026, 10.00 to 12.30. As before, there will be loads of different flower and vegetable seeds to swap/purchase for a donation to our funds, plus the delicious Seedy Cafe with homemade cakes and biscuits.

Now is the perfect time to collect seeds of all kinds from your garden, not only of annuals like cosmos, poppies or marigolds but also of shrubs and trees. Just make sure they are nice and dry before sealing and labelling them in an envelope, ready for swapping at Seedy Saturday or sowing next spring!

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY

Friday 16th January: Zoom talk, 7.30pm, ‘No Nettles Required - the truth about wildlife gardening’ Ken Thompson

www.mayfieldhorticulturalsociety.org.uk

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