Posts by
Liz Johns
Planting Pots for Winter Interest and Spring Joy
On 9th September 2025, Harriet Rycroft, often referred to as the ‘Queen of Pots’, gave an insightful and engaging talk to Ticknall Garden Club about her career in horticulture and her passion for pots. Her position as head gardener at the Warwickshire based Whichford pottery gave her the opportunity to develop her horticultural skills, from…
A Bulb for Every Day of the Year
Adam Kirkland’s talk on 8 July 2025 showed his passion for all bulbs, but he spoke in particular about many of his favourites. He is well-known for his social media presence on Facebook and TikTok as well as his articles in Amateur Gardening magazine and talks at RHS garden shows. Having started gardening during lockdown,…
Enjoy Your Houseplants
On May 13th 2025, Susie of Windowsill Plants, Market Harborough gave a very informal presentation without audio or visual equipment, using ‘only’ her plants and infectious enthusiasm to give a very entertaining and amusing talk. The evening was full of useful hints and tips on how to care for houseplants and to ensure they flourish.…
Pulmonaria
Dr Andrew Ward talked to the Garden Club on 8th April 2025. Norwell Nurseries are the National Collection Holders of Astrantias and Hardy Chrysanthemums. They have featured in several magazines and have been voted the Best Perenial Gardens in the UK by the Hardy Plant Society. Dr Andrew Ward runs the nursery along with his…
Do Your Roots Need Doing?
Andrew Mikolajski, a writer, speaker, and RHS judge, gave an interesting and often amusing talk for Ticknall Garden Club on March 11th, 2025, on the importance of roots for vigorous plant growth. The first part of his talk focused on how plants evolved from the sea bed to surviving on land when sea levels fell,…
Gardening in Sand
Tom Nicholls visited Ticknall Gardening Club on 11th February 2025. Until recently he was the senior gardener at York Gate Garden in Adel, near York and was instrumental in the development of the sand garden there. At York Gate the sand garden is made up of about 3 ft of sand and the plants were…
A Hardy Planter’s Winter Survival Kit
Don Whitton is a national collection holder of hardy euphorbia and is a member of the Hardy Planters Society. His love of gardening and plants was evident throughout the evening. His talk on 12th November 2024 was full of handy strategies for keen gardeners to survive the dark winter months (November through to February) and…
Tricks to make your garden more colourful
Toby Buckland, English gardener, TV presenter and author, gave an enjoyable and entertaining talk on 8th October 2024. It was full of gentle anecdotes and practical gardening tips. The core of Toby’s talk was colour in the garden focusing on ‘everyday’ more common varieties of plants. He encouraged us to think about texture and leaves,…
Arts and Crafts Gardens
Camilla Anderson, a garden historian, gave an insightful talk on the Arts and Crafts and Edwardian garden movement and in particular the gardens of Harold Peto on 9th September 2024. At the heart of the Arts and Crafts movement – as promoted by Morris & Co – was a reaction to the industrialisation and mass…
The World’s Largest Gardening Project
On 9th July 2024, returning favourite to the club Doug Stewart gave an interesting and incredibly humorous talk on the history of RHS Bridgewater (designed by Tom Stuart Smith) and the development of the gardens as they are today. RHS Bridgewater in the grounds of Worsley New Hall has a fascinating history. The Halland terraced…
Dark and Desirable
The talk on 14 May 2024 was given by Paul Green of Greensleaves Nursery. Paul gave an enjoyable talk on his love for growing and propagating interesting and unusual plants. Remarkably his talk was undertaken without slides; instead, Paul took a very ‘hands-on’ approach using his plants as props throughout the evening! As a propagator…
Encouraging Bees into the Garden
Professional beekeeper “The Bee Farmer” David McDowell gave a fascinating talk to Ticknall Garden Club on beekeeping and the life cycle of bees on 9 April, 2024. In the UK there are 4 main types of bees – honey bees, bumble bees, solitary bees and wasps. Sadly the number of DEFRA-registered hives in the UK…
