Our friendly, active group has been established since October 1962 and one or two original members still turn up occasionally!
We currently have a membership of 80+ and they range from those new to alpine gardening to experts with a wealth of experience.
We have an excellent programme of lectures on a wide range of topics, always stimulating and interesting. We serve tea, coffee and biscuits and there is a chance to chat to other members of the group. We have a raffle, a plants sales table and a display table each month.
In March we have a competitive plant show for the David Benton Rose Bowl and a photographic competition for the Margaret Hedges Trophy. April sees the Annual Plant Sale which we all look forward to with much excitement! Several garden visits are organised in the spring and summer.
We are joint hosts, with the Dorset Group, of the AGS Wimborne Show, locally known as the Rocky Flower Show. This takes place in mid-May at Queen Elizabeth School, Wimborne, Dorset. The event attracts exhibitors from across the UK and combined with the irresistible plants for sale from a range of nurseries and the tempting refreshments available, it is a superb day out.
Membership of our group is open to all – you don’t have to be an AGS member, although always recommended to enjoy the wider benefits of the Society. Do come along as a visitor and see if you’d like to join us regularly. You would be most welcome.
Ben Parmee (Secretary): Tel: 02380 265672 or 07501 083504
Email: Ben.Parmee@alpinegardensociety.org
AGS members: £10. (Joint £14)
Non-members: £11.00. (Joint £15)
Visitors: £2.50 (per meeting)
Students: Free
Thursday, September 24th
Speaker – Jon Evans – official show photographer for the AGS Shows
‘Late September in Paxos’
Thursday, October 22nd – The AGS Open Lecture
Speaker – David Hughes – member of Dorset and Hampshire AGS Groups
‘Hunting Alpines in Yunnan’
Thursday, November 26th
Speaker – Jenny Wainwright-Klein
‘Schachen Garden’
Thursday, December 10th (second Thursday!)
Short presentations by the three Chairmen and Quiz
Usually cheese and wine supper would be provided, sadly this year it is self-catering!
Thursday, January 28th
Speaker – Michael Myers – Lecturer at Craven College
‘Snowdrops from October to April’
Thursday, February 25th
Speaker – Dr Celia Wright
‘Flowers of Lesotho. Kingdom in the Sky’
Thursday, March 25th – The 21st Lionel Bacon Memorial Lecture
Speaker – Kevin Hughes of Cally Gardens
‘Cally Gardens a Plant Extravaganza’
Thursday, April 22nd
Speaker – Graham Poynter of Dorset AGS Group
‘On the Trail of Farrer from Dales to Dolomites’
Annual Plant Sale – it is hoped that we may be able to organise some outdoor plant sales if Government restrictions allow in the spring of 2021 at our outdoor open garden events.
Thursday, May 13th
Annual General Meeting
Plant and Photographic Competition Results. The David Benton Rose Bowl is awarded to the winner of the Plant Competition and the Margaret Hedges Trophy for the photographic competition winner.
Thursday, May 27th
Speaker – David Charlton – AGS Judge and Tour Guide with Colletts Mountain Holidays
‘Alpine Plants of the Pyrenees’
If you would like to join us as a guest please contact Ben Parmee for the Zoom login details.
For more info: Email Ben.Parmee@alpinegardensociety.org / ring 07501 083504
Directions / venue http://chilworthhants.org.uk/index.php/village-hall/
Paddy and Ben Parmee hope to be opening their garden later in the spring 2021, dates to be confirmed. This will be entirely dependent on current COVID-19 restrictions at the time but we are hoping that with the success of the vaccination programme and easing of restrictions it may be closer to normal.
Members of AGS Groups and friends are invited to join Paddy and Ben at their garden in Chandlers Ford to enjoy Alpines at there best.
It was good to see so many of you during April, albeit subject to a maximum of groups of four, when you came to collect your plants at the plant sale. Thank you to Paddy for baking cake nearly every other day!
Details:
Venue: 179 Hursley Road, Chandlers Ford, Hampshire, SO53 1JH
Entry: Free entry – donations for refreshments will be donated to Group funds.
Time: to be confirmed.
Parking: Please park in Cuckoo Bushes Lane 50 metres to the North or other nearby street parking.
We look forward to seeing many of you on the xxxx.
Best wishes Paddy and Ben
Please contact the Secretary on 07501 083504 or 02380 265672; Email Ben.Parmee@alpinegardensociety.org
Locally known as ‘ROCKY FLOWER SHOW‘ the Wimborne Show is jointly run by the Hampshire and Dorset Local Groups.
Location: QEII School, Pamphill, Wimborne, BH21 4DT
Next Show – Sadly due to COVID-19 restrictions, all Spring 2021 shows have been cancelled, let’s look forward too 2022,
10.00 – 3.30 pm
All enquiries to the Show Secretary, Ben Parmee on 07501 083504 or by email at Ben.Parmee@alpinegardensociety.org
This is the best opportunity in the South of England to see a wonderful selection of exceptionally well grown alpine plants and a display of expertly produced photographs. Also enjoy a range of nurseries and superb refreshments.
If you need to know more about the plants, it is a rare occasion to meet growers and learn their secrets!
The presence of the show in our area has encouraged exhibitors from our own membership who now regularly win trophies and awards at this and other shows.
The reputation of our superb catering is second to none, cakes and delicious lunches are all homemade by members of our Groups, taste it and you will believe it!
It is a fantastic collaboration between the two Groups and we are grateful to the Dorset Group for all their work in support of the show.
The fine venue, sumptuous food, wonderful plants and friendly atmosphere have made it a must see event for many far flung Alpine enthusiasts.
The photographic competition is a local extra and showcases plant photography at home and abroad by local members. For further details please contact David Hughes on davidcchughes@btinternet.com.
We very much look forward to meeting you!
The annual competitive Plant Show for the David Benton Rose Bowl and Photographic competition for the Margaret Hedges Memorial Award this year has taken place online and we are most grateful to Steve and Angela Lobley who took on the task of organising the competitions this year. We were also lucky to secure the services of professional judges, Martin Sheader, AGS Shows judge who judged the Plant Competition and Jon Evans, one of the AGS official show photographers judged the Photographic Competition, thank you.
We are also delighted to announce that we had more entries than we usually get, 51 for the photographic competition and 46 for the plant competition; thank you to all the members who took the time and effort to enter they made for a wonderful evening’s viewing.
The pictures mentioned below are shown in the Competition Galleries below.
Hampshire AGS 2021 Photographic Competition for the Margaret Hedges Memorial Award
FIRST
Martin Sheader Gladiolus uysiae
SECOND
Paddy Parmee Galanthus nivalis ‘Poculi Perfect’
THIRD
Steve Lobley Narcissus rupicola ssp waterii
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Janice Bennetts Trillium kurabayashii
Jo Whitfield Erythronium ‘Joanna’
Anne Wanstall Corydalis solida
Elizabeth Wells Tulipa ‘Little Beauty’
Steve Lobley Pleone tongariro
Paddy Parmee Tulipa bakeri
Hampshire AGS 2021 Plant Competition for the David Benton Rose Bowl
SECTION A – A plant in flower or bud
FIRST and overall ROSE BOWL WINNER
Dot Sample Daphne modesta
SECOND
Dorothy Searle Physoplexis comosa
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Steve Lobley Primula ‘Wharfedale Ballerina’
Steve Lobley Saxifraga cotyledon ‘Arleta’
Mike Powell Gennaria diphylla ‘Jean’
SECTION B – A plant grown for foliage effect
FIRST
David Hughes Shuttlecock fern
SECOND
Janice Bennetts Hosta ‘Wolverine’
SECTION C – A miniature garden
FIRST
David Hughes Minature Garden
SECOND
Paddy Parmee Minature Garden
For me, 2020 brought more than just Covid-19 as a surprise. In lockdown in Southern France at Florac, restricted to walks of 1 km, I stumbled across many new species, but none more so than a Mediterranean sage never reported our side of the Atlantic/Mediterranean divide. There it was, a large colony of Salvia verbenaca subsp. verbenaca, just 500 m along the main road, clearly well-established. How could I have missed it in earlier years, I thought with embarrassment? The answer came a week later. The colony passed from first flower to nothing but ripe seed in just 7 days. Three days later, the verges were all strimmed bare by the highways department. Global warming and human activities are set to extend the range of this species by 50-100 kilometres. This is a hare that is set to beat the tortoise.
A more spectacular appearance was on the steppe-like pastures at the edge of Nîmes-le-Vieux. Just before the feather-grass (Stipa gallica) opened to reveal waves of angel-hair, a bright ribbon of blue and yellow appeared in mid-May, only a few metres wide, but about a full kilometre long. Investigation of this floral river uncovered groups of blue Echium vulgare, not unknown here, but mixed with a huge number of yellow Cerinthe minor subsp. auriculata, unknown outside Provence and the Pre-Alps. This was clearly the result of some pipe-laying work, but how did several thousand Cerinthe seeds get into the mix? These plants have now set seed. My estimate is over 50,000 seeds ready to romp across the region and change the ecology of the Causse Méjean for a lifetime. I hope the sheep have a good appetite.
Another surprise was more personal. Gardening beside a tributary of the Tarn, subject to the infamous spring and autumn storms of the Cévennes, can be a challenge. But the area has never seen a flash flood in mid-June, and of such amplitude. In full leaf, trees were stripped from the banks, and then the rocks themselves. The riverine landscape was transformed into a disaster zone. My garden took the full force, and was instantly denuded. What leaves remained were so macerated that they died over the next fortnight. Four hard weeks to relieve the garden of several lorry-loads of sand and rocks, and gaze dismally at the bare sticks of vegetation. Then the buds began to swell, and slowly life came back; by September, few would notice that there had ever been such a catastrophe. My respect for nature, the power to destroy, the power to heal, has never been so great.
Nîmes-le-Vieux is the jewel in the crown of the karstic landscape of the Causse Méjean in Southern France. The flora and spectacular architecture of the Arcs de St Pierre are less known, but make for a serious rival. Higher rainfall and lack of grazing ensure a very different flora, and it is unrivalled for its range of summer orchids. We pass from the endemic Ophrys aymoninii to the helleborines such as our trio of Cephalantheras (Cephalanthera longifolia, C. damasonium and C. rubra) and their relatives (Epipactis atrorubens, E. distans, E. helleborine, E. microphylla and E. muelleri). Not wanting to be accused of name dropping, I shall spare you the list of countless other orchid species.
The undisturbed natural pine forests host a scattering of wintergreens, such as Orthilia secunda, Pyrola chlorantha and my favourite, Moneses uniflora, with their diminutive heads drooping from modesty or deep depression; they have not confided which. The open arenas of dolomitic sands host the endemic thrift, Armeria girardii. These tough little plants make a superb rug for picnicking whilst gazing with awe upon the phallus of La Grande Place.
