News

MPG welcomed members connecting from France, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, Spain, Tenerife, Norway, Belgium, Scotland and England to its winter meeting and lecture on 15 January.

If you weren’t able to attend you can still enjoy a recording of Fergus Garrett’s ‘Experiments at Great Dixter and Nezahat Gökyiğit Garden’ here.

This festive arrangement was created by Lindsay Blyth to wish everyone a merry Christmas. Lindsay is a long-standing member of MPG who lives in the mountains behind Málaga in southern Spain. Here she uses berries of Melia, Pyracantha ‘Soleil d’Or’, Salvia leucantha (to pick up the purple in the Strelitzia and Kniphofia rooperi); Mahonia, variegated myrtle, buds of dwarf pomegranate, ivy and evergreens, all from her garden.

British botanist, TV presenter and writer Roger Phillips has died. His titles can be found on many a gardener’s bookshelf and his two volumes entitled Conservatory & Indoor Plants cover just about everything you can find in a Mediterranean garden. In 2017 MPG had a terrific walk and talk with Roger around Eccleston Square in London, where he lived and curated the National Collection of Ceanothus. The report of our visit may be seen here.

One of the first MPG members to arrive was Nancy Ball, there on the dot of 6.30am, to enter the grounds in the peace and quiet of dawn, an hour and a half before the huge rush at the normal opening time for RHS members. Nancy is a professional gardener in Eastbourne. Apart from these privileged ticket-holders avoiding crowds, they had the added benefit of a Champagne breakfast in the restaurant. They were taken up by 20 members.

We are delighted to advise that new dates have been announced for the postponed trip to Eastern Sicily – Wednesday 11 May to Wednesday 18 May 2022. Click here for further details.

Members visited the Oxford Botanic Garden and the gardens of Merton College, Oxford on 18 August. The weather was perfect and members appreciated the tours by Mark Brent, curator, and Chris Thorogood, head of science, both of the Oxford Botanic, then a delicious picnic lunch and exploration of Merton guided by head gardener, Lucille Savin.