Category: Evening Talks

Primrose gardens at Steeple Aston

Our March 2024 Evening Talk

Primrose Gardens

Richard Preston
Subject: “Primrose Gardens, Steeple Aston”

An audience of 40+ members and guests braved a wet and blustery evening to attend the latest in our season of talks.

This time we were well entertained by a lively presentation by Richard Preston, who has superb comic timing and a great line in anecdotes.

Richard described the background to the establishment of Primrose Gardens in Steeple Aston. The gardens are a former walled kitchen garden, part of a much larger estate called The Grange, a large mansion which was sold for redevelopment. The grounds were also divided and sold, including the former Head Gardener’s “Primrose Cottage”.  Richard’s grandfather Richard Wadham was Head Gardener for 40 years until 1939.

In the early 1950s the cottage and an acre of ground was purchased by Richard’s father, who developed the land as a vegetable-growing enterprise until 2001. During this time, produce from the garden were sold via the family van delivery service. Richard became fully involved with this, until a change of direction on retirement, when the story of the development of this acre of farmed land became today’s Primrose Gardens.

Richard and his wife Daphne have changed the plot beyond recognition using their own skills and imagination. This has been achieved with some help from, for example, their son-in-law who had an eye for the contents of a skip or two! Richard’s obvious negotiating skills also enabled him to find extraordinary garden features such as a terracotta warrior, an antique street lamp, a random sundial and much else to give the garden several points of focus.

But it was Richard’s lively description of the past 20 years of development from what was an originally (possibly tongue in cheek?) idea of a low maintenance stretch of lawn with a few borders. It has now become a haven of flowers, shrubs, smaller trees, and an ever-decreasing amount of grass!  A  tour-de-force, amongst many, is a large pond created by Richard on what is a sandy loam and now looks like it has been there for ever.

Richard’s description of the changing face of the garden through the past 130 years, and his own involvement since the 1950s, was a true eye-opener. His talk was certainly an inspiration for us to think about visiting as a group before too long.

Winter proofing tender plants

Those of us gardeners lucky enough to own a greenhouse are probably thinking of winter -proofing about now.  I use mine for keeping cuttings in and storing tender container plants like Salvias, Cannas and Agapanthus.  Maintaining the internal temperature above freezing is therefore crucial.

Time and enthusiasm permitting, the glass gets cleaned to maximise winter light levels, undesirables are evicted and the gubbins that collects over the summer is tidied up.

Heating a greenhouse in winter can be extremely expensive so I rely on low tech, ‘environmentally friendly’, solutions. I line the interior with bubble wrap and then install my heaters.  These are two lidded black dustbins filled to the brim with water.  These act as passive solar heaters keeping frost at bay.  Another cheap solution which I have yet to try is to put grass cuttings in black bags which, as they rot down, release heat.  Please let me know if this works.  In very severe weather all the plants are covered with fleece for an extra layer of protection.  I find it very important on milder days to open the doors to get some air movement to help prevent grey mould and fungal diseases.

It’s a well-known maxim that whatever size your greenhouse it’s never quite big enough, so extra storage solutions have to be found.  Succulents, orchids and ferns which have holidayed outside during the summer are brought into the house to decorate windowsills.  Sempervivens in containers which can tolerate cold but not cold and wet are put in the cold frame. Various non hardy summer bulbs such as Colocasia and Begonias are dried off and brought inside to store in the scullery.  These are then promptly forgotten about and only rediscovered in the spring when green shoots appear from their brown paper bags.

Another autumn job, for me at least with a cold garden,  involves lifting the dahlias after the first frost has blackened their foliage.  I wash the tubers and dry them on a rack in the garage for a week or two by which time all the labels will have got mixed up!  Each tuber is then wrapped in several layers of newspaper and packed into boxes which are stacked onto a table and draped with a blanket for winter warmth.

Roll on winter now with time to drool over seed catalogues and plan for next year.

Happy gardening

Nicky Pratt

The MUWAGA  October talk is ‘Mistletoe – Fact, Myth, Legend?

Dr Mike Jones

A returning speaker much enjoyed by members 

New Plants from Seeds, Cuttings, and Division – Phillip Aubrey

24th September  2025

   

                                 

For the first talk of the new season we welcomed a returning favourite speaker, Phillip Aubrey. Phillip is the former Director of the Oxford Botanic Garden and we were treated to a masterclass in the art (or science) of propagation in all its forms.

Seed and vegetative methods, including layering and grafting, were thoroughly explained, including the pros and cons of each, and all were illustrated with practical demonstrations. Phillip also shared his expertise on tried and tested tools, equipment and materials offering more tips and tricks than even Mary Berry could muster. 

The session concluded with a selection of questions, comprehensively answered and there were plants for sale in addition to cards from original watercolours by Liz Aubrey.

For experienced and novice gardeners alike this was an informative, inspirational evening and gave a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘Go forth and multiply!’