The talks outlined below will be held at Vision Hall, Christ Church, Watling Street, Radlett, starting at 8pm. Entry to all talks is £4.

Wednesday, 5th March
Consider the Lily – a much overlooked species
By Caroline Broome
A light hearted and absorbing presentation about the world’s oldest cultivated plant. An illustrated anthology from tales of folklore and medieval medicine to lilies in art, design and literature. All you need to know about lilies and more!

Caroline, also known as the Garden Girl, is an engaging speaker who has entertained us previously. She is an accomplished gardener and has won The London Society ‘best small back garden’  three years in a row as well as being an organiser for the National Garden Scheme. She is also a garden designer and writes regular magazine articles. 

Her garden features a prairie themed roof deck above the beach hut summerhouse and an exotic front garden with ornamental grasses and a mini living wall.

Wednesday, 21st May
Green Gardening - Make your garden a wildlife haven
By Elizabeth Hamilton
Individual gardens are often small, but collectively gardens in the UK cover an estimated one million acres, more than the total area of national nature reserves. Gardeners can play a big part in helping the environment by providing a habitat for wildlife species and ensuring that their activities are not leading to damage further afield.

The talk includes illustrations of a variety of species photographed in the speaker’s garden and features wildlife habitat requirements. There are also ideas for lower impact gardening, including using less water, avoiding harmful chemicals, giving up single-use plastic and finding alternatives to peat.

Elizabeth Hamilton is a geographer and ecologist who has volunteered for CPRE The Countryside Charity in Hertfordshire for 20 years. During the first lockdown in 2020, unable to get out and about in Hertfordshire’s countryside, she turned her attention to the wildlife in her garden in the Chilterns, much of which she photographed.

Wednesday, 23rd July
A BLAZE OF GLORY – making your garden colourful in the autumn
By Timothy Walker
Timothy is a man in the wrong job, he should have been a stand up comedian. He has given us talks before and whatever the subject he is hilarious so please come along. This talk aims to show how to have colour in your garden right through the autumn until the first frosts. It looks at all the ways that different flowers, shrubs, herbaceous plants and fruit can make the garden look clean and fresh right to the end of November. It includes how the autumn borders at Oxford Botanic Garden were conceived and constructed and it finishes with a look at autumn colour in a small garden belonging to his wife, apparently!

From 1988 to 2014 Timothy Walker was director of the Oxford Botanic Garden. Since 2014 he has been a Senior College Lecturer and tutor in Plant Biology at Somerville College Oxford.


Wednesday, 19th November 
This talk will be announced nearer the time and will, after a glass of wine or two, follow a very short AGM.