Village Gardeners
At our meeting on 23 February our speaker was Mr Peter Walker of the
local Wildlife Trust and warden of Gamlingay Wood, who treated us to a
fascinating talkon the wild flowers of Cambridgeshire. We heard that the first
Flora of Cambridgeshire was written in 1660 by John Ray of Cambridge University
- this was the first published Flora in the country.
Wild flowers naturally thrive in the particular conditions that arejust right for any particular species and Mr Walker described thevarious plants which grow in different geological areas from claylands to peat fen and dry chalk to river margins and floodplains. The entire talk was beautifully illustrated, particularly with some stunning photographs of orchids of which there arewell over a hundred varieties, each adapted to its particular habitat, be it dense beechwood or open grassland.
Unfortunately we live in the most treeless county in the country and one whichis highly arable and mechanised - spray drift and fertiliser run-off can be a majotthreat to our wild flowers as is the seemingly incessant building going onaround. The local Wildlife Trust, comprising Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire,Northamptonshire and Peterborough helps to preserve our native flora in its onehundred and twenty nine nature reserves including the local Fulbourn Fen and Fordham Woods. Mr Walker's very detailed talk was both informative and interesting. Our next meeting is: 20th April, Dr Twigs Way 'From Italian Villa to Suburban Lawn: the History of the Garden Gnome': These will be, as usual , in theVillage Hall at 8pm so please do join us.
The Village Gardeners' annual coach outing will this year be on Saturday 10th Julywhen we will be visiting Coton Manor Garden near Guilsborough in Northants; this is a privately owned ten-acre garden of exceptional charm and interest, containing over a thousand varieties of plants, many of which are unusual and not easily found elsewhere. Non-members are very welcome to join us.