2023

 

28^th January 2023: 2.30pm,
Stowupland Village Hall, IP14 4BQ

Talk: ‘Spices, a super spicy story’ – Jacqueline Aviolet

Jacqueline is a popular speaker and horticulturalist from ‘Rosie’s Garden Plants’ in Kent with its wealth of plants from perennials to shrubs and roses.

 

 

25^th February 2023: 2.30pm,
Stowupland Village Hall, IP14 4BQ

Talk: ‘Miss Ellen Willmott, her life and gardens.’ – Sandra Lawrence

Ellen Ann Willmott FLS VMH of Warley Place in Essex was an influential member of the Royal Horticultural Society. Sandra Lawrence is a journalist and has written a biography of Miss Willmott entitled “Miss Willmott’s Ghosts; the extraordinary life and gardens of a forgotten genius”.

 

25^th March 2023: 2.30pm,
Stowupland Village Hall, IP14 4BQ

Talk: ‘Plants in art and culture – how plants created society.’ – Dr Mark Spencer

Mark is a Forensic Botanist and the author of “Murder Most Florid”.  He started life as a botanist and rather fell into forensics when asked by the Police to assist in the investigation of ‘Cold’ cases.

 

22^nd April 2023: 2.30pm,
Stowupland Village Hall, IP14 4BQ

Talk: ‘Learning from brownfields’: Bringing chaos and complexity back into new landscapes.’ – John Little of the Grass Roots Company

“We now understand that the wildlife around us all today evolved and is adapted to the disturbance and chaos of landscapes carved out by large mammals.  Most of our flora and fauna it seems are not happy in the closed canopy woodland we assumed dominated the UK.  A lot of our most important sites for wildlife are in places we have trashed and then left alone. Why then don’t we design back the structural complexity, topography and substrate mosaic of the mineral extraction and brownfield sites when designing our new landscapes?”