As usual, the Cothi Gardeners’ Annual General Meeting was held in February. The last year seemed to go by very fast, with an enjoyable and interesting programme. Members enjoyed five talks and one workshop, and we held two social events with one garden visit to ‘The House on Stilts’. All were well attended and received positive feedback. John and Helen’s plant sale at Ty’r Maes had generated funds for the NGS charities.
Reports were received from the Chair and the Treasurer. The accounts for the year were approved. Membership of the Club currently stands at 37. Votes of thanks were extended to the Treasurer, Secretary and Web Editor, as well as the Chair all of whom are continuing in post for the coming year. Particular thanks was reserved for Carol Carpenter, our outgoing Programme Co-ordinator, for her sterling work over the last three years in delivering such varied and interesting programmes, and putting together the current year’s programme.
No volunteers came forward at the meeting to take over the role of Programme Co-ordinator (which in the past has sometimes been a role successfully shared between two members). If any member(s) would like to volunteer, Carol can provide a handover and also give you a folder packed with useful information and contacts to get you started. The first task will be to finalise talks for the autumn and the Christmas social, and from there to move on to the programme for 2027. Ideally the role would be filled quite soon because speakers have to be booked a reasonable time in advance. The Club is nothing without its members – thank you all – but it needs the talks, workshops and social events to bring us together. We won’t have those unless someone is willing to take on organising them! If you are at all interested and would like to discuss, please contact Tracey, Cothi Gardeners Chair, or email cothigardeners@gmail.com.
The AGM was followed by an inventive and challenging quiz created for us by guest Roger; the quiz in turn was followed by a delicious assortment of savoury and sweet dishes brought along by members for all to share – chilli, pizza, quiche, vegetarian empanadas, sausage rolls, frittata, rye and almond biscuits, chocolate brownies and marmalade cake to mention just a few!
March Talk – Not To Be Missed
On Wednesday, 18 March our next talk goes by the intriguing title: ‘The Underclass: a Gardeners’ Best Friends. Geophytes (bulbs, corms and tubers) to lift the spirits from October to March‘. It will be given by one of our members, Julian Wormald. Julian and Fiona are well-known not just to members of the club but to gardeners far and wide who have visited their garden Gelli Uchaf in Rhydcymerau through the National Garden Scheme, seen it featured on television or read about it in books, periodicals or on The Garden Impressionists blog.
Gelli Uchaf garden is renowned for its tapestry of flowers planted under trees and shrubs and also in the open. Much of that tapestry is down to thousands of bulbs, corms and tubers. This is a new talk by Julian, created for this meeting of the Cothi Gardeners Club, and is bound to be both informative and inspiring. Julian and Fiona hope to bring some plants for sale.
Cothi Gardeners Website
The website has been updated for the coming year, including the programme listing, and events external to the Club. Suggestions for and contributions to the website are always welcome – please email cothigardeners@gmail.com.
The web editor forgot to take many pictures at the AGM – here are a few pictures from her February garden to (hopefully) make up for it.
Cothi Gardeners 