Petersfield Physic Garden

Gardener's Lunch

The Tuesday Gardeners abandonned their trowels, forks and secateurs in order to pick up knives and forks in the Folly Restaurant and enjoy lunch together on a cold January day.
The group which works in the garden every Tuesday morning throughout the year had an opportunity to socialise together with their regular warden Brian Robinson and supporter Laurie Woods. Next week they return to their normal volunteer work in the garden but would happily welcome new volunteers who would like to join them.

Pictured are Brian and Laurie with their fan club

Christmas lunch

Friends of the Physic Garden enjoyed their seasonal Christmas lunch on Sunday, December 6th. With a delicious home cooked meal prepared by Mrs Bubbles Silk and Mrs Prue Scurfield guests celebrated in the festive atmosphere of the Exhibition Room.

Apple Tree

On a damp November day the Tuesday Gardeners were joined by Mr and Mrs Brian Knight, warden Mr Brian Robinson and other friends to help plant an apple tree in memory of Helen Hancock. Helen who passed away last November, is much missed as part of the gardening team and for her contributions to the well being of the Physic Garden.

The apple tree choosen is called Ashmead's Kernel. It is an old English variety with greenish yellow russeted fruit. This makes a very good apple juice because of its sweet sharp flavour. It has been planted against the East wall replacing a tree which was removed earlier in the year.

Pibworth Seat

A new seat is gracing Petersfield Physic Garden in memory of the town's well loved blacksmith Steve Pibworth. The seat, which is semi-circular in shape is made of wrought iron and is standing beneath the walnut tree providing a view through the orchard down the garden. It has been donated by the Pibworth Family, designed by his daughter Suzie and made by the craftsmen at the Petersfield forge.
The inscription reads:

In loving memory of STEVE PIBWORTH (1929-2014)
"THE BLACKSMITH"

September Garden Visit

Our garden visit this year was to a local garden near Rogate owned by Rosemary Alexander. Rosemary founded the English Gardening School in 1983 at the Chelsea Physic Garden and is still involved with the courses they run, especially those in Garden Design. Her own garden at Sandhill Farm House near Rogate is testament to her design skills and we were very fortunate to have a private guided visit followed by an excellent tea.

Rosemary is extremely knowledgeable and has many rare and unusual shrubs, trees and perennials all off set by firm structure from a variety of clipped evergreen hedges, balls, obelisks or trees with interesting shapes and coloured barks. It is a garden that enthuses the visitor to experiment and well worth a repeat visit.

Midsummer Party

A sunny evening was fitting for Friends of the Garden to enjoy their summer party. Held in the garden on the longest day guests were able to wander and admire the roses and other flowers which perfumed the evening air whilst savouring a glass of wine.

Annual General Meeting

The AGM took place on Tuesday, June 2nd.
The minutes of the previous year's AGM were read by Colin Mattingly and approved. Mrs Daphne Clark presented the annual accounts which were adopted by the meeting and showed cash funds at the financial year end of £24,766.
The chairman, Mrs Bubbles Silk then presented her report for the year. Following this a relection of the existing officers and committee took place for the year 2015/16.
Mrs June Parkinson was invited to continue as President, she accepted and spoke briefly on the importance of education.
Guest speaker, Mr David Jeffery gave a talk - sadly without the benefit of slides - on the History of Petersfield's High Street Gardens.

West Wall
Plans for the stabilisation of the West Wall continue. Temporary wooden supports are still in place whilst a more permanent solution is sought. The cost of this will be substantial. The garden is owned by the Hampshire Gardens Trust who are working with us to identify the sources of funding which could be used to pay for the restoration. Currently Lottery funding is being investigated.

Brick Edging
Work to replace the wooden edges to the flower beds on the East wall with brick paviours has now been completed. It is planned to extend this work to other areas once work on the walls has been finished.