John Hitchcock and David Abbott, of the Woking Fuchsia Group, arrived at the Grayshott Gardeners meeting on Wednesday 11 March armed with a collection of fuchsia plants and various, mostly essential, items for growing and propagating this well loved plant. The speakers favoured a practical demonstration rather than a slide show, since they said they were well aware that the latter is more likely to induce sleep than enlightenment.

In the course of a vastly entertaining dialogue between the two speakers and interjections from the sixty assembled gardeners, we learned practically all we needed to know about growing and propagating the crop. While John was talking, David was busy with timely interruptions whilst skillfully potting cuttings from the leaves and stems that were being stripped off plants being used to demonstrate, for example, how to make standards of varying height, how and which buds to remove, and when to stop doing so in order to let the plants flower in so many weeks time. We were also shown how plastic bottles and various food containers could be cunningly converted into costless propagators.

At the end of the evening a quiz showed that the messages had been thoroughly digested and plants potted during the course of the demonstration were given as prizes for the first correct answer. No one could have left the meeting without knowing how to fill every pot and spare patch of ground they possess, and probably the whole of Grayshott with fuchsias.

The next event is the Spring Show on Saturday 4 April with public viewing in the village hall from 2 - 4 p.m. For further information on membership please contact Mrs Anne Waddell, Membership Secretary on 01428 604714