GARDENING SOCIETY: The February meeting opened with the chairman welcoming many members. He reminded everyone about the next meeting on March 15 when members will learn about Findons, followed by a visit on March 22. The winner of the competition for a spray of ivy was won by Mrs McNaughton, second Mrs Haynes, third Mrs Wakeham and fourth Mrs Newbury. The speaker for the evening was Angela Tandy from Fibrex Nurseries at Pebworth. She kept her audience amused with her tales at the nursery together with a very informative talk and real life demonstration of the art of ivy topiary that kept the members guessing the final result. They hold the National Ivy Collection of over 300 in their garden. In the nursery they keep a collection of one of everything which helps in the identification of so called new ivies. Ivies first came to popularity in Victorian times and were mostly collected from hedgerows. The naming of ivies has been a real problem and still is today. New ivies tend to come as sports off old ivies, and if grown from seed tend to revert back. Hedera helix is the English ivy, but ivies come from all over the world. The ivies from America like 'Pittsburgh' have not much stem and lots of breaks, they never go to fruit and are excellent for hanging baskets, while the small ones are perfect for a rockery. Once ivy starts to flower, it means it is now mature and it is impossible to propagate from the plant. Ivies used as ground cover stay in the juvenile stage and will never fruit. She demonstrated the art of growing an ivy pillar by winding the ivy up three canes and showed one from a year ago that was a perfect pillar. She produced ivy fences in window boxes and explained about ivy arches. Members were amazed by her skill at planting the stems of ivy to turn it into a standard. She said ivy cuttings are easy to take and will root in three weeks with bottom heat and no hormone rooting powder. Having showed how to do this, she offered the collection of cuttings to a member of the society. Ivies will grow up walls, but are best kept trimmed with garden shears and will grow well if fed and watered. They like a limey soil. Ivy kept in a pot should be potted at least every three years, this she does by sawing the bottom half of the root ball off and repotting. The chairman thanked her.