



I also bought this:

From the other stalls I came away with:

I also bought Clematis recta Purpurea:

and finally (actually not finally, but finally in terms of plants)

I also picked up some free seeds, quite a few free seeds and this made me happy too, especially as I got some Euphorbia stygiana seeds, a plant I have recently written about in a post for the Leicestershire and Rutland Gardens Trust.
The lectures were excellent. John Grimshaw took us through a personal journey of Plants, Gardens, People. It was an entertaining and informative talk. I liked his concept of hyphenated gardeners (I so want to hyphenate that), saying that he was not an alphine-gardener, a perennial-gardener etc etc, he is just a gardener (and quite a gardener at that!). John ended his talk giving out some free white poppy seeds originally sourced from Sissinghurst. Yes I got some, how could I not? A reminder of a good day, a plant I love more than most others and a link back to Sissinghurst.
After the AGM then there was the talk from Bleddyn and Sue about their plant hunting trips to Vietnam. This was also fascinating and at times quite saddening. The country has lost much from its years of war and the effects on the population and the effects of climate change mean that the forests are being stripped of their trees to grow crops to sell for food and also for fuel. This is completely understandable as there is limited choice as to what the people can do, but for the plants of the area it is very damaging.
All in all it was an excellent day. The next AGM is in the southern counties, it might also be a must-do event.