|
This is the website of the Drury family of Kings Heath in Birmingham U.K. , covering Andrea, Howard and James Drury and gives details of their work, hobbies and family interests. 
Monthly Newsletter for Ashwood Nurseries Click here
Try our links section for more on gardening tips from other sites either by clicking on the left menu option or by clicking here LATEST GARDENING NEWS Latest Bird arrivals at Bagnell Road  A pair of Nuthatches spent some time today 8th Sptember searching for food in my rotting fence panel before finding a liking for sunflower hearts in my birdfeeder tubes Howard at Thompson & Morgan open Weekend
Woodpeckers in Kings Heath This morning the distinct red cap of a Woodpecker could be seen as he searched for food in a Syringa bush close to our house (6th August) let's hope they bred locally and this becomes a more common sight!  Tenth Anniversary of W M Wheats Gardener's Question TimeThursday August 5th saw a very successful Gardeners Question time help raise more than £2000 for the local Rotary groups at this nursery cum garden centre run by the Wheat family since 1937! Put THURSDAY 4TH AUGUST 2011 in your diary for a great evening next year. Thanks to Yvette, Philip, Brian and Steve for being panel members. This is one great event I love as many as those who seem to turn up every single year! Thompson and Morgan New IntroductionsWednesday 28th of July saw press day at this famous Ipswich seed company where they introduced more than 40 new flowers and in excess of 30 new vegetables and numerous new potatoes, fruits and a giant hydrangea - perhaps most interesting is the introduction of Runner Bean 'Moonlight' which is thought to be the worlds first self fertile runner bean, greatly reducing the chances of poor pollination and cropping heavily over a very long period regardless of weather conditions. Watch their website - the new introductions will appear on www.thompson-morgan.com in late September - you read it here first! John Massey of Ashwood NurseriesThe Royal Horticultural Society has awarded John the Victoria Medal of Honour for his outstanding work on breeding and improving Hellebores, he is one of only 63 living recipients of this award (which includes Prince Charles) and is in addition to his MBE for his fund raising activities.Well done John! ExtraCare Garden in Bloom News Click here We are now judging! For all the latest information about Garden in Bloom 2010, classes venue date etc go to Garden In Bloom 2010. To those still waiting for me to visit them - should be around this week subject to no more car problem! Citrus Long Horn Beetle Found A serious beetle has been found in Boskoop in Holland and the Dutch inspectorate have closed over 500 nurseries and banned exports until the nurseries have been deemed free from the pest which was found in a local park To read more click here New Grass Hopper found at airport after flight from India Click hereDreaded weed killer reintroduced Click hereDeadly Harry Potter plant devil's snare turns up in Suffolk pensioner's garden Click HereNew dangerous Ant found at Hidcote Gardens Click Here New pest from Southern Europe could pose threat to UK gardens as country warms up Read MoreJuniperus Pear Rust now attacking trees but is it serious? New disease attacks our pear trees - Juniperus Pear Rust arrived in Kings Heath in 2008 and first signs are that it is increasing this year - watch this space for more news Conifers in troubleLeylandii Hedges under threat - large numbers of leylandii hedges seem to be dying especially those closely clipped is it pest disease or 21st century living 2 year research by RHS under way The future of FuchsiaFuchsia may not have a future in your gardens new mite from America threatens our fuchsia and amateur gardeners have no controls other than throwing plants away Robinias may disappear Robinia pseudoacacia 'Sunburst' seem to be dying from the top down. The RHS suspect it is a disease, my opinion is that water logging of the roots caused following heavy rain is to blame, the same goes for Wisterias, both of which are in the legume family - watch here for the latest news. Are Slug Pellets to blame? Dog Dies possibly from ingesting slug pellets for more information Click here for more information Manures contaminated with weedkillers - the very latest newsReaders may have heard about an American company producing a new weed killer that is contaminating our manures and leaving gardeners worried as to its safety to read more Click Here The latest news is that despite hundreds of protests the government has allowed Dow to resume manufacture!!!!! Economic Crisis and Howard's Holiday Tours The current economic situation is causing major headaches for many of us and is having a major impact on people planning holidays. With the very poor exchange rate of the pound with the Euro and many other major and a surprising number of minor currencies around the world we are having to rethink our holiday plans outside the UK. Please see my holiday section for the latest details as they emerge or contact me directly by email Howard at Butlins March 2010What a fabulous 4 days at Butlins on Skegness, my task was to give 8 different talks about various aspects of gardening and what a pleasure it turned out to be. Although the organisers had allocated 100 chairs it quickly became evident at the first session that even double that number was not enough! Some people attended numerous sessions and what’s more they seemed to enjoy the experience, with around 2/3rds being new people to the Yours magazine event. This was a major improvement from a slightly disappointing Bognor Butlins last November and I hear that in the short term Yours will not be going back to Bognor. Why? Well the way we were treated was like being in a four star hotel, the whole of the staff went well beyond the phrase that extra mile to make our visit most enjoyable. From the second we were welcomed at the barrier to the last farewells from the Red Coats at the gate was something we will not forget in a long time. The staff and food in the Yatch club was even better than ever with a huge selection of food and excellent meat sourced locally and cooked almost as well as our organic meat from Penzance! The entertainment was beyond belief with brilliant comedians, an Irish evening plus the sounds of Motown and finally the Merseybeats and the Tremeloes on the last night! What more can we ask except that Yours keep running these excellent events for years to come Andrea and I enjoyed this one the best of all and we were only the workers! Thanks to all involved! Please do explore all the pages and by clicking on any of the many highlighted items you will find much more information. |
