The Group was entertained in February by passionate gardener Michael Myers from Yorkshire. Besides being a highly qualified lecturer at Craven College he is an advisor for the RHS at flower shows and travels extensively lecturing to horticultural groups. From the very start he had the attention of the Group for his talk ‘Woodland Wonders’. He conveyed his love of alpines, particularly Snowdrops and Hepaticas to an enthralled audience. At his garden, ‘Fairview’ he has a collection of over 250 Galanthus some of which he has bred.

Some Galanthus many were familiar with and others mentioned were rarer. The scented ones should be planted in sunshine. ’Sam Arnott’ is reliable and gives out good fragrance. ’Elizabeth Harrison’ with a yellow inner segment was introduced as a single bulb in 2012 and sold for a record £750.10. Today, if you are lucky it can be bought for £50! ‘Golden Fleece’ with its’ yellow markings which sold for £1390 in 2015 can be acquired for £100 up to £200. This year Joe Sharman sold ‘Golden Tears’ for £1850! Another unusual one is ‘G. E. A. Bowles’ which is pure white with no green markings and was first found at Myddelton House, Enfield in his garden and is now on-line for £75. The future breeding programmes will be out to produce a pure yellow snowdrop which seemed to mock the name.

Michael also briefly covered Leucojums mentioning L. vernum carpathicum which has yellow tips and can be found for about £8.00 in season. He warned us to be careful of the validity of some labelling. The semi-double ‘Gertrude Wister’ has multi-segmented petals and ‘Milly ’has additional greenish segments. Aconites are good for pollinating and are increasing in popularity. Some unusual ones shown were ‘Orange Glow’, the double ‘Clare Swales, ‘Noel Ayres, pinnatifida (white)’ and ‘Steffi’. The latter would set us back about £500!

Other gems shown were Cyclamen coum which needs well-draining soil. Corydalis ‘George Baker has rosy-red flowers. Helioniopsis orientalis does well in damp shade and Vpsilandra thibetica is an evergreen and flowers change from pale lilac to creamy-brown. Hepaticas nobilis gives various colours, again are needing free draining soil and the doubles are worth searching out. H. acutiloba’s new foliage is bronze and hairy and ‘The Bride’ has marbled foliage.

Hellebores foetidus, a native plant, is a good plant for a shady border. When buying hellebores buy when they are in flower as they can vary so much. Fiscaria ‘Salmon’s White is an unusual celandine with large ivory flowers and mottled leaves and good for nectar. ’Yaffle’ has green striped petals and can grow even in dry shade. Trilliums are another woodland gem and ‘Pseudotrillium rivale is a native plant and a short one flowering in the Spring. The white Trillium albidum is more robust and another early species. Erythronium revoltum is another garden worthy plant but does better in slightly acidic soil. Erythroniums should be divided after flowering. Ferns should be chopped back at Easter and spring is a good time to divide the plants. Another gem Tulipa sylvestris can be grown under trees and is a small yellow scented tulip. Roscoeas, which are orchid-like grow well in partial shade away from direct heat.

Michael delivered a well-prepared and stimulating lecture which contained many tips about growing woodland plants and gave everyone so much to talk about over refreshments afterwards.