THE speaker for February, James Arbuthnot, was unable to attend so his wife, Louise, came in his place to talk about unusual wall shrubs and climbers.

She gave a very informative and entertaining slide show of their nursery and garden at Stone House Cottage Nurseries, Kidderminster.

They bought the property in 1974, which consisted of a run down house and overgrown grounds. They purchased a walled garden from a neighbour that had originally been a vegetable garden.

All of this has been transformed over the years into a lovely house and gardens bursting with plants which flower at all times of the year.

Added to this, James decided he liked building and has added several towers and other features in the garden, which the plants now grow over.

Louise showed slides of some unusual shrubs, climbers and perennials, some of which are supposedly tender but survive quite happily at Stone House Cottage.

Anyone who would like to know more about the plants available from their well-stocked nursery can visit their website www.shcn.co.uk

The speaker on March 2 will be Mrs G Dyer with a talk entitled The Ultimate Social Climbers - Clematis. This will take place at Wythall Village Hall, Alcester Road, at 7.30pm.