THE May meeting had as its speaker Philip Aubury, director of Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

He had spoken to the club many times before but was, as usual, very interesting on the subject of labour-saving gardening.

He split his subject into four areas - design, planting, tools and techniques.

Designing in simplicity with low-maintenance lawns, fences which will last, hedges which only need cutting once a year and paths which don't harbour weeds is key to saving labour.

Choose plants which do not need a lot of staking and tying. Ground cover is great but only when planted into weed-free ground to start with. Mr Aubury brought a selection of his favourite tools including the "swoe", which he swears by.

He also covered chemical methods of weed control for those not fully organic.

On May 19, there was a members' and guests' evening at Meadow Farm Nursery, Inkberrow, home of Rob and Diane Cole's Hardy Plants.

There is still time to book a seat on the trip to RHS Rosemoor in Devon on July 4.

The meeting on June 3 at Jubilee Court will feature a talk by Ken Wiggett on water conservation, a particularly hot topic at this time of year. All members and guest welcome. Guests pay £2 and there are free refreshments. Call 01789 765105 for inquiries or bookings.