The Friends’ AGM will commence at 10.00am in the Dorothy Fox Centre in the Botanical Gardens and is open to all members. Laura Alston, our Education and Engagement Coordinator will provide an update on the Education Programme.

Textile practitioner Isobel Denton will share details of plants that can be grown for their natural dyeing properties and provide advice on planting and growing a dye garden.

Jacob `Davies of Green Estate will encourage us to stop viewing large, vigorous perennials as thugs and to include them in low maintenance plantings

Local garden designer Will Thomson will share some of the gardens and experiences he gained during a fellowship in Japan

Nursery owner and gardener Neil Timm will talk about growing wild flowers in the garden, garden escapees in the wild, and some that belong to both worlds.

Garden designer Steve Lovell will take a look at how we can make our gardens more wildlife friendly by changing our approach, creating micro habitats and building up the eco systems within our garden boundaries.

Special 40th Anniversary Celebration Evening at Sheffield General Cemetery. Tour and lecture on the creation of the Bible Society’s Psalm 27 Garden by Sheffield landscape architect Ollie Pike , its relocation to Sheffield General Cemetery and some future plans and projects. Special ticketed event.

Senior Gardener Natasha will describe how her team keep, maintain and manage eight acres of garden at National Trust, Gunby Estate, Hall and Gardens in Lincolnshire.

Rob King will share how he has not only created a beautiful garden for adults, but for children to enjoy too! He will speak about his gardening influences, how he created this garden from scratch on a shoestring budget, and how he manages to have colour all year round.

Houseplants are a great way of bringing joy to you and colour to your home; they help lift the spirits – as well as helping to create a healthier environment, but they don’t always live up to our expectations. Garden writer Geoff Hodge will provide hints and tips to keep your plants in very good health.

Dr Klemperer will focus on the gradual restoration of certain key elements within the Brodsworth site, making it one of the most unique Victorian Gardens in the country and the challenges of undertaking accurate restoration and interpretation as fashions change in horticulture .

Fran will look at 30+ trees and plants that are easy to grow in UK gardens and provide details about their traditional and contemporary uses and their wildlife benefit.

Doug Kemp, Farm Manager of Regather organic farm and community benefit society, describes his journey from desk job in London to organic farming cooperative on the outskirts of Sheffield. (THIS LECTURE REPLACES THE ADVERTISED TALK BY SHEFFIELD FRUIT TREES)

In this talk Richard Brown aims to explain why horticulture is good for our physical and mental health and takes us on his own therapeutic gardening journey, to find the lost Victorian melon, the ‘Hero of Lockinge’.

Using previously unseen slides from a private collection, FOBS Gardens historian Alison Hunter will examine the more recent history of the Gardens, including the National Heritage Lottery funded restoration project and the role of the various partners who are responsible for the ongoing development and maintenance of the Gardens.

National Trust scholar, Claire Margetts describes what she has done and what she has learned in her 18 month scholarship at Sissinghurst Castle Gardens in Kent and beyond.

Not all Himalayan blue poppies are blue! By drawing on the wealth of information available, Professor Rankin will help us to understand the wonderful yellow Meconopsis - and to explain how relationships between different kinds emerge, and sometimes names have to change.

As northern region co-ordinator for the Gaia Foundation's Seed Sovereignty programme, Catherine Howell will examine the history and politics of seed production, the importance of diversity, and some simple 'next steps’.

Author and keen allotmenteer Margaret Boulton describes and celebrates the history of allotments in Sheffield from the 18th century to the present day.

CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS Author and biographer Catherine Horwood explores the origins of the cutting garden and reveals its fascinating links to a social history involving walled gardens, plant introductions, commercial floristry and flower arranging.

Trish and Peter Kohn will give an updated talk on the establishing of their garden at Kerrachar in the far north-west of Scotland. This talk replaces the publicised ‘Cutting Garden’ talk due to illness.

FOBS members, new and old are invited to join our Christmas festivities.

Join us for a viewing of a gardening themed film at our informal movie morning

Following the business of the AGM, retired NHS consultant Simon Olpin will share the challenges of establishing a range of hardy ‘subtropical’ plants in his Sheffield back garden.

Master Composter Rod Weston will look at different approaches to making compost and provide hints and tips on composting successfully.,

Pam will explain the work, conservation dilemmas and future ambitions of working with over 400 years of garden history, over 200 gardens and the largest plant collections in Europe.

Award winning sweet pea grower Darren Myers will provide hints and tips on growing better Sweet Peas, whether it be for garden decoration, cut flower or exhibition.

Jill Sinclair and Laura Alston will explore the life and career of Scottish landscape gardener, horticulturalist and writer Robert Marnock (1800 - 1889) as well as some of the unusual and engaging events that have been happening around the country as part of this summer’s Marnock Celebrations.

Diane Clement will share details of her trip to Japan and the flora she found there - some surprisingly familiar, others less so…..

Fern expert Neil Timm will share his passion for ferns covering natural history, folklore, growing and more