Mid Week Conservation Volunteers at various nature conservation sites around the Borough

Help carry out a range of practical tasks, ranging from scything to hedge laying, all fully supervised.  No previous experience needed, only a love of the outdoors with good company and humour.  You will need suitable outdoor clothes and good boots.  Other protective equipment is provided.  A contribution towards travel and lunch is also provided.  Adults only. Contact Islington Ecology Centre on 7354 5162 or ecologycentre@islingon.gov.uk

(Ed's note: these outdoor workdays leave one with a great feeling of inner wellbeing and contentment.)

Sunnyside Community Garden Food Market, Hazellville Road, N19 3LX

This is an organic food market selling fruit and veg, bread, cheese, honey, wax, etc etc

The Friends of the Imperial War Museum are to replant the 'Dig for Victory' allotment in St. James's Park, opposite the ICA galleries in the Mall, and will be focussing on the themes of wildlife preservation and recycling.  The allotment will contain a variety of wildlife habitats including an apiary and a wormery.  It will open from mid  May to the end of October, and there will be a companion display in the Churchill Museum and the Cabinet War Rooms, nearby.  There will be a series of family activities throughout the summer, please check www.cwr.iwm.org.uk for details.

If any Islington Gardener wishes to help with the judging please would you telephone Joy Chamberlin on 7272 4589.  

Gardening and horticulture workshop at King Henry's Walk Garden (11c King Henry's Walk, behind the adventure playground, N1 4NX)

This workshop will focus on intercropping with Joe Swift (to be confirmed)  Please check website for more details and exact times:  www.khwgarden.org.uk.  Suggested donation £5.  Refreshments and full wheelchair access.  Booking necessary, please ring 7923 9035 or email rsvp@khwgarden.org.uk

De Beauvoir Gardens N1: Two mature gardens in a leafy enclave of period houses, combined adm £3.50 or £2 each garden.

158 Culford Road, N1:  Long narrow garden with romantic feel.  Winding path, herbaceous borders, including shrubs, small trees, and perennials, many unusual plants.

21 Northchurch Terrace N1:  Walled town garden with formal feel, deep herbaceous borders, pond, fruit trees, pergola,. patio pots, herb beds.

Depart from Islington Town Hall 9 am.  Return approx 6.30 pm traffic permitting.

First we travel to Ticehurst to visit Pashley Manor Gardens, the 1999 winner of the Historic Houses Association and Christies' Garden of the YearAward and described as "one of the finest gardens in England... with breathtaking vistas across the undulating Sussex landscape".  The11 acre garden offers a sumptuous blend of romantic landscaping, imaginative planting and fine old trees, fountains, springs and large ponds.   Roses from Peter Beales of Norfolk   Plant stall and gift shop.

Morning coffee and light lunches available from the Garden Room cafe, or bring picnic lunches for consumption in the car park field. 

At 2.15 we will move on to the nearby Merriments Garden in Hurst Green featured in the Yellow Book scheme and described as a "4 acre garden of richly and imaginatively planted deep curved borders, colour themed using a rich mix of trees, shrubs and perennials".   Large plant nursery, shop and cafe. 

Cost: coach and entrance to both gardens £24.00.

Please telephone 7226 5977 to book

Marchants Hardy Plants and Bates Green.

Meet at Wilton Road, by Victoria Railway Station at 8.30 am returning between 5 and 6 pm.

Marchants is one of the leading small nurseries in the country with a choice range of herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses.  Graham Gough will give us a tour of the garden, he is a masterly plantsman and combines cannas, heleniums, agapanthus, and eucomis, with panache.

Then on to a private garden at Bates Green where we may eat our picnic lunches and tea and coffee will be available.  This is a 2 acre plantsman's garden with a pond, organic veg beds, woodland and herbaceous beds.  it will be at its peak with cyclamen, colchincium, asters, miscanthus, verbenas, and butterflies. 

Cost £28 per person.   To apply please telephone 020 8402 8995.

Details to follow

Venue: St James' Hall, corner of Prebend and Packington Streets, Islington N1

PAST EVENTS

1a Hungerford Road N7: Eco-house with walled front garden planted in modern-exotic style (palms, acacias, ginger lillies, brugmansias, bananas, euphorbias, yuccas).   Floriferous "green roof" resembling scree slope planted with agaves, aloes, cacti, alpines, bromeliads, sedums, mesembryanthemums, bulbs, grasses, herbs.   Adm £2, child/concessions £1, share of proceeds to Terence Higgins Trust.

62 Hungerford Road, N7: Densely planted mature town garden designed to maximise space for plants while creating several different sitting areas.   Professional garden designer's own garden.  Adm £2, children free.

90 St George's Avenue N7:  Long rear garden created 8 years ago with trees and shrubs providing structure and all year interest, including pittosporum, tobira, choisya ternata, and cordyline.  Prize-winning front garden with mainly  drought-tolerant silver-leafed Mediterranean plants.  Adm £2, children free 

This year we will be exploring several gardens in the Mildmay Area including the newly established King Henry's Walk garden project.  Refreshments will be available in a garden at the conclusion of our walk. 

Assembly point: Outside Canonbury London Overground Station, Wallace Road, N1/N5.  Time: 1.50 pm.  Duration of Walk: from 2 pm to approximately 4 pm. 

Free event to members on production of a current membership card.   Limited to 35 members on a first-come first served basis, booking in advance.  Please contact Diane Austin. 

Listed as Islington Gardens in the "Yellow Book", the following gardens will be open for a combined admission of £6, or £2 each garden:

8 College Cross, N1: a walled town garden,70ft x 20ft, with over 400 different plants, many unusual, plant list available.

13 College Cross, N1:  contemporary design interest in a green oasis;  good examples of plants which work in London shade all year; winner London Gardens Society award for best back garden 2007.

44 Hemingford Road, N1: Lush, country-style garden with interesting trees, shrubs, lawns and pond in a very small space.  Matured over 29 years in symbiosis with honey fungus.

36 Thornhill Square, N1: old roses, hardy geraniums, allium, clematis give a country garden atmosphere in this 120 ft garden.  Bonsai collection.  Many unusual plants for sale.   Teas

Meet at 09.45 am Chelsea Gate (3rd Gate on Royal Hospital Road, nr Nat Army Museum)   Nearest tube is Sloane Square, alternatively the Number 19 bus from Upper Street Angel, but please allow 50 minutes. 

Tour starts at 10 am, we will be led round The Hospital, the Garden and allotments, the Great Hall, Chapel and Museum.  The tour will take about an hour and a half.  Charge, £2, in advance

Lunch in nearby National Army Museum, or picnic in the South Grounds, and optional visit to the Chelsea Physic Garden, entry £7 unless member of CPG

Contact Diane, 020 7359 9785, please book in advance

2.30 pm - 4.30 pm at 36 St Mary's Grove, N1.   As always, our plants are kind donations from our membership, sold at very modest prices indeed, and as they have come from people's gardens will have been produced sustainably.

Highbury Builders Collective will be demonstrating their innovative Micro Food Farm System.

Entrance Free, non-members welcome, Home-made refreshments will be available,  please bring your donated plants along in the morning of the plant sale.

Our Spring Lecture "Organic by Design" will be given by well known garden and interiors writer Barty Phillips, who will encourage us to love our soil, and guide us through the techniques and design of organic gardens, large and small, through images of real organic gardens, many of which are open to the public.

We will also be welcoming the Islington Representative of Food Up Front, who will be speaking about this innovative project to encourage Londoners to grow food in their front gardens.

Venue: St James' Hall, corner of Prebend and Packington Streets, Islington N1

Time: 7.30 pm - 9.40 pm.   Refreshments.

Entrance: £2.50 members, £2.00 concs, £3.50 non-members

'Green Island', near Colchester and RHS Hyde Hall, Chelmsford

Depart Islington Town Hall, Upper St. N1 at 08.45 return by 18.45

'Green Island' is "a garden in the making", professionally designed by Fiona Redmond.  Set in 19 acres of woodland, with great variety of unusual plants, all year interest, and emphasis on scent and autumn colour.  Has mixed borders, water garden, woodland walks, seaside garden, tree house and gravel garden, garden design exhibition and contemporary sculptures.  www.greenislandgardens.co.uk

Hyde Hall is a 28 acre mixed garden, containing acclaimed "Dry Garden" with over 4,000 plants from 740 different species and cultivars of drought and exposure tolerant plants from around the world.  A new model garden for wildlife was planted in 2004.  National collection of viburnams.   Plants for sale, shop and restaurant.   www.rhs.org.uk/WhatsOn/Gardens/hydehall  and there are also two Hyde Hall Wildlife Reports for 2002 and 2003 which can be accessed easily via a google search

Cost for the coach and entrance to Green Island is  £19.  IG members and guests only.   For tickets please contact Joy Chamberlin on 7272 4589 after 1 September.

Camden Garden Centre's Mike Jackson is running another season of his well-respected horticultural courses aimed at beginners, starting on 19 September (the Wednesday evening course) from 7 - 9 pm, or 20 September (the Thursday daytime course) from 11 - 1 pm.    A second term will begin in January.   Each session tackles a different aspect of horticulture, using plants and products on hand in the award-winning garden centre.  The programme for the autumn term will cover the following subjects: outdoor bulbs; autumn and winter colour in containers and with perennials; climbers; houseplants; soils, fertilisers and composts; pruning; rockery plants; and planning and designing for the year to come.  The spring term will focus on seeds, cuttings, and other matters relating to the growth period of the year. In addition there is a termly visit to Kew Gardens. 

The courses take place at the Camden Garden Centre, 2 Barker Drive, off St Pancras Way, NW1 0JW, tel 0207 387 7080.    Cost: £95 per course, or £175 for both terms.  Please see www.camdengardencentre.co.uk from where the full  leaflet can be downloaded.

Islington Gardeners' Annual General Meeting at 7.30 pm at St James' Hall, Prebend Street, N1, with illustrated talk by international garden designer  Ruth Chivers on the cross-pollination of design ideas between the US and the UK, and also large garden design ideas which could be incorporated into small garden schemes.  There will also be a slide show of Islington in Bloom winners, and sale of winter and indoor flowering plants.  Refreshments.

Coach trip to East Sussex.    We will visit Great Dixter and Beauchamps, Udimore, and also the "work in progress" garden of a former IG chair, where we will have morning coffee and lunch.  Great Dixter needs no introduction, but it does have  a website:   www.greatdixter.co.uk.   Beauchamps is an informal country garden with a wide range of unusual herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees, has good views of the beautiful Brede Valley, and home-propagated plants for sale.

Coach departs from Islington Town Hall at 8.45 am, returns approx 6.45 pm.

Cost:  coach £13.50; coffee £2.00; prearranged lunch  £5.00; Beauchamps £2.50: Great Dixter garden £5.00; Great Dixter House £1.50

Please contact Joy Chamberlin to book (IG members and guests only) on 7 272 4589.

Sunday 13 May, 2.30 - 4.30 pm at 36 St Mary's Grove, off St Paul's Road, N1.   Home-made teas.

Donated plants welcome, please deliver either on Saturday 12 May 2 - 5pm or Sunday 13 between 10 am and noon,

Tuesday 27 March: our speaker will be the well-known writer and garden designer Anthony Noel, who will be giving his illustrated talk on Small Town Gardens, based around his recent book with this title.  You can glimpse his work by going to his website www.anthonynoel.com but for a full resume of his visually arresting semi-classical effects you will need to come to the talk.  Anthony will be happy to answer your questions.

This event will take place at the St. James' Hall, corner of Prebend Street and Packington Streets, N1, at 7.30 pm.   There will be refreshments.  Entrance will be £2.00 for members, £1.50 for concessionary members, £3.50 for non-members.  Please note that for safety reasons the Hall door will be locked at 7.45 p.m.