​Hello everyone!  

​Spring is here 😄, rain, sunshine, beautiful daffodils flowering, pears, pretty annuals and much more.  

Gardens are great way to make us feel happy as they are forever changing, we can dream in them, dig  and move plants, weed, walk around, exercise, read, water and feed, and sit while in our Garden.  
​  
Stay safe, keep your glass half full.

​Gwen Turner

​As I am writing the sun is out following a frosty morning.  The photos are of Shirley and Dan Kearney’s lovely sunny courtyard, great place to have a cuppa or read the paper, we all should have one of these spots in our garden.  Pink weeping flowering tree is on the drive.  St. Joseph’s Village is so well landscaped.  Roses, Camelia, Daphne, Gardenia.  Beautifully performed blooms all year round and a group of mixed Citrus trees add interest. 

Stay safe and happy.

Gwen Turner

Gwen Turner

What a wonderful Autumn.  We had rain, sun and colour in our trees.  Winter is time to buy roses, fruit trees and plant seedlings.  Getting ready for Spring, the jobs to do include cleaning and sharpening our garden tools, oil wooden handles.  Roses are best to prune in late July with a good feed, leave Salvias until after the frost.  Cyclamen like a cold spot, the ones in the photo sit on a table outside, they get a bit of sun in the mornings, they belong to a friend of mine, the one on the left is 3 years old.  

​Stay happy and healthy.

Gwen Turner

​Hello fellow gardeners!   

I trust you are enjoying Autumn in your own patches. 

Shirley Kearney and I have been using our daily walking exercise to appreciate some really beautiful gardens in Benalla.  There are neat ones, cottage and native ones, some very modern designs with fabulous garden sculptures on display.  All are a credit to our locals.

The lakeside garden area is a picture with its ever-changing colours, shadows and mist.  We hadn’t taken much notice of until we started our early morning exercise.

We do miss our family and friends, coffee mornings and afternoons at the Northo.  I’ve been doing lots of gardening, reading and Shirley has been knitting.

Hope to see you all soon.  Stay safe and healthy.   Cheers,

Gwen Turner
​0438627010 /57627017.

March 26th
Meet at U3A car park at 9.30 a.m.
We are travelling to Shepparton to visit two nurseries

1. Billabong Garden Centre and Café.  295 Numurkah Road Shepparton.  We can buy morning tea here and browse the nursery.
2. Riverside Garden Centre  7715 Goulburn Valley Highway Kialla.  Lunch will be at the café next door.

Numbers are needed for lunch.  Please phone Gwen on 5762 7017 or 0438627010, also any dietary requirements needed.
 
April yet to be announced.
 
May 28th
Coach trip with Benalla Coach Lines to Botanical Gardens Cranbourne.
$40 per person includes coach, travel and morning tea.  Lunch at own cost at Café in Gardens.
Please book early.  Pay by April 23rd or before.
These gardens are well worth the visit.  For those who have trouble walking a ride around the gardens in a motorised vehicle is available.

Gwen Turner

Our first Garden Appreciation for 2020 is on the 27th February.  We will meet at Gwen Turner’s home at Unit 2, 67 Arundel Street at 9.30 a.m.  Tea/coffee and milk will be provided, but a plate of morning tea to share would be appreciated.  From Gwen’s we move onto Cath Marriott’s home and garden at 17 McConnan Street.   Lunch will be at the Golf Club, numbers are needed for lunch so please phone Gwen on 5762 7017 or 0438627010. 
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Convenor:   Gwen Turner

We visited lovely gardens large and small during 2019.  Thank you to all who open their gardens for us and to Geraldine for being my backstop.
 
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and safe and healthy New Year.

Our first outing in 2020 will be on Thursday February 27th.   
​   
Gwen Turner 0438627010 or 5762 7017

October 24th - Beechworth 
Meet at U3A car park at 9.30 a.m.   A quick morning tea at our room before we head off to Beechworth to visit Peter Rucins garden at 13 Spring Street Beechworth.  We then have a second garden to visit, that of Paul West 4 Fleury Court Beechworth.  There is a $5 entry for this garden.
Lunch will be at the Hibernian Hotel 36 Camp Street Beechworth at your own cost.  

November 28th - Benalla  
Meet at U3A car park at 9.30.  Morning tea and our first garden will be at Bill and Helen Squires, 15 McNulty Drive 57626334.    Tea, coffee and hot water supplied bring a plate to share.
We will drop into Wilma and Kevin Green’s garden to see Kevin’s garden art on our way to Geraldine and Garry McCorkell’s farm garden for lunch.  Our lunch will be catered for, by Helen Kerekes at a cost of $12 per person.

Please advise me if you are coming and any dietary requirements.  Gwen 0438627010 or 5762 7017.

Gwen Turner

September 26th
Meet at U3A car park at 9.30.
We are going to Julie Wells farm garden, 52 Box Hill Lane Upotipotpon.  Julie’s phone number is  0402213052.
Please bring morning tea to share, milk, tea and coffee, hot water will be provided.
Lunch at Violet Town Hotel, 16 Cowslip Street Violet Town (own cost).
 
October 24th
Meet at U3A Cark park at 9.30.
Morning tea at our rooms before we leave.  We are heading off to Beechworth to visit  Peter Rucins' garden at 13 Spring Street Beechworth.
Lunch to be arranged. Please advise me if you are coming and if you have any dietary requirements.  Gwen 5762 7017 or Mobile 0438627010

​Gwen Turner

August is our Winter break, so no Garden Appreciation
 
September 26th

Meet at U3A car park at 9.30.  We will be going to Julie Wells farm garden at 52 Box Hill Lane Upotipotpon.
​ 
Please bring morning tea to share.  Milk, tea, coffee and hot water will be provided.  Lunch will be at Violet Town Hotel, 16 Cowslip Street Violet Town.  This will be at your own cost.

Gwen Turner 0438 627 010

​JUNE 27th
Meet in the U3A room at 10.00 a.m.  Guest speaker will be Vicki Wight from Samaria Rose Farm.  Vicki explains growing 2000 Damask Roses for the purpose of making Rosewater and Essential Oil.  Come for the beautiful scent of Roses.  Vicki will also have some product for sale.
Bring a plate to share for morning tea.
 
JULY 25TH
Meet in the U3A room at 10.00 a.m.
This will be a swap day,  bring some plants, seeds, cuttings, books and bulbs etc.  or just come for a cuppa and a chat about gardens.
 
AUGUST
There will be no Garden Appreciation in August, this is our winter break.  We will gather again in September for a Spring garden somewhere around us. 

​
Gwen Turner

There are still some seats left on the bus for our trip to Cloud Hill in Olinda on the 23rd May.  You don’t have to be a member of Garden Appreciation to come on this lovely day out.

We meet at the Benalla Rose Gardens at 7.30 am.  The cost will be $45 which covers the bus, morning tea, entry and tour of the magnificent gardens. Lunch, at your own cost, will be at Olinda Café.  

​It is necessary to book and pay by 18th April.  Payment can be left at the Redb4 bookshop in Bridge Street.  Please confirm with Gwen 0438627010 or 5762 7017 if you are joining us.

Wangaratta U3A Garden Appreciation group met some of our Garden  group in the Benalla Gardens on the 12th March followed by lunch at the Bowls Club.  A good opportunity to swap ideas and chat about `gardening’!

Anzac Day 25th April – Brown Brothers
As the roads around the Seniors building will be closed off for Anzac Day March we will meet at the Mitre 10 Car park at 10.00 a.m.
Morning tea will be at Brown Brothers Vineyard and garden and if enough people come we will have lunch at Whorouly otherwise somewhere local in Milawa.  After lunch there could be a mystery visit to somewhere, yet to be organised!!

May 23rd  - Cloud Hill, Olinda
A bus trip with Benalla Bus Lines to Cloude Hill Olinda.  This is a magnificent garden in the Dandenongs.   Stone walls and garden `rooms’ and complete with a nursery.
Meet at Benalla Rose Gardens at 7.30am. The cost will be $45 which covers the bus, morning tea, entry and tour.  Lunch at own cost “Olinda Cafe”. 
Please book and pay by 18th April.  Payment can be at Meet and Mingle that week or left at the Redb4 Bookshop in Bridge Street.

Please confirm with Gwen 0438627010 or 5762 7017 if you are attending either of these days.

Gwen Turner

12th March The Wangaratta U3A Garden group would like to meet us at 10.30 a.m. in the Benalla gardens for a chat and swap ideas with the possibility of lunch at the Golf Club.  Once again could you let Gwen know if you would be available for this.

March 28th.   We are off to Cactus Country on the Murray Valley Highway in Strathmerton.  Admission is $12.50 for 20 people or more.  Lunch is offered at the venue, $15 for Lasagne and salad or Vegetable Frittata with salad this includes tea and coffee.  An extra is a serve of cactus cake with icecream. 

We will leave from the Seniors car park at 9.30 a.m. Car pooling with a map and instructions will be available then.  Please give Gwen a ring on 5762 7017 if you are coming on this trip.


Gwen Turner