In a change to the advertised talk for June, the guest speaker  was  Jan  Michalak. Former head gardener at Ickworth Park he is an advocate of garden restoration and meadow planting, a passion also shared by Prince Charles and practised at his garden at Highgrove.

The next meeting of Diss U3A will take place on 4th July at Diss United Reformed Church commencing at 10.30am.

For further information on Diss U3A please visit our website or telephone 01379 642674

Jan’s talk “ The call of the wild’’ demonstrated the benefits that can be achieved in many gardens especially those of a more formal design, if some grassed  areas are left un-mown.  His opinion was that many of the wild and now sometimes rare plants that used to be familiar in gardens before the British obsession for  bowling  green lawns could, with a little judicious neglect be encouraged to regrow and flower.

Throughout his light-hearted talk Jan praised and highlighted the work and ideas of gardeners such as Gertrude Jekyll ,  William Robinson and E.A. Bowles  all of whom were inclined to a more natural style of gardening.