BUG Talks and Gardens by the Bay

Supertrees at Night 1 - Photo Credit: Darren Chinn

October sees the nights really drawing in, which I find a bit depressing. However, one bright spot on the horizon is the start of this season's talks at the University of Bath Gardening Club (aka BUG).

I'm particularly excited about the first one next week, because it features the pictured Gardens by the Bay. I first saw their Avatar like presence in one of the gardening magazines a while back and I've been itching to find out more about them ever since.

It just so happens the landscape architects responsible (Grant Associates) are based in Bath and offered to come to talk to BUG, so we have Andrew Grant and Patrick Bellew coming to tell us all about their work :)

By coincidence Grant Associates' PR company contacted me recently and gave me permission to use the above image. It also means I'll have plenty more for when I write up next week's talk. Not only that, I'm hoping Andrew Grant will be a VP VIP very soon :)

I see Derry hasn't updated her website with the details yet, so here's the full list of talks we'll be enjoying over the coming months:

  • 16th October - Andrew Grant and Patrick Bellew - Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
  • 12th November - Mark Diacono - A Taste of the Unexpected
  • 11th December - Ann Brooks - The Botanic Gardens of Bath
  • 17th January - Jake Hobson - The Art of Creative Pruning
  • 11th February - Troy Scott Smith - Winter Gardening
  • 13th March - Anthony Archer-Wills - Creating Naturalistic Water Gardens
  • 11th April - Rosie Hardy - Seasonal Planting
  • 21st May - Heather Russell - My Garden Changes
Sadly Threadspider won't be joining me this year as she's moved to a wonderful new home in Herefordshire. It means I have space in the car if anyone else wants to come!

Update: Gardens by the Bay won a top award at the World Architecture Festival last week.

Comments

  1. petoskystone10 October 2012 at 14:15

    That photo is astounding! What an interesting round of presentations, is set up.

    ReplyDelete
  2. VP10 October 2012 at 14:23

    Petoskystone - it looks out of this world doesn't it? Can't wait to find out more about the gardens.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Arabella Sock11 October 2012 at 11:02

    I saw some pictures of Garden in the Bay and it looks fantastic. I found SIngapore quite surreal anyway so they should fit right in.

    The dark evenings seemed to happen very suddenly and like you I feel I never really got to cast off last winters SAD and here we go again! :(

    ReplyDelete
  4. VP11 October 2012 at 16:48

    Arabella - my only visit to Singapore was very surreal. It was a 10 hour stop over coming home from Oz, so we were able to take the free tour and meal on offer. However, we never officially entered the country, so it felt a bit weird to be at the Botanic Gardens, looking at temples etc, yet still officially be in the airport.

    The other surreal happening was being stopped for having a gun in my luggage. Only for me to open my bag and reveal... a banana!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anna11 October 2012 at 22:32

    Ooooh - that photo looked like sea anemones until I put my specs on. Younger brother lives in Singapore - will have to quiz him on whether he has visited. You certainly have a most interesting and varied programme coming up - wish I was near enough to take up your offer of a lift :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. VP12 October 2012 at 10:47

    Hi Anna - they're out of this world aren't they? How I wish you could join me - I'm missing Threadspider an awful lot

    ReplyDelete
  7. Threadspider12 October 2012 at 20:59

    I shall really miss our evenings at BUG too. I was looking at my signed copy of Charles Dowding's book a little earlier and remembering what excellent speakers we had heard. I'm looking forward to your posts about this season's programme. First one looks like a cracker.

    ReplyDelete
  8. VP14 October 2012 at 08:27

    Hello Threadspider! :) I'm looking forward to it immensely but will miss giggling with you beforehand. I've just been looking over your new vegetable garden on your blog. It looks an absolute dream - no more toing and froing to an allotment for you!

    ReplyDelete

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