Despite the heavy rain battering gardens, the flower competition had 15 beautiful entries. The winner was Bev Jackson with a lovely dark red gladioli, and equal second were Keith Franks with a perfect mauve dahlia and Peter Hazell with a magnificent purple orchid. The fruit and vege competition was won by Dot Harris with a huge banana pumpkin, with Sharon Blanch's chestnut and Peter Hazell's squash equal second.

Kerry Marston presented Mandy Griffis' regular feature "What to do in your garden in April" advising it's time to fertilise citrus, using chook poo pellets around the drip line. It seems silverbeet in this area is being attacked by bugs - the advice is to pull them out altogether and start again. Kerry's very extensive and informative Brain Storming Session on bulb planting was well received and brought many questions and answers from the floor. Show and Tell usually presents some fascinating plants and this time it was Jill Carson's large and lush hibiscus flowers and Robyn Henderson's unusual flower from a turmeric bulb. Christine Brennan from Lifeline spoke about the new person to person counselling service available in Gloucester. The Trading Table was well stocked, especially since the plant stall at Gloucester Show had to be cancelled, and members happily bagged some good bits and pieces for their home gardens.

Our April meeting was scheduled to be a visit to Stroud to some gardens and the nursery there, but that has had to be postponed to another time due to rain and flood damage to some of the gardens. Until further notice, we will not be sharing morning tea but tea and coffee will still be available. The next meeting is on April 28.