We host five speaker events at 7.30pm on the first Wednesday of October, November, March, April and May at Dedham’s Assembly Rooms. Free entry for members and only £2 for guests or non-members, each event includes complimentary refreshments, raffle and garden magazine swap.

The 2026/2027 programme of talks is kindly sponsored by local business, Bland Landscapes.

We have a wonderful range of speakers in our 2026/2027 programme:

• 7 October 2026: ‘Home composting’ with Suffolk Master Composter, Helen Carey. Master Composters are community volunteers that act as composting ambassadors in their local community. Trained and supported by Suffolk Waste Partnership and national organic growing charity Garden Organic, they help raise awareness of the benefits of composting; encourage more people to compost at home, and support those who already compost.
• 4 November 2026: Andrew Brogan, owner of Henstead Exotic Garden, will talk about his Cornish-style garden in Beccles on the East Coast in Suffolk. The garden was made from scratch a little over ten years ago and features over 100 hardy palms, 200 bamboos, and 25 bananas as well as ponds, a Thai-style pavilion and a nursery.
• 3 March 2027: Learn about ‘the language of flowers’ with Lynne Moore of Moore & Moore Plants, who specialises in shade and woodland species and will dive into the symbolism and meaning attributed to flowers and plants.
• 7 April 2027: ‘Growing and showing dahlias’ with Alan Taylor, Chair of the Essex Dahlia Society. Alan will take us through the dahlia year from getting them started in spring, taking cuttings to growing and showing and protecting these tender perennials over winter. This talk comes at the perfect time of year to start growing your own for exhibiting in our Autumn Show.
• 5 May 2027: Luci Skinner from Greenways will share her experience of basic ‘propagation methods’ that everyone can have a go at, including types of cuttings, division and seed, and the best time of year to propagate a variety of plants. There will be small demonstrations throughout the presentation. This talk is preceded by our Annual General Meeting and a glass of wine.

If you have an idea for a speaker or are a speaker on gardening or other horticultural topics, we’d love to hear about it. Email us on dedhamgardening@gmail.com.