Gavenny Gardening Club’s last meeting was a very colourful one as we welcomed Margaret Reardon, one of our members, but also the guest speaker for the month writes Jane White

She gave a lovely presentation on the Majorelle Garden in Marrakesh, created over a period of around 40 years from 1923 by the French/Orientalist artist, Jacques Majorelle. It features a Cubist villa designed by the French architect, Paul Sinoir , in the 1930s. Majorelle was fascinated by Marrakesh and with the vibrant coloured tiles used extensively in the local architecture.

His favourite was the bold, vibrant cobalt blue which he adopted as his signature colour for the garden, and which is named after him, "Majorelle Blue". Margaret's photographs gave us a thorough tour of the garden, highlighting pots painted in rainbow colours of orange, yellow and pink to challenge the senses., just as the city of Marrakesh itself does.

Following a period of neglect, the fashion designer, Yves Saint Laurent, bought the property and set about restoring it to its former glory. It's a very popular tourist attraction and well worth a visit if you're lucky enough to be planning a visit to Marrakesh!

On the same colourful theme, our competition, "Arabian Nights", was won by Wendy Hughes with a painting of a belly dancer, followed by Judy Griffiths' necklace and my own star-shaped mirror. The Flower of the Month competition was won by Pauline Harbutt's yellow tulip, followed by a camellia and a black tulip.

Everyone enjoyed a chat and refreshments before the business section completed the evening. Our meeting in May will feature Francesca Phillips from La-di Dardy Flowers advising us on Flowers for Arranging and Demonstrating, which should prove to be very useful for members entering our annual show competitions in August.

If you have a large garden or just a window box or tub, you are equally welcome to join us at the Mardy Community Hall, St. David's Road tonight (Monday) at 7.30 for the latest of our monthly meetings.