April 2024
GROWING FLOWERS FOR CUTTING
Florist Nicola Hill from Gentle Blooms in Leamington came to give a talk and demonstration. She grows all her flowers on part of the Bridge Nursery site at Napton, which she rents from Christine Dakin. As a self-taught plant farmer and florist, Nicola clearly has a natural gift: she her arrangement at the RHS Chelsea flower show last May was awarded a silver-gilt medal (see below).
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| Detail of Nicola Hill's entry at RHS Chelsea 2023 |
In spite of a struggle with the sun shining into the hall making the slides invisible, she gave a great overview of what growing flowers for floristry entails - clearly it takes a great deal of work all year round, to ensure a constant supply of beautiful flowers and foliage. Her take-home message for annnual flowers was to feed the soil not the plants, do a lot of staking, and to keep cutting flowerrs to prevent the plants running to seed.
Finally Nicola demonstrated how she assembles a hand-tied bouquet, using lovely blooms she'd brought from Napton, and everyone was very jealous of the winner when it was raffled!
March 2024
Master Beekeeper Dr Jane Medwell's presentation was extremely instructive and gave us great overview of how vital bees are for our survival, and how we can support them.
Jane learnt beekeeping from her mother, and set up her own apiary about 25 years ago. She started with about 40 hives but now has around 12 in two or three apiaries near my home. She has been a Master Beekeeper since 2013.
Jane's main take-home message was how bees are the canaries in the coalmine in terms of environmental damage, and how crucial they are for food production - 75% of our food is pollinated by bees.
What can we do?
Bees need pollen, nectar and water when they are active (from very early Spring through to late Autumn.)
They prefer single flowers where the stamens are visible and many common weeds like dandelions are valuable so please don't nuke your lawns and other weeds - bees don't discriminate between precious plants or weeds!
Allowing lawn weeds to flower will support many insects.
A supply of water with safe access from, say, flat stones is ideal, rather than a steep sided container.
Some untidy areas will provide nesting sites for solitary and bumble bees.
February 2024
HOME COMPOSTING
Garden Organic Master Composter Rod Weston gave a really practical and interesting talk 'Talking Rot'. He made clear how straightforward home composting is - reassuringly, while you can buy special equipment and put effort into turning your compost heap, it isn't essential. Just by piling up equal amounts of green and brown waste, with a few inches of garden soil layered in during the process and on the top, you will get excellent compost, just taking a little longer to rot down.
Currently a rather shocking 97% of households are not composting their kitchen and garden waste, missing a really valuable opportunity to improve their soil, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Build the heap on a base of twigs or straw for aeration, using a 50:50 mix of green and brown waste - all raw, nothing that's ever been cooked:
- Greens: garden waste, grass mowings, annual weeds, vegetable and fruit waste, comfrey or nettle leaves. Mix grass mowings with shredded paper to avoid it going to smelly mush
- Browns: woody prunings (chop or shred if long,), straw, torn up cardboard, autumn leaves, woodchip. You can store the brown stuff to use when needed.
Useful information on how to set about composting can be found on the Garden Organic pages here as well as on Rod's very comprehensive website here (individual topics are listed on the green panel, scroll down to see the results).
January 2024
QUIZ NIGHT
Our first meeting of 2024 took the form of a gardening and general knowledge quiz, which was constructed and run by Sue Taylor (with several contributions from Mr T!). She managed to entertain and educate us along the way, with some apparently straightforward questions, tripping us up and enough trickier questions to sort out the various teams who attempted to beat the quizmaster - we didn't, and the room resounded with groans as we sighed our disappointment. The winning team were given pots of cheerful daffodils to give a foretaste of longed-for Spring flowers.
It was a fun way to start the new gardening year, in spite of the freezing church hall - it was a truly bitterly cold night - however, our massed efforts of brain power seemed to keep us from icing up!
Thanks go to Sue T. for designing the quiz, as well as to Nigel Chapman who gave the answers, and Sue Burnell who kindly kept the scores for us.
November 2023
WAYSIDE WONDERS AND COUNTRYSIDE CURIOSITIES
We were highly entertained by Dr Richard Churchley who spoke about the historical oddities that have survived over the centuries in and around the areas of the West Midlands. Things that you may have passed by in your car but have never given them much thought, although they are examples to reminder us of our dim and distant past.
There is an extremely tall fingerpost at Chipping Camden which seems far too high for car drivers to see, but as it was built for stagecoach drivers to read, sitting high up on their carriages, it makes perfect sense. Its distances are not correct as the old English mile was approximately 1.25 times the current modern mile.
Churches are another source of curiosity with many obscure names of medieval saints such as Milburgea and Eadburgea both female members of Mercian royal family who were made saints. An interesting church is St Kenelm’s in Romsley in the Clent Hills. St Kenelm was the king of Mercia who was martyred on the site of the church built in his memory and it subsequently became a site of pilgrimage to rival Canterbury.
In St John’s the Baptist chuch in Feckenham near Redditch there is a memorial stone surrounded by iron railings that is in memory of Phoebe Lee, the then queen of the gypsies whose death in 1861 was attended by hundreds of the travelling community.
Nearer to home in Warwickshire on the Stratford and Avon canal the Edstone aqueduct is the
longest cast iron aqueduct in England at 475 feet long. One of three aqueducts on a 4 mile stretch of this canal system. All three are unusual in that the towpath is on a level with the canal bottom rather than the level of the water.
There were lots of other examples of interesting oddities to be found if you do your homework and seek out these interesting sites and artefacts. A very interesting evening.
October 2023
Lucy Hartley a local garden designer and consultant came to our October meeting, giving a thought-provoking presentation on 'Climate Change and our Gardens'. She gave us a brief overview of what climate change actually means for our gardens and looked at ways we can use our gardens to guard and support local biodiversity while sequestering more carbon. Lucy gave us a real insight into how to cope with the changes that are undeniably coming or already happening, while giving us valuable tips on how to nurture a more healthy and resilient garden. While some of the talk was potentially depressing, her positive attitude and suggestions allowed us all to feel we could make a useful contribution to help counter the greenhouse effect.
This downloadable page gives numerous links for follow up for more infomration and practical help.
September 2023
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| Godmersham Park, owned by Edward Austen, Jane's brother Credit: Universal Art Archive / Alamy Stock Photo |
Our first meeting of the new gardening club year found us in our new venue at St Wulstan's which is very comfortable, to listen to a fascinating talk by Michael Brown (The Historic Gardener), on ‘Gardens in the time of Jane Austen’. As usual he came dressed in period costume, with a slight hint of Mr Darcy but fortunately sparing us the vision of a wet shirt.
Michael gave a great overview of early 19th century garden styles, showing how earlier parterres and allées were replaced with the more familiar landscapes of Capability Brown and Humphrey Repton. He made the interesting point that evergreen shrubs were less numerous then, so the (now rather scorned) laurel was then highly valued, not least as part of a newly fashionable shrubbery or wilderness - providing crucial opportunities for some light flirtation in a time of strict chaperones.
His talk incorporated numerous quotations from Jane Austen's novels, to show how the garden and landscape was ever-present in her writing, which helped to give context to his talk.
May 2023
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| Erigeron Karvinskianus image credit: DT Brown Seeds |
Robin Pearce, from Worlds End Garden, gave us a fascinating insight into the huge family of Daisy plants. There are more than 23,600 species globally, many originating from the USA. Few of us realised that Solidago and dandelions were in the family, while others like Cosmos and Asters were more easily identifiable as cousins of the lawn daisy. Robin is the former owner of Worlds End wholesale nursery. He is the former chair of the RHS Herbaceous Plant Committee, RHS Floral Judge, Exhibitor, Judge and Speaker. A comprehensive list of the plants he showed us is available here.
April 2023
Clematis Perle d'Azur at Sissinghurst
Howard Drury gave us an in-depth talk on 'Climbing, Twining and other Wall Plants'. Everyone appreciated his very interesting presentation and his professionalism (he brought an impressive array of high-spec equipment, speakers, etc) which enhanced our experience. We all learned a great deal, and enjoyed his beautiful images, backed up by musical interludes. Anyone who would like to delve into the subject in even more detail can refer to Howard's website which provides a wealth of information, including an encyclopaedic fact sheet - access it here.
March 2023
Well we really had a treat this month when one of our members gave a very interesting and well-illustrated talk on the wild flowers he has been cataloguing on his travels around California, France, Belize and, since the family's return to UK, our Warwickshire countryside. It was amazing how many flowers are lurking, mostly unnoticed, in our local vicinity. He has written several books on the subject and one lucky winner in our raffle left with a copy of his latest publication.
February 2023
This month was a change to the published programme where we had a gardening quiz. The question master was Nigel Chapman, one of our committee members, and 16 brave souls attended the meeting to show their horticultural knowledge ( or lack of it ). There were 9 subjects with 10 questions in each. Lots of groans were heard as the answers were read out. Of course we should have known the answer to that one! But in the end the successful team were presented with potted plants from our local florist.
January 2023
Alpines in the Wild and Cultivation was the subject of the talk by Diane Clement this month and we were treated to lots of slides of the Alps in Austria and Switzerland where Diane and her husband have holidayed for the last 40 years. Starting at the valley bottom, 3,000 ft above sea level, we had a conducted tour of all plants growing at this level before proceeding to the tree line at 7,000 and the alpine meadows at 7,500 ft. This area is full of pollen laden wild flowers for 3-4 months of the year only so the insects have to get their skates on before the cold sets in again. Above this is the very rocky scree landscape which looks to be too inhospitable for anything to grow but small alpine 'snowmelt' plants are clinging onto tiny chinks of sheltered gravel. Their roots go deep into the rocky surface helping them to survive under the snow when winter arrives. In order to grow these plants successfully here in the UK you need to replicate the harsh conditions in which they live naturally. Extremely sharp drainage and very little fussing. Although they cope with the sun in the Alps the temperature is not as hot as the UK and the cool night time temperatures help them to recover. The extremely hot weather we have recently experienced would not be appreciated so some shade may be required.
December 2022
Christmas time is the season of table decorations and we had an expert in the form of Ann Perkins who gave us an excellent demonstration of how we can make these from plants in our gardens with just a couple of added extras to bring a little colour and texture to the design.
Using winter stalwarts such a fatsia japonica, euonymous japonica, leylandii fronds, ivies and hebes for the bulk of the display she quickly put together very artistic and colourful items. She very kindly donated 3 decorations for our raffle table so 3 lucky winners were saved the task of making their own.
November 2022
This month's talk was on the specialist topic of topiary, something that needs a great deal of patience and time. Darren Lerigo has been specialising in topiary for a number of years and has built up an international reputation working on the continent and in the U.S A. You don't need a lot of tools for this aspect of gardening just a very sharp pair of steel shears, oil to keep the shears moving smoothly, a sharpening stone and lots of sheets to put under the topiary you are working on. This latter is essential as it greatly cuts down on the clearing up time. You also need to be fairly fit as it can be very tiring on the back, shoulders and arms.
Technique is everything. Keeping your hands low down on the handles closer to the blades keep one blade still against the topiary and just move the other hand to close the blades. It takes time to get the hang of it. The best plants to use as subjects are slow growing with a tight compact growth and light reflecting leaves. Box is traditionally the plant to use but the boxwood moth is slowly decimating these so alternatives are becoming more popular such as yew, beech, birch and hawthorn particularly for hedge work. The boxwood moth is active in early spring so if you see caterpillars around late March/early April spray immediately. Pheromone traps can be used to attract the male moths in an effort to mitigate the problem.
Derby Day is the usual day for pruning box but in fact it is better done from late August to December.
October 2022
This month we had a change from the published talk. Unfortunately Michael Brown was unable to join us due a medical issue so Andrew Halstead, brother of one of our committee members, kindly stepped into the breach. A former entomologist at RHS Wisley his talk was entitled 'Bugs that Bite Back'. There are the usual suspects in the UK that we are all familiar with, mosquitoes, horse flies, midges (Scottish variety),ticks, pet fleas and of course wasps and bees. But due to the warming up of our climate there are other beasties that are trying to make the UK their home. One such creature is the Asian hornet. Predominately black and orange/dark brown with a yellow head and lower limbs they are larger than our home grown wasps and any sightings of such creatures are to be reported to 'alertnonnative@ceh.ac.uk together with a photograph and ideally a specimen although if you find a nest of such creatures keep well away as multiple stings can be fatal. Another pest that has a bounty on its head is the processionary oak moth caterpillar. Mainly found in oak woodlands they move in long columns nose to tail and then gather in large numbers on the trees which they then feed on and cause substantial damage. Again there is a contact to report such sights: opm@foresrtycommission.gov.uk who will take action to eradicate them. Not all creatures are welcome it would appear.
September 2022
Colin Ward made the long journey from Peterborough to give us a talk entitled 'Looking Good at the Moment'. Originally a farmer he decided to engage his passion for plants by opening a plant nursery on the farm. Needless to say the plants are now his pride and joy. Adam Frost, the well known garden designer and television presenter, is a regular visitor to seek out the more unusual specimens. He uses the no-dig method on his plot as he gardens on heavy clay. Having access to unlimited farmyard manure he is able to enrich his soil every year and create perfect conditions for his hungry plants. One of his favourite plants is Solomons seal (polygonatum ) and he has over 70 varieties in his collection. Other plants he recommended were trachycarpus fortunei and pachysandra axillaris. For anyone wishing to visit he is based in Market Deepening near Peterborough and his extensive website is 'swinesmeadowfarmnursery.co.uk.
May 2022
'Gardening for Butterflies and Moths' was the title of our last talk of this 'year' and it was given by two ladies both called Sue. They were extremely knowledgeable and showed us pictures of creatures both common and uncommon in our gardens and hedgerows. The main thrust of the talk was that they are specialist feeders or at least their caterpillars are and they have to lay their eggs on plants that the caterpillars can eat. Needless to say most of the plants are wild flowers such as bird's foot trefoil, field scabious, bugle and of course nettles although some require grasses. Adult butterflies will forage in our gardens for food looking for open flowers such as sedum, rudbeckia and buddleja where they can use their proboscis to drink the nectar. Some butterflies and moths don't have mouth parts as they complete their lifecycle with days of emerging from their chrysalis after having mated and laid their eggs. Nature is endlessly fascinating. For those who want additional information the following website will help: www.butterfly-conservation.org.
April 2022
Carl Sadler was the man in the hot seat for this meeting giving us a talk on trug-making. This traditional garden implement has been around since the 4th century and are made by hand from ash or sweet chestnut for the frame and willow for the slats. The thin willow slats have to be soaked in water to make them pliable so they can be bent to shape to make the basket sides and base. The nails used to secure the wood have to be copper as they are not affected by the tannins in the wood which would ultimately rot other metals. Mr Sadler also entertained us with stories from his involvement in the filming industry where he builds items for use on film sets.
March 2022
This talk was given by Margie Hoffnung and was entitled 'Garden visiting - a very British Tradition'. Unfortunately it was marred by a technical hitch when the projector couldn't be persuaded to 'talk' to the laptop computer. This meant that those present had to crowd around the small screen in order to see the pictures. It wasn't ideal as many of the members couldn't get close enough. The talk itself was interesting and highlighted the joys inherent in our love of gardens and those who create and maintain them.
February 2022
From spring flowering daffodils we swiftly moved to autumn flowering dahlias with a talk by
Howard Richards entitled 'A year with Dahlias'. The starting time for these plants is March/April when the tubers are encouraged to produce new shoots by potting them in trays in a mixture of compost/sand and vermiculite. These new shoots can either be used as cuttings to produce new plants or left on the tuber to grow into full-sized stems. When taking cuttings it is best to cut just below a pair of leaves and not into the tuber itself. Once the risk of frost is gone the plants can then be put into the garden either in pots or in the soil. If you want to have show standard flowers then it is necessary to restrict the number of flowers per stem so that the plant puts all its energy into producing good blooms. After flowering if your soil is not free draining the tubers will need to be dug up and stored in a frost free shed or garage or else they will rot. Dahlias come in a variety of flower shapes and a riot of colours. They are a must if you want colour in your garden from summer to the first frosts but they are not for the faint hearted. I love them.
January 2022
The first talk of this new year was on those perennial favourites - daffodils. There must be few gardens that don't have them somewhere. Our speaker, John Gibson, was extremely knowledgeable having grown and hybridised them for over 35 years. He is also currently the vice-chairman of the RHS Bulb Committee. He started by outlining the history of the species and their early habitats around the Mediterranean both at sea level and in the mountains, and amazingly some bulbs were discovered in Egyptian tombs. There are currently around 100 species and 150 sub-species in total amounting to over 32,000 named varieties. Many are now scented although some can be overpowering and as scent can be a very personal thing sometimes it is not attractive. There are daffodils that flower in the autumn although these are not very common. The daffodils position as a harbinger of spring is unassailable.
December 2021
This month's talk was a real treat. The current owner Anne Chambers of the Kiftsgate Court Garden in Gloucestershire gave a fascinating talk on history of the garden and how she is following in the footsteps of her grandmother who started the garden in the early 20th century and her mother who continued the development of it afterwards. It is a very personal garden and she delighted the members by saying it is a garden created and maintained by lady gardeners. She pointed out that that the lawn edges were not as crisp as neat as some gardens - perhaps a comparison with the neighbouring garden of Hidcote Manor which is under the stewardship of the National Trust less than a mile away. Also she is developing new areas of the garden in keeping with the current awareness of the need for biodiversity to help support the other creatures and invertebrates who inhabit our gardens. It is a lovely garden and one that needs to be visited regularly.
November 2021
The talk this month had the arresting title of 'The Sex Life of Plants' by Celia Davis. Of course it was all about how plants use different strategies to ensure their existence and sometimes improve their chances of survival in the changing environments. We often think that most plants are pollinated by insects, namely bees, but in fact there are other ways such as wind, water, birds and animals who also do their bit to help the seeds of plants and trees to disperse to pastures new, literally.
October 2021
This month's talk was given by Simon Gulliver on his time working for the National Trust and how the charity organised its staff to maintain and improve the gardens in their care. Simon's time was spent in the Lancashire and Cheshire region and his slides covered properties in those areas although he later worked on properties in the Midlands. It was very interesting to hear how many specialists are involved in the restoration and maintenance of these special places.
September 2021
Our inaugural talk for our first meeting since March 2020 was very unusual in that for the first time in our (short) history the speaker failed to arrive. Instead, one of our members stepped into the breach and lead a discussion among our members of the highs and lows of the current gardening year. Tips and hints were shared on all types of growing from the usual roses, shrubs and flowers to fruit and vegetables.
We later discovered that our speaker had got his diary mixed up so we hope to hear his talk on 'Gardening in the time of Jane Austen' next year.