CABAHS (LF)

The Exchange, Walnut Tree Road, Erith

One autumn Saturday morning in 2024 my companion and I visited the Sarah Price-designed garden at The Exchange in Erith, South-East London and we were in for a treat.

As Erith Library for over 100 years, and Grade II-listed, this Carnegie-financed building of 1906 finally closed its doors in 2009, thus becoming an unused space with unkept grounds. Two visionary locals, respectively with conservation and community arts experience, approached Bexley Council in 2016. Their initiative resulted in a community arts hub which opened in 2022 – a refurbished building with a new garden to match.

The garden surrounds the building on all sides, with various plantings complementing each of the four different areas. The forefront of the building has become a Mediterranean garden with a tapestry of lime-greens, blue-greens and greys. In amongst the herbaceous and shrubs I noticed Myrtle, Euphorbias, Irises, California poppies and particular favourites, sub-shrub Dorycnium hirsutum and several Hesperaloe parviflora (red yucca), a very choice succulent that I have at home (and managed to keep alive!). On our visit we noticed that flowering was just finishing, with its tall stem of red-orange pendulum flowers just going over.

November 2024 Talk: Andrew Babicz on Great Gardens of Great Britain

On Monday 18 November, we had our last meeting of 2024. Despite poor weather, it was well attended. Perhaps it was the mince pies, stollen and similar delights or maybe it was the “special” raffle prizes, including a hamper as the star prize. The Show Table was up to the usual standard and for sale there were the last of the tulip bulbs, a small plant sale and our lovely Christmassy cards.

Andrew Babicz gave a fascinating talk based on his extensive experience of great gardens in Britain, having worked in a variety of outstanding gardens himself – Inverewe Garden, Hampton Court, RHS Wisley and several London boroughs. He was Chief Recreation Officer for the London Borough of Redbridge and has also been involved in judging for the South and South East in Bloom Competition. His talk reflected on his knowledge and personal experience of a range of types of gardens in England and Scotland.

Originally from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, his interest in gardening was stimulated by his father who was a post-war immigrant from Poland who became head gardener at a care home. Andrew began his horticultural career as an apprentice at the Inverewe Garden in the North West Scottish Highlands, later being awarded a degree in Horticulture from Edinburgh University.

Plants of the Month: Westringia fruticosa and Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’ (November 2024)

Although I have written about both these plants in the past, I have chosen them again as ‘Plants of the Month’ because the flower colouring of each is in harmony with one another and both brighten up a garden during the long winter months.

Salvia 'Black and Blue' with Westringia in the background (plus orange flower of Pineapple Sage) — Salvia ‘Black and Blue’ with Westringia in the background (plus orange flower of Pineapple Sage)

Westringia fruticosa (Coastal/Australian Rosemary): This is second plant I have grown of this variety over the years: the first, given to me as a rooted cutting, had a good branch structure and lasted several years in a pot, positioned on a south-facing table; the second was purchased this June from a specialist nursery at the Horniman Plant Fair and, once again, it has an attractive rounded shape, which means they are suitable for growing in pots whilst they are small.

Pat’s Jobs for November 2024

1. Check for blackspot on roses and make sure to remove the leaves by checking the bush itself and below it. But don’t add to the compost heap.

2. If you have to, this is the best time to move trees and shrubs, but have your planting hole ready, and dig up with all the root ball and replant quickly, watering well until settled.

3. Plant your tulips and hyacinths now. either in the ground or in pots – but protect from squirrels.

4. If you sowed sweet peas last month. harden them off now and it’s still not too late to get some going for an early crop.

October 2024 Talk: Tim Ingram on Copton Ash Garden

We welcomed back Tim Ingram who has a passion for alpines, and is a member of the Alpine Garden Society. He gave us a talk on the evolution of Copton Ash, his garden in Faversham, Kent where he also has a specialist nursery. He also brought with him a selection of alpine and perennial plants for sale. He illustrated his talk with a series of photographs showing the development of his garden over the years and seasons.

Copton Ash Getting Wild, May 2024 — Copton Ash fruit plantings Spring 1979

Tim’s garden is a large and mature family-run garden, about one and a half acres in size, which has been in existence for nearly fifty years. He comes from a family of avid gardeners and so was brought up with a keen interest in plants and gardening. His father worked at Brogdale (home of the National Fruit Collection): his mother too a keen gardener: his grandfather was into market gardening. Tim first worked in academic science in London, specialising in plant hormones. He and his wife returned full time to Copton Ash in the late 1980s when they soon started a nursery.

Pat’s Jobs for October 2024

1. Watch out for Cabbage White caterpillar on your Nasturtium: at our allotments they appear to be the new delicacy which they are devastating and they look like the only butterflies that are thriving.

Cabbage white caterpillars on nasturtiums

2. Make sure to plant lots of butterfly-friendly plants next year like Sweet Rocket, Scabious, Honesty and others. The butterfly count showed that butterfly numbers are very much down this year and we desperately need them. Please ask me for Honesty seeds if you want some.

Asters for Butterflies — Scabious for butterflies and bees

Plants of the Month: Salvia (October 2024)

Salvia ‘Amistad’, in less than 20 years, has become a much-loved cultivar throughout the world. and is known as the ‘friendship sage’. It was discovered in a tray of salvias at a plant sale in Argentina in 2005 by Dr Rolando Uria, and he decided to name it ‘Amistad’, meaning ‘friendship’ in Spanish.

There is much to love about this plant, in that its 1.5m high, bushy, rounded habit is ideal for planting schemes, guaranteeing a display of purple flower spires, with highly aromatic foliage, from mid-summer until the frosts in October-November. It’s not 100% hardy, so I have lost it a couple of times over the years but it’s always worth repurchasing. The young growths are adored by slugs and snails, so during wet weather in spring it can be difficult to get going.

I have noticed, however, that in London’s parks, Salvia ‘Amistad’ really thrives and can be seen growing happily and well-established in May, beneath London Planes in much drier soils, where the mature trees are protecting the plants during the winter months. And the drier soils obviously do not attract the slugs during early spring growth.

Compton Acres, Poole, Dorset

Before the 1920’s, the ten acres of land at Canford Cliffs was heathland. But along came a man with vision, one Thomas William Simpson, and, with the help of his head gardener Mr Middleton, a magical garden was created.

Mr Simpson was a businessman and entrepreneur (margarine) and having visited many countries, knew exactly what he wanted. Influenced by the gardens and architecture of Italy, Japan and the UK Arts and Crafts movement, he and his gardener set about creating a series of gardens, starting with the Italianate gardens, then a necklace of paths and ponds which connected finally to his Japanese Garden, thus turning his vision into reality, right up until WW2.

The garden sadly fell into neglect following the conflict, but in the 1950’s and 60’s, a new owner set about restoring it, planting the magnificent trees we see today – their maturity and majesty makes this garden quite a magical place to explore.

The steps leading down to the Italianate Garden — The Italianate Garden

Upon entry into the garden, I came into the Roman Garden, passed through the Grotto and into the very impressive Grand Italianate Garden, the focal point being the rectangular formal pond and beyond, the statue of Bacchus, the Roman God of Wine, sheltering within a temple at the far end of the garden. This sheltered, south-facing, formal garden is a relaxing place to sit and admire its many features. This garden then leads into Palm Court, a formal garden with its row of impressive Chusan palms.

Moth Night at the Old Pond Garden 18/19th September 2024

Jason Sylvan, Head Gardener at Charlton House, has designed the Old Pond Garden to be as attractive to wildlife as possible. Because we talk about monitoring moths, he asked if we could check how many moths are visiting the garden. We should have tried this in the warmer months when there are more plants in full flower but we had missed that for this year so we gave it a shot on a warmer dry night in September to test out a strategy.

As we wrote in an earlier post, we have been monitoring moths for the Garden Moth Scheme since 2013 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and since 2019 in Blackheath. The moth trap is a box with a light (our type gives off no heat), and below the light are two panels of see-through Perspex, one each side and shallowly angled down, with a slot/gap between them. The moths ‘funnel’ into the box, and it’s difficult (but not impossible) to get out. Inside are egg-trays, which provide resting places.

Why do moths fly towards the light? Until recently, the correct answer has been that nobody knows, but researchers in Sweden found the answer: for aeons, light at night was above and dark was below, so moths orientated themselves to fly with their backs to the light above. In artificial light – fires, candles, street lamps – they still try to fly with their backs to the light, circling round and round, and sometimes become disorientated.

The trap is placed before sunset, and collected at sunrise the next day. So an early start.

Autumn Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Show 2024

The 2024 Autumn Show was held on Monday 16th September in the Old Library of Charlton House. It was well attended and the standard of entry was very high – particularly given the strange growing year we’ve had.

Whole table of entries and audience awaiting decisions

Jason judged the flower classes and Melanie the vegetables but there was lots of discussion between the judges and Stella, the Chair. Anna judged the cakes and preserves, ably assisted by Annette, and Hugh weighed the potatoes. As ‘Best in Class’ winners and ‘Highly Commended’ entries were announced, the judges explained the reasons for their decisions. Finally, they agreed their choice for Best in Show.