CABAHS (LF)

Plant of the Month: Dierama pulcherrimum (July 2024)

We might complain about all the rain we have had over the last few months but the plants have just loved, loved, loved it!

So, for the first time ever, I can celebrate, as my Angel’s Fishing Rod (beautiful name) is due to send up at least four flowering stems after many years and I put this down to the extensive rain we have endured this past winter and spring.

At Sissinghurst Gardens recently, I spotted two Dieramas in flower – the maturer pink-flowering specimen in the sheltered Rose garden, in a front-of-border, corner position where two paths meet, and a smaller, delicate-blush-mauve-flowering specimen growing in a south-facing border, situated in front of a tall brick wall – both looking absolutely gorgeous.

June 2024 Meeting and Talk: Hever Castle and Gardens

A successful meeting was held in June with a packed audience and we were lucky to be given an engaging and informative talk by Neil Miller, Head Gardener at Hever Castle. In 2002 Neil started as a junior gardener at Hever following 10 years as an Insurance Broker and within 4 years was Head Gardener. Quite an achievement!

Famously Hever Castle was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, and Henry VIII frequently visited her there. At that time the surrounding land was marsh and bog land. Though there were many changes of ownership in the following centuries, it was not until 1903, when William Waldorf Astor bought the estate, that serious restoration and renovation took place and the design for the gardens was drawn up. Alongside the castle, a Tudor style Village was also built so that invited guests had rooms to stay.

Plant of the Month: Rose (June 2024)

June really is the month for roses and when I saw Margaret T’s roses growing on her allotment, I was enchanted by each and every one and I have listed below a few that are in flower now.

Rosa 'James Galway' — Rosa ‘James Galway’

A David Austin climbing rose, introduced in the year 2000 and named after the Irish flautist. Margaret grows this rose as a shrub, so the flowers are at head height and the pink blooms, paler at the edges, have an old rose appearance and fragrance.

Rosa 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' — Rosa ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’

What a name! And, what a rose! This gorgeous hybrid tea has blush-pink, very fragrant, repeat-flowering clusters, and glossy dark-green leaves. Considered disease resistant. Introduced in 2006 by rose-breeder, Colin Pearce.

Pat’s Jobs for June

What a strange spring this has been as everything has grown so tall ….but then some things especially vegetables have hardly grown at all and are struggling as there has been little warmth.

Giant Foxglove - 8 foot tall — Giant Foxglove – 8 foot tall

Cephalaria a foot taller than usual — Giant Foxglove – 8 foot tall

Anyway we soldier on….

1. Divide spring flowering bulbs as soon as foliage fades. My own stock has diminished and badly need splitting.

2. Prune ornamental cherries when flowering has finished making as few cuts as possible as they have difficulty healing.

3. Tie in shoots on sweetpeas which are finally growing and revelling in the cool conditions.

4. Cut early flowering hardy geraniums to the ground when they finish as they have a tendency to seed everywhere…unless you want them to of course.

May 2024 Talk: Silent Earth – Averting the Insect Apocalypse

Dave Goulson, Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Sussex specialising in the ecology and conservation of insects, and author of several books*, gave a talk about the dramatic insect decline worldwide. He outlined some of actions required on a National and International scale to reverse this apocalypse and what we as gardeners can do.

Dave Goulson with our Chair, Stella and the range of his books for sale at the meeting

When he was a boy, he started collecting caterpillars (in his lunchbox) and his interest in insects became a life long passion when one of them pupated into a Cinnabar Moth. He explained that insects evolved over 480 million years ago and there are now around one million known species worldwide. They were the first creatures to fly and sing and many have complex inventive ways to camouflage themselves or mimic others. Examples of some ‘weird and wonderful’ insects were shared with us such as the Shield Bug from Thailand whose back very much looks like the face of Elvis.

The horrifying statistics on insect decline were shown, particularly over the last 30 to 40 years. Studies show that the decline is around 75%. He has researched the Shrill Carder Bee which was common across Southern England pre-1960 but by the year 2000 the populations of this bee had greatly decreased and there were only about six populations left. Since 2000, the population which inhabited the Salisbury Levels has become extinct.

King John’s Nursery and Garden, Etchingham, Sussex

On a gloriously sunny day in May, a visit was paid to the garden at King John’s Nursery. This ‘naturalistic’ garden is set within a beautiful landscape of ancient trees and meadows. We were given a laminated map of the garden layout and proceeded through the old honeysuckle-clad, wrought-iron gate to the garden beyond. This led us to the first garden room, beautifully planted in soft-pinks, the focal point being a circular, brick-built pond, fed by an imaginative water-gully. This led us into the gravel garden room, consisting of sun-loving and tender plants displayed to great effect on a slab-table, an artefact that many of us would love to possess for our own gardens!

Honeysuckle-clad wrought iron gate entrance to the garden

First garden room, planted with soft-pink flowers — Honeysuckle-clad wrought iron gate entrance to the garden

From there we entered a magical place – a charming meadow with mauve-blue spires of camassias threading through and rising above the grasses, a stunning contrast to the shades of green all around. White-flowered camassias were in bud, ready to take over and bloom in the next week or so. In one corner of the meadow sat a toadstool circle, an enchanting addition for children to let their imaginations run wild. We exit beneath the clipped hedge archway into a larger meadow which includes an herbaceous long border, consisting of many taller plants such as grasses and flowering angelica. We follow the path around, to a shaded woodland dell and admire the luminosity of the rhododendron’s stunning white flowers by a gateway entrance, cow-parsley billowing alongside solomon’s seal and pass beneath the 350-year-old oak tree. Amongst the grasses, glistening in the sun, wild orchids are to be admired. We sat on the bench to absorb the idyllic setting before us, noticing glimpses of an old apple orchard beyond the boundary.

Plant of the Month: Iris (May 2024)

The show gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show each May just zing with the stunning colours of the irises in bloom and they really are one of the main attractions (apart from roses) that are on display. Being ‘show-stoppers’, their impact allows the designers to then infill and arrange around them the more delicate flowers and foliage to an harmonious effect. Visitors admire, with ‘oooh’s and aaah’s’ at the soft, subtle shades and again, of the deeply-rich and vibrant colours of each and every iris grouping.

The name Iris means rainbow and in Greek mythology ‘Goddess of the Rainbow’. The petals and roots of several species, including Iris germanica (bearded) and Iris pallida (Dalmatian/Orris root) are used in the beauty industry, in the manufacture of perfumes, lotions, in food such as spices and even added to gin. Seemingly, the dried root, after 3 years, has the aroma of violets. This industry goes back to the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians and probably long before their time.

I have an Iris pallida flowering in my front garden, low-growing, which is highly fragrant. This was kindly given to me by Penny S some years ago. The flower is fading so unfortunately not worthy of a photograph but it certainly should be grown, as the variegated grey-foliage blends nicely with neighbouring plants. I wouldn’t be without it.

My number-one favourite, though, is Iris ‘Langport Wren’, a Kelways‘ introduction from 1973 and deservedly worthy of the RHS Award of Garden Merit. It was flowering in my front garden until a few days ago when the slugs/snails chomped its head off! The fragrance is reputedly of orange and chocolate – but I wouldn’t know as I haven’t had the chance to find out!!! The first photo below is of this delectable flower, a painterly amalgamation of browns, purples and russets, growing in Margaret T’s garden.

Spring in Cornwall

I have just spent a very happy week at Duloe Manor, a complex of self-catering holiday apartments and cottages near Looe in Cornwall. The main house was built in the 1690s for the Rectors of the local church. The whole complex is set in lush gardens of around three acres: a few mixed beds contained lovely combinations of saxifrages, irises and other familiar perennials while in less formal areas, swathes of wild garlic provided backdrops for beautiful pink campions as well as English bluebells in full bloom. In the car park several banks of pale yellow primroses remained stubbornly but delightfully in flower! Majestic rhododendrons provided splashes of magenta and purple.

A mixed bed contained lovely combinations of saxifrages, irises and other familiar perennials

Majestic rhododendrons provided splashes of magenta and purple

Pat’s Jobs for May

1. It’s a good time to take softwood cuttings of both tender and hardy perennials such as pelargoniums, anthemis and penstemons. Place in a shady spot until roots begin to form.

2. Put plant supports in place to stop things flopping and make them yourself from shrubby prunings or just push prunings in the soil around the plant.

3. I’ve Chelsea chopped my phlox today and also done a few clematis as they are far too tall and leggy after all the rain we’ve had.

Centre for Wildlife Gardening

28 Marsden Road SE15 4EE, Open Sunday to Thursday inclusive, 10.30 to 16.30. No charge

We are members of the London Wildlife Trust, which runs the Centre for Wildlife Gardening (CWG), but it was word-of-mouth from a volunteer at Christchurch Community Garden that made us aware. We visited on London Marathon Day, passing through a crowded Blackheath Station on our way to Peckham Rye Station.

Marsden Road itself is remarkable: its houses all along have designer ironwork gates & railings on wildlife themes, and each lamppost has a ‘squirrel’ high above. These, and the wildlife-themed iron gates to CWG, were designed by Heather Burrell: bollards at the entrance and within were designed by Antony Gormley: a gable-end has a large mural of a Goshawk.