vivparson

My Australian rosemary

From my kitchen table I am fortunate in being able to admire a shrub growing in a pot on the patio table that is looking glorious at the moment.

Westringia rosemarinformis is an Australian native and commonly known as the Australian rosemary. I was given this plant as a cutting a few years ago and it has grown into a lovely shape. Margaret T has a large shrub growing on the sheltered, south-facing wall of her front garden, where it has thrived for about 12 years.

This is a truly fantastic shrub to grow in London’s dry, sheltered gardens and seems to be completely unknown. Its specialness derives from the fact it flowers during the winter months and will keep on flowering for months afterwards. I imagine Margaret purchased her Westringia from a rare plant fair or specialist nursery years ago.

Westringia is a genus of 25 species, found all over Australia and comprised of rounded to erect specimens from dry coastal, heathland or dry forest areas, which make them ideal to grow as rounded shrubs or as hedging in Australian gardens.

In the UK they are regarded more as conservatory plants, but if they are given a hot, sheltered position, they will thrive happily for many, many years. They tend to like a fertile, well drained soil, with sharp sand and compost added to the mix, although I imagine they grow in poor soil in Australia.

The small, lavender-coloured flowers are not scented but I think they have an orchid-like appearance, with contrasting orange stamens. They are exceedingly beautiful to look at in close-up.

Margaret would be happy to supply cuttings to those interested in growing this shrub (contact cabahshortisoc@gmail.com)

Anna L

Pressed flower art

I was recently given a book on the “Art of Pressed Flowers and leaves” by Jennie Ashmore, which aims to re-energise and re-imagine this very traditional craft. It might be a very good time to have a go at this fascinating hobby!

Pressed Flowers Book People have collected and pressed plants from the earliest times, when explorers returned from faraway places laden with Botanical specimens. During the Victorian era, pressing became a genteel art and pressed plants were used to create pictures and decorate all manner of objects.

Jennie’s art uses every sort of leaf as a background, to set off the more delicate pressed flowers. This one uses Sycamore leaves (at last, a use for Sycamores!) and Fennel:

Pressed Sycamore and fennel

This hobby is refreshingly low cost – Jennie uses old telephone directories for her pressing, with a brick weight on top. Inexpensive photocopying paper can be used, or blotting paper if you can get hold of it. All material is pressed for a month or two, depending on how thick the leaves are. Check after a month to see.

Jennie suggests experimenting, but says she always cuts off the woody and the fleshy parts of plants for best results. Most shiny leaves (Laurel, rhododendron) are not suitable. You should cut the fleshy middle out of Hosta leaves, otherwise they go mouldy, but they make wonderful colours.

Jennie’s leafworks are mounted on paper or thin card, and she uses Copydex or a rubber-based adhesive that can be easily removed if there is excess. Don’t use much – a dot on a matchstick works – especially when sticking delicate petals. Make a template and use a cutting knife to make backgrounds:

Pressed cut outs

Here’s what you can end up with:

Pressed flowers

I love this idea too – this is a picture of a walk, and then the pressed picture that Jennie made using material collected on the walk. What a great idea for your daily exercise walk! Have fun.

Kathy A

Speaking of foxes: Tales of woe from a frustrated gardener

Foxes are the bane of my life. I first became a keen gardener twenty five years ago when I moved into my small three story terraced house close to Ministry of Defence land, a wooded conservation area, and was confronted with a back garden that was bare. Keen on wildlife, I decided to try and create a wild life garden, including digging a pond to encourage the breeding of frogs which over the years has matured successfully. However I had not bargained with the attraction this would have for the local foxes who much to my chagrin have come to see my garden as their play area and my pond a drinking place They have spent their time wrecking it, most days trampling down and pulling up the plants and bulbs, burrowing deep holes, messing up the paths and pooing everywhere. For example, enthused by the recent CABAHS talk on tulips, I bought a range of tulips which I planted in very large pots and colour schemed. As suggested by the speaker I planted violas on the top of them. The next morning I discovered the foxes had ripped them all up, muddled up the bulbs, totally messed up the different colours and ruined my design irreparably.

Foxes have three times got through my cat flap into my basement kitchen area. The stench they left was awful and on one occasion took two days scrubbing to get rid of. During the fox mange epidemic I even found a bald cub lying near death in my basement. As someone who would not harm an animal I contacted the South Essex Wild life and Fox Sanctuary who obligingly came and took it away. I thought that was the last I had seen of it. But later in the year this charity sent me its annual report. It referred to my fox and how they had nursed it back to health and, much to my horror, had returned it to the area from which it came!

My cats regularly got fleas from the foxes as they both liked to sleep in the same place under a very large sycamore tree. I thought I am going to stop this. The academic in me thought if Qin Shi Huang, the Chinese emperor of terracotta warrior fame, could have a terracotta army I would have an army of reconstituted stone gnomes to deal with this situation. I bought some fifteen garden gnomes which I placed closely packed together on the place shared by the foxes and my cats, thinking they would no longer be able to sleep there. Did that work? No. They just slept on top of the gnomes! Incidentally when my elderly cats later died I took great pleasure in getting rid of them. Some of the gnomes saw their way to the plant stall at CABAHS!

I am an early riser and weather and work permitting, as part of my daily fitness regime, I do some gardening usually about 30-45 minutes. The time is often spent clearing up after and repairing the damage made during the night by the foxes. Sometimes I take a quick rest and sit on my garden seat drinking one of my three morning wake-me-up cups of coffee. Often my ginger cat, Bonzo, would come and sit on my knee for a five minute cuddle. One morning a young cub having seen this came up to me, obviously thinking it was a cat it wanted to do the same. It wouldn’t take no for an answer and took some shooing away.

Angelas fox

Animals know instinctively if a human is an animal lover and none of the foxes are afraid of me. They come up to me and don’t take any notice of what I say or do. I have tried everything to get rid of them over the years. Including fox repellents. The only thing I haven’t tried is lion poo which I gather they don’t like. After the tulip fiasco I have decided to throw in the towel. I finally accept my back garden belongs to the foxes. I will just have to live with them, garden around them and make good after them. The only outlet I now have left for expressing my fox frustrations is boring my friends and social network with my woes.

If any other CABAHS members have gardening frustrations, problems or tales they want to get off their chests and give an airing why not send them to CABAHS for this webpage? Perhaps other members have similar problems. It’s said a problem shared is a problem solved. Some might even have an answer to them. Perhaps we could start a CABAHS Moan Corner webpage.

Angela B

Hadlow College Shooters Hill

Hadlow College, which has a campus on Shooters Hill right opposite the start of Eaglesfield Road, has been placed into Educational Administration. The Greenwich Campus is a Horticultural Skills Centre and provides half day and day courses throughout the year. Last year I did 5 or 6 half day courses, known as Tasters, and learned so much in a relaxed, friendly environment amongst other avid growers.

At £10 for a half day and £30- for a full day course, they are incredible value for money.

I have come away from all the Taster Courses (except one) loaded down with planted up bulbs, cuttings and/or seeds. The one exception was a theory rather than practical session and I was loaded with leaflets and notes from that taster.

In short, if we are not to lose this brilliant resource (and how about getting a course for someone as a birthday or Christmas present) then we need to support the college by paying a tenner to learn – hands on – innovative ideas and techniques from highly qualified interesting Horticulturists.

They only need 6 people to make each course viable. Maybe I will see people I recognise on 12 December for the Winter Gardening Course!

Introduction to Horticulture Courses:

Winter Gardening, 12 December 2019, 1 day, 9:30 – 15:30, £30-

Taster Courses:

Planning Your Spring Beds, 11 December 2019, ½ day, 9:30 – 12:30, £10-
Grow Your Own Herbs for Health, 11 December 2019, ½ day, 13:00 – 16:00, £10-

For full details of courses available or to book one of the courses, please visit https://www.hadlow.ac.uk/courses/search?mode=PartTime&keywords=horticulture

The Winter gardening course link is here:https://www.hadlow.ac.uk/courses/course/QGPSCIHWG-Introduction-to-Horticulture-Winter-Gardening

or Email shortcourses@hadlow.ac.uk or call 01732 853 993.

Juli F

Treasure our Front Gardens!

There are some lovely front gardens in the Westcombe area and they give pleasure to passers-by, as well as to their owners.

There are many reasons why we should value them, the most obvious being that they greatly improve the appearance of the neighbourhood. And of course they increase the resale value of our homes through their kerb appeal.

But that’s by no means all! They help nature to do her work, and thrive; for example a front garden provides nectar for bees and butterflies thereby helping to reverse their decline. They also provide a habitat for birds, and the insects on which they feed.

Less obvious is the fact that they make the air we breathe safer because plants help capture pollutants. They also cool the air in hot weather – and help insulate homes in winter. And for householders who have experienced recent heavy downpours of rain, which seem to occur more frequently, a front garden can reduce the danger of flooding by soaking up rainwater. Unfortunately there is a continuous loss of front gardens as many are being paved over to provide hardstanding for cars.

No matter how small the front garden, with a little imagination it can be both practical and beautiful. Here are some tips to consider:

Hedges are better for wildlife than fences or brick walls. They also filter dust from the street. Mixed hedges with flowers and berries are the best.
Grow climbers up the front of the house and plant shrubs at the base.
Fill up corners where cars cannot park
Use all the spare space around the edges for planting shrubs and flowers.
Plant a tree. There are many that are suitable even for very small spaces and many have flowers for pollinators and berries for birds.
Keep hardstanding to a minimum – just two tracks can be sufficient.
Leave pockets in gravel for plants
Use containers and pots to beautify areas with no soil.
Aim to have plants in bloom from early Spring to late Autumn.

Front gardens can support wildlife, whatever their size!

Ann H

If you enjoyed Ann’s article and are thinking of re-designing your front garden, the RHS website has some good ideas for planning front gardens:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=738

On CABAHS donations to Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice

Since 2008, CABAHS has contributed the income from June & July’s monthly meeting plant sales to the Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice in Abbey Wood. From 1999 to 2008 CABAHS had a plant stall at the Hospice Fun Day on Bostall Heath. Ron, our present CABAHS Treasurer, was one of the original Trustees and played a significant role in its development. Ron has written a book, well worth reading, entitled “A Cottage in the Woods : Greenwich & Bexley Cottage Hospital” (1994) about its history and the challenges, trials and tribulations it faced in its early days.

As Chair of a local GP practice Patients Participation Group, I recently arranged for two of its staff to come and give a talk to our members, followed soon after by a visit by our members to the Hospice itself. Having an academic Medical Anthropology background, including an interest in older people’s health, like our members I was extremely impressed. I thought CABAHS members might like to know how their donations are spent and some further information about what it does nowadays and the services it provides.

The project was launched in 1985 by Pat Jeavons and Don Sturrock. The site, on two acres of land, was given to them by the Coop for £1. The Hospice took its first patients in 1994. For the general public, hospices tend to have a negative image as a place where you go to die. But hospices have moved on a long way from their early days. Nowadays, whilst the Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice retains a small number of beds for end of life, the majority stay no more than two weeks. Much of its work is in the community delivering palliative and respite care for people with long term terminal illnesses, their carers and families in their own homes, in care homes, at the hospice day hospice and in hospital. It offers a holistic approach that goes beyond physical needs, offering spiritual, social and psychological care. Where possible it aims to provide care as early as possible in a patient’s terminal illness, so that better knowing the patient’s needs and circumstances, it can provide the necessary support and so make their life and end of life easier. This makes it more likely the patient is able to die at home, which is often their preferred choice. The Hospice also provides support and training for health professionals so they can deliver high quality, individualised and co-ordinated care to the terminally ill.

At the moment the Hospice cares for over 2,500 patients a year. It provides care for those aged eighteen and over, mainly cancer patients. About 10% of its Greenwich patients are referred by their GPs, but most are referred by a Palliative Care Unit which it now runs at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich. The Hospice also runs a Day Hospice three days a week where patients can go to discuss their problems and get help. There is also a café and separate eating area for carers.

The free, wide-ranging services and support it provides are costly. For example, it employs approximately 180 staff. Only a third of the Hospice’s income comes from the NHS. It is very dependent on retail sales, legacies and voluntary donations. So if any of you are feeling generous, you can donate knowing that it is for a very good cause and the money is well spent.

Hospice: 185 Bostall Hill, SE2 0GB 0208 312 2244

Fundraising: 0208 319 9230 communityhospice.org.uk

Angela B

The wonders of the pound shop

Pound shops have sprung up all over the place in the last ten years including a number in Greenwich borough. They may vary slightly in name, but they all sell most of their merchandise for a pound. I first became aware of them when on behalf of a local community group I organised a street party to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 and was looking for large quantities of cheap party paraphernalia such as paper cups and plates.

I shop everywhere. Having a large party to organise and with limited funds to pay for it, I was told by local officionados of the existence of the Pound Shop where all products cost a pound and to try a pound shop, which I did.

I walked along the aisles and in my travel spied a large gardening section and all its wonders. I headed straight for it. I was surprised at the broad range of gardening paraphernalia and equipment that it sold and all for a pound! Gardening equipment too that was mostly of a similar quality to similar products sold elsewhere. Being a keen gardener who loves a bargain, I have been an avid user of the shop and a fan ever since.

Much of it comes from China. For example, you may find stacked on the pound shop’s shelves, particularly the larger ones, a variety of types of plant labels, stakes including bamboo stakes, string, wire and netting, trowels, all sorts of pots, planters with hooks to hang on trellis work or walls, seed propagation equipment and planters, hose equipment, fertilisers, fifteen litre bags of compost, seeds, bulbs, bare root plants and until recently perennial plants. The only drawback is that like all gardening sections in shops, some of its products are plastic. But it does also have some wooden alternatives, for example, in the case of labels and string.

I’m not the only member of CABAHS to rave about the wonders of the pound shop. One member swears by the compost, which coming in 15 litre bags, she can easily manoeuvre into her car. Anyway next time you pass a pound shop, if you haven’t already done so, pop in and have a look. You too may become a fan!

– Angela B

D-Day Celebrations

The recent D Day celebrations brought to mind once again the Second World War and the hardships which the older generation in Britain had to endure. Not least the need to feed ourselves. The Dig for Victory Campaign played a significant role in providing people with food.

But with so few of the war time generation left alive, now is the last time we have to collect their memories and knowledge of local gardening and the Dig for Victory Campaign. If you have any memories or knowledge of local gardening then please email them to the usual cabahshortisoc@gmail.com. Similarly if you are a younger person perhaps you could ask any older relative or friend to share their wartime gardening experiences with you? We could eventually put them on the CABAHS website.

DDAY

– article submitted by member Angela B

Member Angela B has submitted this article about her concerns for the environment and her ideas on how gardening, even in flats, can help:

“The Extinction Rebellion demonstration over the Easter Weekend has dramatically brought to the public’s attention once again the problem of Global Warming and the abuse of the planet by humans. Gardening, which we keen gardeners all do for pleasure, can make a small but significant contribution to mitigating these effects.

Take one example: pollution. It is a major problem in London, including in Greenwich, parts of which are above the legal limits. Plants take in carbon dioxide and secrete oxygen, which helps purify the air. Greenwich residents should be encouraged to garden and plant as many pollution-absorbing plants as possible.

Unfortunately, there is an increasing shortage locally of gardening space. Many residents have paved their front gardens to provide space for parking their cars. Also many back gardens are now astroturfed or covered in decking which does not help. Nor has Greenwich Council’s policy of building high rise flats in the borough rather than houses with gardens. And what few of the latter are built usually have small gardens. For example, many thousands of flats have already been built in the borough and many thousands more are planned for the Thames Riverside site between the Thames Barrier and the Yacht Club and around Woolwich Town Centre.

Given this situation, one solution if gardening is to be encouraged locally, is for blocks of flats to become a focus of balcony gardening in the borough. Greenwich Council and its Planning Department is apparently in the process of declaring a climate emergency. That being the case they should encourage developers to build all flats with large wide balconies which would allow for a significant amount of gardening. Also the Council might like to encourage the managing agents of blocks of flats to set up residents gardening clubs.

Flat dwellers are already showing an interest in gardening as it has become very fashionable to grow indoor plants, especially succulents. So if they were provided with sizable balconies they are very likely to start growing other plants as well.

If any of you are interested in promoting these ideas. Perhaps you could spread the word and if you come into contact with Greenwich Council Councillors or staff you might bring up the subject of promoting gardening in flats.”

Additional thought: Perhaps we should copy Stefano Boeri’s fantastic apartment blocks in Milan which won many awards when it was built in 2014. Here is Bosco verticale, the ultimate in balcony gardening!

Milan flats 1

Milan flat vertical forest