CABAHS members share photos from their gardens.
Members, please send in photos of your garden or a particular plant or flower in your garden, to be included here.
Class 15 (‘photograph of a display of plants on a table’) in our recent Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Show revealed a lovely variety of interpretations again this year (see last year’s tables for further inspiration). All are expressions of nature’s bounty, whether displaying the fruits – and flowers – of the summer’s labours or the exciting potential of seeds and cuttings. Indoors or outdoors, many choose to display tender plants in containers, enabling easy frost-protection later in the year.
Every home should have at least one Pelargonium and, once you have one, you will most definitely want more. There is something so uplifting when seeing a Pelargonium in a pot, whether it’s flowering or not. Some can flower from early spring until the early frosts, but September, to my mind, is the month when many come into their own, generally sending out multiple flowering shoots to delight the eye. But they are all regarded as tender and should be brought indoors before the first frost of the season.
The following plants are in Vija’s garden, enjoying the present sunshine, amongst her table displays.
Continue reading Plant of the Month: Pelargonium (September 2026)Long-flowering, no-fuss species/varieties are ever so handy to have in our gardens, especially roses and climbers, which I’ve not watered at all this summer – a big bonus! One of these, Solanum ‘Crèche du Pape’, probably purchased 16-17 years ago, is such a plant – no trouble at all and flowering for months at a time. I wouldn’t be without it.
| NB: We have just heard about an RHS survey about the impact of the recent weather: RHS Climate Change Resilience: Heatwave Impact on Gardens which has to be completed by 30 September 2026. |
Following on from Pat’s ’10 Jobs…’ tips on coping with drought and heat, we asked CABAHS members to share which plants had proved to be ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in the recent extreme weather, to help us all make climate-change-appropriate choices in the future.
A summary: After the spring AND summer drought of 2025 (with four of the previous five years being the warmest on record), we experienced a cold November and a wet winter (the 4th wettest on record for Southern England), with the addition of unusually low light levels in early spring. We have now had extreme drought (no rain at all since early June and counting – and there were long dry periods before that too) and, so far, several heatwaves (which is counted as three or more consecutive days over 28 degrees in London – all have been in the 30s). Of course, the heatwaves may have counted six times (starting on 22 May, 19 June, 4 July, 28 July, 2 August and 9 August respectively) but the weather hasn’t exactly cooled off much in between. In addition, Thames Water declared a hosepipe ban beginning on 23 July (though watering cans and drip-feed systems are not banned) and there’s precious little rain showing in the forecast even now.
Continue reading Weather winners and losersBeing very partial to soft-orange and terracotta-orange coloured flowers, I am delighted that from my kitchen I can enjoy the vibrant, terracotta-orange flowers of the statuesque Tithonia rotundifolia. The flowers are an absolute delight, lighting up my garden at the moment, and, hopefully will do so until October.
I’ve never tried sowing seed of this wonderful variety but I will experiment next year. I spied this plant for sale when visiting one of the lovely gardens open for the Greenwich and Bexley Hospice Open Gardens, held once again in June, to the delight of local residents.
Continue reading Plant of the Month: Tithonia (July 2026)Clematis ‘John Treasure’ (Viticella)
This free-flowering and vigorous Clematis has been growing on the north side of my garden fence – for many years, as the label reads £3.50!
A blue sky has appeared, white clouds are in retreat and the white flower clusters are glowing in the bright sunshine, after two days of rain.
Outside my window, Matthiola perennis ‘Alba’, the white scented stock, is soaking up the warmth of the sun. Classed as a short-lived perennial, this cluster is most likely 6-7 years old now, with grey-green foliage and flower clusters sitting atop tall, 3 foot, woody stems. Wonderfully perfumed, preferring shelter, full sun, good drainage and poor soil.
It really is a privilege to be invited into other people’s gardens, where the host is allowing us to peek into their private spaces, their secluded oasis and, we, the invitees, do feel very honoured on such an occasion. We see their tastes, their flair, their artistry of everything that make their garden special, thus revealing a little of themselves in the process.
Some are lucky enough to inherit established plants and Juli F is one of those gardeners who embraced her south-facing courtyard garden and the already mature crimson-flowered Camellia that came with it.
Continue reading Plant of the Month: Camellia (April 2026)
Technically, a small garden is considered to be one that is approximately 100m2 (33 x 33ft) or less. While the average UK garden is apparently about twice that size (225m2 – almost a tennis court), and most new build etc gardens are about half the size of ‘small’ (50m2), we are based in London and what really defines a small garden is probably more a matter of opinion and perception than exact dimensions. To complicate the topic further, many larger gardens are divided into smaller spaces or ‘rooms’, which will often have features and considerations in common with smaller gardens.
Continue reading Small gardensOn Christmas Eve 2025, after enjoying a treat of delicious coffee and mince pies, we were shown Karen S’s very stunning red-veined Abutilon, growing extremely happily in the shade, on the north-facing side of the garden. Covered in glowing, pendulous, lantern-like flowers amongst its dark-green foliage , the shrub lit up the garden during those dark, December days.
This very healthy shrub with maple-like leaves, had been cut back hard some time ago and had grown very quickly. It was a cutting from Margaret T’s garden two or three years ago. Its growth was very impressive indeed. But before that, the cuttings originally came from North London some years ago, from a plant-lover’s garden. One Abutilon in this garden was seen growing happily as a tall shrub/small tree beneath a mature tree, thus receiving a fair amount of shade and protection, which I think is necessary, as Abutilon species originated from tropical and subtropical regions of South America.
Abutilons have a long-flowering period in London, in bloom from early-to-mid summer and again in early winter. Karen’s shrub is still flowering now in January, but the prolonged cold snap earlier this month has, naturally, affected it – not as upright as it was but still continuing to bloom, although the flower colour is no longer quite as vivid. Let’s hope it warms up and recovers quickly. I know how it feels!
Continue reading Plant of the Month: Abutilon (January 2026)
