At each monthly meeting, members can bring in plants and flowers that are performing well in their own gardens to be displayed on the informal Show Table. Points are awarded, to be tallied toward the yearly ‘Show Table Cup’, but this is definitely just for fun!
There was a great turn out for CABAHS’ last meeting of 2025. As usual, there were refreshments (this month featuring mini-stollen and mince pies!), also a plant sales table, a raffle, the Show Table and – the main event – an engaging talk from Dr David Marsh, garden historian and blogger.
Continue reading November 2025 Meeting and Show Table
The October meeting at CABAHS featured tea. coffee and biscuits, a raffle, bulbs for sale, the Show Table and an enlightening talk from Ruth Cornett about ‘Flowers in Art’.
Continue reading October 2025 Meeting and Show TableThis month’s meeting included an interesting talk from Clare Lanes about the three-year renovation project of the Rose Garden at Greenwich Park, the monthly Show Table display, the raffle, the potato competition, the sales table and of course plenty of chat and information about upcoming events (NB: Horn Fair on 19 October!).
Lots of variety on the Show Table this month, just as we like it! The Show Table is a chance for members to bring in and display plants and flowers that are performing well in their own gardens each month, be that a single flower / stem / fruit / vegetable or a display of all that is looking good – or indeed something in between. It’s lovely to see what people are growing.
Continue reading July 2025 Meeting and Show TableThere were some exquisite entries for the Show Table this month (click on the images to see in detail), but it was the simple, single species vase of sweet peas that won the prize.
Congratulations to Pat for ‘Best on the Table’ – they are perfect!
In addition to the Show Table, there was a raffle with some very desirable prizes, a heaving plant and seed sales table and of course, our annual ‘Amateur Gardeners’ Question Time’ with Pat, Nicolas and Joe.
Ali H
There was a great turnout for the CABAHS May meeting, even after the exertions of the previous day’s Plant Sale! A small but beautiful range of items on the Show Table, from a cornucopia of Spring flowers to a single rose and a cactus. Congratulations to Kathy for winning this month’s ‘Best on the Table’ prize with a vase of Salvia, Cerinthe, Teucrium, Hesperis, Centranthus, Luzula and chives.
Continue reading May 2025 Meeting and Show TableA packed library for the March meeting, and the first Show Table of the year – congratulations to Kathy for winning this month’s Best on the Table prize with her Narcissus ‘St Patrick’s Day’.
There was also a Plant Sales table and the usual raffle with lots of lovely plant prizes. The main event was a talk by Fiona Davison, author of ‘An Almost Impossible Thing: The radical lives of Britain’s pioneering women gardeners‘.
Ali H
Sixty-three members attended our Annual General Meeting on Monday 17th February in the Old Library at Charlton House. There were opportunities to renew membership, check the data CABAHS holds on members for GDPR purposes and book the next CABAHS outing to RHS Wisley on 6th May, as well as the Raffle.
The AGM included a review of achievements over the past year and the election of the Committee and Officers of the Society for 2025.
Reports from the AGM
CABAHS AGM 2025 – Chair’s Report
CABAHS AGM 2025 – Treasurer’s Report
CABAHS AGM Minutes 2025
CABAHS AGM Revised Constitution
Three Committee Members have stepped down
Stella B stepped down as Chair of CABAHS and Anna L and Lynda F stepped down as Committee Members. Each was presented with a bouquet and a book in thanks for their contribution to the work of the CABAHS Committee.
New Committee for 2025
With departures from the Committee, new Committee members are required and Vija V was elected as Chair. She responded that “It was good to see so many of our members at the AGM. I am delighted to be returning as Chair of CABAHS and look forward to working with you all again.”
An entertaining and informative evening was had at this year’s Gardeners Question Time. As usual, it enabled members to get advice on their gardening problems, and to air their gardening frustrations. Chaired by Sir Nicolas Bevan, the CABAHS President, the panel also comprised Tom Brown, the Greenwich Park’s Head Gardener, and Pat Kane, a long standing CABAHS member.
Most of the questions were sent in by members beforehand. They covered a broad range of gardening areas and problems: growing hollyhocks; aphid control; tree size; cistus, salvia and sisyrinchium pruning; how to grow dahlias; what killed my rose; problems with apple trees and rambling roses; how to encourage children to get involved in gardening; recommending a fertiliser for yew hedges; the cause of curly cucumbers; dealing with self seeding; and problems with bamboo.
Continue reading August 2024: Gardeners Question TimeWe attempted something a bit different at this meeting! Our Chair Stella introduced the evening by asking the audience to imagine we were all sitting relaxing in the CABAHS garden shed surrounded by our gardening friends. She then introduced the “panel” and to start the conversation rolling, asked how they first became interested in gardening.
The four panellists, Ruth, Kathy, Lynda & Pat each had different but similar personal stories, and it was usually a parent or grandparent who first sparked their interest.
The next question was about the tastiest vegetable or fruit we had ever grown.
For Pat this was Sungold tomatoes. Lynda is known among members for growing Goji berry but she chose sweetcorn as the tastiest ever. Ruth thought figs from her allotment were amazing, especially as she had inherited them from the previous holder. For Kathy it was “Mr Green’s” (the previous owner of her garden) summer raspberries, which have been in the same bed for over 35 years.
Now on to the best Show flowers (topical as we have the Spring Show coming up next month). Stella put in her vote for Penstemon ‘Garnet’, certainly a very good do-er in the Walled Gardens at Charlton House.
Continue reading March 2024: Down at the CABAHS Shed
Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society 