The Show Table – Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

March 2024: Down at the CABAHS Shed

We 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.

Annual General Meeting February 2024

Our February meeting on Monday 19th, comprised our AGM, with the usual election of officers and presentation of the Annual Report, followed by a talk by Tom Stanier, the Horticultural Team Lead at Greenwich Park, about his life as a gardener at the Park and a behind-the-scenes look at working there in these challenging times.

Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and President of CABAHS

Stella presenting her Annual Report to members

Reports from the AGM
CABAHS AGM 2024 – Chair’s Report
CABAHS AGM 2024 – Treasurer’s Report
CABAHS AGM Minutes 2024

Show Table Winners 2023
The Show Table cup is presented to the member with the most points on the monthly Show Table, over the past year. This year, the Winner was Annie H. Second place went to Terry. And Pat K and Anastasia were Third equal. Well done all.

January 2024 Show Table

Well done to CABAHS members who managed to find something to display on the Show Table in the depths of freezing January, it was lovely to see. Congratulations to Sian for winning this month’s Best on the Table prize with her camellias.

Kathy A

Last Show Table of 2023

Another wonderful Show Table at our November meeting, with beautiful Autumnal overtones. Winner of “Best on the Table” this month was Maggie, with her “Not quite Christmas” cactus in full flow. There were some lovely late Salvias and Carolyn’s Persicaria gave a real “pop” of pink to the table. Lynda’s asparagus (which won the Wildcard at the Spring Show) keeps on giving, with leaves a zingy yellow this month.

Maggie with Xmas Cactus — Maggie with her prize – chocolate coins and plant

Members also brought in colourful leaves and flowers to display as a mandala, and Annie added hers to make a pretty Show Table exhibit.

A great display everyone!

Kathy A

October 2023 Talk: The Middle-Sized Garden

Fifty three people attended our October meeting in the Old Library, enjoying refreshments, the raffle, the plant sale and the Show Table, as well as an interesting talk. The Best on the Show Table was Annie H’s display of Dahlia flowers and Helichrysum.

The talk on the Middle-Sized Garden was a first for CABAHS as it was given by a blogger, Alexandra Campbell who describes herself as a blogger, YouTuber, journalist and author.

For most of her career Alexandra worked as a journalist at journals such as Harpers, Queen and She. But when the introduction of IT led to the drying up of hard print journalism work she embarked on a second career teaching herself blogging and videoing. She now blogs at the Middle-Sized Garden blog which gives advice and tips on gardening. It is one of the top ten gardening blogs in the UK with over a million viewers and covers garden design, middle-sized gardens and expert interviews and tips. She also has five million viewers on her YouTube site.

The Show Table – August

We had some superb exhibits on the Show Table at this month’s meeting, with a wide range of pot plants, flowers and fruits on display, so it deserves it’s own post! The Table was, as always, a great focal point for members to gather round and chat about the entries.

Hmm, the committee wonders if the new prize for ‘Best on Table’ is encouraging our members’ competitive sides to come out? Winner this month was Ruth C, with her beautiful vase of Dahlias ‘Creme de Cassis’. CABAHS President Nicolas presented Ruth with a pot plant plus a special CABAHS Biro. The biro is limited edition, and can only be given to a Show Table winner. In future we expect this to become as coveted an item as a Golden Gavel or Blue Peter badge…!

The whole Show Table:

A note about last month’s Show Table – winner was Pat K with her bowl of mixed sweet peas. Here is a selection of those entries:

Exhibit on Show Table — Pat’s Sweet Peas

There will not be a Show Table next month as you will no doubt all be busy entering classes in the Autumn Show, but we look forward to the display in October. 🙂

Kathy A

June 2023 Talk: Success with Seeds

CABAHS welcomed back Tim Ingram who last gave a talk in the 1990s. Along with his wife, he is the owner of Copton Ash Gardens in Faversham. He has featured in a wide range of publications and is co-author of Success with Seeds, a Hardy Plant Society Booklet published in 1997. He is a member of the Hardy Plant Society, Alpine Garden Society and the Plant Fairs Road Show. He is a very keen grower of plants from fresh seeds, most of which he sources from his own garden. He gave a very informative visually illustrated talk on seeds with great enthusiasm which was catching.

He started the talk with a quote from George Bernard Shaw: “Think of the fierce energy concentrated in an acorn! You bury it in the ground, and it explodes into an oak! Bury a sheep, and nothing happens but decay.”

Tim described how he grew fresh seeds, and the conditions they need for successful growing, the how and when to grow different seeds. Seeds sold in Horticultural Garden Centres are grown to germinate easily at 20C. Fresh seeds may need different and specialist requirements. Seeds vary widely and some seeds are more difficult to grow. Seeds vary in size and shape. The orchid is very small whilst the coconut is very large and size impacts on how they are sown and the conditions needed for growth. Some fresh seeds have to be sown soon after they are picked, whilst others may be kept for a long time. Cowslips for example, need to be sown quite fresh in autumn and need a spot of outside winter cold to kickstart them. Early flowering plants such as bulbs and ericaceous need a cold bout to kickstart germination too.

February 2023 Meeting

Our February meeting on Monday 20th, comprised our AGM, with the usual election of officers and presentation of the Annual Report, followed by a talk by Ruth Cornett on the work she has done on her Eltham Palace Gatehouse garden and her passion for roses.

Show Table Winners 2022
The Show Table cup is presented to the member who has garnered the most points on the monthly Show Table, over the past year. We have not been able to present the cup for the previous two years due to Covid, so we are delighted to be able to revive this tradition that has been running since 1955! This year, we had Joint Winners, namely Annie and Terry. Second place went to Pat K and Third to Anastasia. Well done all.

President presenting the Show Table Cup to joint winners Terry and Annie

Sian won Best on the Table for February 2023 for her display of Mimosa

For the coming year, we have introduced an additional award, “Best on the Table” given to the best display each month. This time it was Sian’s turn, with her wonderful aromatic display of Mimosa.

A report on the talk will follow shortly.

January 2023 Talk: ‘Perennials in the Garden’

Anne Barnard from Rose Cottage Plants, a nursery that has won several RHS medals, following on from her successful talk last year on dahlias, gave an informative and useful talk on some of her favourite perennials. She also brought some bulbs for sale which were snapped up.

Although the nursery is known nowadays for specialising in dahlias, when it first started some 25 years ago, they specialised in perennials. Starting her nursery came from her involvement in the National Gardens Scheme.

In her presentation, Anne referred to and described a large number and wide range of perennials and the conditions they need to grow well, as well as showing a range of perennials that partner well together. Some of the perennials she mentioned are listed here and some of them her nursery sells. They also sell bulbs.

October 2022 – Peter Skeggs-Gooch on Clematis for Every Season

Our October members meeting was held on 17th October in the magnificent Old Library at Charlton House. A well attended meeting, we were treated to a great talk from Peter of Thorncroft Clematis, a wonderful Show Table, bulbs for sale and an amazing Autumn mandala from members gardens, which covered the entire grand piano!

It was clear that we were in for a treat of a talk. As well as a box of Thorncroft Clematis Catalogues, Peter Skeggs-Gooch laid out the nursery’s impressive collection of Flower Show medals: several Chelsea golds as well as a smattering of Silver-Gilts. Peter’s slide show took us from evergreen winter varieties such as the familiar ‘Freckles’ and the lovely, if large, armandii ‘Apple Blossom’; through Spring, with much-loved montanas now smaller and more manageable; into Summer with several scented varieties including the coconut-perfumed ‘Lambton Park’; and finally finishing with the viticellas of Autumn such as ‘Prince William’ and super easy ‘Alba Luxurians’. His nursery produces over three hundred varieties, so we were being given only a glimpse of what is on offer. For more information or to order head to their website.