Thoroughly recommend visiting this exhibition if you can. We combined it with a visit to the Marianne North gallery and took all day over it. The sculptures are all based on plants and have been beautifully set around the gardens.
Here is our panel of amateur experts, getting ready to answer members questions! It was a very enjoyable evening for the 63 members who came out on a hot summer’s evening (and braved the night filming going on at Charlton House masquerading as a gothic mansion!)
We had some very varied questions, a useful demonstration on taking cuttings (thank you Terry), some good debates about composts and chemicals and some very funny anecdotes. Hope you all enjoyed it!
We also collected a beautiful range of Salvias from our gardens, here are the pics:
Thank you to everyone who donated plants, or helped on the stall, or came along and bought some! We had a great time and raised an amazing £490 which will go towards our speakers programme next year. Well done everyone.
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
On 15 July 2019, CABAHS members took a trip to Chenies Manor in Buckinghamshire. There was a fantastic plant fair – so many stalls, so much to buy! And a wonderful old house too, well worth a visit anytime.
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.
– article submitted by member Angela B
Following Dr Benz Kotzen’s wonderful talk last year, Anna arranged a trip on 5 June 2019, to see the roof gardens on Greenwich University’s School of Architecture and Construction building on Stockwell Street. Here is a picture of the meadow area on the roof.
Plant of the Year at the 2019 Chelsea Flower Show was this unassuming but rather pretty Sedum ‘Atlantis’.
Kathy had a great week volunteering at the Show, and was able to have a quick word with Nick Bailey as he was passing by and remind him he is coming to talk to CABAHS for our November meeting. I don’t suppose it was top of his To Do list that day but he was very kind about it!
I expect everyone has been following the BBC coverage of Chelsea – but they didn’t cover very many of the trade stands and some had really fabulous planting. Here’s a pic to give you all “Urn Envy”…
Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society 