1. Cut back those shrubby Salvias now if you haven’t already done so, both in the ground and in pots. Cut just above a shoot and they will grow away fast, but listen out for forecast of frost.
2. Some bulbs are now over so make sure to deadhead and then leave the foliage to die back naturally, and give them a good feed to build up the bulbs for next year.
Continue reading Pat’s 10 jobs for April 2026Bunnies again, doesn’t it come around quickly! Although Bunnies is now a Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust annual event, CABAHS is still very involved, with 27 of our members and garden volunteers turning out to help on the last Sunday in March. This year the Bunnies went to Wonderland, and we had enormous fun with the Lewis Carroll characters and quotes. “Every adventure requires a first step…”
We had 178 small Bunny Hunters and it felt like a lot more with all their families and canine friends! We also had visitors just coming along to enjoy the day, it was great to be able to display some new plantings, especially the tulips – Tulip praestans ‘Shogun’ is a showstopper in the Old Pond Garden. Lots of places for the Bunnies to hide this year.
Continue reading Bunnies in the Beds 2026The CABAHS Spring Show will take place on Monday 20 April 2026 and classes will be judged by John Hughes. Here’s a reminder of last year’s efforts!
The classes you can enter this year are shown below, please have a go at as many as you like!
Continue reading Spring Show 2026 – classes to enterI returned to Keukenhof for a brief visit again this year. Transport in the Netherlands makes this a very easy trip and it is well worth making a stopover in Haarlem, which is a lovely town. I have little to add to the descriptions of my previous visits (April 2022, April 2023) so have just included a selection of photos which lovers of colour and tulips might enjoy!
Vija V
If you have a shady area in your garden that needs ‘lightening up’, then perhaps consider the rosemary barbary. This shrub is looking fantastic in Linda B’s garden at the moment and I’m hoping that it will seed on my side of the fence in the near future.
Her Berberis is growing on a raised area so it gets good drainage, tolerating the shady side and facing north. So, it’s a tough, evergreen shrub, liking good drainage and drought-tolerant. Its tiny, narrow leaves (much like rosemary) are a leathery green, with a sharp point to the tips.
Continue reading Plant of the Month: Berberis x stenophylla (April 2025)A good time was had by all at our 47th annual Spring Show on Monday 14 April. A great turn out of members and several entries for each class – including a magnificent 18 Narcissus ‘Pipit’ pots!
In total there were over 90 entries in 14 classes – well done everyone. Thanks is due to all those who organised, set up, judged, prepared the flags / certificates and did the raffle and refreshments.
We welcomed horticulturalist Joe Woodcock to judge the classes* and he was full of praise for each and every entry. Joe interspersed his judgments with interesting facts, tips and growing advice on everything from the merits of deadheading to an explanation of the source-sink theory.
Continue reading Spring Show 20251. Pinch out sweet pea plants above the third leaf to make bushier plants and then, as the shoots grow, pinch out side shoots in the same way.
2. Sow hardy annuals now like Nigella, opium poppies and poached egg plants in any bit of empty ground you may have and mark them so you don’t forget where they are. Many of these are excellent for pollinators.
3. Prune hardy Fuchsias now to stimulate growth by cutting back to just above a healthy bud which will prevent them from getting too woody.
4. Check Dahlia tubers for any growth and make sure they’re getting enough light by turning them round regularly towards the light.
Continue reading Pat’s 10 jobs for April 2025
Thank you to everyone who came to the annual Easter Trail “Bunnies in the Beds” at Charlton House walled gardens on Sunday April 6th. What a fabulous day we all had! We are so grateful to all the helpers, garden volunteers, CABAHS members and RGHT staff who made the event happen.
The Bunnies were hiding in their favourite plants this year, so the children learned a bit of Botany whilst spotting them! We admit to importing a few pots of flowers specially for the event ( I can’t see Jason wanting Marigolds or Periwinkle in the Old Pond Garden on a permanent basis..). After finding and naming the flowers, children had to find the Bees in the Bushes in order to pollinate the flowers – thanks to Carolyn for all those cute knitted bees!
After years of repeatedly reading about East Lambrook Manor in Margery Fish’s classic book ‘We Made a Garden’ [book review], I discovered late in 2023 that the house and garden were to be sold. While the garden is Grade 1 listed and therefore protected to some extent, it may not have to be open to the public, so I determined to visit as soon as I possibly could. The garden is not open over the winter – its season begins with the snowdrop festival in February – so I waited nervously to see if it would re-open in 2024. It did, so plans were hatched as there was now a caveat on the East Lambrook Manor website that opening arrangements could change if it is sold.
On a sunny morning in early April we set off to walk from South Petherton, where we were staying, to East Lambrook. It was a lovely walk of just under two miles, leading us into a small village with some very nice front gardens… and we turned into a driveway with the manor house on our left, the Malthouse ahead and a beautiful tree with a host of snakeshead fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris) below. This was The Barton – the former farmyard.
Continue reading A visit to East Lambrook Manor Garden28 Marsden Road SE15 4EE, Open Sunday to Thursday inclusive, 10.30 to 16.30. No charge
We are members of the London Wildlife Trust, which runs the Centre for Wildlife Gardening (CWG), but it was word-of-mouth from a volunteer at Christchurch Community Garden that made us aware. We visited on London Marathon Day, passing through a crowded Blackheath Station on our way to Peckham Rye Station.
Marsden Road itself is remarkable: its houses all along have designer ironwork gates & railings on wildlife themes, and each lamppost has a ‘squirrel’ high above. These, and the wildlife-themed iron gates to CWG, were designed by Heather Burrell: bollards at the entrance and within were designed by Antony Gormley: a gable-end has a large mural of a Goshawk.
Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society 