April – Page 3 – Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

Keukenhof

The gardens at Keukenhof in April are quite remarkable. Great rivers of tulips are everywhere. Small exhibitions in the Juliana house give background information to the history and also to the planting practices of this huge venture: 7 million tulips (and other flowering bulbs) are planted each year and each year, at the end of flowering, these are all taken up and crushed to be used as compost around the trees in the garden and made into pulp for the paper which covers the guides to the estate.

As a not-for-profit organisation, in addition to the garden architects, the gardens rely on an army of volunteers. From May onwards the gardens are closed to allow time for the essential work of taking up the tulips and replanting, until reopening for the spring display. The bulbs in each garden area are given to Keukenhof by growers in the Netherlands and the name of the company appears as signage on the beds. For those wishing to make a note of their favourites, tulips are also discretely labelled, although it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the enormous range on display!

Vija

Members Gardens April

We’re always pleased to receive reports from our members’ gardens, particularly when accompanied by photos. This month Annie H wanted us to share her delight with the Rose Cottage ‘Garden Party’ tulips in her front garden.

Rose Cottage 'Garden Party' tulips in Annie H's front garden

Nicolas shared this photo with us showing his Daphne bholua in February.

April blog Euphorbia 2

I know we have had posts on euphorbias already, but these plants are such a delight in the month of April that I am adding yet more. The little Euphorbia Chameleon, below, self -seeds happily, but in such a delicate and restrained way that it is welcome everywhere I find it. In addition to this, it politely dies back and allows summer flowering plants to take over.

The Euphorbia below (amygdaloides purpurea) is a stunning contrast with the lime green flower head and the stems which are an intense dark red. It has seeded itself in the gravel path and I’m not entirely sure where it comes from.

In Euphorbia, flowers occur in a head, called the cyathium. Each male or female flower in the cyathium head has only its essential sexual part, in males the stamen and in females the pistil. The flowers do not have sepals, petals or nectar to attract pollinators, although other nonflower parts of the plant have an appearance and nectar glands with similar roles. Euphorbias are the only plants known to have this kind of flower head. It should also be noted that, when the stems are cut, they exude a thick white substance which is extremely irritating to skin.

And, of course, there is the magnificent Euphorbia Mellifera (Honey Spurge) which rightfully deserves its common name and is a delight to be near at this time of year when the scent fills the air. Every garden should have one – it keeps its shape well or can be cut back. Mine originally came from the garden of Jillian Smith, CABAHS ex-Chair, who many remember fondly. Jillian, if you are reading this – thank you!

Vija

Did you ‘Follow the Carrots’ for Easter Bunnies, Plants and a Gorgeous Garden?

Thank you to everyone who came to last Sunday’s ‘Bunnies in the Beds’ and open garden at Charlton House. The ‘Follow the Carrots’ signs worked out a treat, and lots of small people arrived at the Peace Garden ready to find the Easter Bunnies and claim their prize. We gave it an International twist this year, after finding out how other countries celebrate Easter. So as well as Bunnies, the children had to find eg a Bilby from Australia, a Witch from Sweden, and some Willow sticks & feathers from Finland. No-one could really miss the kites (Bermuda) and we had a set of beautiful eggs from Ukraine to find too.

Follow the Bunnies sign — Follow those carrots!

Here they come! Queues for the trail, and let the Hunt begin..

The kites from Bermuda, representing Jesus rising up to heaven.

The day included a successful plant sale too, and Blackheath Flower Arranging Club joined us for a bit of promotion. Not to mention the Producers Market and Frilly’s cafe open all day.

Thank you everyone, these are wonderful gardens in which to hold an event!

Pomegranate Phenomenon!

Pomegranate fruits on April 1st — Pomegranate fruits!

The Pomegranate trees in the Peace Garden at Charlton House have come into fruit very early this year, on April 1st.. and lots of other Spring flowers are opening up, the Walled Gardens are definitely worth a visit. Open Mon-Fri 10-4.

Members’ gardens, April 2021

Here is Pat’s Spring garden, the squirrels have left her some tulips then!

This is a selection of colourful plants from Elizabeth’s garden:

Here is Jillian’s garden in the Spring sunshine. She has some new compost bins to die for! The unusual shrub (bottom left) is a bitter orange or Ponceris trifoliata, it has vicious thorns but beautiful flowers.

Hugh has sent in the picture below – he says: This is a “Meyer Lemon” and it is probably 30 years old now. There are 18 lemons on the tree this year which is enough for 36 gin and tonics! The fruit are delicious and the blossom in spring is really very fragrant.

Meyers lemons are not frost hardy so I bring it indoors every winter but this year it has become a bit confused and seems to have ripened over Christmas. As we do not have a conservatory in our new house it has spent the winter in our bike store cupboard. This is not heated but seems to obtain some warmth from the house and it only has obscured glass in the doors.

Sometimes the fruit take over a year before they are ready and often the tree is in flower again before I have picked all the fruit from the previous season.

Every year is different and it has looked like dying a couple of times but this year has truly been a record year. I can well recommend it!

Online Spring Flower Display 2020

Photos of our 70th Anniversary and 1st Online SPRING SHOW 2020 winners

Our President, Sir Nicolas Bevan says, “I am greatly impressed by the quality of entries to our virtual Spring Show and I congratulate all those who sent in their photographs. At this time of anxiety and sadness our gardens can be a source of consolation and diversion and provide an outlet for our energies. I encourage all our members to carry on gardening and I look forward to the time when we can meet together again.”

The winner of Best in Show photograph is 10A, sent in by Faith. Congratulations! Here it is:

CABAHS Spring Show 2020: Best in Show photograph, by Faith

Close runners up were 9F, the tea cup display by Ann H, followed by 4D the stripy camellia by Peter S, and 2D, the white tulips by Anastasia.

We have submitted Faith’s lovely photo to the Horti-Aid Gardening competition being run by the Perennial charity, to be judged by Alan Titchmarsh, Jim Buttress & others.

CABAHS has traditionally helped to support Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice over many years. Usually, we donate two months of our Plant Sales Table proceeds to the Hospice but this year we invited donations through this page, in celebration of successfully holding our first online Spring Show.

NGS video on sweet peas

The National Garden Scheme has some good tutorials from their Open Garden owners. If you are going to risk planting out sweet peas due to the recent good weather, have a look at this one for some tips.