Tag: books

Early November blog

It has become a bit of a truism to say that gardens and open green spaces have become a lifeline to many during 2020. A survey examining life under lockdown as measured by Natural England’s People and Nature Survey, conducted in May 2020 found the following:

Our own project to renovate the Old Pond Garden at Charlton House has shown that many volunteers have appreciated the opportunity to get out into the open air and to be with other people. It has become the perfect community project.

Sue Stuart-Smith’s (many gardeners may be more familiar with her husband Tom Stuart-Smith, the garden designer and Chelsea gold winner) ‘The Well Gardened Mind’ was published earlier this year. Sue Stuart-Smith is a prominent psychiatrist and psychotherapist and her book examines neuroscience and psychoanalysis in the context of gardening and makes a strong claim for the benefits of gardening for mental well-being. Monty Don has long argued for the role of the garden in relieving depression and several episodes of Gardener’s World have featured individuals whose lives have been supported by the activity of gardening.

Gardens do not stand still; they are dynamic and ever-changing environments. Gardeners are always planning and looking forward. At the moment many of us, if we haven’t already done so, are ordering our bulbs for next spring. I am thinking about colour combinations (again) and I have a plan to move around my dahlias and make room for new varieties. On another recent visit to Great Dixter there was a stunning variety which, on enquiry, turned out to be Dovegrove. If I can find a supplier, I would like to include this in my borders next year.

Dahlia Dovegrove in borders at Great Dixter, Oct 2020
Quotation from "Elizabeth and her German Garden"
And so we look forward to the next year.

Gardening for health

Monty Don has always been a keen exponent of the health benefits of gardening, in particular its effect on the not so quiet mind. I have recently read that some hospitals have introduced ‘secret gardens’ where patients recovering from the Coronovirus are taken for periods every day, even in drizzling rain, for the beneficial effects. And, of course, this week it is Gardens and Health Week, sponsored by the NGS with Rachel de Thame as its Ambassador. The NGS website has various links to the personal stories of people for whom gardens have played a vital role in their recovery.

V May blog 1

Also recently published is Sue Stuart-Smith’s (wife of the garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith) book, ‘The Well Gardened Mind: Rediscovering Nature in the Modern World’, in which she points out the pleasures of growing and nurturing things and argues for a ‘greening’ of all of our lives.

Despite exhortations to sit and enjoy our gardens, I think keen gardeners often don’t do that! But this spring there has been one thing that has brought me joy every time I look at it! In the autumn I bought a collection of ‘ tulips for a window box’. When it came to planting them, I decided the window box was too small, so I jammed  them all into a pot. The three varieties are absolute beauties and even now they are fading are still immensely lovely.

V May blog 2

I rarely sit outside,  but I am greeted by them every morning when I have breakfast.

At the end of my garden I have a Clematis ‘Freckles’ which flowered constantly through the winter. However, I only saw this when I ventured further down the garden. I have resolved to plant something which gives me such pleasure closer to the house where I can see it even in inclement weather. In these unusual and difficult times, let us take pleasure where we can.

The tulips are Double Early and Double Lates: Anthracite, Copper Image and Dream Touch.

Vija

Pressed flower art

I was recently given a book on the “Art of Pressed Flowers and leaves” by Jennie Ashmore, which aims to re-energise and re-imagine this very traditional craft. It might be a very good time to have a go at this fascinating hobby!

Pressed Flowers BookPeople have collected and pressed plants from the earliest times, when explorers returned from faraway places laden with Botanical specimens. During the Victorian era, pressing became a genteel art and pressed plants were used to create pictures and decorate all manner of objects.

Jennie’s art uses every sort of leaf as a background, to set off the more delicate pressed flowers. This one uses Sycamore leaves (at last, a use for Sycamores!) and Fennel:

Pressed Sycamore and fennel

This hobby is refreshingly low cost – Jennie uses old telephone directories for her pressing, with a brick weight on top. Inexpensive photocopying paper can be used, or blotting paper if you can get hold of it. All material is pressed for a month or two, depending on how thick the leaves are. Check after a month to see.

Jennie suggests experimenting, but says she always cuts off the woody and the fleshy parts of plants for best results. Most shiny leaves (Laurel, rhododendron) are not suitable. You should cut the fleshy middle out of Hosta leaves, otherwise they go mouldy, but they make wonderful colours.

Jennie’s leafworks are mounted on paper or thin card, and she uses Copydex or a rubber-based adhesive that can be easily removed if there is excess. Don’t use much – a dot on a matchstick works – especially when sticking delicate petals. Make a template and use a cutting knife to make backgrounds:

Pressed cut outs

Here’s what you can end up with:

Pressed flowers

I love this idea too – this is a picture of a walk, and then the pressed picture that Jennie made using material collected on the walk. What a great idea for your daily exercise walk! Have fun.

Kathy A

On CABAHS donations to Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice

Since 2008, CABAHS has contributed the income from June & July’s monthly meeting plant sales to the Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice in Abbey Wood. From 1999 to 2008 CABAHS had a plant stall at the Hospice Fun Day on Bostall Heath.  Ron, our present CABAHS Treasurer, was one of the original Trustees and played a significant role in its development. Ron has written a book, well worth reading, entitled “A Cottage in the Woods : Greenwich & Bexley Cottage Hospital” (1994) about its history and the challenges, trials and tribulations it faced in its early days.

As Chair of a local GP practice Patients Participation Group, I recently arranged for two of its staff to come and give a talk to our members, followed soon after by a visit by our members to the Hospice itself. Having an academic Medical Anthropology background, including an interest in older people’s health, like our members I was extremely impressed. I thought CABAHS members might like to know how their donations are spent and some further information about what it does nowadays and the services it provides.

The project was launched in 1985 by Pat Jeavons and Don Sturrock. The site, on two acres of land, was given to them by the Coop for £1. The Hospice took its first patients in 1994. For the general public, hospices tend to have a negative image as a place where you go to die. But hospices have moved on a long way from their early days. Nowadays, whilst the Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice retains a small number of beds for end of life, the majority stay no more than two weeks. Much of its work is in the community delivering palliative and respite care for people with long term terminal illnesses, their carers and families in their own homes, in care homes, at the hospice day hospice and in hospital. It offers a holistic approach that goes beyond physical needs, offering spiritual, social and psychological care. Where possible it aims to provide care as early as possible in a patient’s terminal illness, so that better knowing the patient’s needs and circumstances, it can provide the necessary support and so make their life and end of life easier. This makes it more likely the patient is able to die at home, which is often their preferred choice. The Hospice also provides support and training for health professionals so they can deliver high quality, individualised and co-ordinated care to the terminally ill.

At the moment the Hospice cares for over 2,500 patients a year. It provides care for those aged eighteen and over, mainly cancer patients. About 10% of its Greenwich patients are referred by their GPs, but most are referred by a Palliative Care Unit which it now runs at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich. The Hospice also runs a Day Hospice three days a week where patients can go to discuss their problems and get help. There is also a café and separate eating area for carers.

The free, wide-ranging services and support it provides are costly. For example, it employs approximately 180 staff. Only a third of the Hospice’s income comes from the NHS. It is very dependent on retail sales, legacies and voluntary donations. So if any of you are feeling generous, you can donate knowing that it is for a very good cause and the money is well spent.

Hospice: 185 Bostall Hill, SE2 0GB  0208 312 2244

Fundraising: 0208 319 9230  communityhospice.org.uk

Angela B