Class 15 (‘photograph of a display of plants on a table’) in our recent Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Show revealed a lovely variety of interpretations again this year (see last year’s tables for further inspiration). All are expressions of nature’s bounty, whether displaying the fruits – and flowers – of the summer’s labours or the exciting potential of seeds and cuttings. Indoors or outdoors, many choose to display tender plants in containers, enabling easy frost-protection later in the year.
Every home should have at least one Pelargonium and, once you have one, you will most definitely want more. There is something so uplifting when seeing a Pelargonium in a pot, whether it’s flowering or not. Some can flower from early spring until the early frosts, but September, to my mind, is the month when many come into their own, generally sending out multiple flowering shoots to delight the eye. But they are all regarded as tender and should be brought indoors before the first frost of the season.
The following plants are in Vija’s garden, enjoying the present sunshine, amongst her table displays.
Continue reading Plant of the Month: Pelargonium (September 2026)The 2026 Autumn ‘Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Show’ was held on Monday 21 September in the Old Library at Charlton House.
This is a photo-heavy post so some will display quite small – just click on the images to see at full size.
This year, after such extreme drought and high temperatures, the committee was concerned that entries might be few and far between. Of course, these fears were unfounded as the members came up trumps again, showing entries rich in variety, creativity, colour and quality. In fact, resident potato-weigher Hugh said that there were more entries to the potato competition than ever before. There were slightly fewer entries in total than last year, though that fact was not evident in the bounteous appearance of the tables, and might simply be down to a few of our veteran showers being unavoidably absent.
Continue reading Autumn Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Show 2026
Last Friday, a full coach of CABAHS members took another trip to Essex, this time to see Beth Chatto’s Plants and Gardens. The last group visit was in 2021 and the irony of visiting a world-famous dry garden in torrential rain was not lost on those who attended then. A heavy downpour on Friday’s journey made us wonder if we might be reliving the experience, but it was brief and our whole visit was dry.
Most well-known is the Gravel Garden, which was developed in the 1990s on the former car park – at a high point in the gardens which, in Essex, are in one of the driest parts of the country. But the site has a much more varied topography and ecology than just the dry garden. Much of the site was actually boggy and Beth and Andrew Chatto carved ponds in the lowest areas. This meant that we saw green, green lawns in an area – the Water Garden – where the water table, even after this summer drought, is high.
The weather was forecast to be wet and possibly stormy, so we travelled with raincoats and umbrellas and extra layers of clothes. As it turned out, the weather was hot and sunny – a perfect day for garden visiting.
Unlike some other gardens, including many of our own, Dixter was full of colour and a profusion of planting. Nathaniel Lloyd and Edwin Lutyens had had the foresight to install a reservoir when the gardens were first built and this has served them well. The gardening team have focussed watering on new planting and stressed areas, which has clearly been a successful strategy. The intensively gardened areas like the Long Border have been watered end to end four times since January and the effects of this can be seen in the photos below.
Well used to opening in the summer to raise money for the local hospice, this year Ruth and Matthew opened their garden ‘The Gatehouse‘ for the National Garden Scheme in the spring. Ruth said she bought ‘something like’ 2,000 bulbs, not surprising in a garden of this size!
Described in the NGS Handbook as ‘one of London’s largest private gardens’, the grounds were originally part of Eltham Palace and are presided over by a hugely imposing copper beech. The great wall surrounding the garden and the mature trees lend the garden an immediate air of gravitas.
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 2026
Technically, a small garden is considered to be one that is approximately 100m2 (33 x 33ft) or less. While the average UK garden is apparently about twice that size (225m2 – almost a tennis court), and most new build etc gardens are about half the size of ‘small’ (50m2), we are based in London and what really defines a small garden is probably more a matter of opinion and perception than exact dimensions. To complicate the topic further, many larger gardens are divided into smaller spaces or ‘rooms’, which will often have features and considerations in common with smaller gardens.
Continue reading Small gardensClass 17 (‘photograph of a display of plants on a table’) in our recent Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Show was partly inspired by Vija’s ‘Fantasy Garden Tables‘ post in May, which in turn was inspired by Monty Don’s ever-changing and covetable table displays on Gardeners’ World. Members’ photographs were displayed and judged on a digital screen, and were so varied, lovely and interesting, we thought we’d show them here (click on images to see in more detail):
This variegated Japanese Pittosporum — P. tobira ‘Neige du Mont Ventoux’ — is a lovely addition to any garden, and particularly courtyard gardens, where space is at a premium, as it is the perfect specimen for growing in a container.
It was at a rare plant fair in Kent many years ago when I spotted this very appealing shrub. It was “twinkling” at me so, naturally, I found I just could not resist it and brought it home! Because of its branched structure, it was placed in a terracotta container and there it has remained, contented, to this day. I hadn’t realised at the time though, that this variety is very suitable for a container, as its height and width is generally no more than one metre at maturity.
Continue reading Plant of the Month: Pittosporum tobira ‘Neige du Mont Ventoux’ (May 2025)
