Away from the main tourist area of Amsterdam, in the east of the city, is the tranquil oasis of the Hortus Botanicus (Botanical Garden). It is open daily from 10am – 5pm and tickets can be bought in advance online, although this is not essential.
The garden was established in 1638 and is one of the oldest in the world. It was originally a herbal garden for doctors and apothecaries. There are now about 4,000 species of plants at the Hortus.
This year’s ‘autumn colour’ seems to have developed quite suddenly and intensely, but may be short-lived. So we asked CABAHS members to share photographs of the colour they could find in their gardens this week. The weather has been dull and grey most of the time, yet these late flowers and glowing leaves shine out of the gloom. You can click on the images for more information and to see at full size.
Take a tour…
We tend to focus on brightly coloured leaves when we think of autumn colour, but several groups of flowers add plenty of zing to the October garden. Salvia really is ‘Plant of the Month‘!
Salvia doesn’t get all the glory though – there’s competition from another richly-coloured group, the Dahlias.
Continue reading Autumn Colour in Members’ Gardens1. Salvias are flowering their hearts out now but make sure you have some cuttings on stand by to cover any winter losses. And remember that quite a few are tender and will need winter protection in the colder months.
2. Last year I dug up my Dahlia tubers and potted them up once they had died down but lost quite a few despite keeping them frost free. So this time I will try leaving some in the ground and giving them a thick mulch. Of course, the problem then is trying to protect the new growth in spring from slugs and snails, so they’ll need keeping an eye on.
1. If herbs like thyme have finished flowering, trim them back to keep them compact and use the trimmings to do some cuttings.
2. Stake Dahlias before they get too tall and straggly or the stems may snap. Keep well watered in this dry weather.
3. To conserve water and before we get a hosepipe ban, just water around the roots of plants and mulch them if you can. Some are really suffering at the moment. So why not start sowing seeds of Eryngium giganteum ‘Miss Wilmott’s Ghost’ for a drought proof plant for next year? Loved by pollinators too.
1. Plant out Dahlias in a sunny spot in fertile soil adding some compost to the planting hole. I have to surround mine with Strulch on my allotment to protect them from the hundreds of slugs and snails lurking all around.
2. Take softwood cuttings now of Anthemis, Salvia, Verbena, Penstemon and Fuchsia. Cut below a leaf node and dibble around the edge of a pot. Salvias will also grow fine roots in water to give them a head start.
3. Look out for hellebore seedlings around the base of your favourite plant. The resulting plants may not resemble the parent but they could be even better.
1. 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
2. Now is the time I start sowing sweetpeas: five seeds to a 3 inch pot and keep on a light windowsill or greenhouse until they germinate. You can try sowing directly into the soil which I think works well for some.
Continue reading Pat’s Jobs for March 20251. Start ordering your bulbs now as all the bulb catalogues are arriving – though prices don’t stop going up!
2. Start planting bulbs when they arrive but save your tulips until later as they are prone to virus and rotting, and to theft by squirrels.
3. Divide large established clumps of perennials by cutting back first, then splitting either by hand or with two forks back to back. Delay if soil is heavy or too wet.
4. Replace tired summer bedding in pots and replant for winter and replenish with fresh compost.
Continue reading Pat’s Jobs for September 2024An entertaining and informative evening was had at this year’s Gardeners Question Time. As usual, it enabled members to get advice on their gardening problems, and to air their gardening frustrations. Chaired by Sir Nicolas Bevan, the CABAHS President, the panel also comprised Tom Brown, the Greenwich Park’s Head Gardener, and Pat Kane, a long standing CABAHS member.
Most of the questions were sent in by members beforehand. They covered a broad range of gardening areas and problems: growing hollyhocks; aphid control; tree size; cistus, salvia and sisyrinchium pruning; how to grow dahlias; what killed my rose; problems with apple trees and rambling roses; how to encourage children to get involved in gardening; recommending a fertiliser for yew hedges; the cause of curly cucumbers; dealing with self seeding; and problems with bamboo.
Continue reading August 2024: Gardeners Question Time1. Prune Group 3 clematis (late flowering viticella types) now by cutting all stems back just above a leaf node starting from the ground up. Don’t be timid as they respond well. Then feed around the plant base with an organic feed making sure to avoid emerging shoots and mulch with compost.
2. If you have some, mulch your beds with homemade compost or leafmould. If you don’t have enough just mulch around your favourite plants.
Continue reading Pat’s 10 Jobs for February…
Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society 