February – Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

Great Dixter Behind the Scenes

Led by members of the garden team, the Behind the Scenes tours of Great Dixter provide an opportunity to explore the garden and meadows to examine the plants which are putting on a display at particular times of the year, offering an insight into the work that makes this happen. Limited to a maximum of 25 people, they allow visitors to have a good view of the plants.

A tour of the gardens in February was always going to be a little hit and miss in terms of the weather, but we were fortunate enough to arrive just as the rain stopped, so were able to enjoy the tour without getting soaked through!

As we enter through the front meadow, the area is full of Crocus tommasinianus, Crocus flavus and various forms of Crocus chrysanthus. Of course there are snowdrops everywhere. Our guides introduced us to the wide range that are cultivated here, from the common (but no less lovely) Galanthus nivalis, to G. Atkinsii and G. S. Arnott which are all doing fabulously well, as well as the less common G. Diggory and G. Washfield Colesbourne. We all peered at the diminutive G. Wendy’s Gold in a corner, sheltered by a wall and still tiny enough that if it wasn’t pointed out, you might walk past it! Some of the differences between the types are so small: those with an upturned tepal and look like little helicopters, while G. Diggory is plump and round.

Visit to the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh

I spent a weekend this February in Edinburgh, and came across this interesting doorstep display on my travels around the city. Some new ideas for displaying your succulents …!

I also visited the Royal Botanic Garden. The morning I visited was bright, cold and calm, in stark contrast to the previous weekend when the garden had been ravaged by storm Eowyn. The sad remains of the garden’s tallest tree – a 166 year-old conifer – were clear to see.

The sun was shining and the sky a bright blue but the frost remained in the shadier parts of the beds and the Rhododendrons had bowed their leaves to protect themselves from the cold. But they were also covered in buds, waiting to burst forth in a few weeks time.

Annual General Meeting February 2025

Sixty-three members attended our Annual General Meeting on Monday 17^th February in the Old Library at Charlton House. There were opportunities to renew membership, check the data CABAHS holds on members for GDPR purposes and book the next CABAHS outing to RHS Wisley on 6^th May, as well as the Raffle.

The AGM included a review of achievements over the past year and the election of the Committee and Officers of the Society for 2025.

Reports from the AGM
CABAHS AGM 2025 – Chair’s Report
CABAHS AGM 2025 – Treasurer’s Report
CABAHS AGM Minutes 2025
CABAHS AGM Revised Constitution

Stella giving the Chairs Review of the Year 2024

Treasurer's Report for 2024 — Stella giving the Chairs Review of the Year 2024

Three Committee Members have stepped down
Stella B stepped down as Chair of CABAHS and Anna L and Lynda F stepped down as Committee Members. Each was presented with a bouquet and a book in thanks for their contribution to the work of the CABAHS Committee.

New Committee for 2025
With departures from the Committee, new Committee members are required and Vija V was elected as Chair. She responded that “It was good to see so many of our members at the AGM. I am delighted to be returning as Chair of CABAHS and look forward to working with you all again.”

Pat’s Jobs for February 2025

1. It’s time to cut back those late-flowering clematis…the viticella small-flowered types and the ones flowering after June. All that rain last year made mine grow rampantly so cut back hard to just above a bud, 6 to 12 inches from the ground, and give them a feed and a mulch.

Late flowering viticella clematis — Late flowering viticella Clematis

Clematis viticella - two varieties — Late flowering viticella Clematis

2. You can also cut back some of the slightly early-flowering types like jackmanii varieties and Comtesse de Bouchard, but it’s best to check individual varieties or you’ll lose all your flowers for this year. Other varieties such as early varieties like Montana should be trimmed back after they flower in Spring, unless overgrown – when they require drastic action and you’ll be sacrificing the flowers for a year or two. Anyway, please check.

3. If the ground is frozen or too wet then don’t be tempted to walk on it for fear of damaging the structure. Seems impossible at the moment to get much done!

Outing to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for Orchid display

This year’s Orchid display, based on the beauty of Peru, is being show-cased in the Princess of Wales Conservatory. The display is absolutely stunning and should not be missed.

The glasshouse is divided in two sections: the arid, dry zone, featuring cacti and succulents; and the lush, tropical zone. Within the dry zone several large containers of orchids and hanging orchid planters are on display but it’s the tropical zone that contains the main display and you won’t be disappointed.

Inspired by the Peruvian flag and coat of arms, the display centres on a cornucopia (an ornamental goat-horn), overflowing with orchids, to signify the abundance of mineral wealth of Peru. Adjacent (keeping guard?) stands a distant relative of the alpaca.

Plant of the Month: Galanthus (February 2025)

If you wish to see the snowdrops now, I can highly recommend the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. The gardens are easy to reach via the District Line to Kew Station. The woodland garden (near the Princess Diana Conservatory) has meandering paths beneath the trees, where an array of snowdrops, aconites, hellebores and mauve-coloured crocuses (the shade of colour I’ve only ever seen at Kew) are displayed to a wonderful effect. Visiting on a beautiful sunny day makes the gardens appear even more delightful.

The magnificent sandstone rock garden nearby, which mimics mountainous regions, is an important feature of the gardens, and here and there, in mostly sunny locations, could be found very choice, small clumps of snowdrops which are labelled for the visitor. I would love to have any of these growing in my garden and I thought you might too.

Galanthus ‘John Gray’: This early-flowering snowdrop is regarded as very choice indeed, which was seemingly found in the Suffolk garden of the late John Gray. I was captivated by the shades of lime-green on the inner segments.

Belfast Botanic Gardens

I have been spending some time recently in Northern Ireland, and was enchanted to find the Belfast Botanic Gardens are right on my doorstep here.. just waiting to be explored.

The gardens started in 1828, when the “Belfast Botanic and Horticultural Society” was formed and a 14 acre site purchased. The Palm House was built in 1839 by ironmaster Richard Turner of Dublin, who went on to build the Palm House at Kew a few years later! If this one was a practice run, it is still really impressive.

It is not large, but cleverly designed to incorporate a Cool Wing, a central Dome which is sub-tropical, and a Tropical wing, so it can house a wide range of plants. Sadly it was closed for repairs on the day of my visit, courtesy of the recent winter storms.

There is another glasshouse on the site, the Tropical Ravine House, which is just amazing. It was built by “the Head Gardener and his staff” (Jason & the Garden volunteers – there’s an idea!) and was finished in 1889. Uniquely constructed into a hillside, so the visitor walks around a balcony and looks down into a moist glen filled with tropical planting.

It was renovated in 2019 with help from the Friends of Belfast Botanic Gardens, who clearly play a large part in supporting and maintaining these gardens. They have also created a fascinating new Global Medicine Garden just to the side of the glasshouse. https://fobbg.co.uk/

Plant of the Month: Bergenia emeiensis (March 2024)

I have a choice plant in my garden which, amazingly, I have managed to keep alive all these years and it’s all thanks to Margaret T, who kindly gave me an off-shoot such a long time ago.

To make sure it was protected, I planted this bergenia in a pot on the shady side of the steps, so that the plant would stand out and not get damaged. It flowers every winter and has been flowering all through February this year and the elegant white, nodding flowers are still hanging on, fading to a shade of blush-pink. The rhizomes have outgrown the pot now so I will be thrilled if I can return the favour and offer Margaret T an off-shoot of this beautiful plant. Plants are difficult to obtain but I understand seed might be available on the market.

The botanists and growers regard this species as the most elegant of all the Bergenias and I can see why, as this compact plant with its rosette of neat, oval, apple-green, shiny leaves enhances the dainty flowers, which are held aloft on elegant, often blush-pink stems.

Seed was first collected from the limestone cliffs in Sichuan in the Himalayan mountains in 1935 and again in 1982 by Roy Lancaster who introduced the species to the UK. Cambridge Botanic Garden website mentions that Bergenia emeiensis can be seen growing in their Alpine House and that they are also trialling the species in their woodland area. The plant used to be regarded as tender but I regard it as a hardy perennial in my small courtyard garden which, like many London gardens, has its own micro-climate. Even so, I do, unfortunately, sometimes lose plants during colder winters but this species has not yet been damaged and so it’s a great treat to be able to admire this handsome specimen from my kitchen window.

Anna L

The View from my Window

A piece inspired by Kathy’s entertaining post.

I, too, have a comfy seat looking out on my garden where I spend many happy hours deciding what changes need to be made in my garden (there is always something).

I am currently enjoying watching my pots of bulbs grow and begin to flower. I posted a photo on Facebook of my Harmony irises and my friend in Norfolk (who I think was rather envious) suggested I had a microclimate in my garden. It is very sheltered and faces west so maybe I do.

I have just decided to empty my rather unsightly compost bin and replace it with a smaller, more discreet one. I therefore have a large pile of compost which I am in the process of shovelling around the garden. I am expecting a spectacular display later in the year!

My Clematis Armandii under the tree is budding nicely. I planted it some years ago and was disappointed last year that I had so few flowers on it. That was until I looked out from the upstairs window and discovered that my neighbours were enjoying a beautiful display! It had put all its energy into growing to a lighter spot in the garden next door!

I find this time of year quite difficult garden-wise, especially when the weather is mild, as it is at the moment. I am having to restrain myself from going wild with the secateurs and cutting everything back. I shall wait another month before giving my clematis, roses and salvia a good hair cut. I think it is also time to give the Hibiscus Syriacus Woodbridge a trim as it has grown rather tall and thin.

I hope other people will write about their views, as Kathy suggested.

Carolyn H

February 2024 Talk about Working in Greenwich Park

Tom Stanier, the Horticultural Team Lead at Greenwich Park, gave a talk about his life as a gardener at the Park and a behind-the-scenes look at working there in these challenging times. He described how he came into gardening, his training and work at the Park and some of the Park infrastructure, policies and projects. It was great to hear from someone with hands-on experience there.

He said he felt a connection with Charlton House as he had been married there in 2018. His interest in gardening really took off in 2017 when he moved into a flat in Lewisham with his partner and began to grow plants on his balcony and indoors. He had a radical rethink of his life in 2018. Having a child particularly refocused his life on his choice of a future career. Having been in retail for ten years, he decided he wanted to work out of doors and do something flexible and tangible. He successfully applied for the 2 year Royal Parks Apprenticeship Scheme which is part practical and part college-based course and chose to work at Greenwich Park as he thought it was more interesting. He completed an RHS Certificate and has since taken over leadership of the Horticultural Team at the Park, working closely with the head gardener.