Narcissus – Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

July 2025 Talk: Adventures with Bulbs

Following on from a talk given in October 2024 by Dr Tim Ingram about his family run garden – Copton Ash – he returned for a more detailed presentation about the bulbs grown there. As he was not well that evening, his wife Gillian gallantly stepped up at the last moment to deliver the talk.

Gillian Ingram of Copton Ash Nursery speaking at CABAHS July 2025 meeting

A wealth of bulbs have now been planted at Copton Ash, in beds, under trees and also allowed to naturalise in long grass. In particular a circular sunny gravelly bed was highlighted. The planting was at first inspired by the Lime Walk at Sissinghurst Castle which is very much a spring show of narcissus, tulips, primroses, anemones, scillas, violets and erythroniums. Tim has continuously added to and altered the planting in the circular bed so that there is now interest throughout the year.

Fantasy garden tables

Those of you who are regular viewers of BBC Gardeners’ World will most likely have noted Monty Don’s table of potted plants, which varies throughout the seasons and looks like something most of us can only dream of! In a recent article by Alice Vincent, she describes what she calls Monty Don’s ‘Fantasy table’. (My latest garden fantasy? An elegant table covered in flower pots)

The scale of Don’s table and the amount he has displayed is something many of us may aspire to, myself included! On a recent visit to Anna L’s garden, I was impressed by how she had similarly grouped a range of plants in pots, a mix of bulbs, a small Phlox stolonifera, Violas, a Clematis waiting to be planted and a miniature Hosta. Anna very kindly listed the plants for me and you can see from this that a display does not have to be carefully curated, but a selection of whatever takes your fancy!

Anna's garden table — Anna’s plant table in late spring, featuring:
Narcissus ‘Thalia’ and N. ‘Pipit’; Clematis ‘Rising Star’ and C. ‘Bees’ Jubilee’; Pelargonium australe; Phlox stolonifera ‘Fran’s Purple’; Anemone de Caen blue-flowered; Primula ‘Stella Neon Violet’; Phormium; purple Viola; Hosta ‘Lemon Stiletto’

March 2025 Meeting and Show Table

A packed library for the March meeting, and the first Show Table of the year – congratulations to Kathy for winning this month’s Best on the Table prize with her Narcissus ‘St Patrick’s Day’.

There was also a Plant Sales table and the usual raffle with lots of lovely plant prizes. The main event was a talk by Fiona Davison, author of ‘An Almost Impossible Thing: The radical lives of Britain’s pioneering women gardeners‘.

Ali H

What to look out for in the Old Pond Garden: March 2025

We hope you enjoy a spring walk around the walled gardens at Charlton House! Look out for:

Daffodil (Narcissus ‘Elke’)

Narcissus 'Elke' in the Old Pond Garden at Charlton House

A fragrant, small and early-flowering daffodil, you can spot Narcissis ‘Elke’ in the Peace Garden. It has pale petals and a creamy yellow trumpet. The name ‘Elka’ is apparently from a combination of the names of two ‘lady daffodil growers’: Elizabeth and Kate.

Wood spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae)

Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae (wood spurge / Mrs Robb's Bonnet) in the Old Pond Garden, Charlton House, March 2024

Wood spurge is in the Euphorbia family, so take care! If the stems are broken, they gush with a thick milky latex substance that can cause blisters on skin. They are handsome perennial plants, shade loving, with zingy lime-green flowers in late Spring and rosettes of glossy dark green leaves. Another name for this plant is ‘Mrs Robb’s Bonnet’ – we would like to see the hat that inspired that name!

Spring in Cornwall

I have just spent a very happy week at Duloe Manor, a complex of self-catering holiday apartments and cottages near Looe in Cornwall. The main house was built in the 1690s for the Rectors of the local church. The whole complex is set in lush gardens of around three acres: a few mixed beds contained lovely combinations of saxifrages, irises and other familiar perennials while in less formal areas, swathes of wild garlic provided backdrops for beautiful pink campions as well as English bluebells in full bloom. In the car park several banks of pale yellow primroses remained stubbornly but delightfully in flower! Majestic rhododendrons provided splashes of magenta and purple.

A mixed bed contained lovely combinations of saxifrages, irises and other familiar perennials

Majestic rhododendrons provided splashes of magenta and purple

Labour of love – Keukenhof (2)

A visit to Keukenhof for the second year running found a different garden, although the visits were only a week apart. Spring has evidently come later and most of the narcissus and hyacinths were still in full flower. Last year there were very few remaining in flower. The scent from both filled the air.

Even where some of the tulips had gone over they were still exquisitely beautiful – like a Dutch still life painting.

At home my hyacinths have been swept around by the rain and wind, but at Keukenhof they stand firm.

But then I looked closer. Each individual hyacinth has been individually staked, so discretely that it is hardly noticeable! What a labour!

Vija

OPG diary – September 2020

25 September
Starting to plant things instead of just weeding and pulling up. This picture shows newly planted clumps of lilyturf (Liriope muscari) looking happy under the Tree of Heaven. The lilyturf was kindly donated by a CABAHS member.

Liriope muscari (lilyturf) in the Old Pond Garden, Charlton House, September 2020

We are ordering 2,000 bulbs of Narcissus ‘Tete a Tete’ and Thalia, for some spring colour, these should arrive in a week or so. Lots of planting to do!

28 September
A lesson and/or debate on how to plant a shrub! These are the Pittosporum “Tom Thumb” being planted.

CABAHS volunteers in the Old Pond Garden, Charlton House, September 2020