The October meeting saw rather fewer submissions for the Show Table than usual (perhaps everyone was exhausted from helping at the Plant Sale the day before?), but nonetheless, it was an exquisite selection of autumn beauties.
1. You can sow some sweetpeas now for an early start next year. Sow in root trainers or sow five seeds to a 3″ (9cm) pot and keep in warmth until germinated, then keep in an unheated greenhouse, coldframe or cool room until spring. Sweetpeas are pretty hardy. A sheltered corner of the garden may work too.
2. Plant Narcissus and daffodils now so they have a chance to make good roots for a spring flowering. If planting in soil plant as deeply as you can at about three times their depth.
Continue reading Pat’s 10 jobs for October 2026Well 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.
The March 2026 meeting had an energetic, spring-like atmosphere, with great attendance from members old and new as well as a number of guests. Thanks to all who took the opportunity to renew their membership for the year. We welcomed Lynne Moore of Moore & Moore Plants, who gave an inspiring and informative talk on plants for shade.
Everyone enjoyed refreshments, took part in the raffle, bought plants and seeds, collected their potato for the autumn potato growing competition and, of course, there was the regular Show Table. And what a lovely display there was this month – thanks to all who brought in their joyful and interesting plants and flowers:
Continue reading March 2026 Meeting and Show TableThe CABAHS Spring Show will take place on Monday 20 April 2026 and classes will be judged by John Hughes. Here’s a reminder of last year’s efforts!
The classes you can enter this year are shown below, please have a go at as many as you like!
Continue reading Spring Show 2026 – classes to enterWe hope you enjoy a spring walk around the walled gardens at Charlton House! Look out for:
A fragrant, small and early-flowering daffodil, you can spot Narcissus ‘Elka’ spreading gently in the Peace Garden. It has pale petals and a creamy yellow trumpet. The name ‘Elka’ comes from a combination of the names of two ‘lady daffodil growers’: Elizabeth and Kate.
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 irritation. 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!
Continue reading What to look out for in the Old Pond Garden: March 2026Following 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.
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.
Continue reading July 2025 Talk: Adventures with BulbsThose 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!
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
We hope you enjoy a spring walk around the walled gardens at Charlton House! Look out for:
A fragrant, small and early-flowering daffodil, you can spot Narcissis ‘Elka’ 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 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!
Continue reading What to look out for in the Old Pond Garden: March 2025
