National Gardens Scheme – Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

Members trip to Petersham House and Nursery 23rd April 2023

A group of CABAHS members enjoyed a visit to Petersham House recently, open for one day under the National Garden Scheme. It was a bit of a challenge that the day chosen was that of the London Marathon, but everyone made it on time to meet at Cannon Street station. The crowds were mostly going the other way and very friendly!

The 17th century house near Richmond was bought by the Boglione family in 1997, and turned into a family home next to their renowned Petersham Nurseries. The gardens have a long walk, large borders set into yew hedging against the walls, topiary and a kitchen garden. The tulip displays were beautiful! Despite the drizzly weather, members had a great time wandering around before decamping to the tea rooms at the Nursery.

February 2023 Talk: A Garden Reborn

Ruth Cornett, the owner of the Eltham Gatehouse situated adjacent to the historic Eltham Palace and part of its history, gave an excellent and informative account of how she has renovated the Gatehouse garden which along with the house was neglected and semi-derelict when she and her husband bought it in 1998. Having previously lived in a North London flat and from a rural Irish background, she was desperate to have a house and garden and set about renovating and restoring the garden in 2015. Ruth showed us pictures of before and after.

Eltham Palace is a medieval house with a long history. At one time a Bishop’s Palace and a Tudor hunting lodge, it was bought by members of the American Courtauld family in 1933. They renovated the Palace and added an Art Deco extension, then handing it over to the Royal Army Educational Corps in 1945. Its head resided in the Gatehouse. When the army left in 1992 the Gatehouse was left empty and the garden was abandoned.

January 2023 Talk: ‘Perennials in the Garden’

Anne Barnard from Rose Cottage Plants, a nursery that has won several RHS medals, following on from her successful talk last year on dahlias, gave an informative and useful talk on some of her favourite perennials. She also brought some bulbs for sale which were snapped up.

Although the nursery is known nowadays for specialising in dahlias, when it first started some 25 years ago, they specialised in perennials. Starting her nursery came from her involvement in the National Gardens Scheme.

In her presentation, Anne referred to and described a large number and wide range of perennials and the conditions they need to grow well, as well as showing a range of perennials that partner well together. Some of the perennials she mentioned are listed here and some of them her nursery sells. They also sell bulbs.

Open Garden, Grove Park

A special opening of this NGS exotic garden for our members, Saturday 18 September 2021. A wonderful visit.

NGS video on sweet peas

The National Garden Scheme has some good tutorials from their Open Garden owners. If you are going to risk planting out sweet peas due to the recent good weather, have a look at this one for some tips.

Now’s the time to plant out your sweet peas