pomegranate – Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

Charlton House Garden Volunteers are Six!

The official launch of the volunteer scheme to revive the Old Pond Garden took place on Sunday 23 February 2020. That’s six years ago, which apparently makes it our “Iron” anniversary ( new spades or forks anyone?). It seems unbelievable that volunteers then were more worried about the wind and rain from the tail end of Storm Dennis than the growing rumours of a future pandemic..

How far have we come? Well I have so many photos and emails from the last six years that I don’t know where to start! The first email I sent to the 33 folks who signed up that February included this immortal sentence:

“I’d like to stress that the volunteer work we envisage is not heavy stuff, and the emphasis is on enjoying the company of others who want to restore this garden to beauty.”

Autumn Colour in Members’ Gardens

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‘!

First pomegranate! Among Salvia 'Pink Pong' in Kathy's garden, October 2025. — *Salvias* with pomegranate, *Hydrangea, Tithonia* and *Calamagrostis* by Kathy, Sharon, Georgie and Vija

Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight' and Salvia in Sharon's garden, October 2025 — *Salvias* with pomegranate, *Hydrangea, Tithonia* and *Calamagrostis* by Kathy, Sharon, Georgie and Vija

Salvia doesn’t get all the glory though – there’s competition from another richly-coloured group, the Dahlias.

My other (sort of) walled garden

In a previous life when I worked for garden charity Thrive*, I was involved in replanting the Old English Garden in Battersea Park and last week I and a former colleague went back to see how it is looking now, some 10 years later.

Although it has a similar feel and look to the Old Pond Garden, it is only walled on one side, but it does still have a large pond in the middle, which is full of water lilies in the summer – spot the heron !

Pond in Old English Garden in Battersea Park

Much of the funding was provided by Jo Malone London (JML) and many of the plants are those used in their fragrances including lilies, rhubarb, pomegranate, jasmine and, of course, roses. Some replanting has been done in the intervening period and it continues to be well maintained and supported by JML, volunteers and Thrive gardeners.

A Romance with Punica granatum

Vita Sackville-West wrote that “Of all fruits the pomegranate is surely one of the most romantic.” I would be willing to bet that most people walk through the Peace Garden gate at Charlton House without realising they have just passed under two “most romantic” pomegranate trees.

Pomegranate trees in the Peace Garden — Pomegranates in the Peace Garden

When the Volunteer scheme started in 2020, these two trees were deeply entwined with ivy, choking them very UNromantically. I wish I had taken a photo of our volunteers, wrestling and chopping at the ivy around the base of the trees! It was one of the team’s early successes, as the next year the trees were covered in their startlingly bright orange flowers and looked very happy. We have yet to get the flowers to “set”, so no pomegranate fruits yet. But of course as gardeners, we live in hope.

OPG diary – June 2021

3 June
National Volunteers Week. Thank you for the muffins Charlton House!

CABAHS volunteers celebrating National Volunteers Week 2021 in the Old Pond Garden, Charlton House

Rheum and foxgloves in the Long Border (foxgloves courtesy of Greenwich Park – thank you!):

Rheum and foxgloves in the Long Border at Charlton House gardens, June 2021

30 June
The pomegranate is flowering in the Peace Garden (top left) the stag beetles are hatching and marching, there is a lovely Malope trifida ‘Vulcan’ annual in the Long Borders (bottom left) and the gravel garden has a new addition of Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’ to add some more zing!

Pomegranate, stag beetle, Malope, Geum - in Charlton House gardens, June 2021

Our Papaver orientale ‘Burning Heart’ have exploded into flower this week. They are fabulous plants, look at the size of them! They came as bare roots, all the way from West Lothian. Thank you Binny Plants.

Papaver orientale 'Burning Heart' in the Old Pond Garden, Charlton House, June 2021