roses – Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

August 2026 Talk: The Exchange, Erith

Selina Ozanne, head gardener at The Exchange, Erith. CABAHS August 2026

It was a pleasure to welcome Selina Ozanne to our August meeting to hear about her work as Head Gardener for The Exchange, Erith, a community led arts and craft organisation based in the town’s former Carnegie library.

The refurbished listed building is now home to craft production workshops, a cafe and shop, along with a varied programme of community events.

The Exchange gardens were designed by Chelsea Gold medal winner Sarah Price. The site has various challenges from a sloping roadside front garden exposed to sun and wind from the Thames, to a woodland-edge rear garden with a steep incline. Sarah’s design pulls together these diverse elements together using sustainable materials and matrix planting to make the garden flow coherently in a way that everyone can access.

Spring flowers at the Exchange. Photos: The Exchange Erith

Autumn Flower, Fruit & Vegetable Display 2026 – classes to enter

This year’s Autumn Show will be held on Monday 21 September, at 7.30pm in the Old Library at Charlton House.

Here’s a reminder of last year’s show – a groaning table of entries…

The classes you can enter this year are shown below, please have a go at as many as you like!

June 2026: Gardeners’ Question Time

Our version of Gardeners’ Question Time was back for the June meeting and proved once again to be an informative and enjoyable event.

Members look around the Old Pond Garden before the CABAHS GQT, June 2026 — Lots to learn from and admire in Charlton House Old Pond Garden

The evening started with a pleasant stroll around the Old Pond Garden, admiring the plants and taking in the evening sun.

Back in the Old Library, we set about tackling questions that had been submitted by members before the meeting. In a change to previous years, there was no formal panel or guest expert. Instead, questions were answered by our very own experts with lots of discussion and contributions from CABAHS members, compered by Kathy and illustrated with slides.

June 2026 Meeting and Show Table

Show Table June 2026 — The June 2026 Show Table

The evening started with a pleasant stroll around the Old Pond Garden, followed by our annual, friendly and informative ‘Amateur Gardeners’ Question Time’. As usual, there were was a raffle and a selection of plants for sale and reliable Show Table exhibitor Annie finally got to take away her trophy as winner of the 2025 Show Table Cup.

May 2026 Meeting and Show Table

Monday’s May meeting, the day after the Spring Plant Sale, drew members old and new, a fragrant and colourful Show Table and a fascinating talk on ‘Miss Willmott’s Ghosts’ by author Sandra Lawrence.

Pat’s 10 jobs for February 2026

1. It’s time to prune your Group 3 Clematis (the Viticella and Jackmanii type) to tackle tangled growth at the base so they can grow away strongly. Take all growth back hard to about 6 to 12 inches above the ground, cutting above a leaf joint. Then give them a feed and a mulch. It seems drastic but they respond well and will grow quickly. If it’s a fairly new plant check around the base for slugs which can quickly eat any weak new growth.

Clematis viticella 'Betty Corning' before February pruning — *Clematis viticella* ‘Betty Corning’ before and after a hard prune

Clematis viticella 'Betty Corning' after February pruning — *Clematis viticella* ‘Betty Corning’ before and after a hard prune

2. Cut back all spent foliage on grasses making sure not to snip emerging shoots. And look out for any seedlings to pot up for our plant sales table if you don’t want them!

Plant(s) of the Month: December flowers

What a mild 2025 December we are having! So mild, the weather is confusing some plants, such as lavender, Calendula and yellow-flowered Phlomis, out in flower at present.

One of the joys of winter is admiring all the window boxes, the wide variety of beautiful Christmas door-wreaths and observing what’s flowering in front gardens whilst out strolling.

Calendula officinalis flowering in December — A confused pot marigold, beautiful Camellia sasanqua and festive Abutilon

A confused pot marigold, beautiful Camellia sasanqua and festive Abutilon

Pat’s 10 jobs for November 2025

1. You can start planting tulips now, either in pots or in the ground. The deeper they are planted in the ground the more chance there is of them reappearing next year – but do protect them well from squirrels who love to eat them.

2. It’s not too late to plant Narcissus and other bulbs like Allium, but again as deep as you can if planting in the ground as squirrels do love to lunch on Allium.

Narcissus 'Elka' bulbs — It’s not too late to plant Narcissus, and the perfect time to plant tulip bulbs for a beautiful display next year!

Tulips in spring — It’s not too late to plant Narcissus, and the perfect time to plant tulip bulbs for a beautiful display next year!

September 2025 Talk: Clare Lanes on the Greenwich Park Rose Garden

Clare Lanes talking about the Greenwich Park Rose Garden renovation project.
CABAHS September 2025 — Clare Lanes explaining the Greenwich Park Rose Garden renovation project.

CABAHS members were delighted to welcome Clare Lanes, Project Manager of the ambitious Greenwich Park Revealed project, to talk to us about ‘The Greenwich Park Rose Garden: Renovation and Redesign 2023-2025‘.

Tackling this has been a thorny issue – no pun intended – amongst park users as the Rose Garden was a much-loved feature. Somewhat surprisingly the Rose Garden, as it was when Head Gardener Tom Brown began work on the replanting in 2021, was not one of the heritage areas that fell under the Greenwich Park Revealed project. The garden had first been laid out only in the 1960s with some updates taking place in the 1990s.

A visit to Kiftsgate

Kiftsgate Court, with terrace in front. August 2025

I first visited Kiftsgate Court Gardens near Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire in 2018 and always vowed to visit again, which we did at the end of August. This magnificent Manor House is located opposite Hidcote Manor (owned by the National Trust), so in a day you can visit both beautiful gardens.

Kiftsgate was originally bought by Heather Muir and her husband in 1920. She designed the garden, advised and influenced by her friend Lawrence Johnson who designed the famous Hidcote. Heather Muir’s daughter Diany Binny became the next custodian, and it is now run by her daughter Ann Chambers and husband Johnny who are very hands on and always present in the garden.