summer – Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

Autumn Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Show 2026

The 2026 Autumn ‘Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Show’ was held on Monday 21 September in the Old Library at Charlton House.

The Autumn Show 2026 starts to take shape — CABAHS Autumn 2026 Show gets underway

This is a photo-heavy post so some will display quite small – just click on the images to see at full size.

This year, after such extreme drought and high temperatures, the committee was concerned that entries might be few and far between. Of course, these fears were unfounded as the members came up trumps again, showing entries rich in variety, creativity, colour and quality. In fact, resident potato-weigher Hugh said that there were more entries to the potato competition than ever before. There were slightly fewer entries in total than last year, though that fact was not evident in the bounteous appearance of the tables, and might simply be down to a few of our veteran showers being unavoidably absent.

A visit to Great Dixter, August 2026

The weather was forecast to be wet and possibly stormy, so we travelled with raincoats and umbrellas and extra layers of clothes. As it turned out, the weather was hot and sunny – a perfect day for garden visiting.

Unlike some other gardens, including many of our own, Dixter was full of colour and a profusion of planting. Nathaniel Lloyd and Edwin Lutyens had had the foresight to install a reservoir when the gardens were first built and this has served them well. The gardening team have focussed watering on new planting and stressed areas, which has clearly been a successful strategy. The intensively gardened areas like the Long Border have been watered end to end four times since January and the effects of this can be seen in the photos below.

Salvia and Persicaria at Great Dixter, August 2026 — *Salvias* and *Persicaria* providing colour throughout

Plant of the Month: Solanum laxum ‘Crèche du Pape’ (August 2026)

Long-flowering, no-fuss species/varieties are ever so handy to have in our gardens, especially roses and climbers, which I’ve not watered at all this summer – a big bonus! One of these, Solanum ‘Crèche du Pape’, probably purchased 16-17 years ago, is such a plant – no trouble at all and flowering for months at a time. I wouldn’t be without it.

Andrew Salter’s Barn Garden

Andrew Salter's garden from the orchard, 15 August 2026 — Looking to the house and garden, across the meadow from the orchard

Last weekend I visited Andrew Salter’s garden near Canterbury in Kent (@big_drewland on Instagram). Having announced the open garden date a mere three weeks into the drought, he then considered postponing / cancelling by the time another rainless, hot month had passed. I am very glad he did not, as even drought-scorched, crispy and hot, the place bewitched me.

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

August 2026 Meeting and Show Table

Sweet, small mixed posy on the Show Table, August 2026 — Show Table August 2026

A summer posy on the Show Table, August 2026 — Show Table August 2026

The drought continues and we weren’t sure what members would be able to bring to the Show Table this month – but they came up trumps with extraordinary vegetables, beautiful posies and healthy specimen plants.

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!

Weather winners and losers

NB: We have just heard about an RHS survey about the impact of the recent weather: RHS Climate Change Resilience: Heatwave Impact on Gardens which has to be completed by 30 September 2026.

Following on from Pat’s ’10 Jobs…’ tips on coping with drought and heat, we asked CABAHS members to share which plants had proved to be ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in the recent extreme weather, to help us all make climate-change-appropriate choices in the future.

Charlton House Peace Garden, July 2026 Pomegranate, Magnolia grandiflora and perovskia are all winners — Pomegranate, *Magnolia grandiflora* and *Salvia yangii* (aka perovskia) are all winners in the Charlton House Peace Garden this year

A summary: After the spring AND summer drought of 2025 (with four of the previous five years being the warmest on record), we experienced a cold November and a wet winter (the 4th wettest on record for Southern England), with the addition of unusually low light levels in early spring. We have now had extreme drought (no rain at all since early June and counting – and there were long dry periods before that too) and, so far, several heatwaves (which is counted as three or more consecutive days over 28 degrees in London – all have been in the 30s). Of course, the heatwaves may have counted six times (starting on 22 May, 19 June, 4 July, 28 July, 2 August and 9 August respectively) but the weather hasn’t exactly cooled off much in between. In addition, Thames Water declared a hosepipe ban beginning on 23 July (though watering cans and drip-feed systems are not banned) and there’s precious little rain showing in the forecast even now.

Pat’s 10 jobs for August 2026

1. To be honest we know at the moment with the drought and the heat this column will be about the few things you can do to keep things alive. I am sure we will all have losses along the way, but remember all is not lost and will mean new planting opportunities for next year.

Fallen leaves can make an immediate mulch over damp ground, August 2026 — Impromptu mulch after watering

2. If you have weeds growing (even they are struggling at the moment!), pull out and place around plants to help hold the moisture in the soil. Make sure the weeds haven’t gone to seed and, if they have, pull the seedheads off and dispose of them.

3. Mulch the soil with anything you have to hand: your own compost, fallen leaves (as there seem to be so many) but make sure the soil is damp first so you can help lock in the moisture.

Plant of the Month: Tithonia (July 2026)

Being very partial to soft-orange and terracotta-orange coloured flowers, I am delighted that from my kitchen I can enjoy the vibrant, terracotta-orange flowers of the statuesque Tithonia rotundifolia. The flowers are an absolute delight, lighting up my garden at the moment, and, hopefully will do so until October.

Tithonia rotundifolia Daniel Hincapie CC BY 4.0 via easyscape.com

I’ve never tried sowing seed of this wonderful variety but I will experiment next year. I spied this plant for sale when visiting one of the lovely gardens open for the Greenwich and Bexley Hospice Open Gardens, held once again in June, to the delight of local residents.