| Northern Snippets,
April 2005 |
| GROUP NEWS The winter darkness is over. Brightened by our lively AGM, with its hearty supper and the amusing nursery reminiscences of Peter Foley, winter days are a distant memory, and the joy of the new season is with us. Whether cleaning the greenhouse or renovating an old border, the enthusiasm of early spring is rejuvenating. To refresh your planting schemes, and even experiment with a new one, come to our annual Plant Sale and replenish your stocks. Congratulations to our member Carolyn Sutcliffe who has been appointed the Hardy Plant Society's new Public Relations and Press Officer; she takes over from Philippa Stanton at the AGM this month. PLANT SALE Saturday 14th May, 10.00 -14.00 This will be held at a different place this year: This is just off Liverpool Road on Lane, which turns down by the modern brick church at the traffic lights in the middle of Penwortham.ST MARY'S CHURCH HALL Doors open at 10 am and close at 2 pm. There will be several professional nurseries present and plants raised by members too. Please bring for sale whatever you can, and help to make it a bumper BRING-AND-BUY event. Use a vine-weevil proof compost if possible, a nice clean pot, and add a clearly marked label with as much information on the identity as possible. Can you advertise in this area for us? There will be posters at the next meeting, to put either in a house or shop window, or to fit in your car window. EVERY LITTLE HELPS ! SOUTHPORT SPRING FLOWER SHOW April 30, May 1st , 2nd Once again we shall stage an exhibit at this charming show which features all the dainty new season's plants, bulbs and shrubs. Can you lend us any attractive plants in pots to help fill out the design? These may be brought to the April meeting, and arrangements to return them will be made. The show is held at Meols Hall, Churchtown on the outskirts of the town, where there is easy parking within the estate. If you haven't yet been, it's well worth a visit. SOUTHPORT SUMMER SHOW August 18 - 21 The theme this year 'The World in a Garden' will once again be taken up by a team ready and willing to do justice to it. Plans are already in hand, and as for the spring show, we need contributions for the exhibit. During the week before 18th August, please contact Denis or Sue Watson, or any committee member, if you have some plants in pots which look possible candidates for inclusion. Foliage plants should have a good cluster of unblemished leaves, and flowering plants should be coming into bud. Unusual ones will be especially welcome. DO YOUR SEEDLINGS DAMP OFF? 'Most gardeners at some point have faced this fungal disease that attacks the stems of seedlings. It has traditionally been combatted by increasing the air flow around the plants, or with chemicals. But - herbal tea has been proven to be the solution. Plants watered regularly with chamomile tea showed no sign of this deadly disease'. · from Chris Beardshaw's column in the Daily Mail. SUMMER VISITS You already have details of two special visits by coach: May 22nd Dorothy Clive Garden and Hodnet Hall (Member £10, Visitor £15) These are two glorious gardens developed over many years to show the best of spring shrub planting, in lovely informal glades in a thinly wooded setting. Streams and pools add to the design, providing habitats for waterside plants and the added dimensions of reflection and rippling sounds. Purchase lunch at Hodnet, or bring your own. If you need details again, contact Mike Kedzlie. August 6th Scampston Hall Member £10 walled garden Visitor £15 The park and grounds are ancient, but the walled garden has been recently designed and planted by Piet Oudolf, famous for his opulent planting with perennials, and his love of evergreen hedging to outline shapes. With a nod to Renaissance style, he has created a new mount within the walled garden from which to view the patterns. Purchase lunch at Scampston, or bring your own. If you need details again, contact Elaine Taylor. Group Visit to THE OLD ZOO, Langho June 6th (Monday) A Guided Tour at 7 pm This is a recently-made garden on a sumptuous scale, on the site of the former Brockhole Hospital. The grounds are extensive and there is wide use of statuary, traditional and contemporary. Our tour begins at 7 pm, and costs £5. We have made arrangements, for those who wish, to have a meal first at The Avenue, a restaurant within the grounds. We meet at 5.45 and the cost is £9, to include main course and dessert, with tea or coffee. For a menu and booking form, please contact Erica Hodgkinson sending an s.a.e. INTERNET CORNER: Nature's Calendar BBC1 NW News ran a short feature on 17th January showing the common primrose, Primula vulgaris, already in flower at Knowsley - several weeks earlier than usual. Also blooming were camellias in Liverpool, daffodils in Crewe and more primroses in Manchester. The mean December temperature was 1°C above normal. The study of the timing of natural events, such as the effect of temperature change on plant flowering times, is called phenology. If you are interested in finding out more about nature's calendar, visit the UK Phenology Network at http://www.phenology.org.uk It's an interactive and user-friendly site. The latest phenology news is available for 2005 and there's an online forum. You can also obtain live maps, personalised calendars, data tables and free wallpaper downloads. These might entice you to play an active role and become one of the growing legion of almost 12,000 recorders who are contributing to the database. There's a 'Nature Detectives' section for 4-18 year olds, so you could get your children or grandchildren involved as well. Post script: There will be a 'Plants and the Weather' study day on Saturday 9 July, 2005 at the University of Birmingham's Botanic Garden, Edgbaston. See HPS Newsletter No. 132, February, 2005. John Wilkinson VOLUNTEERS PLEASE ! During last summer we publicised an appeal from the local 'Sue Ryder' home for people suffering from long-term chronic illness. The home is situated at Cuerden Hall on the A49 Preston to Wigan road, just south of Bamber Bridge. They were looking for several volunteers to undertake light gardening duties around the hall, which has extensive grounds, shrubberies and herbaceous borders and a small plant nursery, all operated by one part-time employee with the aid of volunteers. Two of our members answered the call and have thoroughly enjoyed their time there; hours are by mutual arrangement. Anyone interested should contact the Hall direct by enquiring at the café, which incidentally has a very good range of home-made cakes and is open to the public seven days a week, between 10am and 4pm. Keith Russell Editor's note: Cuerden Hall was built by the architect Lewis W. Wyatt (1777 - 1853) in elegant Palladian style, amid a 60 hectare park. The landscape architect from Ambleside Thomas H Mawson (1861 - 1933) laid out the 6 hectare formal grounds in Arts and Crafts style in the early 20th century. Mawson's other work in the north west includes Holker Hall in Furness, Rydal Hall near Grasmere, Rivington 'Chinese' Gardens near Bolton and Thornton Hough in the Wirral for Lord Leverhulme, Stanley Park in Blackpool, Haslam Park and The Willows in Preston, and Tirley Garth in Cheshire. Of all these, only Holker and Tirley Garth retain the full glory of Mawson's plan. His designs echo the symmetry favoured by Lutyens, but blend into an informal shrub and woodland setting further away from the house. CONSERVATION GROUP NEWS A meeting took place on 24th February of people interested in some of the rarer perennials which have become difficult to obtain and yet which display some attractive qualities. Sue Watson has been overwintering those plants quoted in our last Newsletter (November issue) which had been distributed by Sue Pinsent and gathered from various other local groups. Sue divided them and distributed them again, this time to our members, with a record sheet to plot their progress. In addition to the points raised in the November article, further ones were raised:
Four new plants were proposed to be championed by our local group, and their sponsors would bring more news of them to the next meeting. Sue Watson BOB FLOWERDEW: Monday May 16th Myerscough College - 7.30 pm Tickets £5 Bob is Britain's leading organic gardener. He is a farmer's son, whose family have been tilling the land in Norfolk since the time of Elizabeth Ist. He trained in financial management, then toured Europe and N. America, becoming fascinated in their different farming and gardening methods. He has gardened the same plot for 16 years now, growing everything from bananas and pineapples to ducks and bees, on purely organic methods and in his spare time. He runs a landscape business and lectures at an agricultural college. He has appeared on BBC Gardeners' Question Time regularly, on Channel 4's Muck and Magic, on Friday's Gardeners' World with Geoff Hamilton, and with Sophie Grigson in 'Grow your own Greens'. His books include: Bob Flowerdew's Guide to Companion Gardening Bob Flowerdew's Complete Fruit Book Bob Flowerdew's Organic Bible No Work Gardening the last being the subject of our talk. He has some very effective ways of controlling pests using companion plants which deter greenfly and blackfly especially. MEMBERS OPEN GARDENS We have 5 members' gardens for you to visit this summer, starting in late June and going through until September. One is new to us, and the others are familiar to some of us but will be new to members joining this year or last. In most cases the descriptions are those published in the Yellow Book (NGS). Whether seen before or not, a garden in a different season can be an entirely new one. Our evening visits also provide the opportunity to exchange views on growing methods and problems, and to stroll on a lovely summer's evening in a tranquil and beautiful setting. All events start at 7 pm. Monday 20th June, Heaselands. A half-acre garden with beautiful open moorland views. Densely planted, scented country garden with pond, water features, gravel gardens, arbours, pergolas and summerhouse; many perennials, over 100 Clematis. 'Lancashire Life' feature 2004. Monday 4th July, Wedgwood. An old garden which is being developed into diverse planting areas. These include gravel, woodland, herbaceous, formal pond, lawns, large glasshouse, orchard with meadow and colour-themed parterre. Monday 25th July, Bridge House. A 1-acre garden on two levels; stone flags and cobbles with containers, stepped pools divide the large lawn into two areas surrounded by established trees and shrubs, some fairly tender; perennials, fuchsias, summer bulbs, climbers on walls and trellis, and kitchen garden. Monday 8th August Two Bretherton Gardens --Victorian cottager's plot of 1/3 acre divided into 'rooms' to filter the wind and disguise the long narrow shape. Emphasis on foliage and form, with many seed-raised perennials. Mixed borders, ponds, kitchen garden, orchard. --Hazelwood: 1½ acre garden and nursery. Former orchard has gravel garden with silver and variegated foliage, shrubs, herbaceous borders and large stream-fed pool with woodland walk and sculpture. Monday 26th September Millbarn 1½ acre tranquil, terraced garden along the banks of the river Darwen, constantly evolving. Varied, artistic planting including some uncommon herbaceous perennials. Ticket to each event - £2 - including refreshments. BULBS 'In the Green' I wonder how many other HPS members, and other spring bulb enthusiasts have, over the years, purchased packs of snowdrops, aconites, erythronium (dog-tooth violet) and similar bulbs from local garden centres only to achieve almost zero results. I know that daffodils, muscari, crocus (even the small species crocus) and sadly that weed species the 'Spanish bluebell', will prosper whem planted late into unsuitable soils, but the more delicate species are not so readily established. Luckily help is at hand in the shape of bulb nurseries who supply bulbs in full growth and either ready to flower or just finished flowering. Such nurseries are situated around Wisbech and advertise in the December and January issues of Gardeners' World, and doubtless many other magazines. Delivery takes place throughout spring and planting should be immediate. Indeed in the case of wood anemone, supplied as root cuttings, the enclosed advice is to keep inside the plastic bag until the moment of planting. Even allowing for packing and delivery, prices are reasonable, especially as results are almost guaranteed. The main snowdrop cultivars are available at a fraction of the cost of those sold at the various snowdrop gardens open in early spring, and the common single and double varieties are often supplied in mixed trays of 500 for around £30.00, so that several friends could co-operate to purchase a tray. The native bluebell (Scilla non-scripta, or Hyacinthoides non-scriptus) and wild narcissi such as 'lobularis' and 'obvalaris' are also available and look much more natural under trees and shrubs than even the modern miniatures such as 'tête-à-tête'. Erythroniums in yellow, pink and white will make a good display after the snowdrops have faded. Bulbs 'in the green' are still available until the end of April, so why not give it a go? Keith Russell FOLIAGE IN THE GARDEN Ken Green I am a self confessed plantaholic and regularly attend plant shows and festivals, always on the look out for something new or unusual (usually scented and/or purple). As such I have purchased many plants over the last few years from Mary Green, all of which have done well. I was therefore very interested to hear Ken Green talk on the subject of foliage. Ken did not disappoint, from the very start his enthusiasm and knowledge were evident. His slides lead us through the endless possibilities available in every season. From Bergenia 'Winter Markham' with its red-tinged leaves in winter through to the bold spring and autumn shades of the Japanese maples. Ken showed that plants can provide interest without flowers. The denuded winged branches of Euonymus alatus is a case in point with the additional benefit of its autumnal colouration. The eternal promise of spring shown in unfurling foliage such as emerging Sedums and unusual winter berries such as the vivid purple of Callicarpa bodinieri. Many less well-known trees and shrubs were shown to have interesting contorted structures such as Parrotia persica. The use of foliage to mask areas and illuminate areas was clearly shown. Ken illustrated this nicely showing both familiar and new planting combinations. The tried and tested combinations of light and dark foliage, the use of contrasting foliage sizes and textures. The use of blocks of colour to make an impact. Ken demonstrated the variation in foliage available in any one plant such as those found in the Heuchera family. Each slide showing foliage being used to create a different mood. Ken also showed clever planting ideas such as the combination of Solomon's seal and the large leaved Rodgersia, the latter masking the sawfly larvae damage later in the season. Being a scientist my garden is a continual state of experimentation and I welcome new ideas from talks such as these. It never fails to amaze me the amount some plants grow in a year. The ability to regenerate from underground surpasses anything us meagre humans can do. The diversity of plants never fails to interest or surprise me. Even the much-despised Rhododendron ponticum was shown to have a more attractive relation in "variegatum". Ken Green proved there really are plants for all seasons and tastes, even without flowers. Heather Millington
Top Select another Newsletter |