Saturday, 18 January 2025

Snowdrops. Little bells of hope. Whispering “Spring is on its way” ...Unknown 🌱

 Presentation:  Heligan and the Eden Project 

John Freer is modelling his own knitted top and collects donations for his talks for Martin House 

John, who is chairman of Paxton, spoke about the lost gardens of Heligan and the Eden Project in Cornwall. 

Nobody was initially interested in Heligan and the land had been allowed to grow wild for 70 years.  The National Trust turned it down, estimating a 10-year renovation project at a cost of a million pounds.  As a result of two men, Smit and Nelson, going on local radio, 200 volunteers turned up to make a start on clearing the gardens.  

The history is really interesting and John, a regular visitor to Cornwall, was able to show us slides of his visits in the early days of the renovations. 

We saw the gardeners’ sheds and the tools they used.  The gardeners enlisted in WW1 and never returned.  In the vegetable garden, lead plant labels were discovered under the soil and, from these, they were able to recreate the vegetable garden.   

John went on to tell us about the making of the Eden Project.  This began in 1988 on the site of an old clay mine.  Housed mainly in biomes, giant greenhouses, this project was turned down by the lottery.  Students from a university climbing club helped to erect these enormous structures. Again, John showed us slides of how the project developed and the many problems they had to overcome. 

Display Table 

Some members brought in the Hyacinths which members started off as forced bulbs at the beginning of September and were supposed to flower at Christmas.  Some did, but others are still to flower 

Gill brought Snowdrops  'Mrs Macnamara' 

Derek brought in his tiny cacti ‘Golden Barrel’ produced from seed and grows very slowly 
Judith’s Amaryllis

  Trevor’s early flowering Hellebore ‘Christmas Carol’ 

Ann has plenty of colour in her garden:  Skimmia ‘Kew Green’. Hamamelis mollis, Hellebores: Molly’s White and a yellow one from the garden of the late Elizabeth Bidgood, Cyclamen coum and Iris unguicularis 


Next Meeting:  7th February: Forum - Looking after garden wildlife in Winter. 

 

 

Saturday, 21 December 2024

Friday Forum Christmas Party

Appropriately dressed, we all participated in a Christmas Quiz with topics including reindeer, Christmas songs and Turkeys.

The winning team with their prizes

Delicious mince pies, gingerbread trees and fruit cake with cheese kindly provided by Liz and Judith

Members grew forced Hyacinths to flower at Christmas but they haven’t met their targets. It will still be interesting to see which colour flower we chose.

 Maggie M's bulb

 Christine's bulb 


Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Looking forward to seeing you on 17th January 2025 when John Freer is giving a presentation on Heligan and the Eden Project


 

Saturday, 7 December 2024

“Deck the halls with boughs of holly” Thomas Oliphant

Members created fabulous, festive decorations with a variety of materials, helping each other and having fun.
















Display Table




Ann brought a pot of 'Tête-à-tête' daffodils flowering early and some Hesperantha flowering late

Next meeting: 20th December is the Friday Forum Christmas Party with Quiz and refreshments. Festive dress please.

The first meeting of the new year will be on 17th January 2025 when John Freer will give a presentation on Heligan and the Eden Project

Saturday, 16 November 2024

Presentation: A Hardy Planter’s Survival Kit by Don Witton

 Presentation: A Hardy Planter’s Survival Kit by Don Witton

As the days get shorter and colder, Don suggested strategies to help gardeners and plants survive the darkest four months of the year.

From plants to enhance our gardens throughout the winter to projects to undertake, Don showed us how to face the coming months with positivity.

The talk included inspiring illustrations of his own garden as well as others during this season. Don’s wife, Dot, accompanied him and manned the sales stall which included plants mentioned by Don in his presentation.

I think the talk encouraged all of us to view the approaching months with more enthusiasm.

Display Table

 
Ann brought the climbing Rose “Golden Showers”, the scented Viburnum bodnantense “Dawn”, Hesperanthas in red and pink, Agapanthus, Campanula portenschlagiana, Eryssyum “Bowles mauve” and Aster ageratoides “Ezo Murasaki”



Judith brought Geranium “Rozanne”, Matricaria (Feverfew), Rose and a pink Chrysanthemum

 Sandra’s Saxifraga fortunii

 
Dorothy’s vase of Fuchsias including Fuchsia tryphilla

Chosiya

 Callicarpa


Trailing Pelargonium

Kate brought Callicarpa, Chosiya and a trailing Pelargonium

Next Meeting

6th December - Creating festive decorations. Please bring greenery and other materials to make your masterpiece. A short Paxton AGM will be held at the beginning of this meeting.


Saturday, 2 November 2024

Friday Forum Gardeners’ Question Time

This was our first question time using this format and all agreed it was a resounding success. It was such an informative and entertaining session where the panel helpfully answered the sixteen questions posed by the audience. We were lucky enough to be able to draw a knowledgeable panel of four from our members with award winning and horticultural qualifications, experience of being a head gardener and growing in different soils. Our thanks go to Ann Fritchley, Wendy Platt, Sue Gray and Peter Blackwell who gave in-depth, well researched answers including live demonstrations and examples to enhance their answers. We learnt tips on a wide range of subjects from how to prune fruit trees to plants for semi-shade.

Display Table

 Marjorie brought this lovely sweater and told us the amazing story behind it. It was made by her sister who collected the wool from a Jacob sheep in Robin Hood’s Bay, spun, dyed and knitted into this wonderful garment. She also had labels made with her name Heather Barratt.

 Kate brought Rosa ‘The Fairy’, Penstemon ‘Plum Jerkum’, Heuchera ‘Autumn Bride’, Persicaria campanulata and Bishop’s Children Dahlia grown from seed this year

 
Dorothy brought golden leaves of a Ginkgo tree from Rowntree Park, York. which was created in memory of Rowntree employees who died in WW1

 Dorothy also brought mixed Dahlias, Rose ‘Elizabeth of Glamis’, Linaria, Rudbeckia, Salvia ‘Hot Lips’, Tagetes, Clematis ‘Arabella’ and Orange tree showing white buds

Judith brought Salvia Amistad, Matricaria, Alstromeria, Hardy Chrysanthemum, Geranium Rozanne 
Gill brought Geranium macrorrhizum, Weigela, Osteospermum, Aster frikartii Monch,  Leycesteria, Verbena bonariensis, Penstemon, Hebe, Rose, Erigeron, Erysimum, Hesperantha coccinea, Pelargonium, Cosmos and Jasmine nudiflorum
 Ann brought Canna, the attractive foliage of Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Little Honey’, a tall form of Aster ageratoides ezo murasaki , Amicia zygomeris and Fuchsia genii
 Ann also brought prunings from her Salix babylonica crispa

Peter brought a brochure from Seawards in which there is a 3 day trip to Chelsea and other gardens. 

Next Meetings

15th November: Presentation - A Hardy Planter’s Winter Survival Kit by Don Witton

6th December: Christmas displays. Please bring greenery, flowers and accessories to create your own decorations. A short AGM will precede this meeting

20th December: Friday Forum Christmas Party with Quiz and festive fare. You are requested to dress accordingly