Dull November brings the blast, then the leaves are falling fast (Sara Coleridge)

Talk:  Gardening to delight the senses by Sarah Hopps

Sarah became interested gardening as a child and now involves her grandchildren.  She certainly delighted all our senses with her entertaining presentation.  We were all nodding in agreement as she reminded us how the garden stimulates all our senses.  We see different shapes and colours, we hear the sound of the wind, water and birdsong, smells evoke other times and places and we can feel the different textures.  Sarah brought along an array of plants to demonstrate this and showed us illustrations of gardens both here in the UK and further afield.

Display Table

Carol’s Flower Carpet Pink roses are still flowering, shown here with white chrysanthemums

In Kate’s jug:  the delicate Fuchsia Hawkshead, Persicaria amplexicaulis Alba, Callicarpa (bodinieri var. giraldii Profusion living up to its name, Cosmos Purity, Saxifraga Wada and the flower of Heuchera villosa Autumn Bride

Ann brought Autumn Lady's-tresses orchid, Spiranthes spiralis which comes from America

Gill brought Michaelmas Daisies, saxifrage fortunii and Callicarpa

Judith’s blue vase contains isoplexis canariensis, the Canary Islands foxglove. Growing out of the pot is what Judith hopes is a seedling.  

This is a cutting of Trevor’s kalanchoe which has grown very large but produced no flowers, yet.  We look forward to an update …

Katherine brought a Datura which came from a cutting from fellow member Amanda. On looking it up, I read that the plant is poisonous but tea made from it has hallucinogenic properties!

Next meeting:  19th November: Forum plus Profile of a Plantsperson – our own Kate van Heel

Harvest Forum

Friday Forum members spent an enjoyable afternoon doing our favourite things: eating, chatting and quizzing.

The quiz, prepared by Norma, required us to select from the 12 foods displayed which were available in the 17^th Century in the UK.  I failed at the first hurdle by not reading the end of the question!  It was fascinating to discover where the foods came from, when they were first grown, who discovered them and when they were first introduced to the UK.

We sampled cake, jams and compote made by members using some ingredients from their own gardens.  Dorothy warned us not to eat the spider decoration on her contribution as they were not edible!

Display Table

Kate’s jug contained Salvias (nachtvlinder, Amistad and confertiflora, Phlox The King, Verbena Bonariensis, Hydrangea leaves, Euonymus alatus and Loropetalum chinense Fire Dance

Ann’s delightful display in a basket using gourds, pine cones, grapes, tomatoes Tumbling Tiger and Autumn crocus

Judith’s arrangement included a salvia sown from seed and salvia amistad, a flower from a heuchera, annual linaria, verbena bonariensis, tithonia, dahlias (Murdock,karma choc, blue by you (maybe) and Flaxton), coleus and Phytolacca ‘Laka Boom’

Dorothy’s 6 year old Eucomis

Gill’s attractive display of foliage and berries

Next meeting:   5^th November - a talk by Sarah Hopps; Gardening to delight the Senses.

 

Special Plants for Small Gardens

Talk by Peter Williams on Special Plants for Small Gardens

Always entertaining, Peter gave an interesting, illustrated talk on different styles and designs for small gardens.  Peter gave us a list of suggested plants and trees and loads of ideas to consider for our own gardens.

Display Table

Gill explained how to weave a wreath from willow

Gill’s vase contained Hydrangeas, Phlox, Eupatorium rugosum, yellow Buddleia weyeriana, Cosmos and Fuchsia

Judith's vase contains Roscoea spice island, annual Salvia, Catalpa, foliage of Canna, Tithonia and Dahlia

Ann brought a beautiful bouquet of poisonous plants:

Aconitum (hemsleyanum, bicolor, spatlese,  carmichaelii), Colcium (album and lilac wonder), Ricinus communis, Arum italicum, Hedera buttercup, Taxus[LC1]  fastigiata aurea and digitalis

Margaret H asked why her aubergines didn’t grow although she had watered and fed them.  Anyone?

Sue G brought a Pavonia from the Harrogate Flower Show.  It is a South African plant from the mallow family and the yellow flowers last just a day

Jenny saw this in the RHS magazine and realised she had some Teucrium in her garden

Maggie’s roses are Iceberg, Blush Noisette, Mermaid and Pink Perpetue

Gill J’s arrangement included Aster Monch, Cerinthe major, pelargonium, penstemons (phoenix violet,pink and garnet) Sweet William, hardy osteospermum, Hesperantha, Calendula, Fuchsia, Leycesteria, named after William Leycester a horticulturist in Bengal around the 1820s. 

Dorothy’s Abutilon grown from a cutting.

Kate’s container:  Verbena rigida, Clematis Helios, Phlox blue paradise, Aralia sun king, hardy Begonia claret jug, Anemone pamina, Cosmos purity, Aster x frikartii Monch, Rudbeckia sahara

Next meeting is on 15^th October and will have a harvest theme.  There will be a quiz and we request that members bring a homemade cake/dish/produce to share.

 

 

Autumn Colour in our gardens

 We asked Friday Forum members to show what was currently giving colour in our gardens and just look what they brought:

Carole’s perennial begonia from a cutting

Trevor’s dahlias which kicked off a discussion on whether or how to store tubers over winter or whether to take cuttings.

The pink one is Lavender Perfection and behind is a variety of purple and/or maroon, Strikes sensation.

Liz brought Astrantia Bo-Anne which has a long flowering time, Eupatorium Little Joe which is far from little, Anemone, Verbena rigida, Geum Mrs Bradshaw, Trollius Golden Queen which does well by a pond, Crocosmia Babylon with a rich dark orange colour, Dahlia and Tithonia aptly named Torch Orange.

Caroline brought an unseasonably early Polyanthus

In Caroline’s container:  double Japanese Anemone, Lythrum virgatum Dropmore purple, Sedum Autumn Joy, pink and purple Phlox, Foxglove, Cosmos, Anaphalis Pearl Everlasting and a little Daisy.

Peter brought seeds and flower head of Lapeirousia Freesia laxa or flowering grass which is fully hardy and grows to 8”

Peter has created these wonderful cards from his paintings of flowers and other wildlife which are on sale at meetings

Gill brought Phlox, Chelone, Kirengeshoma which grows 3 – f ft tall, Itia, Crocosmia Sunrise,  Alstroemeria and Hydrangea

Norma brought Forest Pansy, Helianthus Lemon Queen, Heuchera Autumn Bride, the mildew resistant Aster Asran,  Euonymus Emerald Gold.

Norma’s Baptisia, a tall, hardy perennial which she grew from seed.  It has blue-green leaves. And bears large blue spires in early summer. 

Judith’s beautiful arrangement includes Euphorbia Stricta, Rudbeckia Prairie Glow, Althaea cannabina, Actea, Verbena bonariensis, Aster Little Carlow, Phytolacca, Salvias, Patrinia (one for the flower arrangers) 2 – 3 ft, Dahlias Karma Choc and Murdoch, Shoo-fly plant and Tithonia

 

Next meeting:  1st October - A talk by the always entertaining Peter Williams.  

 

Return to Paxton Hall

 Talk on Herbs by Martin Fish

The first guest speaker since our return was the well-known, expert gardener Martin Fish, who spoke about herbs.  It was also the first face-to-face talk he has given since the Covid restrictions and quipped that Friday Forum has been his best audience this year!

As always, his talk was both interesting and entertaining. We heard about the medicinal and culinary properties of the various herbs, their uses, how to grow and care for them and propagation methods.  Martin also demonstrated how to plant up a herb pot for over winter.

Best tip was surely stripping leaves from Rosemary twigs and use for kebab sticks on barbeques.

Display Table

Peter’s Stapelia, a succulent which took 5 years to flower. We initially thought that the flower was a feature of the plant pot.

Ann’s display of berries included Ivy Hedera Buttercup, Butcher’s Broom Ruscus aculeatus, Tutsan Hypericum androsaemum, Molly the Witch Paeonia daurica mlokosewitschii, Paris polyphylla, Cornus alba (grown for its winter stems) euonymus planipes Spindle and Arum Maculatum

Butcher’s Broom got its name from how butchers used it to clean their chopping boards.

Sue G’s vase contained Heleniums (Sahin's Early Flowerer, Red Army and Bandera) kniphofia, Anemone Wild Swan, Crocosmias (Severn Sunrise, Limpopo and Okauranga) Tritonia, Lobelia Lobelia siphilitica in blue and white, Asters (frikartii Monch and amellus 'Rudolph Goethe)Persicaria Orange Field and Verbena  bonariensis.

 

Kate’s jug contains Lythrum ‘Lady Sackville’, Phlox ’Graf Zeppelin’ and ‘The King’, Anemones ‘Honorine Jobert’ and ‘Pamina’, Goldsturm’, Clematis ‘Polish Spirit’, Aster frikartii Monch, Kirengeshoma palmate and Zinnia ‘Purple Prince’ which turned out to be bright red!

Caroline brought some alstroemeria blooms from a plant which came from a visit to the garden of Martin Fish to check its name:  ‘Summer Break’

Jenny showed us how the flowers of this Hydrangea hang upside down after being pollenated by bees

 

Amanda brought some wildflowers from a patch she has sown in her lawn and which has attracted many different insects

Next Meeting:  17^th September at 1.30 pm - A forum and group discussion about late flowering perennials.