Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them - A A Milne

Talk:  Chelsea, Camassia, Chris & Chaos

We were entertained by the lively and enthusiastic Stella Exley from the RHS Gold Medal winning nursery Hare Spring Cottage Plants www.harespringcottageplants.co.uk
Stella is a self-confessed nerd when it comes to the Camassia plant, of which she is the national collection holder.  We heard how she was asked to supply the Camassias for Chris Beardshaw’s Morgan Stanley Chelsea exhibit in 2015 and the trials and tribulations she had to endure including the logistics, snow and transport.  All was well in the end and Chris won Gold for the garden!

Display table

 Carl quizzed us on which are Trillium sessile and which were Sessile trillium but some of us were not successful.  They included Trillium sessile var. Viridescens, Trillium foetidissimum and Trillium lancifolium

Margaret Ha brought an Asphodeline Lutea

Gill’s arrangement included late flowering narcissi, corydalis, pulmonaria Opal, perennial Honesty, Solanum, Aquilegia, perennial Wallflower, Brunnera and Dicentra 

 Judith’s vase contained two early flowering poppies including Meconopsis Carissa and Smyrnium

Ann praised copper tape for preventing slug damage.  She demonstrated how the tape can be applied to a plastic plant pot with the base cut off which can be placed in the soil round a young plant but Norma swears by her beer traps!

At previous Forums we have been discussing whether tulips will do well year after year.  Norma brought an article giving 10 good perennial tulips:

Bleu Aimable             Blue/lilac

Negrita                        Purple

Shirley                         Yellow/purple veining

Ballerina                     Orange

Daydream                   apricot/orange

Apeldoorn                 Red

Purissima                   White/cream

Sprengeri                    Burnished red

Spring Green              Spring green

China Pink                  Pink

Notices

Carol Abbot is opening her garden for the NGS on Sunday4^th June 
https://www.ngs.org.uk/?bf-garden=21575 
.. and not Caroline as I originally stated.

Next Meeting

19^th May – Garden visit (details on the Garden Visits page) 2pm.  If anyone has needs transport, please contact a committee member.