Welcome to the blog for Friday Forum, a gardening group which is part of the Paxton Horticultural Society in Leeds, West Yorkshire. We hope that both members and non-members will enjoy reading it and we look forward to receiving your comments.
Everyone contributed a Christmas-themed joke or two to get us in the party mood followed by a quiz, set by Kate and won by Judith, which
was both eclectic and challenging.
Some members made beautiful wreaths. This is Judith's:
Liz still has colour from these flowers in the garden:
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| Bidens |
Wishing our members and readers a merry
Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.
There was a good attendance for what is now our
15th virtual meeting and we were happy to welcome a new member to
the room. It will never replace our
meetings at Paxton where we were able to touch, smell and buy the plants as
well as have a cup of tea and a chat, but hopefully these virtual meetings and our
Friday Forum blog will keep us going until normal service resumes.
Gremlins were at work again and Jenny couldn’t
make herself heard, so her contributions turned into a sort of name-this-plant quiz which Sue G
won by a country mile.
Carol still has plenty of interest and colour in her garden:
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| Leyesteria Formula (Autumn berries) |
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| Mahonia (just coming into flower) |
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| Morina Longifolia |
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| Standard Flower Carpet Pink tree |
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| Abutilon megapotamicum |
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| Cotoneaster |
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| Nerine bowdenii |
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| Arbutus (strawberry tree) |
Maggie M couldn’t join us this month but sent in a photo of her late
bumper tomato crop
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Linda:
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| (WIP) An autumn/winter wreath using pine cones, ivy flowers tinted gold, holly and rose hips |
Sue Gray and her Autumn pinks:
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| Nerine bowdenii |
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| Bergenia ‘Tubby Andrews’ |
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| Sorbus ‘Pink Pagoda’ |
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| Dolly tub planted with heathers, pansies, ivies and Heuchura ‘Bronze Beauty’ + Bulbs waiting to appear in the spring |
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| Persicaria from the Friday Forum plant stall. Unknown |
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| Autumn colours from my garden, including Ceratostigma Willmottianum and Plumbaginoides - bronze foliage and blue flowers Persicaria Hesperantha (unknown) Cotoneaster Japanese anemones Sedum and Ivy Toaster unknown |
Amanda:
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| Parrotia persica leaves |
Kate:
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| From left to right Persicaria campanulata Pelargonium capitatum Anisodontea ‘El Royo’ Hebe ‘Donna’ |
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| Panicum ‘Purple Haze’ |
There was also some discussion on Heuchera Autumn Bride and Rue.
Martin Fish is moving house as he wants to develop an open woodland garden. Anyone fancy moving to a well maintained garden in Rainton?
We had some tasty, hearty soup recipes for the
colder weather which can be found on the Recipes page.
A potential nursery to explore in Harrogate click on https://www.harrogate.gov.uk/parks-woodlands/plants-sale where you can find more details and opening hours. Nursery Lane East, off Harlow Moor Road in Harrogate (Postcode HG2 0FH in your satnav).
We may be into October, but Friday Forum members still have plenty of colour and interest in their gardens.
Janella:
*Actea simplex - from Margaret Denton years
ago!
*Anemone japonica 'Honorine Jobert'
*Aster - lovely blue, name unknown
*Helianthus 'Lemon Queen' - from Kate
*Heuchera 'Berry Smoothie - 2nd lot of flowers
*Hylotelephium spectabile (i.e.Sedum!)
'Herbstfreude'
*Perovskia 'Blue Spire'
*Persecaria amplexicaulis 'Firetail' - also
from Kate! Thank you kind friend!
*Phlox - strong cherry pink, name unknown
*Potentilla fruticosa 'Katherine Dykes' -
lovely lemon yellow
*Nerine bowdenii
*Salvia microphylla 'Pink Lips'
ROSE ‘Pink Perpetue’. Third flush. Lovely scent
ASTER ‘Lady in Blue’
CERATOSTIGMA PLUMBAGINOIDES. Beautiful bright blue flowers with leaves
turning to shades of autumn
JAPANESE ANEMONE. Don’t know which one.
Amanda:
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| Amanda's favourite salvia, note the small leaves. |
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| White colchicum |
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| Kniphofia |
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| Greensleeves apples before l picked them with flower ?! |
Linda:
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| Cotinus, Artemesia, Persicaria, Abelia, Sedum Autumn Joy |
Many mentions were made of Asters/ Symphyotrichum novae angliae but the favourite seemed to be the tall Aster calliope for its flower and also its glossy green leaves on dark, almost black, stems.
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Herbaceous Clematis |
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| Gladioli. Won the corms in a raffle! |
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| Brown Turkey fig grown outside first time in over 30 years. It has kept immature fruit on over the winter |
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| Crocosmia ‘Severn Sunrise’ Crocosmia ‘ Walberton Yellow’ Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ Persicaria ‘Dikke Floskes’ Helenium ‘Meranti’ |
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Viburnum opulus 'Compactum' berries
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Phlox paniculata 'Blue Paradise' & P. 'Laura'
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Crocosmia x crocosmiflora 'Citronella'
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Heuchera 'Berry Smoothie' flowers & leaf
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| Top left clockwise Lilac (dwarf shrub) flowering for the second time. Lovely scent Tulbaghia ‘Purple Eye’ ; sadly smells like rotten eggs! Japanese anemone - can anyone help with name please? Phlox - again unknown. |
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| Hesperantha Pink Princess |
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Red dahlia 'Murdoch'
Orange dahlia 'Flaxton', Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' Salvia Amistad, Isoplexis Canariensis (burnt orange colour) and a coleus
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