Fabulous Festive Flower Arrangements

What a scene met our eyes on Friday!  We saw beautiful displays on a long table decorated with lights and candles courtesy of Judith, Norma, Margaret M and Gill E who gave us useful tips and tricks.  Members were then encouraged to try their hand at flower arranging with remarkable results.

Fresh greenery and red roses with artificial amaryllis and lisianthus

This pot was topped off with dried kidney beans sprayed gold

Pot a fleur

A long tray, cocktail sticks stuck to candles and secured into oasis were used for this arrangement 

Fresh greenery with artificial Poinsettias with gold wire twisted around

Asymmetrical triangle with fruit arranged in a plant pot

A candle in a base of greenery topped with cranberries with an elegant arrangement using gypsophila a glass candle and foliage sprayed with artificial snow 

This is arranged on a cake tray

Margaret’s basket

Gill makes four wreaths for her family using different bases such as willow frames and sprayed ivy berries

..... and then it was our turn

Next Meeting on 17^th December will be our Christmas “do” so you are requested to dress appropriately.  

Talk on Reginald Farrer

Talk

Talk by Kate van Heel:  Reginald Farrer, Botanist, Plant Hunter and Writer (1880 – 1920)

Kate

In true Friday Forum tradition and following on from Carl and the late Celia,  we were treated to a very interesting and informative talk on the subject of Reginald Farrer.

Kate would take her pupils on residential trips to Ingleborough Hall in Clapham, North Yorkshire.  On one such trip, Kate bought a Viburnum farreri, not realising that this was a plant named after Reginald Farrer which he brought back from China and who once owned and lived in Ingleborough Hall.

Farrer came from a wealthy family and travelled widely bringing back plants from the Riviera and European Alps, where he was accompanied by E A Bowles.  He then embarked on expeditions to Eastern Asia where he developed strong views on rock garden design saying, “where naturalism superseded formal artificiality, and where alpine plants were to grow in surroundings which, though ordered by man, copied as far as possible their original habitats”; clearly ahead of his time.

In 1907, Farrer published his popular and influential book My Rock Garden which was in print for more than 40 years.  While in Japan he was attracted to Buddhism and, when visiting Ceylon the next year, he became a Buddhist.

Farrer later founded the Craven Nursery in Clapham which specialised in Asian alpines hoping to introduce these to British gardeners.

For those members who missed the talk, a more detailed version of the talk is available.

Some illustrations of Farrer and further information can be found at

 Reginald Farrer - Plant hunter and writer - Alpine Garden Society

If any other Friday Forum members would like to give a presentation, please let Kate know.

Display Table

Judith’s display in a basket is made up of small pots of cheap and cheerful plants to give this stunning effect:  Cyclamen Solanum, Hellebore Silver Dollar, The barbed wire plant Calocephalus brownie and Begonia

Gill J’s Rose in full flower mid-November and Fatsia Japonica looking so attractive at this time of year

Kate’s pot of Tulbaghia, a pretty flower from the Amaryllis family with pungent leaves

Kate’s jug shows there can still be plenty of interest in the garden at this time of year:  the scented and floriferous Rosa Blush Noisette, Cotinus coggygria Royal Purple, Persicaria campanulata, Verbena rigida, the early dpring shrub, Edgeworthia chrysantha with yellow scented flowers.  In Japan, the shrub’s bark is used for making durable tissue paper called Mitsumata paper which is used for making bank notes

Next Meeting  3^rd December: Christmas Flower Arranging.  Please bring along anything you have made or some material for an arrangement you would like to make for a Christmas decoration.  Help will be on hand from Judith and Norma.

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.