Forum News

Display Table

 Elizabeth brought some clematis including Perle d’azur, herbaceous clematis Compassion, a yellow tangutika (which produces lovely seed heads after flowering) and Polish Spirit.

Marjorie’s pink and white Cosmos

Dorothy’s Cosmos

 

Jenny’s Fuchsia Blue Angel

 This bouquet includes Hydrangea Blaumiese and Rotwein, Altromeira, Rose Plantain, Veronicastrum with its tall spires,Chicory, Filipendula andTriteleia

Janella’s insect house is appropriate for all manner of insects

 Gill's succulents

 James F’s fig

 Dorothy's Eucomis pineapple

 Ann's unusual Sansevieria cylindrica

Cookridge Scarecrow Community

James entertained us with the stories behind his collection of scarecrows, mainly homemade from upcycled materials and inspired by the poem  The snowman and the scarecrow.

 Captain Ahab which is going to be part of a garden gate

 

Notice Board

Graham and Rose suggest that Friday Forum have a competitive display of fuchsias at the Yorkshire Show next year.  We would need to decide soon and get growing.

Dorothy has places available for her trip to Inverewe and Attadale in Wester Ross, Scotland, departing 16 May for 5 days.

Flower shows:

Look out for Calverley Flower Show at the end of August and CookridgeAnnual Show is to be held on Saturday 12th September 2015 at the Methodist Church Hall in Cookridge.  There are classes in Cookery, Flowers, Vegetables, Fruit, Photography, Arts and Crafts. Ring Katherine on 0113 2671858

Date of next meetings:

21st August:  Garden Visit to Valley Gardens, Harrogate (see Visits page)

4th September:  Talk by Peter Walker - Wacks Wicked Plants (check out http://wackswickedplants.co.uk/ for a taster)

 

Our day out 2015

Once again, Janella came up trumps and organised another wonderful trip for us this year.  I think I can speak for all of us when I say we thoroughly enjoyed the day, ate our fill of cake, admired the gardens and were like children in a sweetshop when faced with the range of plants on sale.

 

Our first stop was Ellicar Gardens where we were greeted by Sarah who offered us coffee and scrumptious cake before visiting the garden.  As well as the geese, hens and a rather large sow, there is a natural swimming pond complete with hot tub in this beautiful garden. 

 

 The parterre

 The children's garden

 The swimming pond

 The wildflower garden

 

 The playground

Sanguisorba 'Tanna'

 

We were in good company as the editor of English Garden, Tamsin Westhorpe, arrived while we were there.  Laden with our purchases from the nursery, we returned to the coach.

Next stop was Norwell Nurseries.  Andrew and Helen came to this plot in 1994 from a terrace house with tiny garden near Spaghetti Junction.  They have worked hard on their clay soil which is in a frost pocket to produce a stunning garden and nursery.  Andrew gave a short talk followed by a tour round the garden, happily and knowledgeably answering all our questions. 

 

 Water irises

 The shade garden

We finished with tea and cake; it would have been rude not to!  Again we returned to the coach armed with plants galore.

Final stop was the National Trust Garden Clumber Park.  We arrived later than scheduled to view the lovely walled gardens and hothouse.  Some of us felt that the signage was poor, over 100 species of rhubarb were left to go to seed and we couldn’t find the cafe which was a six minute walk from the gardens.

 This is the red section of the walled garden; the other two sides were white and blue

 He wasn't with our group

Our thanks go to Janella for her hard work in planning the day so well and to Ken the driver of the Dalesman Coach who cheerfully stowed our many plants, hazel stakes and obelisks in the hold and calmly drove his coach in traffic jams, under low bridges, through narrow gates and along country roads.  Although I purchased some interesting plants, my wish list has grown even longer.

Notice Board

Our own Kate Van Heel is appearing on Instant Gardener BBC1 Friday 4.45.

Next Meeting

7^th August:  Forum