First garden visit of 2017

Garden visit

 

We kicked off our garden visits for 2017 with Friday Forum member Sue G’s garden in Ilkley.  The rain kept off just long enough for us to appreciate this plantsman’s garden and Sue was able to supply us with the details of many different plants and shrubs. 

The cheese scones and coffee cake was a lovely way to finish off a pleasant afternoon.  Thanks Sue!

Next Meeting

 

June 2nd            Forum –“Take five flowers” – Gill Evans  

We will also be potting on plug plants of Rudbeckia

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.

All gardeners know better than other gardeners - Chinese proverb

In this week’s forum we had the opportunity to take cuttings, prick out seedlings and exchange advice and ideas. 

Members were asked what they had done during National Gardening Week and here are some answers:

Carl has been revelling in the blossom of South American trilliums, which are not usually seen in England but they like the extra heat of a polytunnel and grow in their hundreds.  There are approximately ten different species in this picture

 

 Linda and Kate have been demossing beds, paths and lawns

 Brenda and Margaret B Cutting back the old ferns to see the new growth

Eric has been pricking out bedding plants and Judith was busy setting up Harrogate Flower Show

 Janella consulted her impressive diary and was able to recall that she deadheaded daffodils, hard pruned Arbutus Unedo and sorted out the pond

....... and Norma was Strulching

https://www.strulch.co.uk/buy-strulch

Strulch is a light and easy to use garden mulch made from wheat straw for organic gardening

Display Table

Elizabeth brought an interested newspaper article entitled Bed and Breakfast for Bees

Judith rescued a pink rose from a pound shop.  We wish it a speedy recovery.

 Trevor’s Muscari  A touch of snow came  as a present from M & S in a lovely jug.

 

Janella’s  Daffies:  Thalia and Hawera from Wilkos

Although we have mentioned various stores, these plants can be purchased from other establishments!

Judith’s Hellebore

Gill brought a “thug – nearest thing to a triffid” the Chrysosplenium macrophyllum and the mouseplant Arisarum proboscideum, so called because it looks as if a mouse is hiding under its leaves.

Gill filled a jug with plants from her garden including Allium triquetrum, a hellebore with lovely foliage, pale blue muscari, anemone, Smyrna foliate, the early flowering cranesbill tuberosum, a double primrose Marion Harvey, epimedium, Brunnera, pulmonaria with silver leaves, goldlace primula, corydalis,  Geums, which seemed to be the trend at this week’s Harrogate Flower show, including Bell Bank

Norma shared her recipe to rid your garden of Lily Beetle 

 Jenny’s Spanish bluebells have suddenly sprouted like this after many years – any thoughts?

 

 

Eric’s stunning Clivia which was an offshoot from Carl and Margaret

Notice Board

Paxton AGM is on Tuesday  25 April at 8 pm.  Please make an effort and show your support by attending, in view of local societies having to close, and if anyone can help out by joining the committee, it would be appreciated.

  

Please note change of date for our final garden visit.  This will be Golden Acre Park on 25^th August and not 18^th August as previously advised.  Full details of our visits for 2017 has now been updated on the blog.

 Erratum:  In the last blog post I mistakenly referred to the Tulip Apple Dawn.  This should have read Apeldoorn after the area of the Netherlands and can be red or yellow.

Next Meeting

5^th May:  Presentation – Chelsea, Camassia, Chris & Chaos.  Stella Exley will bring plants