A Tragic Accident - 16th November 2017

On Thursday our friend and fellow club member, Maureen Smith died as a result of a road traffic accident on the A689, near to the Irthington junction.

Maureen was a keen member of the club and enjoyed attending club holidays. Here she is enjoying a chat with Helen.
 
Maureen was a great grandmother. She was involved in a number of community groups across north Cumbria, including Brampton hospital's league of friends and as a volunteer with Hospice at Home Carlisle and North Lakeland.

Our thoughts are with her family at this time.

Winter Treats – Creating a garden that looks as good in winter as it does in summer - 9th November 2017

We were delighted to welcome back Maureen Flett, to speak to us about the delights of creating a winter garden to parallel the summer's zenith. Maureen suggested we change our paradigm: seeing the gardening year as a continuous cycle. As the days shorten perhaps we should view this time not as “the back end” but the beginning of the year.

 

Here are some of Maureen's thoughts and tips for the garden in winter:

• Use plants to create structural features e.g. stems create beautiful silhouettes if tall
• When devising planting schemes consider how the plants will look in autumn & winter, thus giving an opportunity for year round effects.
• Seed heads replace flowers (but beware of seeds that you don't want to self propagate)
• Berries & remaining vegetation provide food & shelter for birds, insects & small mammals.
• Hollow stems become natural 'bug hotels' for overwintering insects such as lacewings
• Die back of vegetation provides natural fertilisation
• Winter flowering plants provide bees with essential sustenance (though bee keepers provide fondant for their over wintering bee colonies)
• Evergreens provide structure
• Do tidy paths etc. for safety and to allow you to walk around your garden
• Lift foliage off the floor as moulds can develop below & affect the plants' health
• Take care with garden centre plants as they may not be fully acclimatised
• Have fleeces available for those precious plants that need protection
• Keep an eye on weather forecasts whenever possible

Maureen advises us to use the RHS plant finder to select plants for winter. However here are some comments about her own favourites:

• For dogwoods to look spectacular they need to be cut hard back to within 6 inches in February of each year. To rejuvenate dog woods, prune 1/3 over three years to avoid demise of the plant.
• Sarcococca confusa (sweet box). This prunes very easily & is not susceptible to box blight. But it is toxic to dogs!
• Ilex crenata (box leafed / Japanese holly) gives good structure; is an alternative to box & is easily pruned
• Perennial Erysimum varieties can flower prolifically almost all year round in well drained soils
• Heucheras, Heucherellas & Tirellas provide ongoing form in winter
• Honey suckle, Lonicera × purpusii 'Winter Beauty' smells wonderful
• Prune your roses for shape. Be careful when making rose hip syrup as the seeds inside the hip have a hairy coating which can be an irritant. Harvesting after the first frost acts as a sweetener
• Hayloft & J. Parker Wholesale – examples of plant suppliers

Professionally Maureen is Sports Therapist, owning her own Sports & Performing Arts Injury Clinic, based at Warwick Bridge. So here are some of her general tips for looking after our joints & skeleton:

• Always pace yourself, physically
• Take care to wear safe footwear, wrap up warmly
• Epsom salts baths: In water, the salts breaks down into magnesium and sulfate. The theory is that when you soak in an Epsom salt bath, these get into your body through your skin. That hasn't been proven, but just soaking in warm water can help relax muscles and loosen stiff joints. If used, try to buy in bulk e.g. WCFs
• Use mechanical gear-powered hand tools whenever possible e.g. Fiskars range
• Gentle stretching of normal hand joints can allow joint lubrication

Maureen is a registered speaker with the RHS, Cottage Garden Society and Garden Organic.

www.gardeningforhealth.com

Creation of a Nursery & Design Service - 12th October 2017

This Thursday's evening meeting saw a return visit by Tom Attwood of Abi & Tom's Garden Plants at Halecat, Witherslack, South Cumbria. 

Four years ago Tom talked to us about the trials and tribulations of rescuing Halecat's plant nursery from the ravages of time. Now, four years on, the business continues to thrive with judicious plant husbandry, expansion of design services and continuing support from committed volunteers. Do check out their new website, which includes a small video of the nursery from drone footage.

ww.abiandtom.co.uk

“Abi and Tom's Garden Plants was founded in the Spring of 2011...

… The nursery today is a fusion of traditional nursery values, with modern approaches 

to the display, growing, use and experiment of the plant material.”

Whilst Halecat's commercial plants are grown in pots, the planted show gardens have to thrive in soil that is often only six to eight inches in depth. Success is achieved by use of enriching composts and other nutrient supplements. The limestone geology of the site allows for effective drainage which is useful in Cumbria's rainy climate; however watering is essential through dry periods.

Design Service

Some hardy perennials

Artistic Licence in the Garden - Thursday, 14th September 2017

What an excellent start to our winter series of talks. Last Thursday David Ryland came to demonstrate his exceptional skills in floristry by presenting three arrangements.

 

 For these arrangements he used almost only foliage and flowering plants from his own garden at Armathwaite in the Eden Valley. Indeed David and his partner John, have frequently won and currently hold a prestigious NAFAS prize for their plant material. In 2011 David himself won a Chelsea Gold Medal.

The Fresh Garden Plant Material Trophy
John Thexton, North West
Class 7 – In the Winter Garden ion

David spoke at length about the various plants he used, giving us a digest of their attributes and growing requirements. Listed below are a few examples of these plants. I'm sure we all took a new idea home for a next year's project.

As well as being highly informative David kept us amused with his historical and anecdotal tales. He revealed that he is from the Morecambe Bay area and he followed his father into flower market gardening before branching out into the world of florisrty. It was very special that for his main autumnal arrangement he incorporated his father' garden riddle and his grandfather's cockle riddle.

A cocktail glass arrangement was inspired by a visit to the Ritz ( following a palace garden party) when a  cucumber cocktail was consumed – not to be repeated! During his final demonstration, David told us of his quest to receive his “Ten Year Service Trowel”, under the NGS.

Clematis rehderiana – Nodding Virgin's Bower - Enjoys a south facing aspect, slightly tender.

 

  

Lysimachia clethroides 'Geisha' - Creamy-yellow and grey-margined dark grey-green foliage persists well into autumn, white gooseneck flower heads Jul-Sep, 60cm. Easy if not too dry. 

  Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks' - Fireworks' is a slowly clump-forming, non-invasive, cultivar. It flowers in late summer through to autumn. Its sprays of tiny yellow flowers are held in finer wands than many of its more densely-flowered relative.

Rubus phoenicolasius - Japanese wine berry – bramble

Persicaria virginiana (Variegated Group) 'Painter's Palette' (v) - This is a clump-forming perennial to 90cm tall, with ovate leaves to 15cm long, boldly and irregularly splashed with yellow, and with a central deep red chevron; wispy spikes of tiny greenish flowers open in late summer and early autumn.

Symphoricarpos × chenaultii – Pink Snowberry – take care still vigorous.

Leycesteria formosa - Himalayan honeysuckle - L. formosa is a vigorous deciduous shrub with erect sea-green stems bearing long-pointed, ovate leaves and pendulous racemes of white flowers with showy red-purple bracts, followed by deep purple berries.

 Digitalis parviflora 'Milk Chocolate' – A slender perennial, to 60cm tall, with downy, lance-shaped leaves in a basal rosette, and towers of densely-packed light bronze, tubular flowers, in summe.

 Clematis tubulosa 'Wyevale' - 'Wyevale' is a small deciduous sub-shrub with lax stems bearing broad dark green leaflets. Fragrant single tubular flowers 4cm in width are deep mid-blue with four frilly margined recurved sepals and yellow stamens. Flowers mid summer to early autumn. 

 Chelone glabra 'Black Ace' -Turtlehead USA. Best grown in moist to wet, rich, humusy soils in part shade. Appreciates a good composted leaf mulch, particularly in sunny areas. Consider pinching back the stem ends in spring to reduce mature plant height, especially if growing plants in strongly shaded areas where they are more likely to need some support. In optimum environments, however, staking is usually not required. Slowly spreads by rhizomes. Flowers Aug – Oct.

Plant Reference Sources - various on line sites 

Written by Trish Rodgers