Meeting on Wednesday 2nd November 2022
SPEAKER: SANDY PRIMROSE ‘The Genesis of the Eden Project’
Unfortunately our scheduled speaker, Chris Day was ill so his talk ‘Taming the Indoor Garden’ has been postponed till our February meeting. Fortunately Sandy Primrose was able to step in at very short notice. We know him well, he is an experienced speaker and his talk was not a disappointment.
Tim Smit, the creator of the Eden Project, had moved down to Cornwell to set up a recording studio when he was invited to visit the overgrown jungle that was the Heligan Gardens full of brambles, with the vine growing out of the its greenhouse through the broken glass and still bearing grapes. Tim was smitten and he set about clearing the garden with the help of volunteers and getting funding.
Due to Cornwell’s climate there were introduced plants that were extinct in the wild, so Tim had the idea of propagating these plants in Heligan to sell back to repopulate their original habitats. But he soon realised the Gardens were not big enough. So in 1996 a small group started to imagine the project and to raise funding. Biomes were chosen; in order to protect them from the westerly gales it was decided to place them below ground level in an abandoned China clay pit. The biomes consist of hundreds of hexagonal and pentagonal ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) panes on a steel frame. This is a polymer and the panes were multilayer and are self-cleaning. The biomes were designed by Grimshaw Architects.
Despite opposition to the project, that it was in the wrong place, there was not enough local population to generate visitors, the project got funding and took 2 and half years to build, cost £140.00 million and came in on budget and in time.. There are two biomes, one for tropical environment and one for a temperate environment with a covered link. They created their own different types of soil and acquired 10,000 plants. They used coir matting to secure the soil and plants on the uneven surfaces, which rotted once the plants were established.
They are building a geothermal heating system tapping the heat 5 kms down which will supply the site’s heat and enough for 4,000 local homes. The Core, the Education and Resource Centre, was built in 2005 and has a solar panel roof.
By the end of 2021 the Eden Project had had 22 million visitors, it is a big employer in the area and has brought £2 billion to the area. Eden Project clones are being built around the UK and the world.
SPEAKER: SANDY PRIMROSE ‘The Genesis of the Eden Project’
Unfortunately our scheduled speaker, Chris Day was ill so his talk ‘Taming the Indoor Garden’ has been postponed till our February meeting. Fortunately Sandy Primrose was able to step in at very short notice. We know him well, he is an experienced speaker and his talk was not a disappointment.
Tim Smit, the creator of the Eden Project, had moved down to Cornwell to set up a recording studio when he was invited to visit the overgrown jungle that was the Heligan Gardens full of brambles, with the vine growing out of the its greenhouse through the broken glass and still bearing grapes. Tim was smitten and he set about clearing the garden with the help of volunteers and getting funding.
Due to Cornwell’s climate there were introduced plants that were extinct in the wild, so Tim had the idea of propagating these plants in Heligan to sell back to repopulate their original habitats. But he soon realised the Gardens were not big enough. So in 1996 a small group started to imagine the project and to raise funding. Biomes were chosen; in order to protect them from the westerly gales it was decided to place them below ground level in an abandoned China clay pit. The biomes consist of hundreds of hexagonal and pentagonal ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) panes on a steel frame. This is a polymer and the panes were multilayer and are self-cleaning. The biomes were designed by Grimshaw Architects.
Despite opposition to the project, that it was in the wrong place, there was not enough local population to generate visitors, the project got funding and took 2 and half years to build, cost £140.00 million and came in on budget and in time.. There are two biomes, one for tropical environment and one for a temperate environment with a covered link. They created their own different types of soil and acquired 10,000 plants. They used coir matting to secure the soil and plants on the uneven surfaces, which rotted once the plants were established.
They are building a geothermal heating system tapping the heat 5 kms down which will supply the site’s heat and enough for 4,000 local homes. The Core, the Education and Resource Centre, was built in 2005 and has a solar panel roof.
By the end of 2021 the Eden Project had had 22 million visitors, it is a big employer in the area and has brought £2 billion to the area. Eden Project clones are being built around the UK and the world.
Meeting on Wednesday 5th October 2022
Ornamental Grasses in the Garden
Carolyn Foster. Berks Hardy Plant Society
True grasses - Poaceae (family Graminacae ), have flat leaves; parallel veins; round hollow stems; nodes and a leaf sheaf that wraps around the stem as opposed to sedges (Cyperaceae) which have solid triangular stems & rushes ( Juncaceae ) which are round.
Sedges have edges, and rushes are round,
But grasses have nodes from their tips to the ground.
True grasses can be divided into warm season grasses, which start growing in mid-summer and grow rapidly with seed heads in autumn which remain showy through winter and cool season grasses which start growing in spring and flower until the winter
Good Examples of Cool season grasses
Stipa Gigantea & Tenuissima ( now Arundinacea tenuissima - pheasants tail grass0
Melicia altissima
Festuca glauca
Deschampsi caespitosa
Calamagrotis acutiflora Karl Foster
Halonechloa macro & variegata ( useful esp in shade)
Helictotrichon sempervirens (Blue oat grass)
Milium effusion
Briza media
Good Examples of warm season grasses
Miscanthus sp..esp Morning Light
Panicum sp..virginatum Heavy Metal
Pennisetuem ( Bunny’s tails) which need a hot summer to do well
Calamagrotis brachytricha
Molinia ( good autumn colour but does not stand well)
Imperata cylindric ( a challenge to grow we all find)
Cordateria ( Pampas grass)
Carex - Elatior aurea; Frosted curls; Evergold; testacea
Panicum Frosted explosion . Good annual Grow from seed
Aesthetic qualities of grasses
Shape & texture ; Look good for a long time; Look good in sun ;Look good in frost
Showy seed heads; Come in all shades & textures
Cut down in Feb/March Do not split or move warm season grasses until spring
Where to see good examples
Piet Oudolf & Tom Stuart -Smith designs esp Wisley
Saville gardens
Durslade Farm, Bruton
Kew
Knoll garden in Dorset
St Timothee
Waterperry
Ornamental Grasses in the Garden
Carolyn Foster. Berks Hardy Plant Society
True grasses - Poaceae (family Graminacae ), have flat leaves; parallel veins; round hollow stems; nodes and a leaf sheaf that wraps around the stem as opposed to sedges (Cyperaceae) which have solid triangular stems & rushes ( Juncaceae ) which are round.
Sedges have edges, and rushes are round,
But grasses have nodes from their tips to the ground.
True grasses can be divided into warm season grasses, which start growing in mid-summer and grow rapidly with seed heads in autumn which remain showy through winter and cool season grasses which start growing in spring and flower until the winter
Good Examples of Cool season grasses
Stipa Gigantea & Tenuissima ( now Arundinacea tenuissima - pheasants tail grass0
Melicia altissima
Festuca glauca
Deschampsi caespitosa
Calamagrotis acutiflora Karl Foster
Halonechloa macro & variegata ( useful esp in shade)
Helictotrichon sempervirens (Blue oat grass)
Milium effusion
Briza media
Good Examples of warm season grasses
Miscanthus sp..esp Morning Light
Panicum sp..virginatum Heavy Metal
Pennisetuem ( Bunny’s tails) which need a hot summer to do well
Calamagrotis brachytricha
Molinia ( good autumn colour but does not stand well)
Imperata cylindric ( a challenge to grow we all find)
Cordateria ( Pampas grass)
Carex - Elatior aurea; Frosted curls; Evergold; testacea
Panicum Frosted explosion . Good annual Grow from seed
Aesthetic qualities of grasses
Shape & texture ; Look good for a long time; Look good in sun ;Look good in frost
Showy seed heads; Come in all shades & textures
Cut down in Feb/March Do not split or move warm season grasses until spring
Where to see good examples
Piet Oudolf & Tom Stuart -Smith designs esp Wisley
Saville gardens
Durslade Farm, Bruton
Kew
Knoll garden in Dorset
St Timothee
Waterperry
Meeting on 7th September 2022
Richard Harvey on Gardens of the Cotswolds
We took a virtual tour of the following gardens and in brackets, some gardens close by, should you be looking for a day out
Kiftsgate Court, Nr Chipping Camden (Hidcote Manor - NT)
Batsford Arboretum
Sezincote, Moreton in Marsh (Boughton House)
Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe (Stanway House)
Miserden Park, Nr Stroud (South Cerney House)
Rococo Garden, Painswick (Westonbirt National Arboretum)
Cotswold Wildlife Park (Waterperry & Aston Garden & Pottery)
Buscot Park, Nr Lechlade - NT
Rodmarton Manor, Nr Cirencester (Highgrove House)
Highnam Court, Nr Gloucester (Westbury On Severn Water Garden - NT)
Richard Harvey on Gardens of the Cotswolds
We took a virtual tour of the following gardens and in brackets, some gardens close by, should you be looking for a day out
Kiftsgate Court, Nr Chipping Camden (Hidcote Manor - NT)
Batsford Arboretum
Sezincote, Moreton in Marsh (Boughton House)
Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe (Stanway House)
Miserden Park, Nr Stroud (South Cerney House)
Rococo Garden, Painswick (Westonbirt National Arboretum)
Cotswold Wildlife Park (Waterperry & Aston Garden & Pottery)
Buscot Park, Nr Lechlade - NT
Rodmarton Manor, Nr Cirencester (Highgrove House)
Highnam Court, Nr Gloucester (Westbury On Severn Water Garden - NT)
Meeting on 1st June 2022
GARDENS TO VISIT NEAR AND FAR
CAROLYN FOSTER
Hatfield House was the first as a historical example of a typical Tudor garden with knot gardens, very much with the idea to control nature and influenced by France. It also has borders, topiary a formal parterre and fountain and a wilderness.
Painshill Park, Cobham, Surrey. (1744) A typical example of the grand eighteenth century park with vistas, lake, lots of green, temples and a fabulous newly restored grotto.
Rodmarton Manor nr. Cirencester, early twentieth century arts and craft influenced with garden rooms divided by hedges, it has a ‘Troughery’, lots of stone troughs.
Stoke Poges Memorial Garden, Buckinghamshire, (1930s). Grade I listed very high maintenance with water fountains and channels, wisteria pergola and rock garden. Much of it is divided with box hedges into little plots for the burial of people’s ashes.
Trentham, Staffordshire. A mix of the old and the new with a modern formal Italianate parterre and new perennial and grass drift planting from the 1990s by Piet Oudolf and Tom Stuart-Smith with a long period of interest.
Broughton Grange, Banbury. A modern parterre garden with muted colours by Tom Stuart- Smith, and a long season, stumpery.
The Barn at Serge Hill. Tom Stuart-Smith’s garden which we visited with the Club.
Yeo Valley Organic Garden, Blagdon, Somerset. The home of the Yeo Valley dairy products. Gravel garden with lots of seed heads, pond and a glade of white stemmed Betula Utilis with ferns below.
St Timothee which we are visiting at the end of the month
Handpost Swallowfield, Reading. Long borders planted in coloured sections and backed by a wild area and lovely roses.
Aston Pottery, North Oxford. Unusual but impressive borders of annuals, dahlia border and a hot bank. Sells pots too.
Durslade Farm and Hauser & Wirth Gallery, Bruton, Somerset. A working farm with landscaped gardens and sculptures and a field designed by Piet Oudolf which lots of grasses.
Sheffield Grey and Green, Sheffield. An inner-city garden designed by Nigel Dunnett with paths running through it allowing the public to get up close to the planting and providing an oasis in the city.
Barbican, City of London. The square surrounded by the Barbican’s brutalist flats has been transformed and re-planted with a design by Nigel Dunnett.
GARDENS TO VISIT NEAR AND FAR
CAROLYN FOSTER
Hatfield House was the first as a historical example of a typical Tudor garden with knot gardens, very much with the idea to control nature and influenced by France. It also has borders, topiary a formal parterre and fountain and a wilderness.
Painshill Park, Cobham, Surrey. (1744) A typical example of the grand eighteenth century park with vistas, lake, lots of green, temples and a fabulous newly restored grotto.
Rodmarton Manor nr. Cirencester, early twentieth century arts and craft influenced with garden rooms divided by hedges, it has a ‘Troughery’, lots of stone troughs.
Stoke Poges Memorial Garden, Buckinghamshire, (1930s). Grade I listed very high maintenance with water fountains and channels, wisteria pergola and rock garden. Much of it is divided with box hedges into little plots for the burial of people’s ashes.
Trentham, Staffordshire. A mix of the old and the new with a modern formal Italianate parterre and new perennial and grass drift planting from the 1990s by Piet Oudolf and Tom Stuart-Smith with a long period of interest.
Broughton Grange, Banbury. A modern parterre garden with muted colours by Tom Stuart- Smith, and a long season, stumpery.
The Barn at Serge Hill. Tom Stuart-Smith’s garden which we visited with the Club.
Yeo Valley Organic Garden, Blagdon, Somerset. The home of the Yeo Valley dairy products. Gravel garden with lots of seed heads, pond and a glade of white stemmed Betula Utilis with ferns below.
St Timothee which we are visiting at the end of the month
Handpost Swallowfield, Reading. Long borders planted in coloured sections and backed by a wild area and lovely roses.
Aston Pottery, North Oxford. Unusual but impressive borders of annuals, dahlia border and a hot bank. Sells pots too.
Durslade Farm and Hauser & Wirth Gallery, Bruton, Somerset. A working farm with landscaped gardens and sculptures and a field designed by Piet Oudolf which lots of grasses.
Sheffield Grey and Green, Sheffield. An inner-city garden designed by Nigel Dunnett with paths running through it allowing the public to get up close to the planting and providing an oasis in the city.
Barbican, City of London. The square surrounded by the Barbican’s brutalist flats has been transformed and re-planted with a design by Nigel Dunnett.
MEETING ON WEDNESDAY 6 APRIL 2022
SPEAKER: Andrew Halstead
The title of the talk was ‘Beneficial Insects in the Garden”
What one would expect to be rather a dry and technical subject turned out to be fascinating and, as was to be expected from the an RHS Entomologist, Andrew Halstead knew his stuff, his photos were professional and graphic showing microscopic insects, details of their legs and hair and their eggs, sometime on sticks, and their predated bodies. You have no idea what a battle ground of eat or be eaten your garden is as far as insects are concerned.
Andrew started with Pollinators. Any insect that flies from flower to flower collecting nectar or pollen is a pollinator but bees are the best known. With their hairy bodies they are perfectly adapted to the task. Apart from honey bees there are bumble bees and solitary bees where the female tends her nest on her own. She creates a nest in a shaft, such as a hollow stem or in the ground and fills it with nectar, lays eggs in individual chambers, seals each of them up and that’s it. The grubs hatch out and feed on the nectar she left. Tubes for bee hotels should be 7cm long and 7mm in diameter.
Next were Predatory Insects. These include general predator beetles, lace wings which attack aphids and suck them dry, and ladybirds. There are many different types of ladybirds including the Harlequin which was introduced from Japan into the UK in 2004. It has an extraordinary rage of colours from black to yellow and orange with everything in between with spots. It has not caused the expected devastation among the native ladybirds as our most common native, the seven spot, has turned out to be resistant and anyway the Harlequin is a much more efficient predator of aphids.
Then Andrew moved onto Parasitoids which always kill their host and seem to be mostly wasps which lay their eggs in their victim such as a caterpillar and when the eggs hatch the grubs eat the caterpillar from the inside. The photos were very gruesome with quantities of maggots emerging from the caterpillars.
Finally we were told about the various commercially available Biological Controls, mostly nematodes for slugs, vine weevils, and red spider mite. Nematodes are effective but the soil must be the right temperature and they have to be topped up. The RHS website indicates where the various nematodes can be purchased.
SPEAKER: Andrew Halstead
The title of the talk was ‘Beneficial Insects in the Garden”
What one would expect to be rather a dry and technical subject turned out to be fascinating and, as was to be expected from the an RHS Entomologist, Andrew Halstead knew his stuff, his photos were professional and graphic showing microscopic insects, details of their legs and hair and their eggs, sometime on sticks, and their predated bodies. You have no idea what a battle ground of eat or be eaten your garden is as far as insects are concerned.
Andrew started with Pollinators. Any insect that flies from flower to flower collecting nectar or pollen is a pollinator but bees are the best known. With their hairy bodies they are perfectly adapted to the task. Apart from honey bees there are bumble bees and solitary bees where the female tends her nest on her own. She creates a nest in a shaft, such as a hollow stem or in the ground and fills it with nectar, lays eggs in individual chambers, seals each of them up and that’s it. The grubs hatch out and feed on the nectar she left. Tubes for bee hotels should be 7cm long and 7mm in diameter.
Next were Predatory Insects. These include general predator beetles, lace wings which attack aphids and suck them dry, and ladybirds. There are many different types of ladybirds including the Harlequin which was introduced from Japan into the UK in 2004. It has an extraordinary rage of colours from black to yellow and orange with everything in between with spots. It has not caused the expected devastation among the native ladybirds as our most common native, the seven spot, has turned out to be resistant and anyway the Harlequin is a much more efficient predator of aphids.
Then Andrew moved onto Parasitoids which always kill their host and seem to be mostly wasps which lay their eggs in their victim such as a caterpillar and when the eggs hatch the grubs eat the caterpillar from the inside. The photos were very gruesome with quantities of maggots emerging from the caterpillars.
Finally we were told about the various commercially available Biological Controls, mostly nematodes for slugs, vine weevils, and red spider mite. Nematodes are effective but the soil must be the right temperature and they have to be topped up. The RHS website indicates where the various nematodes can be purchased.
MEETING ON WEDNESDAY 2 FEBRUARY 2022
SPEAKER: TIMOTHY WALKER
SUBJECT ‘Subtle Art and Exact Science of Pruning’.
Timothy Walker returned for at least the sixth time to talk to us and as usual he did not disappoint, it was an informative talk and he is a speaker who holds his audience’s attention. He began by saying that there is no pruning in the wild so if in doubt leave the plant alone or cut it down and if it dies dig it out and take the opportunity to plant something else.
He recommended the ultimate pruning book, Essential Pruning Techniques by George Brown and Tony Kirkham and reminded us that if a plant is not flowering the cause might be other than a problem with pruning.
He talked about pruning tools and pointed out that if you bought a cheap pair of secateurs every year and throw it away, it would take about a decade before you have spent as much as buying a single pair of Felco secateurs.
Timothy divided pruning into 8 options:
SPEAKER: TIMOTHY WALKER
SUBJECT ‘Subtle Art and Exact Science of Pruning’.
Timothy Walker returned for at least the sixth time to talk to us and as usual he did not disappoint, it was an informative talk and he is a speaker who holds his audience’s attention. He began by saying that there is no pruning in the wild so if in doubt leave the plant alone or cut it down and if it dies dig it out and take the opportunity to plant something else.
He recommended the ultimate pruning book, Essential Pruning Techniques by George Brown and Tony Kirkham and reminded us that if a plant is not flowering the cause might be other than a problem with pruning.
He talked about pruning tools and pointed out that if you bought a cheap pair of secateurs every year and throw it away, it would take about a decade before you have spent as much as buying a single pair of Felco secateurs.
Timothy divided pruning into 8 options:
- No pruning needed except to remove diseased branches eg Hammanelis
- No pruning except to deadhead or to keep the plant’s shape, for example cutting fast growing Lonicera Nitida every month pruning Ceaonothus regularly to keep it in check where you can’t cut into old wood.
- Prune down to the ground, such as the Clematis Bill Mackenzie every five years; laurel, Arbutus, Clerondendron.
- Prune plants that flower before Wimbledon and flower on old wood so should be pruned immediately after flowering eg Garrya, Forsythia,Lonicera Winter beauty
- Plants that flower after Wimbledon flower on new wood so should be pruned in autumn eg Lavetera, Nandina
- Create a framework of branches and cut all the side shoots to two buds. Example is Hydrangea petiolaris, Buddleia globosa, Wisteria
- Cut back hard in March to encourage big leaves or coloured stems eg Pawlonia, Cornus, Cotinus
- Plants that flower on biennial stems, cut the old stems after flowering but leave the news stems that will flower next year eg shrubby euphorbia
