A quick summary of our latest talks
MEETING on WEDNESDAY 1 SEPTEMBER 2021
SPEAKER: SANDY PRIMROSE
Sandy Primrose returned to give us as very interesting and well-presented talk full of information, history and anecdote on Daises, Dahlias and Dendranthemas – which we all know as Chrysanthemums.
The Daisy family is the largest plant family with 8,000 species and 1600 genera. They are a very complex flower and in fact what we consider to be petals are in fact individual flowers. So when you are doing the ‘loves me, loves me not’ game you are pulling off flowers. Sandy continued with facts about of some of the different types of daisies. Marigolds in Mexico are associated with death, but in India they are used on happy occasions. There are edible daisies – chicory, and endive. The Shasta Daisy was named by its American breeder after the snow covered Shasta volcano in California. The sunflower was first domesticated in Mexico 5,000 years ago. In the sixteenth century it was brought to Spain, but did not take off until the 1700 hundreds when Peter the Great started to grow it and now after 100 years of breeding Russia is the world’s biggest producer of sunflowers which are used for oil and cattle food. Although the flower’s name, Helianthus, is derived from the Greek word for sun it is a myth that the flowers follow the sun. Once fully out they face east and stay there.
Dahlias are also natives of Mexico and were brought to Europe by the Spaniard Francisco Hernandez. But it was the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt who brought back numerous varieties. Now 9 types based on flower shape are recognised. The tubers are edible, they taste a bit like parsnip, and were eaten by the Aztecs.
Chrysanthemums originated in China and have been known there for over 2500 years. They have always been particular favourites of the emperors and a stylized Dahlia is the symbol of the Japanese monarchy. Pyrethrum, the insect repellent is made from Chrysanthemums and it has become an important crop in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Finally Sandy told the story of China’s role in developing a malaria treatment (not prevention). In the 1960 the North Vietnamese army was ravaged by malaria and Ho Chi Min asked the Chinese if they could help. Artemesia annua, belonging to the daisy family, had long been used in traditional Chinese medicine as an anti-malarial, and as part of the research for a cure the Chinese scientist Tu Youyou trawled through thousands of old Chinese medicinal recipes and discovered the compound artemisinin in Artemesia annua. Using it she developed a drug that became the best treatment for malaria at the time. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for this discovery in 2015.
MEETING ON 4TH SEPTEMBER 2019
SPEAKER: CAROLE PETIPHER
SUBJECT: MONET’S GARDEN AT GIVERNY
Carole Petipher is a lecturer in art and has been a guide at Giverny for many years so she was the ideal person to give us a talk on the famous garden. Her really excellent talk was as much about Monet the artist as the garden he created through his passion for painting. Her talk was illustrated with slides of Monet’s paintings and of his garden and was much enjoyed by her audience.
Monet’s family had no history of gardening and he started life as an urban sophisticate in Paris where he went to study art. His first pictures to include gardens usually had people in them and were more about the shadows and dappled shade than the flowers. But he and his wife were in debt so they moved to Argenteuil outside Paris where rents were cheaper. Their house had a garden and gradually he started to enjoy the country and his garden
When he was 43 in 1883 he rented Giverny with its two acre garden. Carole explained that the location was much like Watlington with chalk hills behind, it is in the River Seine valley and the climate is similar with mild winters and warm summers. The first thing Monet did in his new garden was remove all the little box hedges and started to create a cottage style garden far removed from the formality characteristic of French gardens. He visited Holland and was fascinated by the way the tulips are planted out in the fields in blocks of colours and he returned home with as many bulbs as he could afford to buy. Today Giverny has 20,000 tulips. In 1990 Monet had enough money to buy the property outright and could then make more substantial changes to the garden. He created an artist’s garden, Marcel Proust called it ‘a colour garden‘ Monet liked bright colours, his favorite flowers were showy: irises, dahlias, agapanthus chrysanthemums…
In 1893 an adjacent plot of land came up for sale and Money purchased it, it was marshy with a little tributary which he dammed to create his famous pond where he planted his water lilies. He wanted to create an eastern effect so on the banks he planted azaleas, acers bamboos, and weeping willow trees. He built the rounded bridges and planted the famous wisteria bridge. He also started his series of painting of water lilies, he made hundreds of them.
In later life Monet developed cataracts and could no longer see colours properly which is obvious in some of his later pictures. Monet dies in 1926. He donated many of his water lily paintings to the French state. The garden at Giverny was donated to the state by his son in 1966. It was very neglected and after restoration it was opened to the public in 1980.
MEETING ON 5TH JUNE 2019
SPEAKER: PAUL PATTON
SUBJECT: GROWING FOR THE KITCHEN
Paul Patton, who is an expert on plant care including pest control, feeding and general growing techniques, emphasisedall through his talk the importance of creating a balance in your garden and vegetable patch and the importance of encouraging pest predators such as birds (for eating caterpillars, snail and aphids), ladybirds (for aphids) frogs and toads (for slugs) and pollinators for your crops.
Paul reminded us how important it is to catch predators early, get rid of a single aphid or caterpillar or white fly when you see it, or next time you look there are hundreds of them. He constructs protection for his vegetables with hoops covered with fine mesh, which keeps out the pigeons, butterflies and moths but lets in the small pollinators. And don’t forget to net soft fruit before it ripens or the birds will get there before you.
He listed many types of vegetables to show the enormous variety and number of unusual vegetables that are now available and explained how they can be used in the kitchenAll the seed companies are developing reduced sizedcultivars, especially fruits so you can grow strawberries in small hanging baskets, pears up what is no more than a single stem pinned to a wall and blueberries in pots.
We did not get information on growing methods, planting and harvesting times, but he did say crop rotation, feeding and soil improvement with compost are essential for good results.
Paul ended his talk with a little quiz and the prize for each correct answer was a small borage plant in a pot. Borage attracts pollinators.
SPEAKER: PAUL PATTON
SUBJECT: GROWING FOR THE KITCHEN
Paul Patton, who is an expert on plant care including pest control, feeding and general growing techniques, emphasisedall through his talk the importance of creating a balance in your garden and vegetable patch and the importance of encouraging pest predators such as birds (for eating caterpillars, snail and aphids), ladybirds (for aphids) frogs and toads (for slugs) and pollinators for your crops.
Paul reminded us how important it is to catch predators early, get rid of a single aphid or caterpillar or white fly when you see it, or next time you look there are hundreds of them. He constructs protection for his vegetables with hoops covered with fine mesh, which keeps out the pigeons, butterflies and moths but lets in the small pollinators. And don’t forget to net soft fruit before it ripens or the birds will get there before you.
He listed many types of vegetables to show the enormous variety and number of unusual vegetables that are now available and explained how they can be used in the kitchenAll the seed companies are developing reduced sizedcultivars, especially fruits so you can grow strawberries in small hanging baskets, pears up what is no more than a single stem pinned to a wall and blueberries in pots.
We did not get information on growing methods, planting and harvesting times, but he did say crop rotation, feeding and soil improvement with compost are essential for good results.
Paul ended his talk with a little quiz and the prize for each correct answer was a small borage plant in a pot. Borage attracts pollinators.
MEETING ON WEDNESDAY 3rd APRIL 2019
SPEAKER: HEATHER GODARD-KEY
SUBJECT: PELARGONIUMS
The family owned Fibrex Nurseries holds the National Collections of Hedera and Pelargoniums and Heather is in charge of the Pelargoniums. She started her talk with a short history of the nursery which was founded 61 years ago by Hazel, her mother-in-law, and now specialises in ferns and begonias as well. The unusual name for a plant nursery was adopted when the family took over a rose nursery that sold its plants in a special fibrex pots.
Geraniums, our native plants (named cranesbill after generos, crane in Greek as the seed head looks like a crane’s beak) are the same family but quite different to Pelargoniums (named after pelargós stork in Greek as the seed head looks like the stork’s beak). Both have five petals but in the Geranium they are equally distributed while in the case of Pelargoniums they have two top petals and three below with a marked separation between the two.
Next came a history of Pelargoniums. They are shrubs and sub-shrubs and the first plant was brought back to Europe from South Africa in the late 1500s by one of the maritime journeys round Africa. The first species was Triste. By 1630 Kew had the plants. In the wild the different species grew in separate areas so they did not cross, but once in Europe they were kept together andstarted to hybridise naturally. By the 18th century intentional hybrids began. The Victorians were really mad about Pelargoniums and used them in their mass plantings. The number of species, hybrids and sports -where a single stem of a plant grows differently and can be grown on as a cutting - expanded into the thousands and Fibrex has over 2500 in their collection, the largest in the world. Heather ran through all the different groups illustrating them with actual plants she had brought. She also passed around numerous sprigs for us the sniff the different smells, from lemon to peppermint, coming from the essential oils in the leaves.
Heather explained the leaves can be used to flavour teas, sugars, cakes; the best way to extract the scent is with infusions. She serves Pelargonium flavoured cakes in the Nursery’s café.
Pelargoniums grow well in pots, and are useful as gap fillers in flower beds. They don’t like peat and are best grown in John Innes No 2 mixed 10-20% with multipurpose compost to soften it. Start with a general purpose feed and then at every watering use 1/2 strength tomato feed. Pinch off shoots to make bushier plants and deadhead to keep flowers coming, plants can be tied up with secateurs.
They need to be overwintered in a frost free, well ventilated and not too damp area, so avoid kitchens and bathrooms, and not crowded too tight as this causes die back. Cuttings can be taken between August-April, i.e.when not in flower. They should be potted into sterile compost with grit. Plant several to a pot round the edges but not touching the bottom, they like company and to be near the edge.
Heather’s enthusiasm, love of her plants and extensive knowledge resulted in a very good talk that our members enjoyed and learnt from. Heather also brought a large range of plants for us to buy.
SPEAKER: HEATHER GODARD-KEY
SUBJECT: PELARGONIUMS
The family owned Fibrex Nurseries holds the National Collections of Hedera and Pelargoniums and Heather is in charge of the Pelargoniums. She started her talk with a short history of the nursery which was founded 61 years ago by Hazel, her mother-in-law, and now specialises in ferns and begonias as well. The unusual name for a plant nursery was adopted when the family took over a rose nursery that sold its plants in a special fibrex pots.
Geraniums, our native plants (named cranesbill after generos, crane in Greek as the seed head looks like a crane’s beak) are the same family but quite different to Pelargoniums (named after pelargós stork in Greek as the seed head looks like the stork’s beak). Both have five petals but in the Geranium they are equally distributed while in the case of Pelargoniums they have two top petals and three below with a marked separation between the two.
Next came a history of Pelargoniums. They are shrubs and sub-shrubs and the first plant was brought back to Europe from South Africa in the late 1500s by one of the maritime journeys round Africa. The first species was Triste. By 1630 Kew had the plants. In the wild the different species grew in separate areas so they did not cross, but once in Europe they were kept together andstarted to hybridise naturally. By the 18th century intentional hybrids began. The Victorians were really mad about Pelargoniums and used them in their mass plantings. The number of species, hybrids and sports -where a single stem of a plant grows differently and can be grown on as a cutting - expanded into the thousands and Fibrex has over 2500 in their collection, the largest in the world. Heather ran through all the different groups illustrating them with actual plants she had brought. She also passed around numerous sprigs for us the sniff the different smells, from lemon to peppermint, coming from the essential oils in the leaves.
Heather explained the leaves can be used to flavour teas, sugars, cakes; the best way to extract the scent is with infusions. She serves Pelargonium flavoured cakes in the Nursery’s café.
Pelargoniums grow well in pots, and are useful as gap fillers in flower beds. They don’t like peat and are best grown in John Innes No 2 mixed 10-20% with multipurpose compost to soften it. Start with a general purpose feed and then at every watering use 1/2 strength tomato feed. Pinch off shoots to make bushier plants and deadhead to keep flowers coming, plants can be tied up with secateurs.
They need to be overwintered in a frost free, well ventilated and not too damp area, so avoid kitchens and bathrooms, and not crowded too tight as this causes die back. Cuttings can be taken between August-April, i.e.when not in flower. They should be potted into sterile compost with grit. Plant several to a pot round the edges but not touching the bottom, they like company and to be near the edge.
Heather’s enthusiasm, love of her plants and extensive knowledge resulted in a very good talk that our members enjoyed and learnt from. Heather also brought a large range of plants for us to buy.
