Saturday 20 May 2017

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







Saturday 6 May 2017

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 Sunday4th June 
https://www.ngs.org.uk/?bf-garden=21575 
.. and not Caroline as I originally stated.
Next Meeting

19th May – Garden visit (details on the Garden Visits page) 2pm.  If anyone has needs transport, please contact a committee member.