June 2020 Lock-Down Email

Greetings to all our members,

It is sad to have to cancel the Show and the visit to Harewood House and Dove Cottage Garden but you probably expected it,  I think every show has been cancelled this year throughout the country.  Social Distancing would be a problem even if current restrictions are eased by then. 

Things are starting to improve a little with some gardens starting to open to the public (see Angela’s item below) and garden centres being allowed to open too but when we visited Bolton Garden Centre last week we found the toilets were closed which rather cut down our time away from home!!!

Thank you to members who have contributed articles for this e-mail, I couldn’t do it without you.  I love to receive items of interest to pass on, and items will be of even more interest if you are not a previous contributor as we all see things through a different perspective,  so if you have a favourite flower, place to visit, gardening tips, item of interest, query, anything really please let me know.  Keep safe and well,

Click to skip to an article

1. Members’ Queries
2. Our May Meeting
3.  Evening Visit
4. A Special House Guest – Part 3 All over but the tweeting
5.  Snippets of EHS History - Part 2
6.  A“Budding” Garden Designer?
7.  Going Wild in Cambridge
8. Looking for Somewhere to Visit?
9. Did you know?

Members’ Queries

To get you started here are 2 queries received from a member, can you help?

I have attached a photo (left) of what appears to be a standard rose tree growing in a neighbour’s garden. I say ‘appears to be’ because it started out as a rose bush, (you can just see the remains of the original branches at the bottom),  but last year the very thorny stem you can see started to appear.  This year it has grown to what you can see now.  The original bush appears to be dying back.  As you can see it has lots of beautiful blooms and looks very healthy.  Can you or any of the Club’s very knowledgeable members explain this as my neighbour is perplexed?

Back to top

Our May Meeting

Belatedly, a few words about our cancelled May meeting and our speaker Richard Hodson who, with his wife Irene, own Hawthornes Nursery at Hesketh Bank near Preston which was created from reclaimed marsh land.

Richard has been growing Clematis for over 25 years including many rare and unusual varieties.  He has held the Viticella Group of Clematis National Collection since 2005, adding the Viorna and Texensis Groups since.

A presenter on Gardeners World, and a previous NGS participant, Richard grows over 200 Clematis varieties, nearly all displayed imaginatively, as they grow through shrubs, up trees, within obelisks, over arches and in containers.  This was noticed in 2012 when the BBC were filming with Carol Klein who noticed a seedling growing through a rose bush.  It was unnamed at that time but became registered as the variety “Carol Klein” and is now available at the nursery.

Richard and Irene have been kept very busy with online Clematis sales during the present crisis, but would love to be with us in 2021 to give us an insight and tips on the art of successfully growing Clematis.

>Back to top

Evening Visit

Although sadly, we have had to cancel our visit to Maureen Sawyer’s fabulous garden on the 17 June, we will hopefully be able to see it next year. 

Maureen, or Moe as she likes to be known, who gave us a talk last year, is particularly sad that all her garden visits have had to be cancelled as it is just 20 years since she started opening her garden to the public under the National Garden Scheme and over the years has raised many thousands of pounds for charitable causes.  I have told her she will have to come of age next year and celebrate a 21^st!

Her large garden at Southlands has Mediterranean, Shade, Woodland and areas with a Pond, Kitchen Garden and Gravel Walk and has featured in many publications and been seen on television.  So, I am sure it will be worth the wait until June 2021 to enjoy Maureen’s lovely garden. 

Pat Whalley

Back to top

Last month 7 eggs had been laid by the Blue Tit in the nest box on the side wall of my house. Just as Irene sent out that email the female moved briefly off her nest revealing 2 naked pink chicks amongst the remaining unhatched eggs. She continued to sit on all these over the next 3 days, eventually revealing 4 chicks and two eggs.

A day or so into this, I caught something curious on video.  She spent a couple of minutes upending in the nest rooting about amongst the chicks and eggs and then carefully removed a large white bundle, laying it on the edge of the nest. For a few seconds her attention turned to the nest and then turned to the bundle carefully straightening it to turn it into a chick! I assumed it was dead – but no – after a couple of minutes of gentle prodding and turning, it moved. She then returned to brood its siblings and carefully pulled it back in with them. Can anyone explain this?

Three days after the first chick hatched she was still incubating the last two eggs which both hatched that day. (I assume the seventh egg had failed without hatching or just after and been removed).  With both adults feverously bringing in food the pink floppy bodies rapidly turned grey with gaping yellow mouths.

After being fed one of the chicks clambered over the others and lay across them. It then produced its faecal sack which mother could remove direct from its bottom and fly off with it. How’s that for potty training!

Within a week the eldest birds were growing flight feathers and exploring the inside of the box. Then tragedy! I discovered 2 chicks lying dead, away from the nest, inside the box beneath the entrance hole. After reviewing all the photos and videos I’ve discovered that for 2 days prior to this only the male bird had been visiting the nest. Maybe the chicks went short of food or perhaps the hot dry weather did the damage.

The adult removed both bodies and left them nowhere near the nest. I was fortunate to video his amazing effort to lift the dead bird to the entrance hole and pull it through after him.

He continued to feed enormous juicy caterpillars to the chicks and successfully fledge two chicks. Though I missed their departure I watched them being shown to use the feeders outside my kitchen window. 

    

 Phil Broughton

Back to top

Snippets of EHS History - Part 2

Horticulture has been a popular subject in the area for a long time with a Society existing in one form or another. Way back in 1860 Turton & Edgworth Floral & Horticultural Society held its first annual exhibition in the schoolroom in Chapeltown  (behind 97 High Street) where Celery was something of a speciality. There were even Celery Shows held in the Gardeners Arms.  In 1864 the Church band played and there followed a dinner for 300!

There is reference to the Turton Horticultural Society which disbanded in 1899 causing a void in the showing of flowers, fruit and vegetables by the villagers.  No information has been found about the Turton H S but it is quite likely that press report abbreviated the full name of the Society mentioned in the first paragraph.  The void was filled 'the following year' by residents and local gardeners who formed the Edgworth and District 

In 1904 a report in the Bolton Evening News stated 'The generosity of Mr J R Barlow, JP, is well known.....therefore it was no surprise when he took a great interest in the Society and became its first President'.  He had opened the gardens at his home, Greenthorne, for the Show every year and it became a family occasion with Marquee erected for the 242 horticultural entries.  A Brass Band played and children roamed the grounds and enjoyed racing, tug -of-war and other events with prizes. The BEN reports tended to follow the same style giving names of all involved in organisation, entry classes, winners and a narrative of the day's events which paints a picture. This would have been the only way for people to know what was going on. How times have changed!

David Spencer

Back to top

A“Budding” Garden Designer?

It was early September 2018 when I received the telephone call that would set me on a new career path into horticulture. Having left a long standing secure, but ultimately unfulfilling job two years previously in the chemical industry, followed by an unhappy succession of office roles where I felt trapped and miserable, I was really in need of a change of direction. This decision was in no way influenced by the fact that I have a large unruly sloping back garden at home which is very much still a work in progress! As a keen cyclist & walker, I have always loved the ‘outdoors’ and plants so horticulture seemed a natural fit.

 The call from “BAGD” (British Academy of Garden Design) based in London was just the tonic and it was certainly a case of third time lucky as the course in Manchester had been cancelled twice previously due to insufficient numbers. This time however, they had reached the minimum number of 12 students per class to make it viable and I was excited to meet my fellow students. They were a lovely eclectic bunch with interesting backgrounds ranging from not only Horticulture but also Accounting & the Arts. The Academy has a variety of courses to choose from such as short diplomas and certificates but I opted to go for the most in-depth postgraduate diploma as it included 9 months of twice monthly classes at Salford University with the opportunity to do work experience upon graduation next year. The classes were run by a couple of experienced tutors from the landscape industry and involved Power Point Presentations of each of the fifteen assignments followed by various practical exercises such as drawing trees and plants in nearby Peel Park or even measuring up a square on Salford Crescent! Overall I found them enjoyable, often challenging and occasionally frustrating! Topics ranged from the History of Garden Design such as Italian, Greek and even Egyptian influences to more practical issues such as paving, lighting requirements, soil types, plant selection and of course designing different gardens following a specific brief.

 I love that the subject is constantly evolving and try to keep up to date with the latest developments through my membership of the SGD (Society of Garden 
Designers) as well as taking inspiration from my favourite designers such as the Rich brothers, Kate Gould, James Basson and Olivier Filippi. I am a keen admirer of the latter in particular - known as the “Dry Gardening Guru”, he creates beautiful Mediterranean gravel gardens and is a true pioneer of drought tolerant planting.

 Although my classes finished last May I have since continued my assignments on line and hope to complete the course before my deadline of Sept 2021. As I am 
currently furloughed from my plant assistant job at a local garden centre I certainly have time on my hands. Garden design is a vast but fascinating subject which has been described as an “art as well as a science” – an apt description as it allows a large degree of creativity combined with very practical considerations.

Ultimately though it is all about designing a space that make people happy and suits their own particular requirements. Here are two of Rachel’s assignments completed on the course.

             

 
Rachel Collier

Going Wild in Cambridge

Picture courtesy ©Geoff Robinson

All that cutting of grass you have been doing over the years, it’s hard work.  Look what happened at King’s College, Cambridge.  Their lawn was mown regularly for 300 years.   ‘Keep off the Grass’ signs have now been removed and a huge swathe is now a wild flower meadow.

A large swathe of Cambridge's most iconic lawn has been transformed into the wildflower meadow with harebells, buttercups, poppies, cornflowers and more, stretching from the Chapel to the banks of the Cam. The seed mix of native wildflowers has been specifically designed for King’s and to be rich in biodiversity, attracting a host of insects. The flowers will be harvested for hay in September, and the lawn will be mowed to repeat the cycle

 The project was initiated by King's Fellow Geoff Moggridge back in 2018, with support from the Gardens Committee. The Fellows of King’s, Head Gardener Steve Coghill and his team worked with external consultants to make the meadow a reality.

Irene Spencer

Back to top

Looking for Somewhere to Visit?

As you will have heard the NGS Charity Gardens are slowly and cautiously   opening around the country.  I visited one of the first to open on Sunday 14^th June in Preston.  Oh what a joy .. a delightful slice of normality (without the cream tea sadly). 

 

They have introduced, in light of the current health situation, a simple booking scheme on-line.  Full details in light of the virus are clear on the website. The gardens now opening are released on a Monday for the following week.

Please note you will need to check if there are toilet facilities.

 

Click on the following: https://ngs.org.uk/find-your-perfect-garden-in-2020/

The webpage is divided into areas of the country – e.g North.

You click on your garden choice and select a viewing slot.  You then pay in advance on the website.

Some of the smaller gardens such as the one I visited give you 45 minutes, however, we stayed longer as the next few slots where not taken.  Enjoy!

 

Here is a brief selection of what is on offer in the coming week – please check them out on the NGS website. 

o   Cheshire – Bluebell Cottage Gardens – Wednesday 24th June –

     This garden is open on several dates.

o   Cumbria – Matson Ground – Friday 19th June. Open for Father’s Day weekend.

o   Lancashire – Halton Park House- Saturday 20th June

 

Perhaps you might fancy writing about your visit for the next e-mail.  Happy gardening! 😊

 

Angela Swallow

Back to top

Did you know?

22nd June sees the start of National Picnic Week:  It is reckoned the average person in the UK goes on 3 picnics a year, enjoying the sunshine and the fresh air it brings. Plan fun and delicious food with the family or relax with a good book and some music.

29th June sees the start of Children’s Art Week.  This year online resources will be used to encourage young people to become more engaged with visual art.  A great opportunity to think outside the box and get children and grandchildren to have lots of fun being creative.