The Colours of Autumn

Many thanks to Jane, who took the following photos of trees in Hurst Green just the other day in the early morning.  For those of a photographic bent, the photos do show the importance of light to the quality and colour of garden photographs - many professionals get up at 4 am to capture gardens just after dawn as they swear that this is the best time - although this may be going a little far for the "point'n'shoot" photographers such as I.

It may still be wet and warm outside instead of cold and frosty - we still have roses out although tomorrow is the first of December, and still haven't had our dahlias blackened by the cold enough to lift them  - but the lovely colours of the trees do prove that Autumn has arrived!

Please do send any photos of plants, gardens etc in Hurst Green to us, for other members to admire.

Fairies return to Hurst Green

 Earlier this month, we noticed that the Fairy Ring had reappeared on the village green, surrounding the tree near to the new village sign.  The ring is really only two thirds complete (and is visible in the photo, honestly !), and there is a significant gap in one area, nearest to St Agatha's.  The ring is much more visible to the naked eye rather than to a photograph, but has quickly faded.  How long it has been in existence in Hurst Green we don't know; apparently there is one in Belfort in France that is over 2000 ft in diameter (650 metres or so, for our younger readers), and thought to be over 700 years old.  Ours is significantly smaller and much younger!

We believe that the funghi are probably Amanita Muscari, or the Fly Agaric.  Although they look beautiful, they are of course toxic and are related to the infamous and fatal Destroying Angel, which featured very prominently in an episode of Midsomer Murders.

Fairy rings are seen as mystical places and there are countless myths about stepping inside or outside of one, and the fate that befell the people who did.  The truth is of course more prosaic - each year, the funghi deplete the nutrients where they grow, so that when they drop their spores the only ones which flourish the next year are the ones on the outside of the area their parents grew in (the inside having been depleted in previous years).  The ring therefore grows outwards year after year, remaining a near-perfect circle.

I am sure that you will be delighted to hear that the rings are also associated with good luck.  How long this luck will last is anyone's guess, but hopefully Hurst Green will have a lucky year ahead!

Hurst Green Gardening Club joins Mighty Oaks Youth Group for bulb planting

Members who regularly follow this blog (hopefully a little more regularly than we have been updating it lately - sorry! - Ed), or who regularly attend meetings (thank you for the effort - Ed) may remember that the Club has been involved with the Might Oaks Youth Group in Hurst Green.  We have helped them plant seeds and make a small garden at the Community Centre (this is the link), and we have recently been out helping them to plant bulbs at the station, to help improve the area.


The weather for the day of the planting was good, and it had even rained for a while in the days ahead of the activity.  There had been some concern that, following the dry spell at the end of Summer, the good old Hurst Green clay would be rock-hard and impenetrable.  The rain softened up the ground, and the area chosen for the bulbs (the grass slope from the car park up to and alongside the path down to the ticket office) appeared to be composed of decent topsoil, perhaps made up and graded properly by the builders when the station was built.  There was therefore distinctly less hard work involved than expected!

A good number of representatives from the Club and from Mighty Oaks turned up, both adult, youth and children - the planting went a great deal faster than expected, and we put in many narcissi, crocuses and irises on the day.  Many have been planted so that they should be visible over the tops of the cars, and the path down should offer a nice vantage point, assuming that the bulbs behave as we would hope.  We think that there should be a decent display - all being well - in the first year, with the colonies of bulbs hopefully increasing year on year.  We were also graced with a visit from a Red Admiral - the local habitat must be doing something right!

Thanks must go to British Rail for their assistance and willingness to help with the project, to the Rotary Club who strimmed the grass back before planting, and also to the local Council who gave a grant towards the purchase of the bulbs.

Apologies once again for the quality of the photographs (this is becoming a regular theme - Ed).  On reviewing the shots we realised that it is very difficult to take a photograph of people planting bulbs without having almost every image including a number of bottoms pointing skywards, all front and centre.  The most popular topic of conversation on the day was the one that went "you can't use *THAT* photo", or less charitably "You'll need a wide angle lens for *THAT*, ha ha".  There is indeed a fine image of Carol's derriere in existence, which we will publish in a future Caption Competition if she does not behave ...

AGM 2014

Last night saw the Annual General Meeting of the Club.  The normal business of the club was discussed and presented by our Chair, Jane, with additional reports from the Treasurer Nick, and the Show Secretary Jilly.  The meeting also saw the trialing of a speaker system so that those at the back could hear more clearly, which was generally approved of, at least until the batteries conked out ... nevertheless, our appreciation goes to the Rotary Club who loaned the equipment for the evening.

The Club thanked Brenda Cole for all her past work on the Committee, as she decided to stand down during the year, with her position filled by Janet Bradshaw.  The rest of the Committee was re-elected to serve for another year, and the thanks of all the members go to them for managing the Club so successfully over the last year.

After the AGM, the members were treated to a table of food and nibbles kindly provided by the attendees, and to mulled apple juice, suitably non-alcoholic (Boo! - Ed) to suit those who were driving home.

We look forward to seeing you all next January!

October Meeting 2014 - The Four Gardens of the RHS

Our October meeting saw a multimedia slide extravaganza, complete with music, detailing "The Four Gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society".  These are Hyde Hall (Essex), Wisley (Surrey), Rosemoor (Devon) and Harlow Carr (Yorkshire).  A big thank you to Graham Usher for the talk.

While all of the gardens appeal in different ways to different people, I was pleased to hear that Mr Usher lists Rosemoor as his favourite and therefore agrees with me - not that there is anything wrong with the others, but Rosemoor is a lovely garden and I have been there when very few other visitors were around, which is never likely at Wisley.

It may interest members to know that the RHS have a couple of small (and expensive!) holiday apartments at Rosemoor, situated inside the gardens themselves.  They tend to book up a long way in advance, but they are on the "dream ticket" of things to do before we croak ...

Coleus Competition ... and advance notice of next year's competition too!

The winning coleus is the burgundy shaded one second from the right.

At our October meeting, we held a Coleus Competition to see who had managed to grow the "best" plant from one of the seedlings supplied by Jilly earlier in the year (and a thank you for growing them for us - Ed).  This was a surprisingly popular event, and a thank you to to all who took part.

"Best" is of course a relative term - as none of us are real-life horticultural judges - but there was a clear winner based not just on bushiness but also on prettiness.  Step forward Mary Loome, for your Best Coleus prize ... and congratulations!  Second place went to Cheryl, and third to Margaret H.

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos - the one of Mary receiving her somewhat modest prize was not publishable, and the photos of the Coleuses are rather marred by the background of the painted cupboards, which was not apparent when taking the photo in the first place.  What can I say?  David Bailey, I am not!

Incidentally, the winning plant is the rather lovely burgundy coloured plant second in from the right.  It was particularly striking, and one should remember that all these very different plants all came from the same seed packet.

In  view of the popularity of the event, we are hoping to repeat it next year as well - the theme will be "most chillies on a chilli plant".  Seeds have been purchased in readiness, and you can even eat the results ...