Quiz Night! Bring some friends and enjoy yourself ...

Our social calendar has sprouted another event, on Saturday May 30th at 7.00 pm for 7.30 pm.  Welcome to the Hurst Green Gardening Club's Quiz Night, for the not-so-knowledgeable gardener!  There will be a number of rounds, some of which will be general knowledge, but all with a gardening theme (if not always actual gardening answers).  You don't need to be an avid gardener to answer all the questions - and you probably won't be able to answer them all if your table only knows about gardens ...

We will break half way through for a ploughman's supper (supplied in the price).  All you need to bring is your own drink and nibbles, and dessert if you really want it - plus a plate, cup and some cutlery.

Tickets are priced at a reasonable £10 each to include the ploughman's supper, and as usual the event will be at St Agatha's Hall in Hurst Green.  Tickets are due to open to the public soon, so please do not delay;  book a place or even a whole table of 6 persons - ask your friends and family, for that breadth of knowledge!  Our focus is on fun!

For more information, click on the adverts below; to book a space email HGgardeningclub@gmail.com or call Jilly on 01883 715896.  We really want to see you there!

March Meeting 2015 - Bonsai

Tony McKenzie, our speaker for March

Our March meeting came as a bit of surprise for most, as many of the members thought of Bonsai as an old, calm gentleman in a kimono, sitting and considering his tree for hours before leaning over and cutting off a single leaf with a pair of tiny scissors.  Instead Tony McKenzie showed us how to renovate an overgrown bonsai Acer, with  a demonstration involving quite a brutal prune followed by root pruning that had many members feeling somewhat faint!

Renovation of the acer

Mr McKenzie also brought along a number of bonsai with him, of various ages, to illustrate the different types of bonsai that are available; many had been grown by him over the years, and he was keen to encourage us all to "have a go".   Apparently, many bonsai failures are caused by purchasing trees from garden centers that are really supposed to be grown outdoors, which then die when exposed to the heat and dryness of a centrally heated home.  We also learned that, although bonsai have leaves that are small and in proportion to the rest of the plant, should they flower and fruit, these will be of "normal" size - this was a real eye-opener to most of us!

In fact, the demonstration had a number of practical applications over and above the topic of bonsai.  It is applicable to a number of shrubs grown in containers, such as the standard acer that I have which has a rather overgrown head - the pruning and the root training that we saw are the exact techniques that I shall have to apply to the containerised tree - assuming that I can be brave enough!

A sample of the bonsai on display, including the small hosta in
the pot to the left

Members thoroughly enjoyed the demonstration, and many thanks to Tony for answering varied questions from many of us in the tea break - I also learned how to renovate the neglected Scots Pine bonsai that I rescued last year after the owner moved away; as it is an evergreen, pruning has to be performed so that some of each leaf cluster is still left on the tree.

Outing to Gatton Park and Fanny's Farm Shop




The intrepid band of explorers .. until the rain came down!

Our early spring outing as a club was to Gatton Park in Reigate, to view the snowdrops and spring bulbs, followed by a cream tea at the nearby Fanny's Farm Shop at Gatton Bottom.  Some may also know Gatton Park as the Royal Albert and Alexandra School, which operates the house and parkland.  Gatton Park opens a couple of times a year, and although the main intention of this visit was to see the bulbs, there is a Japanese Garden and long walks around the parkland if visiting at other times.

Unfortunately, on the day the weather was extremely unkind to us (to say the least), as it was very cold and rained hard!  Garden visiting in Great Britain is always a bit risky, particularly in Winter, and also when visits have to be pre-arranged with a number of people so that you cannot just get-up-and-go when the sun is shining.  Brave gardening souls that we are, we still managed only about 20 minutes in the park before declaring the trip a bit too wet and cold to enjoy, and so we decamped to Fanny's for the cream tea.

Aconites at Gatton Park

Snowdrops at Gatton Park

Fanny's is always good fun, but once again it was rather cold even inside - but it is definitely worth a visit again later in the year!  Congratulations - and commiserations - must go to all the brave and hardy souls who made the trip.  For those who are unaware of Fanny's Farm Shop, it is owned and run by the indomitable Fanny (who else?) and her daughter, and must be one of the very few properties in the country that is still not connected to mains electricity - all the power on site comes from a generator!

(Editors note:   Far be it my job to rub salt into an open wound, but we were unable to go to Gatton Park for this trip.  Instead, we went to Gatton  with a visiting Australian friend on the previous Sunday.  The sun shone, the park was beautiful, and we were lovely and warm as we ate our breakfast in the treehouse at Fanny's ... sorry!   The photos in the article were taken - apart from the group shot - on the warmer of the Sundays.  Please note that, although the farm shop and the cafe are open for general visiting, the treehouse at Fanny's must be booked in advance - it does make a lovely venue for a special occasion.)

Gatton House at it stands today

Fanny's Farm Shop - the tea garden

The treehouse - which must be booked

The inside of the treehouse

Lilies - Time for a Revival?

The sight of James Wong at the RHS Spring Fair got me thinking about lilies.  As some of you may be aware, we are fans of James' books and seeds - we had tastings last October of tomatillos grown from his seed range available from Suttons - and having been to one of his talks at Coolings last year, we are huge fans of the man himself.  But sadly, I have to part company over lilies.  James was recently promoting them on the Great British Garden Revival on BBC2, bemoaning the fact that they have dropped out of favour and are not grown in the English garden as often as they used to be.

I have one word for you, James - and that word is "cats".  I am sure that one of the many reasons that they have fallen out of favour is that they are so poisonous to our feline friends and neighbours.  Obviously, many of the plants in our gardens are toxic to cats or other wildlife if they eat them, but what sets lilies apart from these is the pollen.  If cats brush against the lilies and get the pollen on their fur, they will lick it off and thus swallow a potentially lethal amount of poison.  According to the Cats' Protection League website, "unfortunately, several types of lily have been found to be deadly to cats, including Easter lily, tiger lily, rubrum lily, Japanese show lily, some species of day lily (ie Hemerocallis - Ed), and certain other members of the Liliacaea family".

If you have cats and you are lucky enough to be given a floral bouquet that includes lilies, don't forget to cut the stamens out and to dispose of them carefully (you are also doing yourself a favour, as the pollen from the stamens will stain your clothes orange if you brush against them, and there is anecdotal reports that removing the stamens makes them last longer).  Indoor lilies create more problems for a cat than outdoor ones, as there is at least a chance that much of the pollen on outdoor plants has been washed off or otherwise removed by wind or bees, and the breeze can remove some of the pollen before the cat grooms; there is no chance of this in the house, and the lilies are often presented at a height perfect for a cat to brush against as it stalks across the mantelpiece.

Although, modifying a comment in Dr Donaldson's poisonous plants talk last month, I might make myself unpopular by suggesting that there is one type of cat around which you can happily grow lilies - specifically, a cat that you do not like ...

March Meeting 2015

Our speaker for Wednesday 11th March is Tony McKenzie, who will be talking about Bonsai.

There are still some membership subscriptions outstanding, so please do remember to come along and renew this month if you have forgotten!  We look forward to seeing you all.

Rhubarb Leaves - To Compost or Not?

Following on from Dr Donaldson's sorry tale of the man who ate rhubarb leaves, members at the talk
may remember that Roy asked the excellent question - should rhubarb leaves be composted, if they are poisonous?  After all, if the leaves are that toxic, should the resultant compost be used on fruit and veg?

We have turned to the excellent website "The Rhubarb Compendium", found at www.rhubarbinfo.com (or click on the web name above to open it in a separate window).  If you are a rhubarb aficionado, this website contains a mass of information including recipes, botanic information and such like.  If you hate rhubarb (like me - Rhubarb to rhubarb is my motto - Ed), avoid the site like the plague!

Anyway, the answer is that the poisonous element, oxalic acid, is broken down very quickly, diluted and then pH balanced in the compost, and therefore should present no problem at all.  So, Roy, keep on composting!

RHS Plant Fairs in London - Hidden Treasures on Our Doorsteps

Spectacular - Irises at the Spring Plant and Potato Fair

In an earlier article on potato sculptures (you have now tried one, haven't you - Ed), we mentioned that we saw these at the RHS annual Spring Plant Fair, now retitled the Plant and Potato Fair.  We then started thinking, and realised that although we regularly attend these, we rarely see any other members there (apart from Lucy, step forward and take a bow!).  Although, this time around, we were lucky enough to catch sight of both James Wong (seen most recently on the Great British Garden Revival), and Jim Buttress (from the Big Allotment Challenge).

Trade stands have many ideas for
your own gardens

If you are a member of the the RHS, or even if you are not, you are almost certainly aware of the four RHS gardens, and especially Wisley as it is so close to us.  But are you aware that there is another RHS resource that is almost on our doorstep, namely the RHS Horticultural Halls (the Lindley and the Lawrence) just off Vincent Square in London?  These halls are only a short distance from Victoria Station (less than 10 minutes by foot, even fewer in a taxi for the less mobile). Victoria is, of course, one of the main London termini from our own station in Hurst Green -  you can therefore be in the Halls within an hour of leaving Hurst Green, almost as fast as Wisley on a good day, without the horrors of the M25 to boot! 

It may be that many members do not know about these Halls, or what goes on in them.  We think that this needs to change.  The RHS puts on a number of shows and plant fairs (as well as other garden-themed events) in these halls throughout the year, and they really are hidden treasures if you love your garden .  Not all of the events are formal plant shows, either - the spring plant fair just gone is specifically for trade exhibitors to display and sell their wares, and all of the events have some form of "theme" to entertain and educate interested gardeners.  We do know that some Hurst Green members are not keen on formal plant shows, but this should not deter them from going as there are always trade stands to visit and other activities going on.  There is even a botanical art event for those who like painting and viewing pictures of plants, even if they are not so good at growing them!  If you do like shows and exhibiting (and we want to encourage more of you to do so this year - Ed), the shows in these halls are a brilliant way of looking and learning, to improve your own entries and knowledge of what judges are looking for.

Lathyrus Vernus - a small perennial cousin of the Sweet Pea.
Did you know it existed?  We bought one...

As an example of the events in the halls, at the Spring Plant and Potato Fair, one of the halls was given over to potatoes (more interesting than it sounds!), with a huge display of potato types, advice available if you needed it, and activities themed around potatoes and plants (the famous potato sculpture, which you could try for yourself, and a "seed bomb" making kit aimed more at any children present - all charities such as the RHS have recognised that children are the future and must be encouraged). The other hall was filled with specialist trade stands, displaying and selling plants - often unusual varieties not obtainable through the normal garden centres, or those which you never knew existed.  One of the most spectacular displays in this show (to my mind anyway - Ed), was the display of miniature irises, a picture of which graces the top of this article.

A display of herbs - with new raised beds that
we want to plant as a potager, this is an idea
I will think about seriously.

Even better, the vast majority of the events are free if you are an RHS member - but you can still get in if you are not, as you can pay a reasonable non-member entry at the door.  If you are interested - and we do hope you are, and encourage you to go - we put details of them in our monthly guide, and you can get more information from the RHS itself on their London Shows page (click on either of the links to follow).

So go on - give the shows a go!

February Meeting 2015 - Poisonous Plants and Vegetables

Our speaker on February 11th was Dr David Donaldson, addressing us on Poisonous Plants and Vegetables, based on clinical experiences during his time in the NHS.  We were given a number of chances to guess what had been ailing a patient (or a group of people, in some cases), with varying degrees of success.

Member's guesses on poisoning caused by solanin, from eating green potatoes, were fairly successful, but less so was a case involving an older lady who mistook daffodil bulbs for onions (in this case, the need for further investigation was highlighted, as the mistake was not a simple one of observation, but symptoms of the onset of Alzheimer's Disease, with the unfortunate cook simply forgetting that daffodil bulbs actually existed).  Most of us guessed that the fruit pie made from rhubarb in fact contained not just the stalk, but also the leaves which are poisonous and should never be eaten.  We also heard about the number of plants that are medicinal in small quantities, such as digitals from foxgloves, but poisonous in larger amounts.

Many thanks to Dr Donaldson for his address, particularly as this reader cannot stand rhubarb and now has an excuse never to risk eating it again!