October meeting 2014

The title of our October talk is "The Four Gardens of the R.H.S", to be given by Graham Usher.  The meeting will be on Wednesday October 8th, at the usual time of 8.00 pm in St Agatha's Hall.

Don't forget to bring along your Coleuses (Colei? - Ed), for the friendly challenge!

We look forward to seeing you there ...

Hurst Green Fair 2014

Didn't we do well!  Unused as we are to blowing our own trumpets (really? - Ed), all of those involved in producing the stall for this year's Hurst Green Fair, held on Saturday 20th, should be pleased as punch with themselves.  The stall, pictured, looked really good and professional, and was well stocked with plants and produce including chutneys and jellies.  All of these proved popular, and we think that the Club gave a good showing of itself.

Which simply leads me to remind all of you who were kind enough to donate preserves to the show, that we need more for next year!  So please, get pickling and preserving again ...

The front of the stand - plants, preserves ..

... and the side of the stand, with more plants!

Trade was brisk!  Ladies - form an orderly queue ...

Silverware!

Further to our post on the Autumn Flower and Produce show, we have a couple of pictures of the Hurst Green members who won two of the three "Best in..." categories.  Step forward Sue Kempton, who won the Crewdson Cup for overall Best in Show with her fuchsia heads, and Richard Dove, who won the Margaret Lawson Challenge Cup for the Best Dahlia exhibit (pictured here with the Mrs L Wettern Cup for the most points in the Dahlia classes.

Sue Kempton - Overall Best In Show

Richard Dove - Best Dahlia Exhibit

Report on the Autumn Flower and Produce Show 2014

Another year, and another major show has come and gone, leaving those of us who had to prepare it weary and emotional (which is to say, somewhat tipsy in the evening!).  The effort was, I am pleased to report, well worth it, as we presented a show with a goodly number of impressive exhibits - for the statistically minded of you, 214 in total!  Thank you to everyone who exhibited, or who were involved in the running of the show - and thanks to all of you who came to view the show itself.

The show: set up, ready and waiting ...

The Autumn Flower and Produce Show 2014 was held on 13th September,  presented jointly with "The Grow With Us Club" (the Limpsfield and Oxted District Horticultural Society), in St Mary's Community Hall in Oxted.  There was a good attendance in the afternoon to admire the blooms and vegetables, aided by glorious sun, as well as a healthy showing for the actual entries from Hurst Green - our club excelled in the Flower and Domestic sections, with a special showing by Richard Dove in the Vegetables.  Congratulations go to Roy Eaton, who won the most overall points in the show.   Thanks must also go to Jilly, who acted as the show secretary for both of the clubs, preparing all the entries and sorting out all the results on the day, and to the judges for both the flowers and domestic classes, who gave up their Saturday for our benefit.

It should be noted that while prizes and places are all well and good (particularly for the competitive members, of which I suppose I must admit to being a little - ok, a quite a lot - guilty), the real pleasure of the show is looking at all the blooms, vegetables, handicrafts and preserves on display.  It isn't just rooted in receiving the prizes - even if a shiny silver cup is nice!  Certainly, the pleasure of the members of the public who attended came from seeing flora and fauna rather than seeing who had actually won.  Therefore, your committee would like to encourage members to enter a show even if you are not competitive, and to look upon entering as providing an exhibit for others simply to enjoy - I know that I have done so only in order to help fill a table, but that the effort of doing so has been much appreciated (and by the way, these scratch entries often do rather well, as it is surprising how much an entry may be regarded by others and the judges, even if you don't think it anything special yourself).  So please, do have a go in the future even if you don't want to win or think yourself competitive - think instead of the pleasure of others looking at the exhibits.  Come along to any of our shows, have a look to see what is entered, get a feel for what you need to do - and then have a go yourself!  It really, really can be very rewarding.

For the record, the winners of the cups may be found on a new page entitled "Awards - Autumn flower and produce show 2014", accessible on the right hand side of the blog, or by clicking this link.  And now, for the piccies ...

Best In Show 2014 - Sue Kempton

Best Dahlia Exhibit - Richard Dove

Best Vegetable Exhibit - Christine Kirk

The Dahlia and flower classes

The first prize specimen Dahlia

The rose classes - sadly a little thin as most members'
plants were over by the show

Floral arrangements - we also had aster stems and
flowering shrubs which are not pictured

One of my favourite displays - the boards of
fuchsia heads always look fantastic, and there were
many entries this year

The potted plant classes, succulents and
sempervivums to the front

Vegetables - the first table...

... and the  second table

The collection classes - vegetables

The collection classes - mixed "My very best" and "2 and 1"

The fruit classes

Domestic classes - jams, jellies and chutneys.  We also
had tea loaves, which are not pictured

Handicrafts - the terrarium was placed first but the judging
took a great deal of discussion! 

The voted classes - miniature flower arrangements,
a flower arrangement in an item of footwear,
and the photographic section.

The winner of the Children's cupcakes category

August meeting 2014 - 50 Greys of Shade

Our speaker for August was Mr Colin Moat, with his topic "50 Greys of Shade".  We enjoyed a comprehensive listing of many plants that would grow in different levels of shade, including some ideas which may be obvious to some, but are often not really though of, or even considered by most.  One example is to plant bulbs in shaded areas, and to treat some of them as annual plants - many will provide a splash of colour in the spring for the first year even if they are not totally suited to the location, as the bulb contains the necessary nutrients for at least one year's flowering.

Mr Moat runs Pineview Plants, which may be found by following the link pineviewplants.co.uk and was also kind enough to produce a list of plants suitable for shade, which is included below.  As usual, click on the image to open it and to print it.

August meeting 2014

Our August meeting will be on Wednesday 13th August, at St Agatha's Hall, 8.00 pm as usual.  Our speaker will be Colin Moat, and his subject is "50 Greys of Shade".

We would love to see new faces as well as all our current members, so if you are interested in gardening and are not already a member, please do think about coming along and sampling our delights!  If you know someone who may be interested, persuade them to come with you ...

Do also remember to come and collect your jar labels for our stall at the Hurst Green Village Fair in September.

Where has Godstone gone?

No, we don’t mean the village of Godstone, or even the Godstone Gardening Club! This tabloid headline refers to a plant – Aubretia Godstone.

You may recall from an earlier post that Margaret had asked how Daphne Bholua Limpsfield came to get its name. That set me thinking (never a good idea as I spend a lot of time thinking and very little time actually doing) and I turned to the good old RHS Plant Finder to look up other local names. Needless to say, there was no Hurst Green listed, or Oxted, Crockham, Titsey, Tandridge, etc, but there was an Aubretia Godstone. Result! I clicked on the information to discover that it has not been listed since 2002. 

Aubrieta (or Aubretia depending on how you feel) - this
photograph is not Godstone!

I therefore Googled it, confident that I must be able to find a supplier in the UK, but came up with nothing. It has completely disappeared. Yet back in 1950 none other than the gardening goddess Vita Sackville West describes Aubretia Godstone thus, “Aubretia has certainly been overdone, but I still maintain that this Rock-cress can be used with tact and advantage … a grey wall or a whitewashed wall, or grey paving stones, all make a good background, especially if you avoid the insipid old pale mauve and choose only the best strains, such as Cambria, red; Crimson Queen; Godstone, deep purple; Kelmscott Beauty, a double red; Vindictive, violet-red.” (Extract from In Your Garden.) I have checked plant finder for all these others as well; Kelmscott Beauty is not listed, the others are listed but again there are no suppliers.

So why has it disappeared? Plants do appear, flourish briefly, and then disappear out of garden centres, catalogues and stockists, but Aubrieta Godstone has been around a long time. I realise that Aubretia is considered old fashioned at the moment – when was the last time you saw it used at Chelsea? – and certainly when we visited the RHS inaugural Alpine plant fair earlier this year there was precious little aubretia for sale. I also don’t think it helps that it has slightly changed its name! It is now more commonly known as aubrieta, not aubretia, which I find incredibly confusing.

I have of course asked the ever-helpful Sylvia from Godstone Gardening Club for assistance (this reference also gives us a good opportunity to marvel at a lovely picture of Sylvia when Godstone produced a show garden at Chelsea in 2000 - good for them! - p.s. click on the link to read it) . She has suggested putting out a general note in the Godstone newsletter appealing for any information (this plant is beginning to sound like a lost cat!) and preferably a cutting. If any of our members knows anyone with Aubretia Godstone, please let us know. It would be lovely to be able to plant it next to Limpsfield, and ideally to propagate it and spread it back around the locality.

Jams, Chutneys, and the Villlage Fair in September

A gentle plea for produce suitable for sale at the Hurst Green Village Fair in September ... if you are making jams or anything else from your fruit and vegetable gluts, please would you consider making a couple of extra for the Club, or putting aside a few that have already been made for us to sell.

We will be bringing more jar labels with us to the next meeting in August, so please remember to collect some, and to get jamming!

Summer supper and social

 Our meeting for July 2014, held on the 9th, was the popular summer supper and social.  The weather was more than kind to us, and this was as ever a highly enjoyable event, held in St Agatha's Hall.  The evening is a very good way to meet fellow gardeners and friends and to exchange tips (and gossip).  We would heartily recommend it to anyone thinking of joining the Club or who want to expand their horizons in the village.

The format of the evening was unchanged from previous years - the evening is  a sit down buffet with the Committee producing the main courses, and members bringing along a dessert.  As the attendance was very good indeed, there were a good many varied desserts to be sampled, and a general theme running through the evening was favourable comment on the quality of the food!

Many thanks therefore to all those who came, and all those who prepared dishes for the occasion.

Snake in the grass .. or at least on the patio

Anyone of a nervous disposition should be warned before they scroll down!

My neighbours called me around today to inspect an interloper in their garden. It has been on their patio for the past few mornings, basking in the early morning sun. It turned out to be an adder. This is the first time we have seen one in our vicinity – we have seen them on the chart and along Tanhouse Road, and friends have told us over the years of unwelcome visitors in Orchard Way and Rockfield Close. But we have never heard of one in a garden on the village green. It was really only a few feet away from the footpath that leads up to Aggies and the station.

An adder - if you can even bear to look
Photo credit Mike Richardson and SarahWinch

But have we just been unobservant? Last year, when digging a border, we found what looked like snake eggs. We checked on the internet to confirm our suspicions, but the internet world was divided on this issue. Some declared them to be snake eggs, others that they were fungi, although all agreed that they could not be adder eggs as this snake apparently gives birth to live young.  Although probably some form of developing puff fungus, they were all damaged in digging the border, which now appears to be somewhat fortuitous...

Fungi or snakes eggs?
Photo courtesy of Calendula and Concrete

We are not sure why the snake has appeared now. It is possible that it lives in the copse at the top of Meldrum Close, relying on the pond there for water and feeding on the local mice. However, the pond is currently dry and so perhaps the adder ventured out in search of water. I don’t know a lot about snakes and so I don’t really know. While we are happy to welcome some wildlife into the garden, there are limits, and snakes are definitely well beyond the acceptable (particularly since they are one of life's few instinctive fears).  Unfortunately, it does appear that killing or interfering with an adder is illegal as they are now protected and so removal does pose a potential problem.

Hopefully, this adder was a one-off; however, it is worth being cautious if you live in this vicinity!