Summer Evening Show 2015

One of the two full tables at the show -
thank you to all of the exhibitors

Our summer evening flower show (with Pimms, most importantly!) was held on Wednesday 10th June at St Agathas.  There were a good number of entries, and quite a few members commented that this was one of the best attended and entered Summer flower shows for some time!  A big thank you therefore to all those who came along, and especially to all of those who exhibited - a significant proportion of the club put in something, including some of the newer members, which is encouraging for all the Committee and those who organise the event.  We also had a number of entries from "The Grow With Us Club" from Oxted (also known as LODHS), as we have issued an invitation to them to join us and exhibit at the shows for some time - so thank you to those from Oxted who also made the trip to Hurst Green.  I hope you filled up on the freebie Pimms! While on the subject, our thanks to Malcolm from LODHS who supplied a number of the photos below (there is also an article on their blog, which may be read by clicking here on this link).  This rescued Yours Truly after mucking up the settings on the Hurst Green camera, a refrain which is becoming increasingly common of late ... 

For the first time in a while, the Committee decided to re-introduce a couple of the cups that the Club owns, but not too many as otherwise the presentation can get a little out of hand!  Distribution of the cups was, on the night, nicely spread out with no one person cleaning them all up.  On the subject of cleaning, could all winners please ensure that they are returned next year in a lovely shiny condition!

Award	Description	Awarded to
Nineham Challenge Cup -	Most points in show and overall show winner	Jeremy Ball
Vouchers from Knights	Best Exhibit in Show	Rosemary Buchan, for Class 3, a vase of cut flowers from your garden
Lady Burnett Bowl	Best decorative arrangement of flowers and foliage, Class 1	Vicky Regan
Bennett Cup	Best exhibit in miniature floral art, Class2	Jane Firmin
Brux Rose Bowl	Most points in Rose Classes 4-7	Brenda Cole
Show Certificates	Second place in show based on points	Ken Jobling and Anne Rady (shared)
Best Scented Rose	Selected by audience vote	Margaret Edwards with “Ena Harkness”

Silverware!  Though next time, perhaps leave out the
Waitrose bag, or at least ask for advertising sponsorship

In fact, there were no less than four potential winners of the Brux Bowl based solely on points, but our thanks to Sylvia Pocock, the Judge, both for the actual judging and also for breaking the stalemate by selecting the best entry from the four potentials in order to make the award!  All of the award winners also received a certificate from the Club, but we are sure that all would agree that it is not the winning that counts, but the taking part (Yeah, right, now gimme my cup!- Ed). In all seriousness, the shows are an opportunity to admire the blooms, fruit and vegetables that interest us, and we cannot over-emphasise the gratitude of the organisers to all those who exhibited, no matter whether they won, were placed, or not.  Without you, there would be no show.

And lastly, thanks to the Committee for organising the event, all those who turned up early to help set up, and especially to Jilly, our Show Secretary, who worked so hard to ensure that the evening was a success.  Now, on with the important bit, the pictures ...

Class 1 - Mixed Decorative Arrangement of
Flowers and Foliage.  Vicky's winning entry.

Class 3 - A vase of flowers from your garden
(Photo thanks to LODHS)

Class 2 - Miniature arrangements, again a popular class

Jane Firmin's winning entry on the
miniature's class

Roses - the epitome of the Summer show...
(Photo thanks to LODHS)

A palette of 7 miniature roses
(Photo thanks to LODHS)

A flowering plant, less than 7 inches.
The winning entry (white spray) is Saxifraga "Tumbling Waters".

Pansy heads floating in a favourite dish
(Photo thanks to LODHS)

By Way of An Apology - "None For Ages And Then Three Come Along At Once"

Dear-Oh-Dear!  Ashes and sack-cloths are in order for the erstwhile publishers of this blog!  Regular members and readers may have noticed that nothing has happened for a while (A WHOLE MONTH! - Ed), and then three somewhat tardy articles have been put up in the space of a couple of days.  Like Number 13 buses (if there ever was one in this area, as it has been the 410 for yonks), you get none for ages and then they all turn up together!

What can we say?  Busy, busy, busy, the summer show to get ready (another blog article on this soon), overdue weeding in the garden, raised beds to construct and plant, children doing A levels, you name it (idleness, perhaps? - Ed)... but our apologies for the delay, and we hope to now be back to posting regularly again.

PS.  If you do have something of interest for the blog, perhaps photos of a decent local garden to visit or even good ones of your own plot, articles on a vaguely garden related topic, please do send them to us, so that we can include them here!

Another Club Outing - Pashley Manor Tulips

Intrepid members in front of the tulips at Pashley Manor

Hot on the heels of the Thriplow trip, Carol also arranged a trip through Skinners to the Pashley Manor Tulip Festival, held in late April and early May.  This Festival is also held annually, with many visitors returning year after year.  The organisers estimate that about 25,000 tulips were on display with about 100 varieties in evidence.  More details of this event may be found at pashleymanorgardens.com.  For your information, Pashley Manor gardens are open from April to the end of September and host other events such as a Sculpture trail later in the year.

Attendance was lighter than the Thriplow trip, partly because the event was more local and therefore many members had already been.  However, again comments were made about how much easier it was to park when going by coach, and we hope to organise a few more of these coach trips in the future!

Club Outings - Thriplow Daffodils

The Daffodil Festival at Thriplow

This year, the committee decided to try out adding some club outings using Skinner's coach company, which is local to us in Oxted.  Although we arrange outings using our own transport, there are some members who have expressed interest in using a coach, especially for longer distances.  Since coaches are expensive, we felt that using Skinner's pre-organised services might be a good idea, allowing members to book through our club so that a small group could be arranged and members would know some of the other people on the outing.

Our first outing was to Thriplow, in South Cambridgeshire, very close to Duxford.  Thriplow has an annual Daffodil Festival, which has grown in attendance and scale over the years; in 2015, this was the 47th festival.  It was held on the 21st and 22nd of March, and next year will be on the 16th and 17th of April.  More details may be found at thriplowdaffodils.org.uk.  Despite the cool damp winter, with late Daffodils, there were still plenty to be seen as evidenced by the photo at the start of the article.  The Festival is supported by the whole community, allowing the village to be closed to most traffic for the weekend, making the walk around pleasant and safe.

Making a coffin apparently requires a BBC test card suit.
Who knew?

There were also a number of other attractions taking place at the Festival, from singing in the Church, to plant stalls, a food festival, and a craft market.  Features of the latter included a local craftsman specialising in handmade wicker coffins, demonstrated while wearing a suit made from BBC test card fabric ...

There were also a couple of local gardens open, one of which contained the rather large topiary in the picture below...

For a first outing, a reasonable number of members went on the trip (so much easier to park when a driver has to do it for you!), and enjoyed themselves on what was a rather cold but interesting day.  Our thanks must go to Carol Marshall, who organised the trips and liased with Skinners on our behalf.

The Village of Thriplow - a map of the event

Large topiary - probably a Dachshund?

May Meeting 2015 - Dahlias

The May meeting.  Brian is talking, and Ted is seated at the front.
Apologies for having no proper picture of the speaker, owing to a
camera (actually camera user? - Ed) failure.

The talk at our May meeting was given by Ted Riches, who many will remember as a long-term member of the Club from a number of years back.  At a well-attended meeting, Ted talked about Dahlias, which are a special interest for him as he has been exhibiting them nationally for many years.  He gave us a number of tips, many of which were a surprise to us, for example suggesting the use of sulphur (available from most garden centres) as a dust for newly lifted and dried tubers, to prevent rotting and decay in storage.  I also discovered that Ted uses the tubers stored from one year to the next only as a source of new cuttings which will be grown on for showing in the same year, and that the old tubers themselves are not then used as he cannot control how many flower stems are produced, and thus the quality.  I had always assumed that you were expected to plant the same tuber each year and to watch it get bigger and bigger in order to get the best blooms - apparently not the case for serious Exhibitors.

Ted also described a system for growing Dahlia cuttings (of which he takes many), based on hydroponic techniques.  This is the "Rootit" system, and is described online at www.propagateplants.com.  It may also be purchased online as well - just search for "Rootit".

Didn't We Do Well? Victory - Again - at the Spring Challenge!

The whole hall.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to all those
who took the time to exhibit - and to those who took the time to
organise and help out at the show!

Hoorah for Hurst Green Gardening Club!  Last week saw our annual Challenge against Godstone Gardeners' Club, held this year on "away turf" at the White Hart Barn in Godstone.  Having won in 2014, we were not expecting a positive result this year, particularly as we had no home advantage, but we can report that Hurst Green won again!  For those of a statistical frame of mind, the final score was Hurst Green - 76 to Godstone - 61.  This 15 point lead, (described rather kindly by Jane as "close" - Ed) when our Club is significantly smaller and was not on home ground, was remarkable, and is testament to the competitiveness and ability of many of our members.



The daffodil classes in this year's show.

Regardless of the actual outcome, however, the real purpose of the show is to allow two local clubs to have a social get-together, and to foster good relations between us, while giving both sets of members some lovely displays to gawp at - and they were very much gawpable (Is this  a word? - Ed) this year with entries in all classes including doubles and miniatures.  So, to Godstone, a special "thank-you" for your hard work in staging the show and organising a wonderful buffet during the judging!  This was a very enjoyable evening, and we would also like to extend our thanks to all those members (of both clubs) who exhibited or just came along for the evening, as without the entries and the visitors these show events would be nothing.


Tulips and pot classes

And, to all those who did not manage to make the show, or who may be nervous at showing their
blooms for the first time, please do take the plunge into showing and attending.  As a local club, our shows are not aimed at RHS national quality displays, but at a realistic local level, and "growing-and-showing" is rather addictive once you start, and not at all hard - every person has at least one item that is suitable for show, even if you think that you do not.  It is also wonderful for members to see plants and varieties that they do not know, and might like for themselves - without entries, shows like this will die out, and we really, really think it would be a shame if that were to happen.  The Spring Challenge had some extra classes introduced this year (cut tulips and single daffodil stems) specifically to allow even novices to have a go, and to ensure that there was a good spread of entries regardless of the weather, and all of our shows have classes that are suitable for novices and the more experienced alike.  Best of all, and the point of it all, is that they are enjoyable and great fun!

So, please do speak to our Show Secretaries, Jilly and Jeremy, or any other member of the committee for some advice on how to get started.  After two years' defeat in a row, we will need all your entries next year, as we are sure that Sylvia will not be taking this lightly and will be dragooning her troops into a win next year - unless we stop her again!  We are wanting the hat trick...

Second prize in the 6 stem class (may be mixed) -
Narcissus "Sunny Girlfriend"

Narcissus Bulbicodium "Golden Bells"
First place in the container of daffodils class.

Cut Tulip classes - new for this year

Spring Baskets - always a popular class, especially for visitors.

A flowering pot plant (pot over 7") - a Pleione (left)
and a Rhododendron - rather "Little and Large"!

A Growing Pot of Tulips

An Update on the Bulbs at Hurst Green Station

Crocus and Tete-a-Tete on the station approach

You may remember that the Gardening Club has been working with Mighty Oaks Youth Group (follow this link).  One of the projects that we undertook with them last year was the planting of some bulbs at the station in order both to improve the outlook for the residents, and to give an introduction to gardening to some of the youngsters that might like that sort of thing.

If you have been to the station recently, you should have seen that a number of the bulbs are now emerging.  We planted daffodils and crocuses amongst others, and the first of these have put in an appearance.  As this is the first year, they will appear rather sparse, but we hope and expect that the colonies of plants should soon establish and that, as the years go by, these will provide a much more spectacular sight.  We also intend to assist with more planting at the station to improve through the years, perhaps with primroses on the banks to replace all those primroses lost from the railways over the last fifty years.  We would also hope to have a second planting of bulbs to make up for any losses from the original planting, and to replace those that did not come up.

Daffodils on the bank

We have not finished with this project, and we are involving ourselves more with both the Mighty Oaks Youth Group and the newly established Creative Community project in Hurst Green.  We will be presenting more information at one of our meetings, and more details may be found on the Creative Community website, creativecommunityhg.blogspot.com.  It is early days, but watch this space!

Daffodils - Yellow Pest or Harbinger of Spring?

Narcissus Dutch Master. 
Garish and very, very yellow.

Many people have a deep, dark secret; whenever they hear another garden visitor utter the words "Daffodils! How lovely! Spring has arrived!", they cannot help but think "Yuk!  Can't stand the blasted yellow things."  But, of course, they never dare speak out and say so, as to do so might mark them as a pariah of the gardening world.

However, the attitude is much more common than might be believed; for many years, I myself used to look at the Yellow Perils with disdain.  They just seemed so ... well, ugly, for want of a better word.  Garish yellow heads on a stiff upright stalk that also managed to be unattractive in its own right, with those spade-like leaves that start to flop and look tatty so quickly.  Snowdrops, crocus, even many tulips just seemed so much more elegant, somehow.  Daffodils did not, contrary to popular opinion, nod gently and delicately in the breeze, but came up and smacked you round the face like a thug demanding all your attention, or worse, your wallet.  I could cope, and even appreciate - to a degree - a whole field of daffodils, seen at a distance, (such as at Stonewall Park - a local garden open for the NGS) but a small clump here and there seemed so crass and out of place.

Narcissus Bulbicodium - the "Hoop Petticoat".
Cute, and much more elegant.

The problem seems to be that very few people outside of the gardening world understand that there are many, many more daffodils out there than that brazen hussy of the type, the Dutch Master, the yellow thug that appears in local parks, gardens and hedgerows.  This cultivar has, almost single-handedly, given the genus a terribly bad name; available for a few pence each in nets of 20 kilos or more to landscapers and  local authorities, it seems to be the daffodil of choice for municipal parks and gardens.

Narcissus Rip Van Winkle.  A relatively small double
daffodil, which we have heard a number
of members asking about.

But the daffodil family is immense; there are over 10 divisions specified for exhibiting in shows, including the one that actually says "none of the other divisions, because we can't just keep adding more and more divisions even though we really, really need to".  It is almost impossible not to find a variety that you do not like, whether it is one of the smaller varieties such as Tete-a-Tete, or the small double Rip Van Winkle (both of which do well in the Hurst Green clay), to the tiny bulbicodiums known as "hoop petticoats".  Then there are the later flowering Poet's Daffodils (Narcissus Poeticus), which are much more refined, to the split coronas and the doubles that flounce their wares like the curtains in a  French Madam's boudoir (Ed - or so you have been told, I suppose?).  If you like fragrant plants, try growing Bridal Crown or Avalanche in pots and bring them inside when in flower.

Narcissus Bridal Crown - scented and multiheaded.
Also very pretty.
Image courtesy of crocus.co.uk

The point is that not all daffodils are the garish yellow municipal variety that you see in all of our parks and gardens.  We do have our spring competition against Godstone coming up on the 15th April, and it is an ideal opportunity to see a variety of types of daffodil close up - so do come along and be prepared to give daffodils a chance!

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.