Grayshott Gardeners newsletter
June 2021
FROM THE CHAIR
Dear Members
Welcome to our June newsletter. We are inching closer to ‘normal’ and, fingers crossed, we may be able to host our summer show in the Village Hall on Saturday 10th July, so please check your yellow Schedules for what you might enter. Wouldn’t it be marvellous to have a bumper number of entries – the results of all your labour during the long, hard months of lockdown. Whether or not we can hold the show depends on the government advice and the views of the Village Hall Trustees at the time, so please look out for information on our website here and in the July newsletter.
We know that both our June and July lectures will continue to be on ZOOM – please see page 3 for further details.
The recent rain might have dampened our spirits and put paid to some of our walks in the beautiful local countryside, but our gardens have literally soaked it up. Everything is greening up beautifully, our seedlings are being potted on, the trees are abundant with leaves and hopefully the frosts have passed. We have even managed mows of the lawns in-between the showers.
Keep well and enjoy your summer gardening.
All the best, Anne Waddell, Chairman
WHAT IS IT?
Results for No. 6 & Photo for No. 7
The winner for May 2021 was member, Karen Cozens (yet again!), who correctly identified the photo as the base of a pumpkin.
Photos no. 6 above.
Karen is to be congratulated for her success in identifying all the mystery photos over the past six months – sometimes others identified the photos correctly too, but no-one, except Karen, has had a 100% winning streak. It will be lovely to receive entries from other GG members too and have your name(s), as ‘winners’, featured in the newsletter.
And here is photo no. 7:
If you think you know what it is, please e-mail Gordon Rae president@grayshottgardeners.net
by 15 June 2021. We will provide the answer and the names of those who correctly identified the photo in our July newsletter.
MY TOP FIVE PLANTS – from a GRAYSHOTT GARDENER
This month we feature the ‘Top 5 Plants’ of our Communications lead, Helen Deighan.
I must admit that I am not the best gardener in the world. I love my garden, but it really must do a lot of looking after itself, while I am weaving in my little studio. Consequently, my favourite plants are plants that do just that.
| Common Violets | Or, in fact, violets in any shape or form. I love the way they just pop up in unexpected places and give a little joy. I also love them as they remind me of my wedding day. I carried a small posy of violets to match Michael’s purple jabot! |
| Cosmos | Cosmos plants in any colour are essential for my summer garden, reaching varying heights and in many colours, adding frilly texture to the flower bed. Growing cosmos is simple and cosmos flower care is easy and rewarding when single or double blooms appear on stems reaching 1 to 4 feet (0.5 to 1 m.) Just a bit of dead heading – that’s all they ask. |
| Schizostylis | This is a plant that blooms when everything else is closing down – that’s why I love it. It is a genus of flowering plants within the Iridaceae family, native to South Africa. Within this region, it is commonly referred to as the Scarlet River Lily or the Kaffir Lily. Schizostylis coccinea are semi-evergreen rhizomatous perennials. They fashion slender, sword-shaped leaves and star-like blooms that flourish from late summer through to late autumn. |
| Mme. Alfred Carrière Rose | Once again, I must admit I am not good at growing roses – they always seem to die on me! But this lovely lady comes good every year and can be seen flowering in November. It bears large, cupped, rather informal, creamy white blooms tinged with pink, which have a strong, sweet fruity fragrance. First flowering in June/July, it repeats until late in the season. |
| Bergenia | Bergenia comes into flower when you need it – at that time when you think Spring will never come you get a wonderful display of pink flowers. They are evergreen rhizomatous perennials with leathery, rounded leaves and dense, erect clusters of bell-shaped pink or white flowers in spring. If you’ve got a shady spot you want to brighten in your garden but you’re tired and bored with hostas, then Bergenia might be just the plant you’re looking for. Bergenia, also known as ‘pigs squeak’ for the sound it makes when two leaves are rubbed together, fills that shady or dappled spot in your garden where so many flowers shy away. And they are low-maintenance plants – another reason to love them. |
Next month John Price (who does the ‘techy’ side of our ZOOM lectures) and his wife, Margaret, are going to share with us their list of their top five plants. Don’t forget that any member can submit an article; it can be about your ‘Top Five Plants’ or about any garden related topic – the only criterion is that it is about your garden! Contact the editor at newsletter@grayshottgardeners.net.
JUNE 2021 MEETING
This month, on Wednesday 9 June, we are delighted to welcome Iain Pentney to our ZOOM stage. Ian is the Sales Manager at Classiflora Imports Ltd., in north London, which specialises in the import of hardy European specimen, plants, trees and shrubs; amongst his customers is Windsor Castle. Ian will talk about “Mediterranean Plants, Why Buy from Abroad” and will be letting us into the secret of using European plants in our English gardens.
This club night lecture is open to all members starting at 8pm, but as always you can log in at 7.30pm for a bit of a chat, before we are all ‘muted’ ready for the lecture.
Further details about logging in can be obtained from Helen Deighan at comms@grayshottgardeners.net, if you are not already registered. Details automatically will be sent to all those members who registered for the previous ZOOM lectures. On the night of the lecture, it will be possible to admit up to 100 people on ZOOM – so first come, first served.
As COVID restrictions gradually start to ease, we are looking forward to returning to the Village Hall for Club nights.
Our July speaker, Helen Picton, will be talking to us about asters – in a lecture called ‘Daisy Days’. This will be a ZOOM lecture.
We will keep the format of our August lecture under review. By then, well will have more idea about Village Hall capacity, rules etc. in a post-COVID world.
RECORDINGS OF ZOOM LECTURES
Don’t forget that, when possible, we record our lectures too and they are available, after the lecture, for a time limited period if you didn’t have a chance to ZOOM in or want to listen to it again. You will receive details of the recordings via e-mail from comms@grayshottgardeners.net .
GG OUTINGS MAY & JUNE 2021
Over 20 of us enjoyed our first GG outing, post-lockdown, to West End Flower Farm in May. We started with a socially-distanced coffee in the tepee, then had a walk ‘n talk in the poly tunnel with Will Butler, co-owner with his wife Bella, followed by a self-guided tour of the farm where gorgeous flowers are grown. Wellies were essential! Most of us rounded off our visit with a wonderful lunch. Thank you to Barbara Homer for coordinating this visit.
Our next GG outing on Wednesday 23rd June is to Sandhill Farm near Romsey, home of Andy and Ros McIndoe. Andy was the speaker at our May ZOOM lecture, and he inspired us with his journeys through some wonderful English gardens. Sandhill Farm is around 2 acres in area, a sloping hillside with a large area of meadow. The planting is naturalistic and includes a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and perennials. The terrace features numerous pots and containers: there is a small gravel garden and two ponds.
The afternoon visit starts at 14.00 and finishes around 16.30-17.00. It includes a tour, followed by tea and cakes or Pimms + nibbles and there is the opportunity to ask questions and explore the garden individually. Books and plants are for sale. The outing is self-drive and there is a £10.00 entry fee per person.
If you are interested in joining this outing, you’ll need to e-mail Anne Waddell, our chairman. Anne will send out further information, to those signed up, nearer the date of the visit.
As always, we need to ensure we are COVID-compliant and do all we can to keep ourselves and fellow members safe.
PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION – SPRING
Thank you again to everyone who submitted photos in our Spring Photographic competition. We had an amazing 21 entries – compared to our usual 4 or 5. The competition “It Looks Like Spring” was judged by Eileen Bird, past-Chairman of Ludshott Photographic Club.
The winner, who was awarded a prize of £20.00, was Carol Wass – well done Carol. She submitted this idyllic picture of ‘My Garden’.
Carol also sent in a short video of what Mr.
pheasant gets up to in her garden apart from
eating the chicken food and prancing around with his wives. See the attachment to this newsletter.
In second place was ‘It Looks Like Spring’ by Liz Munson; in third place, ‘Spring Colour’ by Alex Anderson; highly commended was ‘Spring Iris’ by Sue Wheeler. Two photos which didn’t make it into the winners, but none the less caught the eye of the judge with their humour, were ‘Rhubarb and Custard’ by Jan Bebbington and ‘Spring has Sprung’ by Karen Cozens.
Congratulations to all entrants; full details and winning photos can be found on our website here .
GRAYSHOTT GARDENERS’ TALES
Kitty Holden and her long-time friend, Eileen Bond, were members and supporters of Grayshott Gardeners for many years.
Kitty (l) and Eileen (r)
Kitty lived in Church Lane and outside her front door was a pink, semi-double Camellia, which we think is most probably ‘Donation’. When Kitty was over 90 years old, she moved into residential care near to her son but, before leaving, Gordon Rae, our President, took some cuttings from her much-loved Camellia. Having never tried to root Camellias before, Gordon was pleasantly surprised that they rooted. He is bringing them on and, in due course, will offer the plants for sale to help our GG funds along.
‘Donation’ is easy to grow and highly floriferous. It is considered one of the best Camellias of the 20th century.
If you have a Grayshott Gardeners Tale you’d like to share, please get in touch with the editor at newsletter@grayshottgardeners.net.
PLANT SALES – WHAT WE’VE ACCHIEVED
What an amazing club Grayshott Gardeners is! During April and May this year, members held plant sales which have raised an amazing £686 to go towards GG funds. Rosario, our secretary, had a raffle at a plant sale she hosted, raising £60. The plant sale itself, with contributions from Dennis (our treasurer), Gordon (our President) and Rosario, generated £304. Gordon also had numerous snowdrop sales raising £260. And Anne (our Chairman) raised £62. Well done!
CROSSWORD PUZZLE
Attached is our Grayshott Gardeners crossword puzzle for June.
Please look out for the answers in the July newsletter. For those who can’t wait a whole month…or perhaps need a clue, the answers to the crossword will be posted on the website here on 7th June 2021, in the ‘newsletter’ tab.
Attached to this newsletter are the answers to the May crossword puzzle which featured in our last newsletter. These answers also are on our website grayshottgardeners.net in the ‘newsletter’ tab.
PLANT SALES – AND MORE – TO COME
We have been contacted by three members who have plants or garden related items that need good homes. We would just ask, if you get any of these, that a small donation is made to GG.
Leslia (our crossword maker!) has some spare brassicas and other veg. Those that are ready are Brussel Sprouts, Calabrese, and Cabbage. Coming soon are Cavolo Nero and Swede. If anyone would like any then please email Leslia and she will arrange delivery/collection.
Member Margaret Penfold has the following items which might be of use – a dozen seed trays, approx. size 36 x 22 x 5 cms. and 5 tomato rings for putting in gro-bags. If you are interested, please call Margaret.
And another member, Anne Noyce, will pot up some woodruff for anyone who may be interested. She says: ‘I know that many people might view these as “weeds”! But I have a good population of woodruff in my front garden and would be happy to give some plants to anyone who would like some. I think it is a beautiful plant, wonderful, pretty ground cover, and, as well as being evergreen, it’s a herb, so it can be used in summer drinks too! It’s not fully out yet but will be a carpet of white flowers soon’. Please contact Anne via e-mail if you are interested in the woodruff.
Thank you to everyone who, through these sales, help boost our funds.