News and Meeting Reports (current year)
2023-24 Season
Quick links:
- April 2024: Wildflowers of Greece and the Vegetation of Table Mountain including Kirstenbosch
- March 2024: "Topical Tips and New Ideas"
- February 2024: "Creating a Winter Garden"
- November 2023: Club Annual General Meeting
- October 2023: "Preparing Dahlias for Winter"
- September 2023: "The Darien Gap – a haven for orchids, terrorists and kidnappings"
- August 2023: "The Gardens of Japan"
- July 2023: Visit to Longstock Water Gardens
- June 2023: The Secret History of Vegetables
- May 2023: Coronation Celebration and Club Sale
- April 2023: "Growing Vegetables"
- March 2023: "Container Planting With Bulbs for a Year of Colour"
- February 2023: "Right Plant, Right Plant"
- Previous Years
April 2024
- "Wildflowers of Greece" and "the Vegetation of Table Mountain including Kirstenbosch"– Gerald Ponting
Gerald told us about the plants he has seen in the course of several specialist wildflower tours he has taken over the years.
In the first half of the evening he spoke to us about the flowers he has come across on visits to Crete, Peloponnese, Kefalonia and Paxos. It was interesting to learn, for example, that olive trees - now a hugely important contributor to the Greek economy as well as its cuisine - were introduced to Paxos by the Phoenicians who wanted the olive oil of their homeland in the Levant region. Plants with "cretica" in their name originate from Crete and the Mani region is home to giant fennel, believed by many to have been used for the ancient Olympic torch from which we derive the modern Olympic flame.
The Cape region of South Africa is, apparently, the smallest of the 6 Floristic Kingdoms identified by Ronald Good in 1947 (you can learn more about these and the 35 regions into which they are now divided here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytochorion). Gerald showed us photographs of some of the plants he has seen there, in particular in the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.
Photo above: speaker Gerald Ponting
Members' Competition
The members' competition was entitled ““Spring Spray” – an arrangement of spring blossoms, max 5 sprigs.. Winners can be seen below.
March 2024
- "Topical Tips and New Ideas" by Ray Broughton
Ray, who lectures at Sparsholt College, is extremely experienced and knowledgeable and always provides us with an informative and entertaining talk.
There was too much information to provide a good summary here, but we hope to receive some fact sheets from him which will be made available to members only. But a couple of interesting tips were:
- when re-seeding your lawn, put the seed in a closed bin bag with some compost for 4 days first. This causes the seed to swell which discourages birds from eating it.
- contrary to common recommendation, site your compost bin on a solid base e.g. paving stones. This discourages pests such as rats, and Ray advises that you don't really want worms in your compost, it's better to encourage them to stay in the garden soil.
Photo above: speaker Ray Broughton with Club Chair Glenn Duggan
Asian Hornets
At the beginning of the meeting, Alan Baxter reminded members of the dangers of Asian Hornets. There was an article on this topic in the May 2023 newsletter, and you can find information about how to identify it here: https://www.nonnativespecies.org/assets/Uploads/ID_Vespa_velutina_Asian_Hornet_5.0-1.pdf; the photos below may also help.
If you spot one in your garden report it using the free Asian Hornet Watch App, via the Non Native Species online notification form, by email to alertnonnative@ceh.ac.uk or direct to Alan if you have his details. Where possible a photo, the location of the sighting and a description of the insect seen should be included.
Members' Competition
The members' competition was entitled “Happy Easter” and consisted of an Easter-inspired floral arrangement in a small basket. Winners and other entries can be seen below.
February 2024
- "The Winter Garden" by Mark Porter
Mark, owner of The Down House in Itchen Abbas, spoke to us about how to add interest to our gardens over the Winter period.
His talk included suggestions for evergreen trees and shrubs, interesting shapes and tall plants for structure, stems and bark for winter colour, winter-flowering bulbs and other points of interest such as seedheads, scent, movement (e.g. grasses) and vegetables. He also mentioned the use of other features such as sculpture and interesting pots.
One particular point of interest was his use of box, despite recent problems with box blight and pests. To control the latter he reported that he has found Topbuxus XenTari - a biological insecticide which kills boxtree moth caterpillars but is not harmful to other animals or insects - to be very effective: https://www.topbuxus.co.uk/topbuxus-xentari-boxtree-moth-caterpillar-treatment/.
Photo above: speaker Mark Porter enjoys a joke with Club members
The members' competition was entitled “First Flowers”and consisted of a display of early blooms, 5 stems max.
Winners and runners-up are shown below.
November 2023 - Annual General Meeting
In November we held our AGM, followed by a delicious buffet prepared by Jan P and a "Who wants to be a Millionaire" style quiz.
Photos above: The retiring committee on stage, Glenn presents Davina with her Banksian Medal, members selecting from the buffet
This year's Banksian medal was presented to Davina S who has assisted at numerous Club events over the past two years, often in horrendous weather. Davina also volunteers with Little Forest Land Art, supporting artists in a wild meadow and woodland area just to the North of Fareham.
There is no Club meeting in December or January, the next meeting will take place on 8th February 2023. In the meantime members are invited to renew their membership using the form found here: https://www.catisfieldgardeningclub.online/join-us.
October 2023 - "Preparing Dahlias for Winter"
Nick Gilbert of Gilbert's Nursery
- which specialises in dahlias - spoke to us about how to keep our dahlias safe over the winter so that hopefully they will grow again next year.
Photo above: Nick Gilbert speaking to Club members on our 2022 visit to Gilbert's Nursery
The key points were as follows:
For dahlias in the ground
In this area, if your soil does not get waterlogged, you can try removing the stems to just below ground level and leaving them in place. Be warned however that a particularly cold or wet snap may kill them. Alternatively:
- 2 weeks after the first hard frost of the year, remove stems to 6-8 inches and dig up the tubers
- clean them gently but thoroughly to remove all soil, leaving feeder roots in place
- allow tubers to dry thoroughly, outdoors if possible
- cut stems off and store in a dark, dry place e.g. wrapped in newspaper or in boxes
- check the tubers around mid December and cut off any parts showing signs of rot with a sharp, disinfected knife
- in mid February cut off feeder roots and put the tubers in a pot of compost, leaving the crown exposed. Do NOT water the compost.
- in mid-late March plant the tubers outside, 6-8 inches deep, feed with granular fish, blood and bone or equivalent feed. Mound the soil up a little over the plants.
- For dahlias in pots
- cut stems to just below the surface of the compost
- bring under cover e.g. a shed or frost free greenhouse and cover pots with newspaper. Do NOT water the compost
- in March uncover the pots and start watering
- move pots outside when all chance of frost is over
Members' Competition
The competition for September was either "a beautiful apple" or "an ugly vegetable". Winners and other entries can be seen below.
Club News
Members are reminded that our November meeting comprises our Annual General Meeting. Nominations for the Committee should be sent to Glenn Duggan (Club Chair). Following the AGM there will be a buffet meal - please bring your own drinks - then a "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" style quiz.
Dawn Wallace and Sue Vines from the Catisfield Village Assocition are hoping to hold an Open Gardens trail in late June 2024 (date TBC but it will be a Saturday). If any member would be willing to open their garden for this please let them know via Glenn or by emailing info@catisfieldvillageassociation.org. They advise that garden size and tidiness are less important than having something of interest to visitors. You can provide refreshments if you wish - in which case you can use any profits for your own charity - but this is not essential. Ideally gardens should be within walking distance of the Memorial Hall.
September 2023 - "The Darien Gap – a haven for orchids, terrorists and kidnappings"
Club Chair Glenn Duggan has travelled extensively, both for work and pleasure. Some years ago he visited the extremely dangerous Darien Gap, an area of near-impenetrable forests with numerous dangerous swamps, plants and animals, which spreads from Panama to Colombia. The area has no roads through it and very few inhabitants although those who do live there include terrorist groups known for kidnapping anyone foolhardy enough to venutre into the area. Nevertheless people do go there, largely because it is home to a large number of wild orchids and finding new varieties can be extremely lucrative.
Glenn visited with a small tour company who use accomodation with its own airfield in the heart of the Darien.. He gave us a very interesting talk illustrated with pictures of plants, birds, kidnappers and victims!
Photo above: Club Chair Glenn Duggan addresses the Club
Members' Competition
The competition for September was "a stunning dahlia". Winners and other entries can be seen below.
August
2023 - "The Gardens of Japan"
Hosta experts John Barker and his wife June Colley spoke to us about the history and features of Japanese gardens,Z beautifully illustrated with slides from their own visits to these.
Apparently the concept of decorative gardens was brought to Japan from China around 607AD. The earliest Japanese garden was a simple hill and pond, later "stroll" gardens added pathways and from 1200AD onwards buddhism brought in a new concept of "zen" gardens. Modern Japanese gardens often include elements from all three of these.
The British concept of a Japanese garden originated with Josiah Conder whose book "Landscape Gardening in Japan2 was first published in 1893 and was very influential. He observed the components found in various types of Japanese garden but brought these all together in his book to create a vision of a garden incorporating all of these elements including raked gravel, bridges, bambook, water, lanterns, rocks and a tea house.
Photos zbove left: Club Chair Glenn Duggan speaks to speaker John Barker. right: June Colley, hosta expert and supporting speaker.
Members' Competition
At our August meeting we enjoyed a ‘Floral arrangement in an eggcup’. We had a great response to this with an amazing 11 entries. The winners were judged by co-speaker June and the winners and other entries can be seen below.
Club News
Members are reminded that we will be visiting Haying Donkey Sanctuary on 30th August. Tickets cost £7.50 which includes a guided tour, tea or coffe and cake and the chance to meet some of the donkeys. Members may bring one or two non-member guests. Please contact the Treasurer if you would like to purchase tickets.
July
2023 - Club Visit to Longstock Water Garden
Longstock Water Garden claims to be one of the finest water gardens in the world, and I think those that attended would agree that it is certainly very beautiful. Garden manager Robert Ballard gave us a very interesting tour.
The Garden was created in the early 1900s by the Beddington family and consists of a series of lakes, ponds and islands fed by the River Test and filtered as it enters the site so the water is extremely clean. Plants are arranged in clusters right up to the water’s edge and the water itself is very still so there are wonderful reflections.
After ownership of the Garden passed to John Lewis he made a few changes, removing a formal Monet-style bridge and reducing hard landscaping to a minimum, with the different areas connected by bridges made of sleepers laid at ground level to minimise their profile. The Garden remains in the ownership of the John Lewis Partnership.
Club News
Members are reminded that we will be visiting Haying Donkey Sanctuary on 30th August. Tickets are £7.50. Members may bring one or two non-member guests to either of these. Please contact the Treasurer if you would like to purchase tickets.
June
2023 - The Secret History of Vegetables
Author and award-winning gardening journalist Martyn Cox spoke to us about where some of our favourite vegetables originate from and gave us some interesting facts about them.
Did you know, for example, that at various times in history asparagus, beetroot, tomatoes and carrots have all been viewed as aphrodisiacs? Or that Pythagoras believed broad beans take away the breath of life and forbade his followers from eating them? And apparently ancient Greek athletes would rub onion juice into their skin to enhance their performance!
Martyn is shown below sharing a laugh with the audience.
Members' competition - a beautiful rose
This month's members' competition was for a beautiful rose, displayed in one of the Club's vases. 8 entries were submitted with first prize going to Tina L, 2nd to Brenda L and 3rd to Jo B. All entries are shown below. .
Club News
Members are reminded that we will be visiting Longstock Gardens on 13th July and Hayling Donkey Sanctuary on 30th August. Tickets for Longstock are £10 and only available until the end of June, and for the Donkey Sanctuary £7.50. Members may bring one or two non-member guests to either of these. Please contact the Treasurer if you would like to purchase tickets.
May
2023 - Coronation Celebration and Club Sale
On Coronation Day (6th May) the Club sponsored a “History of Catisfield” table and display at the Catisfield Coronation Celebration. We took the opportunity of advertising the club through posters, pamphlets and selling some colourful plants provided by St Margaret’s Nursery on a Sale or Return basis.
We sold just over £50 of plants, and we recruited a new member. Thanks go to Glenn, Doug, Edward and Davina for braving the rather awful weather. Photos of the event are below.
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We sold just over £50 of plants, and we recruited a new member. Thanks go to Glenn, Doug, Edward and Davina for braving the rather awful weather. Photos of the event are below.
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Our other event in May was our annual fund-raising sale.
The sale was opened by our lovely Patron, Fred Dinenage, in front of a crowd of eager shoppers. It was extremely succesful, eventually raising a massive £811.11 - a new record for us - made up as follows:
- Plants £583.11
- Raffle £137.00
- Admission £41.00
- Sharpener £50.00
Of course nothing ever goes completely smoothly. Early rain meant our President Doug had to protect Fred with his giant umbrella, and rain as we were clearing up left most of the committee and helpers looking like drowned rats. At one point Vanessa's adorable dog, Benji Edison, managed to get a £1 sticker on his nose, but fortunately nobody attempted to purchase him! A few photos from the event can be seen below:
April
2023 - Growing Vegetables, Ray Broughton
Ray trained at RHS Wisley and has been teaching a wide range of horticultural subjects for over two decades. Awarded a fellowship by the Chartered Institute of Horticulture for his service to horticulture, Ray was a Senior Lecturer at Sparsholt College.
Above: Ray Broughton sharing some of his hints and tips
Ray clearly had a huge amount of knowledge on this subject, sharing a large amount of information about how to improve our vegetable growing and combat pests and diseases with a strong focus on using natural methods. A few of his tips were:
- Pest control
- Aphid control: ladybirds kill aphids, if you want to increase the number in your garden he recommended purchasing 2 spot ladybirds as these are not keen on flying so are more likely to stay in your garden.
- Lots of people plant marigolds close to their vegetables to deter pests. It's actually the dead flowers which pests dislike so don't deadhead them, or if you do scatter the dead flowers nearby.
- Don't use nasturtiums as companion plants, they actually attract pests.
- Pots
- Root trainer modules encourage seedling roots to grow downwards.
- Peat free compost discs ("flats" are now available and are great for growing seedlings, enabling them to be planted out with minimum root disturbance.
- Watering
- Water butts may harbour diseases which can cause seedlings to "damp off". Clean them annually and test the water by using it to try to germinate a few cress seeds, they should germinate within a day or two if the water is healthy.
- Rubber hose pipes can emit chemicals which damage plants. If you store them indoors over winter do so in a shed rather than in the greenhouse.
- Tool Maintenance
- Good quality tomato ketchup is good for cleaning tools such as secateurs and hedge trimmers, Coat them in the ketchup and leave it for 4 days before rinsing off.
Members' competition
The monthly members' competition was for an arrangement of 5 stems of greenery.
First place went to Theresa D with Pat F in second place and Brenda L third, their entries - plus some of the other arrangements - can be seen below.
Club News
March 2023 - Container Planting With Bulbs for a Year of Colour, Tim Woodland
Tim from Bulbs Direct gave us an interesting talk about the best bulbs to plant in containers and how to grow them. He also brought along many of the bulbs which he described for members to purchase. Of particular note, he mentioned:
- containers are a good way to grow bulbs because you have full control over the growing medium and nutrients.
- bulbs need feeding from when the leaves appear until they die off, but particularly during the flowering period. Continuing to feed them while leaves remain green helps feed the bulbs themselves and increase their size.
- larger bulb size (when compared with bulbs of the same type) means more flowers.
- all bulbs dislike being waterlogged.
- containers can be planted with a mixture of different bulbs, or with layers of the same type with the largest bulbs at the bottom to extend the floweirng period.
Above: Members enjoyed looking at and purchasing a range of bulbs
In terms of specIfific plants:
- Dahlias - these are easy to grow, remove dead flowers for more and longer lasting blooms. They are frost tender, and when first planted are susceptible to root scorch so avoid planting into freshly fertilised soil. Young growth is attractive to slugs so be vigilant. There is lots of information online about how to over-winter dahlia tubers but if you have free-draining soil try simply covering them with a layer of mulch as there's a good chance they'll survive in situ and if they don't replacement bulbs are inexpensive.
- Lilies - these are very hardy so can be kept in the soil. Oriental, Trumpet and OT or Orienipet varieties are highly fragrant. Most prefer full sun Martagon varieties are tolerant of partial shade.
- Begonias - tuberous begonias are not fully hardy, but for a long flowering period they should be planted early - in March or April - indoors or in a greenhouse. Their colours are all in the red / yellow / orange pallet. Plant these bulbs concave side upwards, or if you can't tell which side this is plant on their sides.
- Colocasia - also know as "elephant ears", these add attractive foliage to your container.
- Tulips - the flowers will diminish year on year, but the bulbs will divide and produce new ones so planting these out in the main garden will create a continuous display in the long term with different bulbs developing at different times.
Above: Tom Woodland answers members' questions
Members' competition
The monthly members' competition was for a limerick on the topic of gardening. This was a very successful competition with a record 19 entries!
First place went to Heather S with Jen G in second place, their entries can be seen below.
Club News
February 2023 - Right Plant Right Place, Chris Bird
Chris spoke to us about various plants which grow well in this area in different conditions and flowering at different times of year, including:
Shade: Periwinkle major 'elegantissima'(ground cover, repeat flowering in spring and summer although flowers better in sun, can be cut back hard), Huechera (good evergreen colours, some have summer flowers), Lamium maculatum (Dead nettle, good leaf colour and repeat flowering, can be cut back hard), Bergenia, Anemone hupehensis (Japanese Anemone, Autumn), Berberis darwinii, Acanthus mollis (Bear's breeches, architectural foliage and summer flowers, clump-forming perennial), Ruscus aculeatus (Buther's broom, small evergree shrub with flowers in spring and long-lasting berries, attractive stems)
Deer and rabbit resistant: Acanthus mollis, Ruscus aculeatus
Hot and dry: Cercis siliquastrum (Judas tree, also happy facing east, flowers spring followed by fruit, very hardy, often muti-stemmed), Acanthus mollis, Festuca glauca (evergreen), Achillea millefolium (new shorter varieties do not need staking, cut a few plants back at different times for repeat flowering May-November), Delphinium (tall but does not need staking, cut stems back after flowering for fresh growth), Ceanothus (Caliornia lilac)
Wet and soggy: Ajuga reptans (Bugle, nectar rich), Astilbe arendsii (mid-late Summer, nice reflected in water, attractive seedheads, die right back in winter), Bergenia, Pyrus salicifolia 'pendula' (ornamental weeping pear, flowers and inedible fruit)
Easy, long-flowering: Cotinus, Alchemilla mollis (lady's mantle), Lamium, Delphinium, Alstroemeria
Poor soil: Cercis siliquastrum
Small trees: Malus floribunda (crab apple, flowers then fruit), Mespilus germanica (medlar, large flower then fruit, good autumn colour), Sorbus vilmorinii (rowan / mountain ash, good autumn leaf colour, red shoots and flowers in srping and long lasting berries in winter),
Above: Chris Bird
Above: Glenn presents a copy of the Club's 60th Anniversay Miscellany to Fred
Members' competition
The monthly members' competition was a spring arrangement using a maximum of 5 stems
First place went to Jen G, with Dawn W taking 2nd place and Margaret W 3rd. Entries can be seen below (scroll to see them all).
Club News
Contact Details
e Mail: chair@catisfieldgardeningclub.co.uk
Phone: 01329 845976
Mobile: 07771 605320
Meetings Venue: Catisfield Memorial Hall, 52 Catisfield Lane, Fareham, PO15 5NS
