Borderline - Autumn 2012 - Page 1

Transcription

Contents
Jaime Blake’s Island Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
New members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Sophie Bayley, our Easton College award winner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Wow! Factor: Ian Roofe enthuses about dahlias. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
This is how it all started, recalls Jan Paulger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Click again - our photo competition for 2012. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Read all about it: news from Norfolk Plant Heritage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Hollyhocks evoked by Lesley Kant Cunneen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Programme round-up by Kathy Gray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Soapbox: Conservation matters by Dan D. Lyon.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Plant Heritage’s Threatened Plant Project by Kalani Seymour. . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Pressing actions by Janet Sleep. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Pairings – a prize quiz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Botany A-X, the answers and the winner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Plants in my life: Ben Potterton writes about sanguisorbas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
New to all this – names and terms explained. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Notice Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Advertisements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Committee and other post holders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Front cover: Dahlia ‘Chimborazo’, a collerette type, is named after the highest
mountain in Ecuador, which is an extinct volcano. Bred some time before 1945
by John Crutchfield, a British dahlia enthusiast, it is a strong grower to about
1m and blooms prolifically. (If you like odd facts, the summit of Chimborazo is
the furthest point on Earth from the centre of the planet, even though Everest
is the highest mountain.)
Our webpages are at www.plantheritage.com/norfolk
Issue No. 51 will be published on 10th March 2013. The deadline for your
submissions is 24th January.
© The Officers of Norfolk Plant Heritage, except where otherwise stated. No
part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without their prior
written consent. The views expressed are those of the contributors.
Borderline is designed by Michele Perry of PX2 Ltd, 25 Vanguard Chase, Costessey, Norwich
NR5 0UG and is printed by AW Cards & Print, 5 Herrick Road, Taverham, Norwich NR8 6SQ.
Page 2 - Borderline - Autumn 2012
Jaime Blake’s Island Outlook
A casual conversation…leads to conservation?
I joined Norfolk NCCPG, as it was then, in the early 90s.
I thought, as I’d recently come to Bressingham to be
Alan Bloom’s understudy, that I should join important
organisations which were plant-oriented. I joined HPS
at the same time. Sadly, I soon found out that paying
the subs was one thing, getting to the events was quite
another. I’ve always worked quite hard (I think) but it was
a bit of a shock when I came here all those years ago. In
Peterborough Parks Department I could do my bit and
then go home. When I came to Bressingham, I became
Courtesy of Tony Gray
aware that my ‘bit’ never got done. You either sink or
you swim, don’t you? The ‘all-powerful being’ that is Gardening had got me.
Also, I came to realise that what I was doing here was more than something
to do with plants…it was one man’s vision and passion expressed in a living
context. Thank heavens I only realised that after we had moved here; I’d have
run a mile from the responsibility otherwise.
From my original worry about sinking, I’ve managed to keep afloat. Deni Bown
(our previous Chair) phoned me to invite me to join the committee as Vice-Chair.
I felt honoured, I have to say, if a bit confused about ‘why me?’ I was engaged
by Deni’s pro-active approach to conservation and where the group might go
with it. After pondering a bit, I realised it was a logical extension of what I was
doing here with Alan Bloom’s Dell Garden and its collection of plants.
If you read my ramblings in the mid-summer newsletter, you’ll have seen I
mentioned Project Bloom and Project Norfolk. The aim of Project Bloom is to
follow up Adrian Bloom’s appeal at our last AGM (see Borderline No. 49, p.9)
for National Collection Holders around the country to select and promote the
‘best three’ plants in their Collections. It would provide us all with an easy
checklist of plants worthy of garden space. We are working on this with the
Collection Holders in Norfolk. It is mainly an administrative exercise for us and
may take some time to come to fruition.
By contrast, Project Norfolk has much greater relevance to us all as a group, me
very much included. We aim to identify and propagate a collection of plants
which are particular to Norfolk, for example the crocosmia shown on p.27.
They will hopefully be plants which have been
raised in the county or have a strong Norfolk
connection. Many plants, as you know, tell a
story. In many ways, the story makes the plant
more special.
From here on in, it’s a moveable feast. I’d like
to think we will assemble certain plants in
different locations and then get smallish groups
of members to look at them and assess them
for garden worthiness. This will be a sociable
exercise but also develop our own Norfolk
A Norfolk story - Achillea ‘Moonshine’,
Plant Conservation programme. We’ll spread courtesy
of Jaime Blake
the plants amongst our members, their stories
too. The plants don’t have to have been raised by commercial nurserymen.
They could be your own seedlings which have been shared around. They could
be plants like Brenda Reed’s Chrysanthemum ‘Buxton Ruby’ which she bought
from a nursery which had no recollection of the plant or name for it. Norfolk
plants which are not in common supply and are worthy of garden space and
the story they tell, that’s the ticket.
Have a think about this. I hope we can move on it. At the moment, Janet Sleep
and I have started to contact people and gather a few plants together. I’m not
asking you to do anything other than feed us your thoughts. Any ideas where
we might go with it? Any ‘must include’ plants? Anything I’m missing? Please
get in touch.
New Members
14 new members have joined us since the spring issue went to press: Mr Paul
Clarke, Norwich; Mrs Sue Dawson, Melton Mowbray; Mrs Pam Duffill, Thurning;
Mrs Marie Firrell, Bawburgh; Mrs Anthea Foster, King’s Lynn; Miss Sue Green,
Stowmarket; Mrs Sharon Junge, Dereham; Dr. Jeremy Meanley, Briston; Mrs
Elizabeth Portsmouth, Wymondham; Ms Sue Roe, Norwich; Ms Jane Saunders,
Norwich; Mrs Hilda Scott, Southburgh; Mrs Sheila Sissons, Poringland; and Mrs
Valerie Weaver, Taverham.
We are pleased to welcome you all to the group. If you have not yet been to an
event, please come along on Sunday 14th October at 2.30pm and start to get
to know us. There is also an excellent opportunity to meet other members at
the social event with plants following our AGM on 25th November (see p.14).
Sophie Bayley, our Easton College
Award Winner
Sophie Bayley from Taverham won the £100
Norfolk Plant Heritage prize for the best academic
student graduating with the Extended Diploma
in Horticulture at Easton College this June.
Sophie, who is originally from Birmingham, gave
up science A-levels and changed to horticulture
because she knew that she really wanted to work
outdoors. Maybe the fact that her grandfather,
both her parents and an uncle all were or are
keen allotment holders was an influence on her
choice of career path. While at Easton, she gained
practical experience over 2 years at the Bishop’s
Garden in Norwich, under Head Gardener Simon
Gaches. This has given her a special interest in such exotic plants as bananas
and gingers but orchids are her great passion.
A week after leaving College, Sophie went to France to work for a few weeks
at Monet’s garden in Giverny, returning just in time to fly to New Zealand
to take up a 6 month post at a garden centre in Auckland. She intends that
these experiences will help her narrow down her longer-term preferences in
her chosen profession. Once she is back In Norfolk in 2013, Sophie is looking
forward to meeting members of our group, something which her busy schedule
gave her no time for before she left. Meanwhile, she is keeping in touch with
the editor by e-mail. And if you know of a job working with orchids, Sophie
would love to hear about it.
The Wow! Factor
Our contributor shares his enthusiasm for a popular plant genus which was
featured as the Plant in Focus at our Plant Fair in August.
Dahlias do it for me - by Ian Roofe
Mexico is where we begin the story of this much-loved garden plant. The
flamboyant cultivars grown by gardeners today are, however, very different from
what was originally sourced from the Mexican wild back in 1789 when seeds
were sent to the Botanical Gardens in Madrid to be grown on for development
and cultivation. The plants themselves were discovered by Dr Francisco
Hernandez but named after Anders Dahl, a Swedish botanist and great friend
of Linnaeus, the father of modern scientific plant names (see Borderline No.
49, p.18). Seed was freely distributed among the great botanical gardens of
Europe, including the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, Berlin and Kew.
Dahlia coccinea, purpurea and crocea were the three species which were sent
from Mexico and it was these which Kew received. These seeds were distributed
once more through the elite of the horticultural world for germination, growing
and discussion to decide on their merits and worthiness as hothouse specimens.
Very little was known about the dahlia, however, and it was simply grown as a
hothouse plant in its wild form. I would like to think that a British botanist was
responsible for the creations we see today, but alas no. It was a gardener in
Belgium who crossed the wild forms in 1812 and three seed generations later
produced completely double blooms which meant that the dahlia started to
receive great attention from those in the horticultural world.
Today, there are 30 species and over 20,000 cultivars. Breeding has resulted in
cactus, pompon, waterlily, and collerette dahlias, as well as improved singles,
doubles and other categories of flower type. Foliage varies too, with light and
deep greens, purples, blacks and browns.
For the purists amongst you, the species dahlias are still available in their original
forms and make ideal choices for cultivation in a conservatory or walled garden.
I find them to need a bit more care and attention - good staking, regular tyingin and freedom from overcrowding by any other sociable plant. If you have a
sheltered, hot location or a very tall glasshouse, then D. imperialis, the mighty
tree dahlia, up to 5 or 6m in the wild, can be grown exceptionally well. It will
flourish outside, but if you want the flowers a glasshouse is required as growing
seasons in the UK are just not long enough for growth and bloom to take place
effectively.
Dahlia requirements are really quite simple and the results can be amazing. Bought
tubers can be started off in April. They will need potting into multi-purpose
compost with the dry old stems just showing above the surface. Rehydration of
the tubers is the main thing as they will have dried out considerably in storage.
A cool greenhouse is fine but basal heat will make all the difference to shoot
development. Basal cuttings can be taken once the crowns are established
and will root exceptionally well. This is the best way to bulk up stocks. Plant
out in a sunny position once risk of frost has passed. The soil should be well
prepared with added home-made compost and dressed with fish, blood and
bone meal. Some varieties will
require staking and this should
be done immediately the plants
show signs of collapsing. By July,
plants will be well established and
tomato feed (high potash) will
promote flower development.
Keep dead-heading plants; new
buds have a button-like, rounded
appearance and the spent
blooms become pointed. Like any
plant, dahlias will slow down and
in many cases stop their flower Dahlia ‘Summertime’, before, during and after
production once seed has been
set – remember, they are not flowering for our benefit. Flower production will
continue till the first frosts, which means their flowering period can last for up
to 16 weeks. Allow the foliage to blacken with the first frosts and only remove
the top growth once it has completely collapsed to the ground as this process
allows the tubers to take back sustenance for the winter. If you aren’t lifting the
tubers to be sure of keeping them, mulching can be beneficial but it sometimes
encourages marauding molluscs which will devastate shoots in the spring.
Dahlias are plants which lend themselves to the back of the herbaceous border
to add height and some seasonal flair. For something with mass you cannot
fault Dahlia ‘Emory Paul’ as grown at Great Dixter. It produces deep pink,
double blooms which open to the size of a side plate (20cm across) and has a
height of up to 1.8m in the right soil and location.
I love the way that dahlias can be used with other plants in various settings in
the garden. They lend themselves particularly to the exotic style of planting,
mixed with bananas, cannas, coleus and grasses. The dark leaves of the Bishop
series show off blooms like the yellow of ‘Bishop of York’ and the purple of
‘Bishop of Canterbury’; each of this extensive series has great garden merit.
‘Roxy’ is a cultivar well worth growing: the foliage is black, it is compact in
height, about 30cm, and the blooms are shocking pink. I have seen this used
to best effect with Verbena rigida and the lovely grass Miscanthus sinensis
‘Morning Light’ (photo, Borderline No. 49, p.2). The combination of colours
and textures was just brilliant.
If pot culture is more your style - you know the thing, groups of seasonal pots
in visually pleasing arrangements - then there are shorter dahlias to suit this
too. In the Gallery series, Dahlia ‘Art Nouveau’ and ‘Art Deco’ are relatively new
cultivars with reflexed double blooms of orange and pink respectively. They are
compact and great for pots.
For sheer class, ‘Twyning’s After Eight’ is hard to beat: foliage which is rich brown
and even black in the fullest of sun, complemented by single blooms of pure
white ageing with a hint of pink, single in structure and delivered in abundance.
It grows to 1.2m in height and never needs staking. It sits in my garden nestled
next to Lobelia tupa, Melianthus major and pink-flowered Lathyrus latifolius.
Whatever the winter, it performs year on year and much the same can be said
for the rest of the Twyning’s series, for they are plants of great garden merit.
My top 5 cultivars for style and reliability are: ‘Rebecca’s World’, ‘Waltzing
Matilda’, ‘Nuit d’Été’, ‘Gipsy Night’ and ‘Orfeo’.
I wouldn’t be without dahlias in my garden - their diversity of foliage and flower
gives them endless uses. They extend the season well into the autumn, fill any
border space that more fastidious plants have chosen not to do and add a
touch of the exotic and unusual. With over 20,000 to choose from, there is no
reason not to find one to suit.
To mark the 50th edition of Borderline, Jan Paulger, our
President, recalls how it all started
In the early part of 1989, I read an article in The Observer
about the National Council for the Conservation of
Plants and Gardens, a charity whose aim was to preserve
our garden plants. I wrote to RHS Wisley for the name
and address of the local Secretary. The reply stated that
Norfolk didn’t have a group, there were 8 members
affiliated to Headquarters, and would I like to organise
a group? I do wish I’d kept this letter. It was signed by
Tony Lowe, who was the General Secretary and who ran
central office with a band of volunteers, and Graham
Pattison, a plant expert dealing with National Collections.
I was hoping to retire in 1990, and thought I might be able to start a group. I
wrote to the affiliated members asking if they’d be prepared to help. Through
Anthea Taigel from the Centre for East Anglian Studies, UEA, we were lent a
committee room and eventually had lectures there. Two more stalwarts of the
steering committee were Terry Read, a Collection Holder at Hales Hall, who
had been at the 1978 meeting called by Chris Brickell to set up the NCCPG,
and Lesley Ash, who became our first National Collections’ organiser. Norfolk
at the time had eight National Collections. We were a very small but ambitious
committee. Terry Read became Chairman and he and I drafted our constitution,
which took for ever. There was a pro forma, but each group was autonomous.
I was the Secretary, which also included Events and Membership and dogsbody.
I was determined that the group should have a monthly event to keep members
interested and, because Norfolk is such a large county, the visits should be in
different areas. To set us off, Terry and Judy Read offered Hales Hall for an initial
meeting in August 1989 which we advertised widely, offering a supper and a
look round the gardens before a promotional talk by Terry (see photo p.28). This
produced 25 paid-up members, some of whom are still active members. The
nucleus of the group brought their friends and gradually the membership crept
up. Nothing succeeds as much as word of mouth.
We started Borderline, our newsletter, in September that year. The first one
was literally a sheet of A4. The name was chosen by the Committee from a list
generated in a brain-storming session with a class of 12 year-olds when I was
called to take over when their teacher went home ill. The following July, we
had an official launch with a lecture by John Simmons, OBE, VMH, Curator of
Kew Gardens and Chairman of the NCCPG, who, like Terry, Anthea and Lesley,
remains a member to this day.
Click again - our 2012 photo
competition
This year the subject is a UK garden view, either a vista or a
border. The competition is open to all members except the editor and judges. You
can submit up to 3 entries to the editor, as colour or monochrome prints, from
5” x 7” to 8” x 10”. The only allowable modification is cropping. Anne GreenArmytage and Tony Gray will judge the photos (and not the gardens in them)
anonymously so please send your name separately with your entries, by the
deadline of 31st October. At our meeting on 13th January, where all the entries
will be on show anonymously, the editor will award book tokens to the judges’
top two. Do enter; it’s easy and fun.
READ ALL ABOUT IT:
News from Norfolk Plant Heritage
• A
lthough our Constitution provides for a ViceChairman, we have been without one for about 3
years. The Committee was delighted when Dr. Janet
Sleep recently agreed to accept this position. Janet is
well-known as an outstanding plantswoman and is a
cornerstone of our Plant Fairs and many workshops.
• P lant Heritage’s Executive Officer Genevieve Melbourne Webb has written
especially for Borderline to explain the coming increase in membership
subscriptions:
Copyright Plant Heritage
‘In the past 4 years, we have all seen an increase in many
of the main costs of living and those items that are more
costly for you as a member are equally more costly for us
as a charity. During that time, I have cut national operating
costs to the minimum allowable to ensure the continued
effective operation of the charity. However, to maintain
the fees at current levels will, in real terms, decrease the
amount available to the charity to maintain itself, and this
will mean a scaling down of our activities or increased
demands on our reserves.
‘In the light of the growing international importance of the conservation of
cultivated plants, the Trustees consider that this would be the worst possible
time for Plant Heritage to become less active, when we have an opportunity
to heighten not only our visibility, and thus our attraction for funding bodies,
but also our influence on behalf of cultivated plant conservation. It is therefore
the correct move to increase our subscription rates in line with inflationary
pressures.
‘From November, the Single rate will become £28 and £44 for Joint, of which
£6 and £11 respectively go to local Groups. Members on direct debit can pay
quarterly (Single £7; Joint £11).’
Plants are our passion but people make us successful –
our thanks to all our members, supporters and helpers
Hollyhocks
exhorted her readers to grow hollyhocks (though she replaced a bed of them to
plant her thyme lawn). If Jekyll and Vita could cope with rusty hollyhocks, why
should we be put off?
by Lesley Kant Cunneen
‘All the names I know from nurse:
Gardener’s garters, shepherd’s purse,
Bachelor’s buttons, lady’s smock
And the lady hollyhock.’
Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child’s Garden of Verses
Courtesy of the author
As a child growing up in Malaysia, where cannas and frangipani flourished, I
acquired a rather idealised picture of England derived from a diet of Just William
books and a set of jigsaws depicting English rural scenes. My favourite, like
an Arthur Claude Strachan water-colour, was of a garden with roses tumbling
over the doorway and hollyhocks by the front gate. Ever since, I have loved
hollyhocks.
One of the most captivating flower names in the English language, hollyhocks,
or Alcea rosea, originate from West Asia and were introduced into England in
1260 by Queen Eleanor, probably discovered growing wild in Palestine when
she accompanied Edward l on the Crusades. The memorable name derives from
the Saxon for mallow, ‘hoc’, (they belong in the mallow family) and ‘holy’: the
pigment found in the flowers is supposed to have healing qualities. John Evelyn
recorded that they were sometimes used as a potherb. Other names given at the
time of its introduction include the exotic Outlandish Rose and Rosa Ultramarina
and the showy flowers became extremely popular. By Victorian times, special
categories had been created for hollyhocks in flower shows. William Chater,
a famous nurseryman, specialised in growing hollyhocks and exhibiting them.
The pompom hollyhock A. rosea ‘Chater’s Double’ commemorates him. For a
period in the last century they were classified as Althaea, the name many of us
learned, and occasionally you might still find it on seed packets.
Rust has plagued the hollyhock and led to countless prescriptions in the
gardening press. Carole Klein recommends annual seed sowing, others early
fungal spraying, but neither remedy has succeeded for me. Alcea ficifolia, the
fig-leaved hollyhock, is suggested as rust averse but this is a fallacy. Given the
plant grows to such a majestic height with its tiers of generous frilled blooms,
why worry about a sprinkling of sandy spots lower down the stem? Gertrude
Jekyll was a fan and frequently used hollyhocks in her planting schemes. A
particular favourite appears to have been ‘Pink Beauty’, which she describes
as a clear pale pink, grown with the Dahlia ‘Delice’. Vita Sackville West also
In fact, rust has been endemic for centuries. It was certainly described in
Victorian times but recently in the National Gallery I came across a painting
by Nicolas Lancret, an eighteenth century French artist, entitled A Lady in the
Garden taking Coffee with some Children. In the bottom right-hand corner
of the picture, a hound is rooting around some hollyhocks. And although a
wonderfully idealised family group, the hollyhocks have - you guessed it - rust.
Of course, you could grow the mallow relatives Althaea armeniaca, which has
the same airy quality as Verbena bonariensis, or the lofty Althaea cannabina,
whose blooms resemble miniature hollyhocks. But neither has the glorious
OTT impact of Alcea rosea. I read that Hungarian plant breeders are breeding
new disease-resistant cultivars, called x Alcalthaea suffrutescens. But I remain
content with Alcea rosea.
My Clarendon neighbour has the most beguiling hollyhocks: for six years they
have flourished in their South-facing front garden butting up against iron
railings. This year with the extra rainfall they have grown taller and healthier
than ever: true, the ones under the Prunus have only reached five feet but
further along a clump of pale peach single hollyhocks is reaching skywards as I
write; currently four metres and still growing. They are, I realise, the hollyhocks
of my childhood.
Programme round-up
by Kathy Gray
In preparing this latest ‘Programme Round Up’, I looked back to last year’s
entry and see I commented that ‘We seem to have survived a lot of weather,
including what must be the shortest official drought on record!’ Well – little
did I know what this year had in store for us, but so far the extreme conditions
have not impacted on our programme and as I write this the sun is shining –
long may it continue (with gentle rain at night, of course). Anyway, below is
a reminder of the rest of this year’s programme and a taste of what’s in store
during the first three months of 2013. One important change I would like you
to note is that as from January 2013, ALL our regular indoor meetings will be
held in the afternoon. I do hope you feel that this is a positive change and will
help with travelling in the winter months.
October, Sunday 14th, 2.30pm: Lecture at Bawburgh Village Hall by our
Chair, Jaime Blake, ‘The weeding of the five thousand….with two hoes and
five wishes’. Well, if that title does not intrigue you… The lecture concerns
maintaining a collection of plants, including a National Collection. Jaime will
tell us how the actual work gets done, with a strong emphasis on the practical
side of things. He will also explain why the overall projects are controlled and
developed, rather than him doing whatever he likes!
November, Sunday 25th, 2.30 pm: Annual General Meeting at Bawburgh
Village Hall, followed by a social event. Papers for the AGM will be circulated
at the end of October. It will follow the usual format and after it there will be
a chance for us to socialise rather than the usual lecture. In addition, there will
be plant sales from Trevor Harrison of Creake Plant Centre – he always has
something of interest to sell whatever the time of year. Further details will be
sent with the AGM papers.
January, Sunday 13th, 2.30pm: Lecture
at Bawburgh Village Hall. On this occasion,
Richard Hobbs and I will give a joint
presentation entitled ‘A North African
Spring – the wet and the dry’. Earlier this
year, Richard travelled to Tunisia and I went
to Morocco, but we had very different
experiences in terms of the plants we
saw as, whilst Richard enjoyed a country
that had experienced good winter rains,
Morocco was in the grip of a prolonged
drought.
February, Sunday 10th, 2.30pm: Lecture
at Bawburgh Village Hall by George Carter.
Cistanche phelyphaea, courtesy of
Entitled ‘The Garden as Theatre’, it looks Kathy Gray
at how gardens have developed and been
used over the years. George Carter is a well-known modern garden designer,
with his work having been seen in Europe and the USA. The Sunday Times has
stated that he is one of 10 best garden designers in Britain today. He is also an
author, so we will benefit from his expertise and knowledge and his individual
‘take’ on garden design.
March,
Sunday
10th,
2.30pm: Lecture at Bawburgh
Village Hall by Sue Wooster of
Bellflower Nursery. Those of
you who enjoyed the visit to
Sue’s nursery on the coach trip
in May will remember that,
besides selling good plants
in lovely surroundings, she
holds the National Collection
of Campanula. The lecture,
entitled ‘Growing, Showing
At Bellflower Nursery, courtesy of Tony Gray
and Collecting Campanula’, is
a general talk on these plants,
including the background to setting up the collection, photos of plants in the
wild and at the nursery. Sue will also be bringing plants for sale.
March, Sunday 24th: As a change, two garden visits early in the year, to the
Winter Garden at Bressingham and Janet Sleep’s garden at Gissing. Although
these gardens will be known to a number of you, we have not visited them at
this time of the year before. Janet has been planting for late winter/early spring
effect for some time now; there will be much of interest. Adrian Bloom has
created a fine Winter Garden (see photo p.28) and, if the conditions are right,
we will also be able to visit his garden at Foggy Bottom. To link the two garden
visits there will be an opportunity to enjoy a lunch at Bressingham. Further
details will be included with the AGM mailing.
Your programme cards listing all the events for 2013 will be sent out later in the
year. As ever, I hope you will enjoy the programme, which includes garden visits
and a coach trip. It will also feature a Taxonomy Workshop with Susyn Andrews
of Kew – those of you who attended the Holly Study Day will remember her
expertise and enthusiasm – and a Fungus Foray towards the end of the year.
I can’t close without mentioning our Spring Thing – this will be a day’s event
featuring two speakers, Rod Leeds, who will be talking on ‘Winter and Spring
Bulbs’, and John Massey of Ashwood Nurseries whose talk is entitled ‘Spring
into Summer’. There will be plant sales, including Pottertons Nurseries from
near Lincoln, and Richard Hobbs will be showcasing his Muscari collection.
Soapbox - Conservation matters
by Dan D. Lyon
Our contributor shares his challenging views about living with garden creatures.
These days, thankfully, we are sometimes reminded about our community
duties regarding conservation and sustainability. How different from when I was
young and lead arsenate and Paris Green could be bought over the counter.
We must all do our bit, and gardeners can help in this crusade. You may just
go about your gardening in the old-established way but I beseech you to think
much more deeply about the things that you do.
For instance, did you know that mice are chronically short-sighted and it is such
a help to them if you will plant your peas and beans in straight rows so they
can follow the line and not go hungry? Often they have quite large families to
support, so do not deny them the right to co-exist. If you are kind to them, they
may even decide to come and live with you in your house; now could there be
a greater compliment?
You must encourage the mole, as his efforts on your behalf to provide that
loamy stone-free soil should not go unrewarded. Help him all you can by double
digging your ground in the winter so it’s easier for him and his associate, the
earthworm, to burrow about in the ground to aid the drainage and aeration
for you.
Birdsong in the garden is a real bonus. The soft cooing lullaby of the pigeon
is a delight, as he makes sure that your greens don’t outgrow their allotted
space. As a secondary benefit, he will sit in the branches of your trees and freely
fertilise whatever is beneath. What charming, useful, garden visitors.
Colour in the garden is always a bounty. There must be a place for the lily
beetle, so that you can observe one of nature’s special conjuring tricks. This red
gem of a guest is an arch performer: admire them from afar, as if you attempt
to get too close they are so shy that they will drop to the ground and disappear!
They turn upside down, and, chameleon-like, their undersides match the soil
and they are lost to view.
Aphids are an absolute must for conservation. They provide the staple food
of the ant, which will farm them on your plants so that they can dine at will,
never taking too many, so there is always a reserve for the following day. Like
the mouse, if you treat them nicely, ants too will come and keep you company
in your house.
More garden company that you can sometimes expect is the amusing vine
weevil. Many people shudder to think about them, but they are so clever at
playing “All fall down” with you. For best results, make sure you plant some
sedums and aeoniums, as these are the best plants for them to demonstrate
their prowess upon. Nurture the plants lovingly, and one day you will be
rewarded by the efforts of these tiny denizens when the once towering stems
all fall over. It’s a truly remarkable experience.
Those of you who do lace making or crocheting should take lessons from the
humble slug. He is to be admired rather than stamped underfoot. His original
intricate designs on your veratrums and hostas could not be replicated even in
silken thread.
If you think deeply about the subject, many more ways in which you can aid the
planet’s sustainability and conservation will occur to you.
More is More! by Kalani Seymour
Threatened Plants Project Co-ordinator, Plant Heritage National Office
TPP is ambitious but sometimes, to be the leading garden
plant conservation organisation in the world (the USA,
Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Germany
have all come to us for advice), you just have to be
extraordinary. Here is a brief overview of what we have
achieved so far. For more about the project, select TPP at
the top of www.plantheritage.org.uk
Using many editions of the RHS Plant Finder, 15,856 Copyright Plant Heritage
named cultivars have now been listed from 102 genera.
174 more genera are under way. In Norfolk, you’ve completed listing 19 genera
- 953 different cultivars. I add information from National Collections. I check
other holdings too. Bressingham, for example, has 14 threatened cultivars, 10
not previously listed. Local varieties from the Swaffham EcoTech orchard (see
Borderline No. 49 p.20) have augmented the list of 7,177 different sorts of
apples. I then determine from the frequencies of listing which plants are rare
enough to be threatened and whether these are vulnerable, endangered or
critical in cultivation.
Where a National Collection exists, we now know that they hold more
threatened plants than anyone – an average of 50% of everything threatened.
Collection Holders are, uniquely, safeguarding a plethora of plants.
Collection Holders and other experts are asked to rate the Plant Heritage Value
of the threatened cultivars. This is our newly defined measure of conservation
worthiness, summarising horticultural merit, heritage importance and
usefulness in marks out of 10. It flags up threatened plants which are priorities
to conserve. For example, two white-fruited aucubas have been highlighted
for early action. The first plant from the lists to be in active conservation is
Pulmonaria ‘Red Freckles’ (photo p.27), only found at two RHS Gardens. Wisley
donated seven potfuls through us for propagation by the Hardy Plant Society’s
Pulmonaria Group.
And finally, I really want to thank our many volunteers and sponsors (particularly
the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Hozelock), Collection Holders and others
contributing plant lists and expertise.
Pressing actions by Janet Sleep
A herbarium sample is the best record a botanist (and any interested party)
can have of what a plant is actually like. It is really just a pressing of the plant
showing all its bits. And yes, the tiniest parts really are important. Unfortunately,
the colour is not usually preserved. In fact, as a plant fades in pressing it can
give a wholly misleading idea of the original colour. Moreover, the pressed
material gives no idea of habit or scent or where the plant likes to grow. All this
is essential information to be supplied for posterity with the pressed specimens.
One reason that this is important is that often plants are circulated under quite
the wrong name. This is not usually a deep-dyed plot but perhaps because
someone has been propagating from seed rather than cuttings and these
never come quite true. Over a number of generations the plant may drift very
far from the characteristics of the original. Or there may have been simple
mislabelling or other accidents: no intention to deceive but deception happens
anyway. These things matter because Collection Holders are supposed to hold
‘The Real Thing’. They spend ages researching this. The herbarium sample
is like a reference book which they can always get back to when in doubt.
Unfortunately, herbarium samples are not always in existence, so that is where
our small group of enthusiasts comes in.
I have just received a thank you letter from RHS Wisley Herbarium for the pressed
and mounted specimens which were the product of our practice sessions last
year. It turns out that most of the specimens we sent were not already held in
the Herbarium and Wisley welcomes more of the same. Apparently, on arrival
they went straight into the freezer – standard practice, because who knows
what bugs might have been lurking between the pages we sent.
At the end of March
this year, our group
met at Richard
Hobbs’s garden to
start pressing his
National Collection
of Muscari. With
seven of us, we can
achieve 14 pressings
in two hours; it’s
a slow process. In Muscari armeniacum ‘Gul’, courtesy of Janet Sleep
advance,
Richard
had dug up in their entirety the plants he wanted pressed and had washed the
roots clean too (the whole plant from top to toe is the ideal material to press –
not so easy with an Elaeagnus.)
You can understand why it is slow work when you consider that, before you
press anything, you must make a detailed description of the plant. This involves
recording its name and provenance; exactly where it is growing in site and
situation; dimensions and habit; scent and a detailed colour inventory of each
and every part using the RHS colour charts. It is this last bit which takes the
time; if you look closely at a plant you will be amazed at its colour variation:
every flower part is likely to be different, as are the top and reverse of the leaves.
The stems may vary according to the age of the different parts or depending
whether they were facing away from or towards the sun. Next, you take a
magnifying glass and look for very tiny parts such as bracts or hairs which might
shrivel in the pressing and record whether they are present or not. Then you
photograph the growing plant.
Finally you are ready to press. With a bulb you have a squashy mass, which
might rot before drying and which wobbles about between the layers of acidfree blotting paper. To deal with this, you slice a thin sliver off one side of the
bulb to make a steady base and arrange the plant, if in one piece as our Muscari
were, to show all its parts without overlaying. And into the press it goes.
Pairings – a quiz with a prize
Plants in my Life:
Pair each plant hunter in list 1 - 5 with a plant bearing his name in list A - E.
Using a book or search engine is allowed.
Ben Potterton on Sanguisorba
1. A Scot who delivered 20,000 tea plants to India from China in 1848.
2. An Austrian who became an American and lived in China for 29 years.
3. An American Quaker who discovered more than 1,200 new plant species
and distributed over 500,000 herbarium specimens.
4. A Scot who was gored to death by a wild bullock in Hawaii.
5. An Englishman who was Keeper of the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, USA.
A. Tinantia pringlei, a spotted, hardy, Mexican relative of Tradescantia
B. Trachycarpus fortunei, a hardy Chinese palm
C. Limnanthes douglasii, the poached egg plant, from western America
D. Rosa longicuspis var. sinowilsonii, a creamy-white Chinese rambler rose
E. Paeonia rockii, a tree peony from Gansu province in China
Supply your answers, with your name, to the editor by 1st November. Members
only, please. There is a bottle of champagne from the editor for the first allcorrect entry drawn at our meeting on 25th November.
Botany from A to X - the answers to the quiz in
Borderline No. 49 and the winner
1. b) An anther carries the pollen
2. a) A crocus has a corm
3. d) Glabrous means hairless
4. a) Guttation is secretion of water drops at leaf tips
5. b) A liana is a jungle creeper
6. c) A
monoecious plant carries both male and
female flowers
7. a) The ovary is the dome-shaped organ above a snowdrop’s flower
8. d) A xerophyte grows in drought. (An Xmas tree is one.)
Sanguisorbas seemed to appear regularly in nursery catalogues in the 1990s,
becoming a partner to grasses in the craze for naturalistic and prairie planting.
My first sanguisorba was a superb specimen of S. tenuifolia ‘Alba’ which I
purchased in 1999, starting a love affair with this magnificent genus of hardy
perennials that has in many ways shaped our plant collection and garden.
My initial collecting frenzy was productive but frustrating, as most of the species
were misnamed and it seemed that every gardener was naming each burgundy
seedling. Indeed, in the early years our own plants were producing interesting
seedlings and I subsequently named three strong growers: Sanguisorba ‘White
Elephant, S. ‘Blacksmiths Burgundy’ and S. ‘Touch of Green’. ‘White Elephant’
is probably the best of the three, producing erect stems to 100cm, topped
with feathered pencils of white flowers which fade to salmon pink with age.
It favours a damp or well-mulched position, suggesting that S. canadensis is
a probable parent. After a disappointing few years, we have finally produced
another interesting, strong-growing selection, which seems to have a similar
parentage to the original ‘White Elephant’. After a few more years of trialling,
it might be worth naming.
Sanguisorba development in the UK has been rather slow and uneventful, with
most of the interesting plants occurring in Europe. Coen Jansen’s inspirational
nursery at Ankummer in the Netherlands (www.coenjansenvasteplanten.nl)
holds a varied collection with some magnificent display beds. Christian Kres has
also been instrumental in popularising the genus, offering a selection of species
and new hybrids at Sarastro Nursery in Austria (www.sarastro-stauden.com).
The collection at our nursery (www.blackcottnursery.co.uk) is quite
comprehensive, with new cultivars being trialled for a few years before they
are added. In an echo of Adrian Bloom’s comments (Borderline No. 49, p.9),
we only offer plants that we feel are garden worthy, with plants with poor
attributes remaining in the garden for reference and only being propagated for
specific requests. I try to visit specialist European nurseries each autumn and
collect any missing or new plants. While writing this article I have found three
new hybrids in Germany which will be joining our collection in the coming
weeks, so the interest is definitely growing and new colours are still appearing.
Kathy Gray, whose name was drawn by Hazel Chapman at our Summer Social,
won the editor’s bottle of champagne for her all-correct entry.
Of the garden-worthy plants,
I am particularly fond of S.
hakusanensis and its hybrids,
with the wild-collected BSWJ
8709 being a particular
favourite as it is quite a short
plant, suitable for the front
of a border in most growing
conditions. Best of all, it
produces an attractive flower
tassel in an unusual shade of
dark pink, unlike any other in
our collection.
New to all this
These notes explain some of the plant names and terms in this issue.
coccinea (p.7) means scarlet-coloured, purpurea is purple and crocea is yellow,
after the stigma of the saffron crocus.
Pompon (p.7) is the correct spelling for one of the 14 different types of dahlia
flower recently recognised by the National Dahlia Society. They are similar to
ball dahlias but less than 5cm (2 inches) in diameter. Pompon is the name of
the red woollen tuft on the hats of French sailors. By contrast, fully double
hollyhocks are usually called pompoms (p.12). But a pom-pom is a type of
cannon. Reach for the right one in times of war.
Sanguisorba albiflora, courtesy of Ben Potterton
Sanguisorba menziesii produces some interesting selections (see photo
p.27), with Norfolk garden populations showing considerable variation from
wild-collected material. Its glaucous growth and repeat flowering make it
a worthy garden plant, as are some of the other species grown for foliage.
S. armena and S. dodecandra are particularly good, having luxuriant, grey,
melianthus-like leaves.
Natives should not be forgotten. Salad Burnet, S. minor subsp. minor grows wild
across Norfolk and is popular as an edible herb. Greater Burnet, S. officinalis, is
the parent of many of the first popular garden-worthy hybrids, a plant that I am
always pleased to see both in gardens and growing wild.
I recently judged a farm environmental stewardship scheme in South Derbyshire.
On one of the farms, the farmer proudly took me to a damp meadow waisthigh in Sanguisorba officinalis. It was the highlight of my visit and, much to
his delight, the deciding factor when I picked the winner at the awards dinner
some months later.
The Sanguisorba collection at Blacksmiths Cottage Nursery is in flower between
June and October, with early August being a peak flowering period for most
plants. It is being moved to allow visitors to see 75 species and hybrids in one
garden. The nursery is being re-developed over the winter and will re-open in
March 2013.
Alcea (p.12) comes from the Greek name for a type of mallow while
Althaea (also p.12) comes from another Greek word meaning a healer or a
cure. These two words well illustrate some of the conundrums about how
to pronounce scientific names (Al-see-uh or Al-keh-ah, Al-thay-ee-ah or
Al-thigh-uh, for example). In general, pronounce each vowel separately and take
comfort from Christopher Lloyd’s advice to an American about pronouncing
Heuchera, summarised as ‘Doesn’t matter how you say it, I know what
you mean.’
Aucuba (p.18) commonly occurs as the spotted laurel, Aucuba japonica, often
planted to brighten gloomy positions with its glossy leaves. The word itself is
from the Japanese name for these shrubs.
Pulmonaria (p.18) is the genus of the lungworts; pulmo is Latin for lung. Their
spotted leaves were thought to resemble diseased lungs, for which they were a
treatment. They are part of the borage family.
Muscari (p.19), the grape hyacinths, get their name
through Turkish from a word of Persian antiquity
which alludes to a musky or sweet, aromatic odour.
The male musk deer (Moschus moschifer) produces
this smell in abundance but muscari are better in
your garden.
Tinantia (p. 20) is a genus found mainly in the tropical
New World. They are in the spiderwort family, with
the well-known houseplant Tradescantia. T. pringlei
is hardy. Curiously, François Tinant was a forester
in Luxemburg.
Tinantia pringlei
The Lord & Lady Walpole invite you to
MANNINGTON GARDENS & COUNTRYSIDE
Notice Board
Walks open daily from 9am - dusk
Gardens open Sundays, May – Sept, I2-5pm
Your free small ads or short items of general news can appear on this
page, subject to space being available, if you let the editor have them by 24th
January 2013.
28th Oct History Sunday
16th Dec Christmas at the Greedy Goose
& decorated Hall
• Mannington Hall and Wolterton Park
There is a wealth of events from autumn to spring, with interests for all
the family. The advert opposite can only mention a few. Check the website
www.manningtongardens.co.uk for details for both venues or ring one of the
numbers in the advert.
Park open daily from 9am – dusk
Hall open every Friday from 20th April to
26th October 2012, 2 – 5pm
WOLTERTON PARK
• Blacksmiths Cottage Nursery snowdrop day on Sunday 3rd Feb
Morning lectures to include Ian Christie, Scotland’s leading galanthophile.
Tickets must be booked in advance.
Snowdrop Fair, 1-3pm, specialist snowdrop growers including Joe Sharman,
John Foster & Michael Broadhurst. Free entry. See the advert opposite for
contact details.
• Snowdrop viewing
The following Plant Heritage members will be opening their gardens for
snowdrop viewing next spring:
John and Judy Wilson, Chestnut Farm, West Beckham, NR25 6NX, on Sunday
24th & Thursday 28th February and on Sunday 3rd March, from 11am - 4pm;
John and Brenda Foster at Gable House, Redisham, NR34 8NE on Sunday 17th
February, from 11am – 4pm.
These venues showcase large numbers of snowdrop species and cultivars,
including rarities. There will be plants for sale. There are entrance charges, for
charity, and refreshments will be available.
• Taste of Autumn event at Raveningham Gardens, 7th October
A celebration of the autumnal fruits of the garden, hedgerow and woodland.
Local producers will show food, oils and drinks. Talks and guided tours on
subjects such as fungi, herbs and vegetables. See www.raveningham.com
• And finally, have you seen this chair?
Missing after our summer party at East Carleton Manor, a chromed steel and
black canvas folding armchair. Please let the editor know of any sightings.
15/16th Sept Costume and Textile Fair
4th Nov Vocality concert & afternoon tea
For details write, phone or visit website:
Mannington Hall, Norwich, Norfolk, NR11 7BB
Tel: 01263 584175 or 01263 768444
e-mail: admin@walpoleestate.co.uk
www.manningtongardens.co.uk
Blacksmiths Cottage Nursery
Specialist herbaceous
perennial nursery
growing a wide range of choice
and unusual garden, woodland and
architectural plants, including a large
collection of Hardy Geranium, Geum,
Polygonatum and Sanguisorba.
RHS Lectures, Wildlife Events, Courses
and Plant Fairs held throughout the year.
Hellebore Fair 17th March
All events for 2013 on our website
Open Wed - Sun and Bank Holiday
Mondays, March to end of October.
www.blackcottnursery.co.uk
01379 741136/740982
Langmere Road, Langmere,
Dickleburgh IP21 4QA
Committee and other post holders
Chairman
Jaime Blake
Low Rise, School Road,
Bressingham, Norfolk IP22 2AD
01379 687721 or 07881 911505
jaimeblake@sky.com
Vice-Chair/Co-ordinator
for National Collections
& Threatened Plant
Project/Joint Plant Fair
Organiser
Secretary/Joint Plant
Fair Organiser/ Social
Secretary
Dr. Janet Sleep
The Harralds, Grove Road,
Gissing, Diss,
Norfolk IP22 5XA
01379 677288
janetsleep@gmail.com
Linda Hall
Birchwood, Snow Street,
Roydon, Norfolk IP22 5SB
01379 641519
mjlchall@btinternet.com
Treasurer
Derek Lambert FCCA
01362 668263
6 Wensum Drive,
lambert323@btinternet.com
North Elmham, Norfolk NR20 5HL
Programme Secretary/
Joint Plant Fair
Organiser
Borderline editor/
Membership Secretary
Kathy Gray
12 Claxton Close,
Mileham, Norfolk PE32 2RU
Nick Broughton
Pykerell’s House,
St. Mary’s Plain, Norwich NR3 3AF
Committee Member
Kristopher Harper
33 The Ridgeway,
Norwich NR1 4ND
Publicity Officer/
Lesley Kant Cunneen
Council Representative 35 Clarendon Road,
Norwich NR2 2PN
Committee Member
Judy Sims (co-opted)
14 Beck Lane, Horsham St. Faith,
Norwich NR10 3LD
Other post holders are:
President/ Group
Jan Paulger
Archivist
Plant Exchange
Margaret Ford
Contact
Holiday Organiser
Nick Maule
01328 701839 or 07880 556928
kathygrayc@aol.com
01603 627519
nick.broughton@virgin.net
01603 708104 or 07889 679444
kristopher@harperestates.co.uk
01603 629823
lesleykantcunneen@ btinternet.com
01603 891437
judysims@mypostoffice.co.uk
Group Photographer
Tony Gray
01603 501275
j.paulger@waitrose.com
margarett045@btinternet.com
or contact via the Secretary
01502 715423
christopher.maule@talktalk.net
contact via Kathy Gray above
Meeter & Greeter
Irene Moore
01508 489635
Webmaster
Brian Ellis
band.mereside@zen.co.uk

Borderline - Autumn 2012 - Page 1

Transcription

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