Amelanchier canadensis April flowers in Anne's garden

Barry Gayton

Trees and Shrubs

A talk by Barry Gayton. HPS 10 November 2018 

Mr Gayton’s talk concentrated on trees suitable for small gardens. Numerous slides were shown of examples including Acers, Malus, Sorbus, Cornus, Euonymus and others with recommendations made for specific varieties. I noted audience members busy writing down the names of their favourites but there were several that I was not familiar with but nevertheless looked interesting.

Sorbus scalaris is a spreading tree to 10m tall with leaves downy beneath which turn to orange, red and purple in the autumn. The small white flowers appear in spring and are followed by rounded red fruits.

Aesculus x mutabilis Induta is a small tree or large shrub and is a variety of Horse Chestnut known as Buckeye. It has palmate leaves and many yellow-flushed pink flowers born in panicles with good autumn colour.

Robinia hispida Casque Rouge forms a small tree with delicate Wisteria-like foliage. Fragrant, drooping clusters of, pea-shaped flowers appear in late spring and early summer and are followed by dark red-brown seed pods in the late summer. This variety has large purple pink blooms rather than the rose-pink flowers of the species.

A favourite small tree of mine is Amelanchier canadensis which grows in my small back garden. It has white flowers in spring set off against coppery foliage, black berries which are quickly devoured by the blackbirds and glorious autumn colour. It can also be pruned successfully to keep it within bounds.

Journal Editor

The Hardy Plant is the journal of the Hardy Plant Society. Published twice yearly and sent free to members, it is a prestigious journal with authoritative articles on hardy perennials and colour photographs throughout.

The Editor plans each edition, sourcing articles and being able to assist contributors on aspects of theme, text length and images (ensuring the text accords with HPS house style and the University of Oxford Style Guide, and that images meet current industry standards).

A schedule is agreed with the printers for each stage of preparation, printing and mailing.

Layouts are then prepared for each page, working with the typographer and liaising with the proofreader and contributors to ensure clarity, accuracy and consistency.

The Editor will liaise with HPS colleagues and the HPS Office and manage the advertising.

The Hardy Plant carries a number of advertisements considered to be of interest to members.

An annual rate card is prepared in consultation with the Publications Coordinator and Treasurer.

Appropriate advertisements are solicited, and liaison provided to confirm orders, edit and agree copy, send invoices and payments, as well as keeping accurate records and providing information to the Treasurer and HPS Office.

The post is not subject to a fixed term and attracts a small remuneration.

For more information please contact please contact Jan Vaughan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Photo Librarian

The Hardy Plant Society maintains a collection of digital images of horticultural subjects. The Photo Librarian is responsible for developing, organising and maintaining this library, and providing copies of the images to members of the Society on request. Images may also be provided to non-members for publication on condition that acknowledgement is given to the Society.

The Librarian will keep an Accession Catalogue of all images, and organise suitable storage so as to facilitate easy retrieval. He/She will work with the Web Manager to ensure the library is displayed to best effect on the national website and with the Coordinators of the Seed Distribution and Conservation Scheme to ensure that both are able to access relevant images.

The Photo Librarian is responsible for organising the annual Photographic Competition for members, appointing suitable judges and publishing the results in the Newsletter, Journal and on the website.

For more information please contact please contact Jan Vaughan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Pollinators in your garden

A talk by John Cullen.  HPS 13 October 2018

www.johncullengardens.com

John is part of a family based nursery in Lincolnshire specialising in plants for the pollinators, scented plants and edible plants since 2009.  

Part of his training background was at Hampton Court and he was tutored by Juliet Sargeant. He learnt from her that every plant should have a purpose and so looks for a plant to look good, taste good and be pollinated. He has shown at Hampton Court, Chelsea and Tatton Park.

In his early gardening life he found that good plants were hard to source in London and so started growing his own. John Cullen plants are neonicotinoid-free. 

Neonicotinoids are a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine and are used by some growers as a wash/drenching insecticide. They are used on crops to control pests such as vine weevils and aphids but also kill bees. The insecticide is taken into a plant’s system and there is debate as to whether it remains in the plant system or is diluted over time. It may also be present in it’s seeds. If it is present in pollen and taken back to a hive, the hive will become sterile and collapse.

John's talk covered this reaction on pollinators; bees, butterflies and moths. There are around 250 species of bees in the UK;  bumblebees, solitary bees and a single species of honeybee.

Some facts:

Bees

They select plants according to the length of their tongues. If their tongue is not long enough, they will pierce the flower.

They prefer single flowers (not doubles) as it is easier to collect pollen.

They are attracted to plants with scent.

They like herbs that flower.

Solitary bees are likely to pollinate tomatoes, cucumbers etc.

Solitary bees don't sting.

Bumblebees have a lot of predators like tits and badgers.

It's only lady honey bees that collect pollen.

After coming out of (sleepy) hibernation in spring, they tend to go for low plants like pulmonaria.

Butterflies

They taste with their feet - to see if the plant is good for laying eggs.

Ivy and nettles are preferred egg laying sites. Have some in your garden to discourage caterpillars on your favourites.

Butterflies in your garden show that you have a good eco-system.

Moths

Very important pollinators as they are attracted to night scented plants.

When considering plants for your garden think of a year round plant food source for pollinators like flowering shrubs - which often flower twice in a year. Planting in blocks gives a good display but helps pollinators feed easily.

To avoid insecticides encourage birds into your garden especially overwinter.  

Did you know you can buy ladybirds? John averages 1000 over 3 acres released in spring.

Keep a corner for ivy and nettles away from your borders for hungry caterpillars.  

You can always ask when you buy if the nursery uses neonicotinoids.

You may be aware of the yellow RHS sign on plants indicating that a plant is "bee" friendly. You may find this press release from RHS last year interesting. http://press.rhs.org.uk/RHS-Outreach/Press-releases/How-to-bee-friendly-this-summer!.aspx

8th September

Photos by Chris Davies

This was a garden visit full of surprises, as we progressed through the garden it just got better and better.

At first, parking beside of a large sandstone house, I thought ‘This is strange, where is the grand entrance’.  This was soon explained by our hostess. The property was inherited by Sue and Adam Paul in 1972. Sue explained that less than half of the original Hall remained, the front half having been demolished many years ago. The boundary and foundations of the larger hall were clearly visible after this very hot dry summer, and the previous formal garden was no longer adjacent to the remaining house.

 Sue and Paul’s initial problems were to make the remaining ‘back end’ of the original hall into a respectable house and to redesign the garden area. The reconfigured house was surrounded by extensive lawns, some close cropped, others were wild areas. It was almost parkland with many splendid ancient trees, all looking in good health and with beautiful shapes. Obviously, some have had to be removed and there are now many new plantings to take their place. Around the house there are now borders and a terraced area. A series of island beds have been planted some distance from the house, mainly bergenias, euphorbias and stipa gigantea. A Lutyens bench was surrounded by beautiful pink double cosmos. Many of us vowed to grow more cosmos next year.

We wended our way through the trees and came to a door in a brick wall. Inside, one could immediately appreciate the beautifully planted walled garden. The entire area of around ¾ acre was surrounded by a lovely mellow red brick crinkle crankle wall, apart from one area that was open to a pond.

At the centre was a large medlar with a circular bench around its base. From here paths radiated out to divide the garden into four quadrants. The central path was a covered arch of vines and roses. At right angle to this the paths were lined with apple and pear cordons. One half of the garden consisted of a grassed orchard of apple, plum and pear trees. The other half was devoted to vegetables, soft fruit and flowers for cutting. Many varieties of vegetables are grown including jet-black tomatoes, cape gooseberries and a very attractive row of the brown flowered Amaranthus cruentus. The concave areas of the walls were planted with trained fruit trees – pears, figs, cherries, peaches, kiwi and even a pomegranate.

A range glasshouse along the south wall housed grapevines and a selection of peppers. In the south wall another door led into a frame yard. The frames were mainly empty at this time of the year. A ‘bothy’ backed onto the south wall, where all the tools were still housed, many of them antique and well oiled, there were racks of clay pots, an old soil steriliser and raffia for tying. On the opposite wall was a glasshouse below ground level, reminiscent of a pineapple pit, but now so useful for storing plants needing winter protection.

Yet another entrance in the east wall led to another small walled area planted with herbs around the wall with a formal diamond design central area. One final door led into a converted byre where there was tea, coffee and a wonderful spread of cakes and sandwiches. I had been so interested in the garden that I had forgotten that refreshments were included in the visit!

Mavis Smith

Plant given to Adrian by Len, pictured at Foggy Bottom

Len worked as a volunteer at Foggy Bottom for a number of years and was a valued member of the gardening team. He was a knowledgeable plantsman and as we all know had an enthusiasm for all plants, but particularly for Japanese maples, of which he had a considerable collection at his home in Wymondham. 

Len brought a plant of a seedling Lamium he had found in his garden three or four years ago and it was planted up in Foggy Bottom to see how it would perform and if it was different to others on the market. It turned out to be a good ground cover with attractive foliage and very free-flowering in spring with pale pink flowers. Sadly Len died after an operation on 23rd December 2016 and as a contributor to Foggy Bottom, and of course as a  valued member of the Hardy Plant Society, it would seem fitting to name this plant Lamium ‘Len Speller’. There are plans to have plants available from spring 2019 in the Bressingham Gardens catalogue but in the short term it needs to be verified that this is indeed a cultivar that is different to others presently available to the public. There is nothing quite like its variegation with the combination of flowers in existing cultivars (on a sunny spring morning the flowers look much lighter than the soft pink they exhibit during most of the flowering period) but it would be good if other members of the society were able to also look into this question of identity. There appears to be no National Collection of Lamiums, but if any HPS member is interested in researching this or making any comments with regards to its uniqueness, please could they send their findings to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. as soon as possible. 

As an addenda - HPS members who knew Len might be interested to know that several Japanese maples from Len’s collection were purchased last year and at least one of them will be planted in the new Japanese-style garden at Bressingham before its opening in 2019.