CLIFTON GARDEN SOCIETY

Daphne bhuloa

NEWSLETTER VOLUME 21 No.1 SPRING 2019

For further information visit our website at: www.cliftongardensociety.co.uk

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Please note that two visits advertised in this newsletter are being organised by the same person but separate cheques must be sent for each visit.

VISIT TO KINGSTON LACY, DORSET.

TUESDAY 19 MARCH 2019

Depart Jacob’s Wells 8.45 am, Christ Church 8.55 am, Clifton Cathedral 9.00 am

The Bankes family lived at Kingston Lacy for over 300 years. They wished to surround themselves with beauty so they filled the house with many treasures. The house contains an internationally acclaimed art collection including paintings by Rubens, Velazquez and Titian set among exquisite carvings and lavish interiors. A huge estate surrounds the house with lawns, woodland walks, a Japanese garden, kitchen garden and a herd of Ruby Red Devon cattle. The Stable Cafe provides lunches, drinks, afternoon teas and cakes. Hot food is served from 12 to 2.30pm. The cafe may be busy and you may have to queue. There is a shop stocking local produce and a second hand bookshop. The cost of the visit will be £22.50 for National Trust members. Non National Trust members will be responsible for paying the entry fee of £13.70 but it would be appreciated if you could have the correct money so that I can pay for all. Please complete the enclosed booking form and send it with your cheque, payable to Clifton Garden Society, to Christine Baldwin, 38 Derham Road, Bishopsworth, Bristol BS13 7SB (tel 0117 964 1648) no later than Monday 4 March 2019.

VISIT TO WATERPERRY GARDENS, OXFORD

WEDNESDAY 24 APRIL

Depart Jacob’s Wells 9.00 am, Christ Church 9.10 am, Clifton Cathedral 9.15 am, Waterperry Gardens were instituted in 1930s by Beatrix Havergal as a School of Horticulture for Ladies. That closed in 1971 and it has been developed into an eight acre garden with many different areas to explore. Besides the flower beds and lawns there is an orchard, a small arboretum, and water features. Around the courtyard near the entrance there is a tea room providing hot lunches as well as afternoon teas, cakes and snacks. Also in that area there is a plant centre, garden shop, gift shop and gallery and a museum so there should be plenty of things of interest to explore. The cost of the visit, to include coach fare, driver’s gratuity and entrance to the gardens, will be £31.10. Please complete the enclosed application form and send it with your cheque, payable to Clifton Garden Society, to Christine Baldwin, 38 Derham Road, Bishopsworth, Bristol BS13 7SB, (tel 0117 964 1648) no later than Monday 8 April 2019.

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VISIT TO SLIMBRIDGE WETLAND CENTRE MONDAY 13 MAY 2019

Depart Jacobs Wells Road 9.45am, Christ Church 10am, Clifton Cathedral 10.05am Get close to amazing wildlife in its natural habitat. Wide flat paths and plenty of places to relax. There is something new to see and do every season. Some of the animals to be seen are otters, flamingos and cranes, known as ‘the dancing queens’. There are hides equipped with chairs, binoculars and bird books as well as an observatory tower (with lift) giving views stretching from the Cotswolds to the Welsh hills. A visit to appreciate how wildlife contributes to maintaining an equilibrium between animals, the landmass and humans. There is a cafe and a shop. The cost is £26.80 per person to include coach fare, driver’s gratuity and entrance fee. Please complete the enclosed booking form and send with a cheque payable to Clifton Garden Society to Gillian Joseph 46 Princess Victoria Street Clifton BS8 4BZ by Monday 29th April. ************************************************************************************************

NATIONAL TRUST MEMBERSHIP

The majority of Society members are members of the National Trust but some who regularly join our visits are not. This year our provisional programme includes six NT properties. Entrance to the properties is becoming more expensive. Newark Park is £8.50 and Kingston Lacy is £13.70. Annual individual membership is £69 so it would be advantageous to become a member. Please give the matter some consideration. ************************************************************************************************

CHRISTMAS PARTY 2018 What a splendid evening we had on the 21 November. Some 70 people – about half our membership – came and we are very grateful indeed to Nick Bailey for coming to talk to us. He was interesting and funny, and it was fascinating to hear him talk about his garden at Chelsea and how it evolved. I don`t think any of us had any idea of the difficulties and complications, not to mention the cost, involved in participating in the Chelsea Flower Show. Grateful thanks to everyone, including, of course, those committee members who organised the food and drink. On a more mundane level, your committee feels it will have to organise things slightly differently next year. Members will appreciate that we have to order the food well in advance, so we need to know how many people are going to come, otherwise both food and drink could run out. That would be disastrous! So next year we will include in the appropriate newsletter an application slip and would be grateful if members could return this by the due date. We do not want to have to say that members cannot come because they are late in applying and, while we also welcome guests, in future we shall ask them to pay a small charge. Brenda Thomas

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PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME 2019

Please enter the dates below in your diary but be aware that the dates may change when the visits are booked, so always check with the booking form. There is already one change from the dates published in the last newsletter. Mon 18 Feb Newark Park (NT) already booking CB Tues 19 Mar Kingston Lacy (NT) CB Thurs 11 April AGM and talk Comm Wed 24 April Waterperry Gardens, Oxford CB Mon 13 May Slimbridge Wildfowl Trust GJ Tues 11 June Abbotsbury subtropical gardens BT 23 to 27 June Holiday to York (fully booked) CB Thurs 11 July Basildon Park and Beale Park GJ Thurs 15 Aug Nuffield Place and Greys Court (both NT) TBC Tues 10 Sept Gant’s Mill, Bruton CB Wed 23 Oct Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hants GJ Thurs 28 Nov Christmas Party Comm Dec tbc Tredegar House (NT) AM CB – Christine Baldwin 0117 964 1648 GJ – Gillian Joseph 0117 973 7296 AM – Anne Memery 0117 962 4341 BT – Brenda Thomas 0117 401 2741

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COPY DATE FOR NEXT ISSUE: 12 APRIL 2018 Please send contributions to: Gundula Dorey aghdorey@blueyonder.co.uk 14 Goldney Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4RB Tel: 0117 927 6812

The editorial committee would very much welcome more contributions from members. Have you visited an interesting garden recently? Do you have a favourite plant you would like to tell readers about?

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MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL 2019

Thank you to all the members who have renewed their membership for 2019, and have received their new cards, but there are still several who have not done so. If you find a membership form with this newsletter, it means that I have not yet received your renewal. If you intend to continue your membership, please complete the form and return it to me together with your cheque as soon as possible (sae not required). If you do not intend to continue your membership will you please still return the form, advising me of that so that I can delete your name from our records. Christine Baldwin ************************************************************************************************

NOTICE OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

TO BE HELD IN THE APOSTLE ROOM

CLIFTON CATHEDRAL, BS8 3BX

THURSDAY 11 APRIL 2019 7PM FOR 7.30PM

Annual Reports will be distributed at the meeting

Drinks and nibbles will be served before the meeting.

Following the AGM there will be a talk ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ by Terry Merrett Smith

Please phone Gillian Joseph on 973 7296 if you have any queries about the meeting ************************************************************************************************

COMMITTEE RESPONSIBILITIES

Some confusion seems to have arisen lately about the responsibilities of the committee members so these are listed below: Christine Baldwin Treasurer, membership secretary, holiday

and visits’ organiser

Pauline Barnes Events' organiser

Gundula Dorey/Chris Purvis Newsletter editors

Gillian Joseph Visits' organiser

Anne Memery Visits' organiser

Diane Stewart Events' organiser

Sue Stops Events' organiser, newsletter distribution

Brenda Thomas Minutes' secretary, newsletter distribution

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DAPHNE BHOLUA

'Jacqueline Postil' derives from a seedling of Daphne bholua 'Gurkha' raised by Alan Postil at Hilliers in 1982. It is now the form of bholua invariably recommended by plant gurus, journalists and the like, but it is also the only form which, when I last looked, is listed in Plant Finder as "widely available" so this should not be a particularly difficult recommendation to follow. However, some years ago the demand for 'Jacqueline Postil' far exceeded its availability and, looking for a nice example for my garden, I simply could not find a plant in a condition that I thought justified the very high premium being asked. Eventually I settled, rather reluctantly, for a well shaped, healthy looking, reasonably priced example of 'Darjeeling Form'. Not long afterwards, on holiday in Cornwall, we found a nursery selling nice 'Jacqueline Postil' plants at a truly bargain price (of £6.50, I think) and we could not resist buying one. So now we have well established examples of both forms and, on this very limited basis, I can suggest that there is little to choose between them in the quantity of their flowers or their colour or the intensity of their scent – all are magnificent in both forms. However, 'Darjeeling' has a clear advantage in that it begins flowering in late November, a good month and a half before ‘Jacqueline’, and continues, with reducing flowers, until ‘Jacqueline’ has also more or less finished. This year 'Darjeeling' began flowering in the first week in November so it seems likely that 'Jacqueline' will also flower early. I've read somewhere that how 'Darjeeling' performs in British gardens depends on the location of its Indian ancestry, in particular its altitude, so maybe the flowers of other 'Darjeeling' plants will not be so early or long lived.

There is another rather strange and important difference between the two forms. After a few years, 'Jacqueline Postil', but not 'Darjeeling', begins to produce fairly numerous suckers which can be either left to generate an expanding copse or, with care, lifted to make new plants. Although probably of no value for commercial propagation it is certainly a welcome characteristic for the private gardener since I have never managed to propagate either form from cuttings. Arthur Sotheran Thanks to Sallie Fox for her beautiful illustration of Daphne bholua on the front cover. NOTE FROM CHRIS PURVIS Some suckers, potted up would be very welcome for the Botanic Garden Plant Sale at the four-day Easter Sculpture Festival which is thankfully much later than last year. If any of you have perennial or vegetable plants to spare I would be extremely grateful for your contributions. Please contact me on christinepurvis@hotmail.com or call 0117 9245656 for further details.

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WORTH A VISIT

WATCOMBE, 92 CHURCH ROAD, WINSCOMBE BS25 1BP

A visit to this garden is highly recommended by those who have been there in the last few years. It will be open in 2019 under the National Garden Scheme on Sunday 28 April, Sunday 19 May and Thursday 6 June from 2pm to 5.30pm so why not make a note in your diary. Admission is £4. Other dates, from April to the end of June, can be arranged by telephoning 01934 842666. Parking is difficult and car sharing is encouraged. It is a three quarters of an acre mature Edwardian garden with beautifully planted herbaceous borders. There are many unusual trees and shrubs and the owners, Peter and Ann Owen, have been on hand in previous years to answer questions and generally talk about the garden. There are several different areas including a lime walk, pleached hornbeams, orchard, topiary, two ponds and a small vegetable garden. There is indoor seating for teas and the excellent cakes are home-made. There will be plants for sale too. Most areas are accessible by wheelchair with minimal assistance. If you are not already aware, the NGS has a very good website www.ngs.co.uk where more details of this and many other gardens which will be open in 2019 can be found.

Vanessa Harrison

AMERICAN MUSEUM AND GARDENS You may well have been to this local special place in the past, but this year could be a good time to pay another visit. During 2018 there were some major redevelopments of the gardens at the American Museum. Their significance is such that there has been a change in name (see title above), as announced during the opening ceremony of the New American Garden in September. The steep slope below the terrace has been redesigned by Washington DC-based landscape architects Oehme, van Sweden (OvS) and is the firm’s first commission in Europe. The planting follows the free-form style characteristic of OvS’s work and features native American shrubs, perennials and bulbs. A wheelchair-accessible path skirts this new area and leads down to a grass stepped amphitheatre which will host concerts and other events. Further down again is a replica of George Washington’s garden at Mount Vernon. This long-standing area has been updated to mirror recent changes made at the original garden in Virginia. Taking into account existing areas such as the arboretum and the Lewis and Clark trail, the publicity handout may well be right in claiming that ‘the grounds now boast the largest collection of American horticultural features in the United Kingdom’. Sue Pettit

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CALLING ALL GALANTHOPHILES You may not be an actual snowdrop collector, but like me you just love them. They are the first breath of spring and really lift my spirits on a cold January day. Nothing beats looking out of the window of our warm kitchen at my clump of large-flowered, tall snowdrops (I can no longer remember the variety as I seem to have lost the label) which come out well before the smaller, common variety Galathanus nivalis. The February 2017 edition of the RHS Garden magazine had an article on the breeding of snowdrops with splashes of gold but give me the tasteful ones with green any time. Last February I had the good fortune to be taken on a guided tour around Colesbourne Park in the Cotswolds. There we were absolutely delighted by carpets of snowdrops, aconites and cyclamen underneath huge and unusual trees. For me the flag of spring would be made up of those three colours: white, yellow and vivid pink. The majority of the snowdrops were beautifully labelled so you could note which ones you might be tempted to buy. Having said that, I was absolutely stunned to see ONE snowdrop bulb of a sought-after variety on offer at £175!! Their list of varieties to buy is extensive with many at more reasonable prices. An added bonus to a great day was to meet the present owner of the estate, Sir Henry Elwes, great grandson of Henry John Elwes, the noted plant hunter, who brought back from Turkey the beautiful snowdrop variety, Galanthus elwesii, featured on our back cover. Sir Henry also gave us a TOP TIP for when to split snowdrop bulbs for the best results if you are looking to create the carpet effect. Contrary to the perceived wisdom of always planting them "in the green", he advocates splitting and transplanting them in the summer when the bulbs are at their plumpest. It is extremely important not to let them dry out during this operation. He explained that is why the garden only opens for the snowdrops and not at other times of year, as in the summer all that is visible is a "forest" of bamboo canes which act as markers for those clumps which need to be split (usually after 3 or 4 years). Snowdrops like moist but free-draining soil so I expect that summer 2018 might have been a difficult time for this procedure. I would thoroughly recommend looking at their website: colesbournegardens.org.uk, especially FAQs in the drop-down Garden menu. There you will learn about the differences between the four categories of Galanthus: nivalis, plicatus, elwesii and woronowii. Sadly I will not be able to enjoy the CGS trip to Newark Park as I will be winging my way to Mexico but I hope you all have a sunny day to enjoy these gorgeous harbingers of spring. I just hope that some will still be in flower when I get back. Chris Purvis NB Mike Taylor will be opening his garden in memory of his lovely wife, Anne, on Saturday March 2nd, 11am to 1pm at 96 Reedley Road, Stoke Bishop, BS9 3TA where snowdrops and hellebores abound. All proceeds will go to the Botanic Garden.

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DAVID SPELLER’S GARDEN MISCELLANY Two institutions are quietly celebrating 40 years of existence, Plant Heritage1,2 and The Plantsman.3 The former is now the official, and only, name for the National Council for Conservation of Plants and Gardens, which sprang from discussion in a tearoom at RHS Wisley. Although suffering financial difficulties,2 they can be very proud of supporting now over 600 collections and, in addition, many individual varieties of garden plant held by ‘Plant Guardians’. These are living plants, beset by problems such as weather or pest damage, labelling confusion and cross pollination. Also the holders often have assembled their collections quite late in life, so that succession is an important consideration.1 Indeed, many people are exercised about the need to interest younger generations in horticulture. Some recommend the use of digital technology.4 Augmented reality is employed in Alnwick Garden’s ‘Giant Adventure’, in which images, animations, reconstructions and games are generated. Virtual reality promoted interest in the Children’s Wild Garden as it was prepared for the 2018 Hampton Court Show. A remark is recorded: “You’re never going to get children to fully put down their smartphones … so you have to engage them with technology.” This does not yet seem to be the case in our Botanic Garden’s many tours for schools, where great interest is generated and fundamental, and sometimes challenging, questions are asked. The Plantsman is an authoritative RHS publication, and the periodical that I value most among those that I read. It features articles about particular, often uncommon, plants or genera, and their breeders or collectors. For example, who would think of sundews (Drossera spp.) – fascinating for their leaves with sticky insect-trapping hairs – as having quite large, colourful and beautiful flowers?3 In addition the journal provides the most useful of surveys of events, science and information in the realm of plants and gardens. This is a season in which many new plants are assessed or recommended. According to Fleuroselect, 2019 is ‘the Year of the Nasturtium' – and I confess to buying on impulse seed of the flamboyant new variety, ‘Orchid Flame’.5,6 Purple (sometimes imaginatively called ‘black’) seems to be a sought-after colour, in tulips,7 in hellebores, in lilies and even in the leaves of Parrotia persica (Persian Ironwood).8 I note that ‘grape hyacinths’ (Muscari) have become more grape-like, with ‘Grape Ice’,7,9 in which the florets begin white but develop as they age through blue to a rich red-purple. Some caution is needed with new introductions, which may not fulfil their promise. The grape hyacinth flowers seem small so that a number may be required to make any effect, and, in my experience, attractive new variants are more difficult to establish than the old, indestructible favourite. Poor cropping from the new dwarf mulberry, ‘Charlotte Russe’, has been reported;10 I await next season to assess my own, vigorously budding, specimen.

It is not often that I mention vegetables, but the range of brassicas, including diverse kale types, from curly to the spatulate cavolo nero (‘black kale’ - not ‘cavallo nero’, as I have seen in a greengrocer’s: ‘black horse’) would grace any potager and provide winter interest.11

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The David Austin firm has introduced a luscious deep pink rose, ‘James L. Austin’, endorsed by Gardening Which.7 That organisation has assessed 18 varieties of rose for repeat or continuous flowering, and highlights the yellow floribunda ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ for longest, almost continuous, bloom – together with impact, vigour and disease resistance.7 In fact, I find that, in my Hotwells garden, modern shrub roses flower almost continuously through the season, and even sometimes flower on sparsely through the winter, into March. Nick Bailey (speaker at the Society’s 2018 party) in his book, 365 Days of Colour,12 writes of Rosa x odorata ‘Bengal Crimson’ as being capable of flowering ‘every day of the year in a warm, sheltered spot’.

From this sublime vision, I must turn to the subject of pests, and report several sightings of the predatory Asian Hornet (Vespa velutina), from Lancashire to Cornwall.4,10 Great efforts are being made to contain these importations, though spread (as throughout Europe) seems inevitable. There are restrictions now on the import of olive trees, which can be host to Xylella,5 and on the transfer of oak trees to prevent the spread of the Oak Processionary Moth (Thaumetopoea processionea).11 An accreditation scheme for nurseries and growers, for biosecurity, is to be introduced.5

Meanwhile developments are continuing in our great gardens. At Wakehurst a new longer walkway in oak, with seating areas and a shelter has been built across the wetland area.13 The Rococo Garden has undergone a makeover, partly to make the shrubs more fitting for its period, and 8,000 tulips have been planted.4 ‘Edinburgh Biomes’ is an ambitious project to display and protect their Botanic Garden’s huge collection.3 Work continues on the new RHS site at Bridgewater, Greater Manchester, with involvement of 400 volunteers alongside the garden team.4

Finally … vegetables again … records have been broken! At the Malvern Autumn Show10,14 the following weights were recorded: bell pepper 0.72 kilograms (1lb 9oz); leek 10.7kg (23lb 9oz); aubergine 3.06kg (6lb 12oz); red cabbage 23.7kg (52lb 4oz); and celery 42kg (92lb 10oz) – this last beating a 38kg plant in the same class.10 At the RHS Harvest Festival there was a pumpkin weighing 618.8 kg (1,364lb 7oz) and an apple at 0.734kg (1lb 10oz).11 Deliberate effort and remarkable achievements, but does size matter? I remember a judge in a northern leek competition saying to a competitor, “It’s a great leek – but would you fancy it for your tea?”.

1Plant Heritage Journal 26(2) Autumn 2018; 2Plant Heritage (Somerset) Newsletter 80, Autumn 2018; 3The Plantsman 17(4) December 2018; 4The Garden 143(11) November 2018; 5The Garden 144(1) January 2019; 6www.thompon-morgan.com; 7Gardening Which? November 2018; 8Gardening Which? January/February 2019; 9www.blomsbulbs.com; 10Gardening Which/ December 2018; 11The Garden 143(12) December 2018; 12Nick Bailey, 365 Days of Colour in Your Garden, 2015, Kyle Books, London. ISBN 978 0 85783 269 6; 13Kew Magazine Autumn 2018; 14Canna UK National Giant Vegetables Championship.

Further information from David Speller

(dave.speller@virginmedia.com; 0117 929 8425)

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DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

FEBRUARY FRI 15

Talk by Ed Drewitt ‘Urban Peregrines’ Ed has been studying the lives of urban peregrines for over 20 years. 7-8pm Cost £4 per person Booking essential Tel: 0117 903 0609

AGWP

MON 18 CGS Event Visit to Newark Park for snowdrops. Fully booked.

THURS 21 Lecture by Nick Wray ‘Travels to Guandon Province, China’ Nick will describe his trip with Tony Harrison – the gardens they visited and the people they met. 7.30pm at Frank Theatre, Tyndall Avenue, BS8 1TL Guests £5

FUBBG

SAT 23 Learn how to make origami animals with Tony O’Hare, a local origami artist 10am-4pm £30 per person (including materials) Booking essential Tel: 0117 903 0609

AGWP

TUES 26 Talk ‘The healing power of houseplants’ by the owner of Wild Leaf Store, Tya Shannon, who will discuss how these plants can promote wellbeing. 7.30pm Abbots Leigh Village Hall Guests £5

WoEHG

MARCH TUES 12

Talk ‘Helping hedgehogs’ Emily Watson will explain how people can help hedgehogs to survive. 7-8pm £5 per person Booking essential Tel: 0117 903 0609

AGWP

TUES 19 CGS Event Visit to Kingston Lacy. See newsletter for details and booking form

THURS 21 Talk by Natalie Chivers, Curator of Treborth Botanic Gardens about the redevelopment plans for this garden. Talk 7.45pm at Frank Theatre, Tyndall Avenue, BS8 1TL Guests £5

FUBBG

TUES 26 Talk ‘Designing a herb garden’ by herb expert Jekka McVicar 7.30pm Abbots Leigh Village Hall Guests £5

WoEHG

SAT 30 Walk with Ed Drewitt Learn how to identify birds ‘in the field’ 10am-3.30pm £25 per person Booking essential Tel: 0117 903 0609

AGWP

APRIL THURS 11

CGS Event – AGM and talk. See newsletter for details

TUES 16 Talk ‘Farming medicinal herbs’ by Helen Kearney from Elder Farm. She will describe the best environment to grow herbs 7.30pm Abbots Leigh Village Hall Guests £5

WoEHG

WED 24 CGS Event Visit to Waterperry Gardens. See newsletter for details and booking form

MAY MON 13

CGS Event Visit to Slimbridge Wetland Centre See newsletter for details and booking form

TUES 21 Talk ‘Magical Mint and Luscious Lavender’ by Ian Margetts of Summerdown Mint. He will describe herbs which have been grown in England for over 100 years 7.30pm Abbots Leigh Village Hall Guests £5

WoEHG

KEY: AGWP Avon Gorge Wildlife Project; FUBBG Friends of University of Bristol Botanic Garden; WoEHG West of England Herb Group

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Galanthus elwesii

SPECIAL EVENTS TO LOOK FORWARD TO

SUMMER AT RIVERSIDE

As such a good time was had by all at last year’s Garden Party a more modest return visit is planned for July (date to be confirmed) Wander round the garden centre then enjoy tea and delicious cake.

FREE FOR MEMBERS VISITORS £5

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CHRISTMAS PARTY 2019

Very early notice! Last year’s party was a great success, especially the talk by

NICK BAILEY

who has already agreed to return this year on 28 November to talk about his brilliant book

‘365 days of Colour in your Garden’