September Meeting 2022

Autumn Plants were the subject of our recent talk for members and visitors of the Society.  This was given by Rosy Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants, multiple Chelsea gold medal winners.  Rosy started by telling us what herbaceous plants were good for autumn colour and also about the name changes of certain plants happening due to plant connections now being based at a cellular level

Rosy also brought along some lovely plants to support her talk and also to display autumn choices available still blooming well and likely to carry on doing so until hard frosts.  Plants such as Asters and Salvias were high on the list along with some spectacular tall grasses down to the smallest ground cover plants such as an ornamental Oregano.

This was a really interesting and useful talk as not only were members able to buy the plants discussed but were also given great advice about the soil and position they prefer and how and when to cut them down to keep then looking good during dormancy and improving shape and flowering when they start into growth again in spring.

It was clear members enjoyed the evening and Rosy had far fewer plants to take away than came with her!

80th Anniversary Tea

Felpham and Middleton Horticultural Society 80th Anniversary Tea

Our 80th Anniversary was celebrated with an afternoon tea at The Elmer Public House  on the 15th August.

The tables were attractively laid out and decorated with a vase of flowers and matching napkins arranged by the Committee with souvenir menu cards giving a short history of the Society.   

A glass of prosecco was served to members on arrival when our Chairman, Paula Puleston, welcomed 47 of our members to this momentous occasion.  Don Faircloth, Show Secretary, followed this with a toast to Her Majesty, the Queen, in honour of her Platinum Jubilee. 

After Grace said by Eileen Anderson, members tucked into an array of sandwiches, cream tea and cupcakes, tea/coffee.  The tables were groaning with the weight of food!     

After a top-up of prosecco, Ivy Harding gave a toast to the Society and hoped that it would still be here for its 90th celebrations though many of us would not!  Ivy also stressed the importance of members  supporting activities and more importantly volunteering to serve on the Committee to ensure that we would indeed be here in ten yeas time!

Our Chairman addressed members outlining why the Society was formed and how it had grown and diversified over the years.  The Chairman then introduced Mark Saunders, Head Gardener of Fittleworth House, who had been invited to join us for our celebrations as “a good friend of the Society over the years” and to give us a short talk.  Mark’s talk was based on climate change and concentrated on the plants and methods of horticulture which we may have to adapt and adopt to cope to maintain our gardens.

Mark brought some beautiful dahlias and interesting props to make his point. One in particular was a selection of his garden tools to press home the importance of keeping them clean and the cutting edges sharp not only to make the gardening jobs easier but also more importantly to avoid jagged edges leaving plants susceptible to fungus or rot.  As usual Mark’s talk was very entertaining and full of useful tips.

It was clear that a good afternoon was had by all as even after the eating and Mark’s talk were done, the chatter and laughter could still be heard.

Our attractively decorated anniversary cake made by our President, Ann Travers, and her family was intended to be served as part of the Tea but as The Elmer had laid on such an array of food, it was decided to give each member a piece to take home to eat later!!!  We could just not fit in anymore!

The only disappointment for the Committee was that this event, a momentous one indeed, was attended by only 47 of our 138 members, in particular as it had been subsidised to enable as many members as possible to attend.   Those that did attend had an afternoon to remember.

Flower & Produce Show 2022

Beautiful displays delighted members and visitors at this year’s Show.   Although entries were very much down due to the heatwave conditions and lack of rain, members and non-members still managed to fill St Mary’s Centre with an array of colourful exhibits. 

The dahlia classes in particular were magnificent with blooms ranging from the smallest pom-pom to the huge cactus variety.  The orchid exhibits were pristine with one entry from our new Chairman, Paula Puleston, winning Best Orchid and also Most Outstanding Horticultural Exhibit.   

The fruit and vegetable classes were represented with exhibits of runner beans, peppers,  tomatoes, carrots, onions, potatoes, apples and rhubarb.  The cookery section saw exhibits of various cakes, flans, flapjacks, jams and chutneys, all beautifully presented and mouth-wateringly  delicious. 

Floral Art entries depicted classes titled “Exotica”, “Fruity Autumn” and a petit exhibit “An Arrangement in a Shell”.   Unfortunately there were no entries in the Novice class. 

Handicraft exhibits presented a selection of quilts, hand-made jewellery, papercraft, paintings and more. 

After the long absence due to Covid restrictions, the Society had a successful day, with organisers commenting that the only disappointment was the lack of children’s exhibits which they hope is a one-off occurrence.

Trophy Winners

July Meeting 2022

Gardening for Wildlife

Steve Millam, who has worked in horticulture for more than 50 years and been instrumental in plant improvement, came to speak to the Felpham & Middleton Horticultural Society on Thursday, 28th July.   Steve gained his PhD at Wolverhampton University for work on the Rape Oilseed and was Head of Horticulture at Brinsbury College for some years, Plant Science Research Manager at the University of Edinburgh and Honorary Lecturer for Dundee University and Project Scientist for crop breeding in potatoes, fibre and oil crops and much more.   

Steve was impressed by the social atmosphere and pleased to see so many interested members for his talk on Gardening for Wildlife.  The importance of the estimated 15 million household gardens covering over 270,000 hectares – more than the entire nature reserves in this country was emphasized by Steve.  One problem however is access.  Steve likes hedges since they allow movement through and are useful for hibernation.  However, tunnels and gaps in walls and fences will help wildlife roam from one place to another particularly hedgehogs which have seriously declined since the 1970s.  To increase beneficial bugs we should keep places for them to live, even a brick with holes or a pile of logs or leaves will do.   A tidy garden is nice but leaving cutting down until spring and a small unmown area of grass will provide cover for large and small creatures to survive winter.  Most obviously we should keep hard landscaping down and avoid the use of chemicals.  A mulch 8 to 15 cm deep will help to maintain the balance of the millions of bacteria, fungal hyphae and microarthropods necessary for healthy soil and plants.

Planting for seasons such as winter flowering Mahonia or Viburnum Tinus, winter aconites, snowdrops and heathers will help those insects waking early from hibernation.   Primroses, cowslips, clover, spring bulbs and much more lead into the many choices of summer flowers which give a continual source of nectar for our insects.  Scented Jasmines, honeysuckle, sweetpeas etc., will guide our night feeding moths to a food source.  There is so much we can do as gardeners to improve bio-diversity all the while improving our own environment.

Outing to RHS Wisley

All the seats were spoken for on the Society’s coach trip to Wisley and on arrival members received their entry ticket and with it the promise of a £5 discount in the shop if £25 was spent there.  Judging by the extra bags that made it back onto the coach many of us took good advantage of it! 

It was an extremely hot day but we all got through it with many rest stops and lots of drinks, it was a weary but happy crowd at home time.

DOWN PLACE (NGS garden visit)

Eighteen members enjoyed a lovely and very hot afternoon at Down Place.  The house is situated high on the hill and there has been a home there since the1800’s which was later rebuilt and owned by Mr Blackwell of Crosse & Blackwell fame!  When Selina Thistleton-Smith and her husband took on the property it was somewhat run down and there had to be extensive renovations and the rebuild of part of it but it remains a most beautiful house with many original features. 

The view into the valley over the meadow where wild orchids, daisies and other wild flowers were in abundance was breathtaking.  The steps down from the delightful patio to the bottom of the field through flowering shrubs was a little hairy in places but there were plenty of handrails and we emerged into a large secluded oasis of mown grass used extensively by the family for entertainment.  The walk through the meadow gave us all the chance to look closely at the many varieties of wild orchid growing there.

The walk back-up the hill, past the sheep and their lambs and the many new trees the family have planted to the kitchen garden, was quite a long haul for some of us but the view from here was reminiscent of an Old Masters Landscape with a 180 degree magnificent vista across the valley and over to the hills.

Selina’s exceptional hospitality rounded the afternoon off nicely and we enjoyed cups of tea/coffee and some lovely lemon drizzle and fruit cake on the sunny walled patio before heading home again.  Well worth the visit!

June Meeting 2022

Big Ideas for Small Spaces

Martyn Cox’s professional gardening career spans 30 years and he has been a successful garden writer and journalist for the past 20 and the Felpham and Middleton Horticultural Society were lucky enough to engage him on Thursday 23rd June for his talk “Big Ideas for Small Spaces”. 

Martyn began by explaining the principles of making the smallest of spaces interesting as well as usable. His own first garden was an empty space just a few metres wide and long and taking his inspiration from visiting large gardens made it into a garden photographed for magazines and also shown on British and Japanese TV.

He explained the first principle is to create structure and this can be done with walls or low hedges, small trees or topiary and flower beds that roam into the garden rather than remaining on the edges and paths that lead around the garden.  Slides showed the difference to the smallest space that curved edges or a small change in level with a step or two can make or how it can be made to appear wider with sharper diamond shaped bedding and lawns.

Breaking the view to the end of the garden by introducing height with pergolas and trellis also allows for an interesting range of vertical planting such as ivies, clematis, climbing roses and many more that do not take up the valuable floor space and yet invites the visitor to pass through and see more.  Fun and imagination can also play a part and Martyn recalled a pot he once saw planted up with grass and a ‘Keep off the Grass’ sign.  With his eye also on ecology for the benefit of our decreasing pollinators, Martyn heartily encouraged the greening of roofs and walls which is taking hold across the world and to further increase food for little beasties.  Garden walls can be enlivened by planting up small cracks and gaps with sedums or small herbs such as thyme and what about taking up the odd patio slab and adding a few low growing plants or even making a statement with something taller or even a patch of wild flowers.

May Meeting 2022

At our latest meeting Andrew Gaunt from Chichester Gingers gave us a very enjoyable and informative talk on the subject of Cannas and Gingers. Andrew holds the National Collection of Hedychium (Gingers!) having started his collection in the late 90’s when he was introduced to ornamental gingers by a local grower.  Little did he know then that this small rhizome was going to lead to this plant collection.  Each year it grew a little more until he had to find a local glasshouse to expand into. Andrews’ plants have been featured on Gardener’s World and have also won Gold at Chelsea.

Flowering stems of Gingers can reach 3 to 5 foot high and give off a sweet perfume.  The flowers look like a rather large circular brush in lovely colours of yellow, peach and pink.  A new strain has been grown with red flowers.  The rhizomes can also be used as animal feed and have been found to have insecticide and medicinal qualities which have been utilised for natural deworming of captive gorillas!  The plants are best increased by division, as seeds can be hit and miss and long-winded, but going against the norm division should be done during the new growing period rather than when dormant.  Gingers are also greedy and like to be fed whilst in growth but can be cut down to ground level in winter.  They will grow in borders but because they like to be warm, pots are also suitable.  In winter pots need to have shelter and kept barely moist.

Bananas are also part of this family of plants.  They too like to be warm but can grow to over 8ft with large jungle leaves and in milder areas can produce a very big beautiful drooping dark-coloured flower that can even mature into small bananas in very good summers, but mostly they are used as statement plants because of their statuesque and tropical look.  They are not hardy and would probably prefer the greenhouse in winter but can also be kept outside as long as they are well wrapped up and insulated against frost.

Canna flowers have a similar look to gladioli but on steroids!  They grow from 3 to 4 foot high and come in reds yellows and every combination of these colours.  They have wonderful names like ‘Bonfire’ and ‘Evening Star’ and live up to those names.  Like Gingers, Cannas can be left in the ground all year in warmer parts of the country.  They may be stored in the greenhouse in colder climes – lift, dry out, cut off leaves and roots, place in moist but not wet compost – if too dry they will shrivel and die! Too wet and they rot!  In early spring look for signs of growth when they can be divided providing each piece of rhizome taken off has a shoot.  Seeds do not come true to type and need to be soaked before planting.  Cannas are so statuesque and bold they are often to be seen in summer displays in parks and gardens where they cannot be missed.

Outing to NGS garden in Plantation Rise

Thursday 12th May was a good day to visit an NGS garden.  The sun was shining with no hint of rain and so it was that 17 members arrived to visit the garden of Trixie and Nigel at 6 Plantation Rise which is nestled at the end of a small cul-de-sac near Worthing.

We walked down the front path past roses and clematis to the 70ft x 80ft plot to be greeted by a very unusual lawn contoured into a mini hillside back-dropped by large limestone rocks giving the impression of a ruined “temple” with a still-standing small goddess statue. 

To one side of the lawn was a very cosy seating area alongside a water butt that received water from the roof with an overflow piped into the pond and ingeniously disguised by Nigel to look like a large boiler.  Trixie directed us to what appeared to be a bush but in fact hid a walkway around the back of the garden and into the back of a Summerhouse complete with bell tower, another of Nigel’s realistic looking creations which was right alongside the pond!

Leaving the front of the Summerhouse back towards the house, the path led along the secluded pond which was a picture surrounded by mature shrubs and plants with a small gravel garden in front.  From here the path led up steps past the lawn and another sheltered and covered seating area to a small back area decorated with painted toadstools.

Back sitting in the covered area we had a great view of the group of nine silver birches including the owner’s favourite, the semi-pendula Tristus, in and around the garden and the very tall mature shrubs that rose up around the “temple” and framed the lawn.  It was a good place to stop for a welcome cup of tea and chocolate cake and was a lovely place to finish our interesting outing. 

April Meeting 2022

Members of the Felpham & Middleton Horticultural Society were treated to an excellent illustrated talk by Michael Joseph, Sussex Wildlife Trust on “Wildflower Meadows” at our monthly meeting.

Michael explained how the traditional way of making hay to feed livestock in winter, covered large parts of the countryside up to the 1950’s, the overwhelming majority of which have since disappeared being replaced by more intensive pasture where wildflowers just cannot grow.   In fact the UK has lost 97 percent of its wildflower meadows. 

Alarmed at the rapid and devastating decline in flower-rich meadows, Michael and his wife, jane, sowed their small paddock with native seed 30 years ago.  Michael shared his experience with us, not only of their half-acre meadow but of the many others they have helped to create, so that we can successfully do the same on our own small patch, relatively quickly, cheaply & easily. The aspects of growing and maintaining a wildflower meadow were explained including the pitfalls to be avoided.

Michael also explained the contribution of meadows to biodiversity, not only with their wildflowers and the huge number of invertebrates that live in them, but also the larger animals and birds supported by the food chain with the meadow as its base. 

Michael proved to be an inspirational speaker, sharing his knowledge and experience with us to hopefully help the wildlife too. Michael donated his fee to the Sussex Wildlife Trust.

Websites for wildflower seeds recommended by Michael:

Emorsgate Seeds   https://wildseed.co.uk/mixtures

Agrifactors  https://agrifactors.farm/home/wildflower/

Colin Reader  https://www.wildflowerlawnsandmeadows.com/about/