Newsletter October 2006
Cookham and Cookham Dean Horticultural Society
A talk by Richard Bailey
NEXT MEETING:
Wednesday 25th October 7.30pm
Cookham Dean Village Hall
“Herbs for House and Garden”
LETTER
FROM THE CHAIRMAN
The
Winter season got off to a good start at the last meeting in September with a
talk on “Wild Flowers in Crete”, Victor Scott certainly knew his stuff about
Crete, having been there so many times.
He gave a potted history of the island, plus a host of information on
the best sites on the island to visit in order to see the incredibly wide range
of wild flowers.
Chris
Sibbald, our new Seeds person in the Society, will be at the next meeting and
will have seed catalogues from Suttons and Marshalls. A 10% discount is offered from both these companies so do take
advantage of this if you want to.
Thank you
Chris for taking on this job. Thank you also Suzi Shellabear for the
photographs of our recent visit to the Mill at Medmenham.
We will
also be selling the bulbs for the Spring Show in March at the next meeting, if
you can’t make the meeting but would like to participate please call me and I
will keep the bulbs for you.
Brian
01628 484821
Copy
deadline for November’s issue is 6th November. Apologies to those of
you who do not get this by email as the photos will be in black and white! Gill,
01628 483092
gilltownend@aol.com
If recent garden visits have inspired
you to greater things in the garden, try to join some of Brian Davis’s
‘Walking and Talking Plants’ days or his workshops. Brian came to talk to
the Society last season and is very knowledgeable. There are visits to
Westonbirt Arboretum, Hillier Arboretum and Savill Garden planned. Pruning
workshops, garden design and basic skills courses are all very reasonably
priced with hands on experience. See www.gardeningschool.co.uk or
ring Brian on 01635 860500 Left:
planting against the house at The Mill
Before we know it tickets for next summer’s
Chelsea Flower Show will be on sale. For those members who have not been to
Chelsea here is an account of what to expect from Sandy Cripps…
CHELSEA
FLOWER SHOW
Following torrential rain and strong winds
in the morning, Barbara Broom & I set out from Cookham Dean @ 2.30pm on
Wednesday May 24th expecting
the worst! I am delighted to report that the good points of the day far
outweighed any bad, providing a thoroughly enjoyable inspirational day.
Bad Points
Rather confusing ground plan in the programme
Unnecessary queue at the toilets – poor
organisation, leaving many empty whilst queues for others.
Deep crowds round all the exhibition gardens on
arrival.
Very limited seating available in the Cafeteria
@ tea time. Tables & chairs so close together, almost impossible to squeeze
through with laden trays.
Now for the good points which far
outweighed the bad!
Good Points
Choice of three admission times. –1) All day. 2)
3.30pm-8pm 3) 5pm-8pm. (3.30pm-8pm suited us perfectly!)
Excellent drive from Cookham Dean to Chelsea ,
well organized parking in Battersea Park and an efficient bus service from the
Park to the gates of Chelsea Hospital.
Wonderful selection of exhibition gardens ( impossible to get near on arrival) but a joy to view in comfort, once the
masses had departed! By 6.45pm – delighted to find a very suitable 1 course
supper @ ‘The Bistro’ attached to the
champagne bar. (A most welcomed rest in preparation for the last half hour!)
At 7.30pm the main marquee was a pure joy! Bliss
to wander at leisure, viewing the most amazing displays of pure perfection. The
smells and colours were wonderful!
We were SO lucky to have dry weather until
stopping for supper, followed by the protection of the main marquee.
At 8pm the bus to Battersea Park was waiting at
the gate.After a careful drive home in torrential rain and floods, we both
realised how very lucky we had been to squeeze in such a thoroughly enjoyable
‘dry’ afternoon at Chelsea.
I certainly look forward to a repeat visit next
year.
Best Buys
It is some time
since I reported on Gardening Which? Best Buy trials so here is a selection
from the past few issues.
Tree Pruners
There are three best
buys:
Wilkinson Sword
Telescopic Universal Cutter £80 and cutter saw £13
Wilkinson Sword
Tree Cutter Classic £40 (including detachable saw)
Wolf-Garten
Telescopic handle £35, Tree Lopper £50 and Pruning Saw £27
The latter is part
of the multi change range which I have found very well made and versatile.
Wheelbarrows
All the best buys have
pneumatic tyres, a good sized tray and a tipping bar. There are four products
which met the criteria of comfort, ease of loading, balance and ease of
movement.
Fort Weekender
£54 and Fort Rancher £80 Fort Cosmo £54
(Tel 01789 400211 for stockists)
B&Q Sovereign £33 (the lightest and
narrowest barrow)
Unfortunately, the
other best buy, the Haemmerlin Landscaper £60, has been discontinued !!
Hedgetrimmers
This trial was
published in August and there were three best buys in the mains electric
category;
Bosch AHS48-16 £50 the cheapest in the trial and very
light. Good performance for conifer hedging
Bosch AHS 6000
PRO-T £110 A bigger and heavier machine with a longer
blade
Gardena EHT 480 vario £100
Again, a short bladed machine but with
good performace in the tests and with an adjustable rear handle
Garden marker pens
The Edding 140s at
£1.05p and the Edding8404 at £1.90.
Stabilo Write 4 all 156/46 at £1.29 is nice to use but prone to fading.
Late summer planting at The Mill (by Suzi)
Grasses are at their best now and this picture
was captured by Caroline Foster at Knoll Gardens in Dorset .
Over 5000 plant
species can be found at Knoll, including many fine trees. The four acre garden
is now a showcase for all the wonderful plants at the Nursery and provides the
ideal opportunity to discover at first hand how they can be used to create a
long season of interest with a minimal amount of work.
Full details of
visiting times and ordering details for grasses and other plants at www.knollgardens.co.uk