East Anglian Garden Group Newsletter 105 December 2012

http://eastangliangardengroup.onesuffolk.net

2013 LECTURE PROGRAMME

Saturday 2nd February 2.30 pm Hitcham

Ian Christie on Spring Treasures Ian and his wife Ann run Christies Alpine Nursery near Kirriemuir on Tayside. He has 35 years experience as a specialist grower with acclaimed collections of Galanthus, Trilliums, Meconopsis, Lilies, Nomocharis and Paris. Recently he was involved in the record breaking sale of a yellow snowdrop. www.ianchristiealpines.com/

Saturday 2nd March 2.30 pm Hitcham

Richard Ford on Hostas: Why, where and how? A botanist and plant pathologist by training, Richard and his wife Mary set up Park Green Nurseries in 1983, soon specialising in Hostas. They have gained 180 Gold Medals. A frequent lecturer, he has appeared on TV and has written 'Hostas an Essential Guide'. www.parkgreen.co.uk

Saturday 6th April 2.30 pm Hitcham

Val Bourne on Colour in the Garden, season by season Award-winning and well known for her writing in The Telegraph and elsewhere, photographer, lecturer and author of 'The Natural Gardener' 'The Winter Garden', 'Colour in The Garden' and more recently ,The Ten-Minute Garden Diaries, Val has been gardening naturally for thirty years, currently in the Cotswolds. www.valbourne.co.uk

Saturday October 5th 2.30 pm Hitcham

Bob Brown on 60 years of Gardening Owner of the specialist nursery Cotswold Garden Flowers, at Badsey near Evesham, and Just Must Perennials, Bob Brown is renowned as a plantsman, speaker and garden writer and well known for his strong opinions. www.cgf.net

After each lecture there will be tea and cake and an opportunity

to chat and to find something interesting on fabulous Plant Stall (all contributions gratefully received)

2013 Activities Programme January - Saturday 5th - Car visit Anglesey Abbey, Quy Road, Lode, CB25 9EJ The traditional post Christmas meet-for-a-walk in the winter garden and a chat over tea. February - Saturday 16th - Car visit Chippenham Park, Ely, CB7 5PT Open day to see the massed naturalised snowdrops in the lakeside and woodland gardens, as well as aconites, dogwoods and other plants of

seasonal interest. April - Saturday 27th - Coach visit to Two Essex Gardens Wickham Place Farm, Wickham Bishops 14 acre Wickham Place

Farm with walled garden, and magnificent wisterias.

Woodpeckers, Mangapp Chase, Burnham-on-Crouch. A 1.5 acre garden for all seasons, tulips, borders and kitchen garden. May - Monday 6th Bank Holiday morning The Spring Plant Fair on The Market Hill Sudbury. Grow something interesting for the EAGG Stall and/or fill your boot at this popular early plant fair. June - Thursday 20th - Coach visit NT Mottisfont Abbey, Romsey, Hants. For the national collection of old-fashioned roses in the walled garden, at this interesting house, gallery and estate by the River Test.

July - Saturday 20th - Coach visit Beeches Nursery, a chance to buy at this specialist nursery.

Kathy Brown's Garden, The Manor House, Stevington, Beds For the late flowering Clematis and 4.5 acre garden, not forgetting one of Kathy's famous afternoon teas. August - Social Event Details TBA September - Saturday 21st - Car visit Rosedale, 40 Colchester Road, Bures, Suffolk, CO8 5AE Colin and Ruth Lorking's well known plantsman's garden opens for NGS

Chairman's Report.

We were all so sad to see Heather standing down as Chairman at the November A.G.M. after many years of organising and leading the group so well that we needed cheering up. Maureen Thompson had a treat prepared for us though. Her talk on her creation of her magnificent garden at Lavenham was beautifully presented and illustrated with wonderful photographs. We all came away inspired. Maureen retired as President in November and we thank her for fulfilling her role so well. We are so glad that she is joining us on the committee. Margaret Thorpe is taking over as President and we feel very fortunate to have her.

Michael Hawkins and Jim Marshall retired from the committee and will be much missed. We are delighted that Barbara Segall and Jackie Rocker have

joined us and look forward to going into 2013 with an enthusiastic and capable team. As you will see we have a wonderful programme of talks and visits for you this year. Members were so appalled at the idea of not having the annual winter

visit to Anglesey Abbey Gardens that we have re-instated it. So put the date, 5th January in your diaries. We have another winter treat planned for 16th February, with a visit to Chippenham Park to see their carpets of early bulbs.

In May there is no garden visit because we will be far too busy with our plant sale in Sudbury. We are going to be part of the May Bank Holiday Plant Sale in the market place. We hope you will all support us by providing unusual plants and then please come along on the big day.

Please use our website to see what is going on and send us articles and photos to show us what is happening in your gardens.

I hope you will all enjoy the forthcoming programme and I wish you a very

Happy New Gardening Year. May the sun shine on your garden and the rain fall upon it, (but only at night.)

Roses to rave about. Maureen Thompson

I moved to Lavenham four years ago and had to start a new garden from scratch. JCB's, large mature plants and industrial quantities of compost and manure, have

helped to transform it in to my garden paradise. In my talk at the AGM in November 2012 I mentioned many of the plants that I have enjoyed growing, in particular, the climbing roses. Much as I love the old varieties of rose there is no doubt that the modern disease-free repeat

flowering climbers are very rewarding, as they have no black spot

or mildew. One of my favourites is Rosa 'Parade', with its wonderfully scented

bright cerise blooms. Another is 'Aloha' with an almost hybrid tea

shape in bud but opening to sumptuous fragrant pink blooms.

Other favourites, new and old, include 'Purple Sky Liner', 'New Dawn'

'Blush Noisette' and 'Penny Lane',

At the end of my Lavender Walk I have a statue of the Goddess of Plenty. Around her is an arch on which I grow 'Crème de la Crème', an enchanting small double

rose with clusters of white flowers that turn pale yellow, flowering continuously until November. In the

lavender beds I grow mostly shrub roses including 'Graham Thomas', 'Jacqueline du Pre', 'Little White Pet', 'The

Pilgrim' and the robust climber, 'The Alchemist'. Yes - I know it is not repeat

flowering but it is too beautiful to leave out. One rose I wish I had never planted is

'Félicité Perpétue' which is a real thug and only suitable for large gardens. It

throws out long branches everywhere (I swear it grows six

inches in a night). Simon White of Peter Beales tells me it ought to be pruned three

times a year, which is two times too many as far as I am concerned.

Two other shrub roses I must mention. The first is 'St Ethelburga'. It was the only rose here when I moved to this house. A stunning plant with big fragrant pink blooms and red stems, it is continually in flower. It is a strong

grower and I always have a bloom or two until November. The other shrub rose is 'Mme Isaac Perriere' which has glorious deep mauve- pink blooms that

offer a perfume to swoon over.

EAGG outing to Kent - 12th July 2012

Restoration House and Godinton

The Rev. Canon Christopher Sansbury. (Photos Maggie Thorpe)

Our outing began with what at the time was an almost inconceivable sight

- blue skies and fine weather. Most of us being cautious travellers had brought some kind of wet weather kit, but Heather would have none of it. She called us pessimists and assured us it was going to be fine - which it was. So on July 12th we crossed the Thames to visit two houses in Kent.

Restoration House in Rochester is so called because Charles ll stayed

there on his way from Dover to London to claim the throne; at the time he couldn't be sure that everyone would accept him. That's why the State Bedroom had a number of escape routes. We were shown a corner with three doors one above the other and hidden behind a heavy cupboard was a chute down to ground level.

Among the rooms were the Great Chamber (refitted by Sir Francis Cheke to show his importance as an

MP and considered to be the original of Miss Havisham's room in Great Expectations), the King's Stair (actually dating from 1680 and so not

available to Charles ll twenty years earlier), and the Eccentric Room, called that because it contains such a variety of styles.

The Great Hall had among

other things a dole cupboard where leftover food could be

kept for any passing poor and homeless people - hence the expression being on the dole. It

is a tribute to the talents of the present owners that none of

the furniture is later than the 17th century, yet none of it was

in the house when the present owners moved in 1994.

A contrast to this is the house's collection of Gainsboroughs, including three portraits and eight landscapes - all of which made us from the hinterland of Sudbury feel very much at home.

Godinton House near Ashford is surrounded by beautiful parkland. It was occupied by the Toke family from 1474 to 1896 and its outward appearance owes a great deal to Dutch influences. It has some very sumptuous carpets and (like Restoration House) a very fine porcelain collection. In the midst of this there is a signed copy of a photograph

of Margaret Thatcher who stayed there after shaking hands with President

Mitterrand through the gap in the tunnel when the Channel Tunnel was opened; she clearly enjoyed her stay at Godinton very much indeed.

One painting I found memorable was R. B. Martineau's 'Last Day in the Old

House' which shows a spendthrift squire looking remarkably cheerful

despite being evicted - quite a contrast to the continuity maintained by the Tokes. During the Twentieth Century

there were many changes of name because the house often passed

through the female line. When the last owner died without

an heir he left the house to trustees who manage it independently of bodies like the National Trust and English Heritage; clearly they do the job extremely well. I wouldn't dare make any detailed comments on either garden except that

both are very beautifully maintained and a credit to those who work in them. And finally - a very big Thank You to Heather Massey for the very many

interesting and informative outings she has organised so splendidly over the years.

Well loved gardening books. Liz Wells Glossy gardening books show you winter scenes of seed heads and

grasses tastefully rimed in hoar frost. How often does that happen in Suffolk? So in January when the winds howl and the ground is frozen solid, once you've counted your snowdrops, it's time to throw another log on the fire and read about gardening. There are so many books published now, many of them with glossy pictures and pedestrian text. In this dumbed-down age it seems that many books are no longer meant to be read, merely flicked through like magazines; they are coffee table books. Some of them just give you a list of plants with descriptions.

There is also a multitude of how-to books out there, and monographs of particular species, but the books I like to curl up with are discursive books. I like books that are intelligently written with a happy combination of a good literary style, wit and a vast knowledge. I like them to be quirky and conversational. The inimitable Christopher Lloyd is always readable, and fits the bill perfectly; he is knowledgeable and opinionated and always fun to read, although I do think he must have been colour- blind. His 'The Well-Tempered Garden' 1970 is a classic, but all his books are worth reading.

Robin Lane Fox is an Oxford don and a man of great scholarship who writes very well. His best two books are 'Better gardening' 1982 and 'Variations of a Garden'. 1986.

Miriam Ostler is not so knowledgeable but her book 'A Gentle Plea for Chaos' 1988 is a lyrical account of developing a garden.

If you love roses then Peter Beales's book 'Visions of Roses' 1996' is the one for you. It takes you on a tour of some of the great rose gardens of Europe and America and gives you great ideas for how to grow them. It has wonderful photographs by Vivian Russell.

Peter Smithers was a friend of Ian Fleming and it has been suggested he was the model for James Bond. After a distinguished diplomatic career he created a famous garden at Vico Morcote in Switzerland. He bred many plants including tree peonies, magnolias and nerines. He won the Veitch Gold Memorial medal for contributions to horticulture. His book 'Adventures of a Gardener' 1995 is illustrated with his own wonderful photos and it is fascinating.

My favourite gardening books though were written in the early years of the twentieth century. I love the nostalgia of garden artists such as Earnest Arthur Rowe, Helen Allingham and Alfred Parsons. It was a time of change in gardening fashion. The Victorians with their love of primary colours, bedding out, and carpet bedding were shaken up by the new ideas of William Robinson of Gravetye Manor, East Grinstead, in his innovatory book 'The Wild Garden' 1870. It marked the start of the craze for cottage-gardening.

The books of the incredibly influential Gertrude Jekyll, who was Robinson's friend, are all still relevant today and are back in print. My favourite is 'Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden' first published in 1908. She was an artist who encouraged people to design their gardens so as to make pictures using harmonious colour, shape and form. For a selection of her writing, 'A Gardener's Testament' is a posthumous selection of her work published in 1937.

The name of Reginald Farrer, famous as an explorer and plant collector, is synonymous with rock gardening. He travelled extensively in remote places of the world and like all his generation had no scruples about conservation. He died on one of his gardening trips in Burma at the age of forty. His book 'My Rock Garden' 1907 is a delight; informative, eccentric and beautifully written. There is also an excellent biography about him 'A Rage for Rock Gardening' 2004 by Nicola Shulman.

Farrer's friend, the influential E.A. Bowles, who accompanied him on plant trips in Europe wrote a wonderful description of his garden, Myddleton House at Enfield in the three books 'My Garden in Spring' 1914, 'My Garden in Summer' 1914 and My Garden in Autumn and Winter' 1915. They are informative and amusing. He was a plantsman rather than an artist. In response to the Gertrude Jekyll school of gardening he said that he objected to plants as 'artistic furniture' used like 'ribbons or embroidery silk'. Gardeners from all over the country gravitated to Myddleton House and countless plants bear his name. Amongst my favourites are the lovely little snowdrop Galanthus plicatus 'Augustus', the perennial wallflower, Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' and the charming, very early, little Crocus chrysanthus 'E.A. Bowles'. He was a confirmed bachelor and his custom of entertaining little boys in the garden at weekends seems rather alarming from today's perspective. Still, 'autres temps, autres moeurs'.

A gardening mentor of Bowles was Canon Hestercombe who wrote a very influential book; 'In a Gloucestershire Garden' 1895 about his home at the Vicarage, Bitton, near Bristol. He had the easy life of a country parson and gained a reputation as an excellent plantsman. He was a great collector and botanist rather than an artist and his garden was full of rarities. He constantly exchanged plants with Kew and was very generous with his treasures. He had 10 children so apparently gardening wasn't his only hobby.

Ellen Willmott was a friend and admirer of Canon Hestercombe. . Her friendship with him lasted which was amazing as she had an endless capacity to offend and take offence. She only produced two books, one of photographs, and the other book 'The genus Rosa' which is ponderous and heavy going. But it is worth reading the biography about her by Audrey Le Lievre: 'Miss Willmott of Warley Place: Her Life and Her Gardens' 1980, if only to be amazed at the scale of her gardening. She was an heiress but managed to spend her vast fortune on gardening. As well as Warley Place, Essex, which was huge, she owned homes in France and Italy. She had 104 gardeners and her extravagance and obsession with plants were on a jaw-dropping scale.

I'll finish with the wonderful Margery Fish from East Lambrook Manor in Somerset. Her book 'We Made a Garden' 1956 is a classic. She gardened with her husband, the dreadful Walter, who was a tyrant and thought he knew better than her about all things horticultural, with his manicured lawn, neat rows of dahlias and manure fetish. Apparently he had a gardener who lavished love and care on his chrysanthemums, stroking their petals and neglecting the other plants in their favour. Walter taught him a lesson by cutting off their heads. When Walter died, Margery really came into her own as a gardener. All her books are the sort you go back to time and again. She was accused of creating 'floral chaos' but her style of 'cram them in' cottage gardening is one that appeals to me; an example of cottage gardening par excellence.

Things to do Snowdrop Events Feb 2 a.m. Harveys,Garden Plants Thurston Great Green Feb 3 Blacksmith Cottage Nursery, Dickleburgh.

Open Gardens

Feb 19 Apr 8 May 19 Jun 10

By appt

Plant Fairs

Mar 17 Apr 7

Gable House, Halesworth Road, Redisham. NR34 8NE Rosemary (N Finch), Rectory Hill, East Bergholt. CO76TH Church Farm (C Erskine), Tunstall Rd, Iken. IP12 2ER Smallwood Farm House (W Finn), Bradfield St George,

IP30 0AJ Byndes Cottage (McLennan), Pebmarsh. CO9 2LZ

Hellebore Day, Blacksmiths Cottage Nursery, Dickleburgh. Norfolk Plant Heritage Spring Gala. East Tuddenham Jubilee Hall, NR20 3LR

Apr 20/21 Essex Plant Heritage Plant Fair RHS Hyde Hall, Rettendon, Chelmsford, CM3 8AT

Apr 28

May 26

Shows Feb 19/20 Mar 2 Mar 15/17

Mar 26/27 Apr 12/13 May 4

May 9/12 May 21/25

Primula Festival, Blacksmith Cottage Nursery, Dickleburgh.

Suffolk Plant Heritage Spring Plant Fair Helmingham Hall, Helmingham, Suffolk IP14 6EF

RHS London Plant and Design Show Alpine Garden Society, Early Spring Show , Harlow

Edible Garden Show, Stoneleigh Park, Warks RHS Great London Plant Fair RHS Orchid and Botanical Art Alpine Garden Society East Anglia Show, Wymondham

Malvern Spring RHS Chelsea Flower Show

NEW — BOOK STALL

at Hitcham Meetings A table sale for pre-loved gardening books will be available at the next Hitcham Meeting Feb 2nd. Please bring along any gardening books you no longer want. Please price up books (in pencil on inside front cover). Sales can be made on a 50:50 basis or proceeds donated to the group. Unsold books must be taken back or donated