By Victoria Plum 
By Victoria Plum
I thought it must be 1 April when a lawncare advertising flyer came through my letterbox. I could have “a lawn that I love”, I could “wow my family and friends”, make “next door jealous” or be “the envy of the neighbourhood”, all for a certain amount of money.
It has to be said that my lawn, just a bit of grass really, does look more like the Himalayas, but would you spend money on expert treatment to make your lawn the envy of the neighbourhood? Not me.
When it finally stops raining and you can tidy up outside, please remember to rescue any seedlings, saplings or runners to pot up for the Reepham & District Gardening Club plant sale on Saturday 11 May, when they can be sold in Reepham Market Place from 8.30 am for club funds.
Hellebores have made a grand show this year, particularly near the Orangery at Felbrigg. Over the years I have bought some of the prettier ones, deep reds and pinks, and those with delicate spattered markings, but they seem to naturalise, set seed and the hellebores that dominate are the pale green and plain ones. They are all lovely, but I do like the special ones.
A friend had had the same disappointment, having been given half a dozen choice varieties, planted them carefully and the next year they were gone. Her answer was to plant some more, but this time in pots. I have tried this too and time will tell. I bought a lovely plant, Helleborus “Star of Passion” (pictured above) with yellow stamens that looks spectacular.
Did you know that at Woodgate Nursery, Aylsham, you can get 10% discount if you are a Reepham & District Gardening Club member? Don’t forget to take your card.
In the British Isles we only have three indigenous conifers: yew, Scots pine and juniper. This month’s gardening club talk was on plant hunters with Kathy Gray, and one of the hunters she mentioned was David Douglas, who collected many more conifers from the west coast of America and truly changed the look of our islands with these introductions.
We also learned about Joseph Banks who paid his own fare of £10,000 to join Lieutenant James Cook on the HMS Endeavour to sail around the world for three years – his own version of the “grand tour” which many young aristocrats amused themselves with.
Some plant hunters collected for the Royal Horticultural Society, founded in 1804, and some were funded by nurserymen who hoped to make money out of unusual specialities. One of these, John Veitch, started a famous nursery that is still trading, and has a centre in Exminster near Exeter where I once lived.
In South Africa, Francis Masson collected many species that we are used to seeing Strelitzia, protea, Echium, Zantedeschia, Trillium, Kniphofia, Agapanthus, gladioli, Streptocarpus and many more.
In the early 20th century Henry Morris Upcher of Sheringham Park obtained rhododendron seeds for his collection from another great collector, Ernest Henry Wilson, who was known as “Chinese” because he collected from China. Clematis armandii was brought in by him, a lovely plant, sadly not happy in my garden. I have killed three and have now given up on them.
Join us at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 16 April in Reepham Town Hall, Church Street, for a very quick AGM, and then Ellen Mary will encourage us to “Explore Gardens of the USA”. I wonder if Mr Biden and Mr Trump are keen gardeners?
Photo: Tina Sutton
Geoff Fisher