• My gardening glass is always half full

    Saturday, January 18, 2025 - 15:57

    By Victoria Plum

    I have a National Garden Gift Voucher in my purse. With it I can spend £5 in any participating garden centre. I won this at the Reepham & District Gardening Club summer show for one entry. Just think how much I would have to spend if I had made more effort and won two, three or four classes, or even more!

    My gardening apprentice, Bruno the standard poodle, has wreaked havoc with my rhubarb, irises and tree peony. I think I can rescue them soon when the ground dries out enough to put the soil back. Perhaps he has unearthed seeds of rare things which might flourish in the future! I am a half-glass-full sort of person.

     

    Bruno in front of newly erected garden defences. Photo: Tina Sutton

     

    I have sent the bones he has found off to Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse to be preserved alongside those of the West Runton Mammoth. (Have you noticed the small mammoth roundel on the Felthorpe village sign? It’s there because the good folk of Felthorpe reckon the mammoth probably passed through the village on its way to the coast.)

    I have paid £10 to join the Norfolk Gardens Trust, following the talk at the gardening club from their representative last year, and via it I enjoyed an exceptionally interesting Zoom talk on botanical illustration, a particular interest of mine, and also in person at Bawdeswell Village Hall a fascinating talk about the restoration of artist-plantsman Cedric Morris’s garden at Benton End in Suffolk − at this event there were home-made chocolate brownies that were even better than mine.

    Bring your keen gardening friends to the next gardening club meeting at Reepham Town Hall, Church Street, Reepham at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 18 February, when Sarah Hammond will tell us about English peonies.

    I have never grown peonies at all apart from the one I mentioned above. That one came as a surprise bonus in a pot I bought from a Norwich garden visit with an exotic and short-lived salvia in. I recognised the leaves when they came through after the salvia died and hoped it would be one of those gorgeous, exotic, red or luscious pink tree peonies. It wasn’t; it was the common yellow one, but pretty leaves anyway.

    Remember to pot up any surplus plants you find when tidying your garden for the plant sale in May. I will be buying them to fill the gaps Bruno has created in my garden.

    Good gardening in 2025!

  • Blickling ‘with a twist’

    Monday, December 16, 2024 - 17:13

    By Victoria Plum

    We had no idea what to expect at this month’s Reepham & District Gardening Club meeting – the talk was to be Blickling “with a twist”.

    The town hall was full with gardening club members, full of expectation at the Christmas party, then one of the servants bustled in, in her uniform and apron, introduced herself as Kath, sometime scullery maid and kitchen maid, to give us the secrets of life below stairs. A proper Norfolk gal, she took on the persona of one of the real servants from the 1930s.

    The hard life up and down stairs, constantly carrying and washing (and washing up), and the mysterious ways of the upper classes, and the curious foreign things, with unpronounceable names, that they were given to eat.

    She gave us a vibrant and lively idea of the venue we have all seen but never seen “working and lived in”, as she described working for “Cook” and of course Lord Lothian, who even appeared himself during the evening.

    We then helped ourselves to the buffet (or “buffet”, pronouncing every letter of the word as Kath did) and punch, and sat down to see some intimate photos of past times at Blickling and to hear more behind-the-scenes stories about the place.

    The pretty lit-up pyramidal Christmas trees at the front of Blickling Hall were actually metal plant supports used during the growing season in the gardens. How sensible – no waste caused by destroying conifers and then having to mulch them after the event.

    (I nearly forgot to mention the raffle, full of tension and excitement as ever, but sadly no quiz.)

     

    Blickling Hall by Sarah Wilkins

     

    There is no meeting in January, so time to put your feet up, but remember Tuesday 18 February at 7.30 pm in the town hall, when Sarah Hammond will advise on growing and caring for English peonies.

    Many excellent speakers are lined up for next year; please join us if you love gardening.

  • Positive news for dark and dreary days

    Sunday, November 24, 2024 - 14:03

    By Victoria Plum

    An enthusiastic audience at November’s meeting of the Reepham & District Gardening Club enjoyed Juliet Collier’s talk on the National Garden Scheme in Norfolk, instigator of what we know as the “Yellow Book”. She mentioned some of the best gardens to see and also said where the monies raised (always significant) went, such as nursing and medical charities and various gardening and historical endeavours.

    I used to pick up this booklet in the spring (always available in garden centres, libraries, etc.) with good intentions but few visits. Last year I made an extra effort to visit and feel privileged to have seen some splendid gardens and how generous of the owners to share their hobby horses with us.

    Gardening club members will gather at Reepham Town Hall, Church Street, Reepham, on Tuesday 10 December at 7 pm for the Christmas party. There will be an exciting entertainment, with a twist about Blickling Hall.

    If you want some positive news on these dark, dismal and dreary days just look at Eves Hill Veg Co’s November newsletter. It is full of sunshine and constructive enthusiasm and details the marvellous opportunities for youngsters and those not so young to learn about growing and food production. The productivity of small pieces of land is astonishing. In my mind I contrast this with the constantly complaining farmers with their subsidised monocultures.

    I know that “local” is becoming an overused cliché, but Norwich, like every city, used to be surrounded by smallholdings that fed the city with local produce. These smallholdings have all gone because the thirst for building land is so financially enticing.

    Of course, we cannot, and do not want, to turn the clock back, but we should do what we can to support these hardworking endeavours and help them thrive and enjoy fresh, carefully produced vegetables on our tables.

    And for your Christmas stocking I recommend Derek Gow’s diverting and fascinating book Birds, Beasts and Bedlam. He describes his career, working with various animal parks and breeding programmes, with humour and humanity, and then admits that having made many mistakes he is now following his instinct.

    He has turned his farm over to a variety of breeding projects to enable the reintroduction of British creatures, like the water vole, which have had a hard time due to our land management practices. He puts into focus the zoos we grew up with: a token tiger pacing back and forth in a concrete enclosure with a token log to make it feel at home.

    There can be change, thank goodness.

  • The inside story on How Hill

    Thursday, October 17, 2024 - 17:59

    By Victoria Plum

    I enjoyed Simon Partridge’s lively and amusing chat about How Hill at this month’s meeting of Reepham & District Gardening Club. The house stands a magnificent 54 feet above sea level!

    I visit the grounds and secret garden regularly and the inside story is always interesting. Lockdown allowed this forward-looking organisation to update tired facilities so that smart, en suite accommodation is now on offer when you visit for a field course or activity week.

    Sadly, the wild milk parsley, crucial for the swallowtail butterfly that always makes such a grand show at How Hill, has suffered from a fungal disease this difficult, wet year.

    But the caterpillars that feed on it have now turned their attention to hemlock (though it didn’t do Socrates any good), which is much more available, so perhaps this versatility will secure a brighter future for these iconic, Broadland butterflies.

    Deer problem

    Troubled with muntjac in your garden? Hang up Imperial Leather soap and Mr Partridge guarantees that it will deter them.

    Personally, I am only troubled by a standard poodle puppy in my garden, keen on excavating. I think it will take more than a bar of soap to stop him.

    Repotting succulents

    I have been bringing my succulents in for the winter, which involves a bit of tidying and repotting.

    Sansevieria is one of my favourites and produces fantastic flowers when root bound. However, there are limits, and as you can see from the photo below, this plant certainly needs repotting.

    Photos: Tina Sutton

    In fact there are three different sansevierias growing here together. They seem to do well together. One was tiny and didn’t grow at all for about four years until I planted it close to its relative.

    Another was a “rescue” from a supermarket where plants seem to be mass produced and sold as expendable interior decor items. Now they have a little more growing space for a year or three.

    Next meeting

    The gardening club’s next meeting will feature Juliet Collier’s talk on the National Garden Scheme in Norfolk on Tuesday 19 November, at 7.30 pm in Reepham Town Hall, Church Street, Reepham.

    All welcome, bring your friends and bring your spare plants for the annual “bag sale”. Just put your surplus plants in a carrier bag so that they can find a new home in someone else’s garden: £1 per bag.

  • A fascinating evening with a wildlife presenter, conservationist, countryside ranger, naturalist and author

    Friday, September 20, 2024 - 20:23

    By Victoria Plum

    On Tuesday evening, Reepham Town Hall was full and extra chairs had to be got for September’s Reepham & District Gardening Club meeting. The buildup was worthwhile because Ajay Tegala proved to be a capable, charming and professional speaker.

    Having driven from Welney he was full of enthusiasm and explained how his love for, and interest in, active conservation had been inspired by childhood events. He quickly won over the audience who sat enraptured; Ajay had been enchanted by wildlife and is keen to pass his enthusiasm on to others, particularly children.

    Some of his work has to do with counting and monitoring bird numbers: how do you know how well they are doing this year if you don’t know how many were there last year, and the year before?

    And how do you monitor 4,000 Sandwich terns? You need to count endless, random eggs camouflaged amongst countless pebbles on a huge beach. And how do you check which ones you have counted? Who would think the answer would be pasta?

    Count out, for instance, 1,000 pieces of penne pasta into a bag, drop one piece by every egg and when you have done the entire area and you have two bits of penne left you know that you have counted 998 eggs or “nests”. You can easily check which eggs have been counted because there will be a bit of pasta, which is non-polluting, by each one.

    I was interested to see that Konik ponies, and a breeding herd too, are used at Wicken Fen to keep scrub growth at bay and naturally spread seeds via their dung and hairy coats.

    Wicken Fen is being expanded by flooding areas that had previously been drained for farming, and these small Polish horses cope better with wetland conditions than our native, ponies which are mostly from higher, drier areas.

    It was altogether a fascinating evening.

    Earlier, we drove up a perfectly ordinary road towards Boundary junction, Norwich, then into the perfectly ordinary Waldemar Avenue, passing the perfectly ordinary grass and bordered gardens and, having parked, were welcomed into the extraordinary garden of Sonja Gaffer.

    She was inspired by the late Will Giles’ fabulous south-facing garden at Thorpe (he gave a talk to the gardening club some years ago). He grew banana plants and many exotic and exciting plants, and she followed suit with a whole exotic microcosm in what had been an ordinary suburban garden.

    In 20 years, she has filled, jam-packed I should say, a relatively small space with more plants than you can imagine.

    She told us the history of her ideas, described how huge tender trees are carted up into the house loft, others into shelter against the cold winter.

    Then there was time for tea and cake and we picked Sonja’s brains about hardiness and names of the exotica and all the stuff gardeners are fascinated with.

    We arranged this visit at the last minute; if you would like to be alerted to any exciting trips suggested by members please ensure the gardening club committee has your email address.

    Above: Exotic blooms at Waldemar Avenue, Norwich. Photo: Eileen Lerpiniere. Below: Reepham & District Gardening Club members at Waldemar Avenue, Norwich. Photo: Tina Sutton

    Join us for the next meeting at Reepham Town Hall to hear Simon Partridge update us on How Hill, Ludham, on Tuesday 15 October at 7.30 pm.

    And keep an eye open for any plants to bring to the bag sale in November: this is a good chance to pick up something interesting and pass your excess plants on to someone else.

    If you are not a member of the gardening club do come along as a guest, everyone is welcome.

  • Fierce competition at summer show

    Saturday, August 24, 2024 - 17:22

    By Victoria Plum

    The well-attended Summer Show and Social Evening of the Reepham & District Gardening Club was fun as usual, and the quality of entries high, particularly considering the difficult conditions of this year’s weather.

    There was fierce competition over the tomatoes, but no violence this year, thank goodness.

    Prizes were won (judging is democratic as we all mark our favoured “best” in each class and then the committee adds up the score) and we all enjoyed the evening.

    The quiz was closely contested and a tie-breaker necessary. Who knew that the percentage of water on the world’s surface was 71%?

    Photos: Karen Brockman

    Trip to Booton Hall

    The wonder of email is that we can all be contacted easily and quickly when an interesting opportunity arises.

    So when a local homeowner contacted me initially because he was in search of another gardener (I don’t really know why he needed help because the gardens proved to be immaculate) and threw in the offer of a look round his gardens we sent an email around to members and a trip to Booton Hall was quickly planned.

    Piers Willis, the owner, gave us a delightful guided and explanatory tour of his extensive grounds, ending in the sheltered walled garden where we sat in the sun and enjoyed a cooling drink while admiring the view.

    What a privilege, not just to be welcomed into that personal and creative space that is a garden, but to have the owner explain his reasoning and plans.

    Some members of Reepham & District Gardening Club at Booton Hall. Photo: Tina Sutton

    Fiddian’s Folly

    The lanes were busier than usual around North Barningham for the National Garden Scheme opening of Fiddian’s Folly. What a superb garden: no herbaceous beds but a place to explore and enjoy the eccentric creations of the owners Dick and Debbie Fiddian.

    Brick and stone and “ancient ephemera” structures, incorporating interesting, changing levels, have been created, a 40-year project, is in what was a quarry. There was even a “chapel” with plainsong playing to add another layer of atmosphere. The owner will give personal tours to gardening clubs (now there’s an opportunity!).

    Next meeting

    Please note in your diary the next garden club meeting at 7.30 pm in Reepham Town Hall, Church Stret, on Tuesday 17 September. We will be lucky enough to see Ajay Tegla, well-known TV wildlife presenter sharing his experiences, illustrated of course, of ranger life on Blakeney Point and Wicken Fen – an event not to miss.

    And just to mention that the October meeting will feature the charming Simon Partridge talking about How Hill, Ludham. I mention it now because you still have time to visit the delightful water gardens in the summer (although obviously best earlier in the year to see the azaleas and Candelabra primula), but always lovely on a sunny day and free (donations welcome), and you can see the wherry Hathor and glide on the Electric Eel through the reeds.

    And don’t forget to give your email address to someone on the committee if you want to be in the know.

  • Protecting historic parks and gardens

    Thursday, July 18, 2024 - 09:15

    By Victoria Plum

    If you weren’t there you missed a real treat! The Reepham & District Gardening Club’s talk in July was by a lively and knowledgeable speaker, Sally Bates, on the Norfolk Gardens Trust. This is a branch of a larger organisation, the Gardens Trust, which aims to conserve, research and promote historic gardens and designed landscapes.

    She assured us that when we make decisions about how and what we garden, we are in fact making our own works of art. And it is placing a value on this skill, now and historically, upon which the Gardens Trust focuses.

    If people don’t understand the value of gardens they can become lost and the energy and ideas, and fashions, of past gardeners can be forgotten.

    Historically interesting gardens are listed as historic houses. In Norfolk we have two grade one gardens, Holkham and Houghton, but there are many grade two gardens that you may have visited.

    One of these is the Venetian Waterways, known locally just as The Waterways, in Great Yarmouth, comprising ornamental gardens and a boating lake. These were built as a work creation project in the 1920s and are a delightful asset to the area.

    Sally Bates also spoke interestingly about Humphry Repton and particularly about his local links.

    Above: The White Garden, Easton Walled Gardens. Below: Sweet peas at Easton Walled Gardens. Photos: Tina Sutton

    Excitement for July? It was the gardening club trip to Easton Walled Gardens. Of course the trip was immaculately organised, but someone forgot to organise the weather and it rained almost continuously.

    Our coach driver looked after us well and carefully explained the safety protocols as we drove past sodden fields. He ensured we knew where the loo was and the emergency exits. There were extra exits in the roof, two handles to release these doors, then you need to attach rope ladders that are stored under the seats. The picture in my mind of gardening club members scrambling up rope ladders and through the exit kept me amused for almost the entire two-hour journey.

    The gardens are famous for their sweet peas and they certainly looked fabulous. They originated from Sicily and much warmer climes so all the more amazing to see them looking so good in the rain.

    We would have appreciated just a small ray of sunshine but although we were cold and wet we still very much enjoyed our visit. The cake was good, and the gift items in the shop very tasteful.

    Join us next month on Tuesday 20 August at 7.30 pm in the Town Hall, Church Street, Reepham, for the Summer Show and Social Evening. We will obviously be complaining about the weather, but there will be fierce competition over the vases of grasses and the best cucumber (no whipping up to the Co-op to get one at the last minute; all entries must come from your own garden).

  • Go wild in your garden

    Monday, June 24, 2024 - 20:52

    By Victoria Plum

    Perhaps you were in Cromer last week (in the community centre in Garden Street!) last week when Richard Mabey discussed his book, The Accidental Garden?

    He is allowing his garden to grow and mature in its own way, without the obsessive tidiness which we all (although not I) crave. He is studying the way nature, flora and fauna willingly colonise any space where it can flourish.

    I am fascinated to see what flourishes in my garden when I don’t interfere. Caper spurge, hollyhocks and agapanthus self-sow all over the place with no effort from me whatsoever. If they are too many, I just pull them out – so much easier than trying to get fancy things established when conditions are just not right for them.

    Above: Rare wild flowers in my garden. Below: Hemerocallis: daylilies for dinner! Photos: Tina Sutton

    Perhaps you enjoyed the Reepham & District Gardening Club talk this month, as I did, from Joe Carey on the story of designing and putting together a garden for Chelsea, for which he and his wife won a gold medal in 2023. (The first time you win one it comes free, but any successive wins mean you have to pay £200 for the medal!)

    In association with Talitha Arts, a charity to help people who have suffered trauma of varied sorts, Joe and Laura Carey amplified the concept of change, showing a beautiful sculpture of a chrysalis in conjunction with a mass of marvellous porcelain butterflies and a gorgeous flower planting too.

    It costs £70,000 to bring a garden to Chelsea, and another £10,000 to move it and re-establish it in its final site. Joe and Laura would not consider creating a garden unless it could be moved on to a permanent position. Just imagine having to destroy and “skip” all the plants you have fostered and cherished, it would break your heart.

    Twenty five plants to the square metre are necessary for ground coverage and on planting day each plant is removed from its pot, more soil put in the pot and then the plant returned so that it sits proud of the pot. Judges don’t want to see pot rims!

    These concepts present an interesting juxtaposition with next month’s gardening club talk, when you will hear Sally Bates on Humphry Repton’s work in Norfolk and the work of the Norfolk Gardens Trust, at Reepham Town Hall, Church Street, Reepham, at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 16 July.

    Just think about the idea of letting your garden be a wild space and contrast that with the exacting design and execution of a garden for Chelsea, and then consider Repton’s work to manipulate and “improve” on nature on a huge scale.

    Perhaps you have seen the amazing show of oxeye daisies surrounding the A1270, (NDR)? What a show!

    And perhaps you have already booked this year’s gardening club day trip to Easton Walled Gardens, Grantham, Lincolnshire. I have and am very much looking forward to the event on Thursday 11 July.

    And don’t forget that you can serve your beautiful daylily flowers (not a true lily) with a salad as they are edible – and very tasty.

  • What is eating my rhubarb leaves?

    Wednesday, May 22, 2024 - 16:34

    By Victoria Plum

    This month’s mystery is: who did this damage to my rhubarb?

    Above: Who did this damage to my rhubarb? Below: The culprits: what beautiful creatures they are! Photos: Tina Sutton

    Not such a mystery really because it must have been snails, and I know that the wet and relatively mild winter certainly favoured snails and slugs, too. But I have never had such damage to rhubarb before.

    Luckily for me and not too much of a problem, since the only food crops I grow are blueberries and raspberries. If I grew cabbages and lettuces I would be tearing my hair out.

    (Did you know that that all rhubarb is subject to a dwarfing virus and if it were not so then rhubarb would be thirty feet tall?)

    Meanwhile, my bindweed is doing very well, and discussing the speed of weed growth in general with friends I find the majority still use Round up, which contains glyphosate.

    But think on this, if you use Roundup every year – unbelievably, people do – why do they still have the same weeds each year?

    I think that to truly eradicate something like bindweed, or at least keep it under control, you need to be very precise and regular in your application, and most people are not. They believe the advertising and expect instant magic from the product.

    So it’s better to try to be precise and regular in just pulling up the bindweed, and I have found this approach just as effective – and obviously better for the world.

    Can you really believe all that stuff about how glyphosate becomes inactive and safe after application?

    We talk about the weather incessantly and those people from countries with settled climates wonder why. Of course, it is because on our island the weather is always changing.

    When I lived in Greece I could organise a BBQ for two weeks time and know the weather would be good; not so in Norfolk.

    The speaker at the Reepham & District Gardening Club for May was Chris Bell, who taught us much about cloud patterns and their weather indications with interesting photographs, mostly from our home area.

    Pictures of the recent aurora borealis were gorgeous, and those taken over Morston with the colours reflected in the water were fascinating.

    Did you know that in Orkney the aurora borealis is also known as the “Merry Dancers”?

    At the next gardening club meeting, on Tuesday 18 June at 7.30 pm in the Town Hall, Church Street, Reepham, we will hear from Joe Carey from Carey Garden Design Studio, Holt, about “The Story of a Gold Winning Chelsea Show Garden”.

    The annual plant sale on Saturday 11 May was, as always, a great success. So much so that more plants were needed, so off I go to the garden to set cuttings for next year’s sale.

  • American homeowner association trumped

    Saturday, April 20, 2024 - 10:47

    By Victoria Plum

    It’s time to be looking out for the Yellow Book in your garden centre – the list of local gardens open for various charities. It contains useful descriptions of local gardens, many of which are only open for the National Garden Scheme, with a useful chronological list on the back page.

    April marks the Reepham & District Gardening Club AGM. As ever, the immaculate organisation of the committee meant that official business was over in about 10 minutes. The only thing you need to know is that due to rising costs, the annual membership rises slightly to £10, but the £1 entry for each meeting remains the same. What a bargain price for excellent-quality speakers of the calibre we have enjoyed this past year and the pleasant society of other keen gardeners, let alone free refreshments.

    Our speaker at the meeting was Ellen Mary, a keen and enthusiastic ambassador for gardening and plants of every sort. She described, with photos, some gardens in America and her own US garden (she lives there for part of the year) in North Carolina.

    Apparently, in some parts of America (the land of the free) there are homeowner associations (HOAs) that decide what you must grow in your front garden. Can you believe it?

    Ellen Mary’s new home had a selection of uninteresting shrubs in the front garden, which she got rid of, not knowing about the local HOA. She replaced them with a lovely selection of new and interesting plants and then received a letter from the HOA admonishing her.

    She is standing firm, she will not budge and change the garden back, and now there are other homeowners who are taking charge of their front gardens and making their own decisions about what to grow. Can you trump that?

    Saturday 11 May in Reepham Market Place marks the famous gardening club plant sale from 8.30 am until sold out. If you have plants to contribute please bring them to the Bircham Centre on Friday 10 May between 6 pm and 7 pm, suitably labelled if possible: we all like to know what we are buying. There are always unusual bargains to be had.

    Next month’s meeting of the Reepham & District Gardening Club at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 21 May in Reepham Town Hall, Church Street, features BBC Look East presenter Chris Bell; weather and night sky photography is his subject. Personally, I think we’ve had far too much weather this year.

    Above: Black Solomon’s seal growing in my garden. It creeps along underground and emerges in slightly different places each year. I bought it from Blacksmiths Cottage Nursery following an interesting talk at Reepham & District Gardening Club from the proprietor. (The stone is in the bird bath so insects can safely escape drowning.)  Below: Solomon’s seal in my garden. Some years it suffers from sawfly and some years it doesn’t. I don’t spray to get rid of them, it’s just something that happens. Photos: Tina Sutton

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