Page 11 - HGS Suburb News 141 - Winter 2020

Now is The Winter of Our Content

I used to hate winter. As autumn approached it with attractive seedheads intact; they provide border in full leaf for nine months of the year,
felt like The End. Dull days, low light levels, bleak structural interest and vital food and shelter for they go unnoticed. Come December and their
outlook, hibernation. However, as the days grew wildlife. But in small gardens, such as mine, that fiery stems often provide the only colour in the
shorter, the light finally dawned! I have changed simply looks messy. (Nothing wrong with that, I garden. To see them at their most impressive is
my mind. hear those more relaxed gardeners amongst you to see them en masse; Golders Hill Park has a
Walking around the winter garden, you may say.) Once paired down it provides an opportunity fine display. If pruned judiciously they can create
ask, “so what is there to look at?” At first glance, to correct mistakes. All folly revealed after leaf high impact in the domestic setting too. Upright
all you might see is decay and bare earth. But if drop. Dead of winter is about the only time I can red cornus Alba sibirica looks best with its
you look closer you will start to notice the first stroll around my garden without the urge to do branches levelled into a slight arch and all its
signs of spring alongside the final throws of something! Plenty of time to savour jobs like wispy crossing branches nipped off. Orange
winter. When I was a retail buyer we used a pruning climbing roses. I love pruning roses, cornus Midwinter Fire, on the other hand, is best
purchasing technique called Dovetailing: just as bringing order to chaos. It was only when the left alone, so its meshed stems create a fiery haze.
last season’s stock was being phased out you Mistletoe at eye level apple tree and the ancient lilac were laid bare did Regardless of how little space you have, I urge
gradually introduced new season ranges. And so In my book, evergreen shrubs, lauded as the I see how the rampant akebia was doing its you to plant in threes and prune hard (at least a
it is in nature: underneath desiccated ornamental mainstay of the winter garden, can’t hold a candle utmost to choke them to death. And how the ivy third of the oldest stems) annually.
grasses emerge snowdrops, winter aconites, to deciduous shrubs such as contorted hazel, along the back fence was transforming into a I say, never mind the old adage, ‘Don’t forget
narcissi. Alongside the dried seedheads of sedum twisted red willow, arching white-stemmed rubus top-heavy shrub casting unwanted shadows to stop and smell the roses’; whose got time in
and skeletal verbena, robust evergreen hellebores cockburnianus. Most of us have gazed up at tree across the already dingy fernery below. Bare the busy summer garden? Take time to watch the
and euphorbias are coming into flower. Marbled canopies densely colonised by mistletoe but how earth means you can see where to put your feet birds instead!
pulmonaria and cyclamen jostle for space amongst many have been eye to eye with it? I swear you and the ladder without damage. CAROLINE BROOME
rotting leaf fall. Never has the circle of life been can’t see the join! And there’s nothing quite as And on the subject of bare earth, nothing Skeleton tree
so evident! evocative as the unexpected fragrance of enhances the borders quite like a well spread
viburnum, witch-hazel and edgworthia, whose manure mulch. Not only does it provide insulation
delicate flowers adorn architectural bare branches. and nourishment but it makes the borders look
Don’t believe me? Then take a trip to Myddelton so finished! I sometimes think I treat the garden
House in Enfield, https://tinyurl.com/h9lgz6u. like a stage set and expect it to be perfect, but of
I’m going to be controversial here and say that course we all know a garden never stays the same
I’m not the greatest fan of Kew Gardens. Too flat, from one day to the next. It’s very disobedient,
too formal. The Palm House doesn’t do it for me. plants outgrowing their allotted space here and
However when it comes to the Festive Season you refusing to grow over there. One is always playing
simply cannot miss the Sparkling Winter Trail a game of catch up. Well, this is the time when
www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-on/christmas. you can sneak up on the garden whilst its asleep,
Innovative illuminations celebrate the grace, plotting your revenge on those unsuspecting
elegance and structural symmetry of trees in a perennials. Come spring and you’ll be ready to
way that their leaves simply do not! A magical take action before they are fully awake.
light show unsurpassed, sheer magic. I no longer consider winter as the poor
So here we are in the Bleak Midwinter. With relation to summer, in many instances quite the
their economy of scale, large gardens are opposite in fact. Take the coloured stems of
undoubtably enhanced by leaving perennials dogwood for example. Lurking at the back of the
Contorted hazel at Myddelton House EMAIL: C.BROOME.GARDENGIRL@GMAIL.COM

HGSHS Diary Dates Noise in the garden

HGS Horticultural Society has supplied may be used. Your first Around 1950, WH Auden wrote foliage underneath them to is threatened worldwide. Their introduced species; and iv)
planned a packed programme for task will be to ‘chit’ your potato. a short poem called ‘Their Lovely decay. There are also plants review of 73 historical reports climate change.”
2020. Full details can be found This means placing it some- Betters’; the first lines read: which suffer from winter wet, reveals dramatic rates of decline As we sit “on a beach-chair
in the members’ handbook, on where warm and sunny for a As I listened from a beach-chair in such as yuccas and Beschorneria, that may lead to the extinction in the shade” the noise we
the society’s website (www. few weeks to let it sprout and the shade and slug-susceptible plants, such of 40% of the world’s insect species would like to a hear is the buzz
hortsoc.co.uk), and on the What’s then planting your potato in To all the noises that my garden as Echinacea (especially seedlings), over the next few decades. It of bees and if we listen really
On pages of Suburb News. your growbag on 28 March. made which all need swift uncovering. concludes that “The main drivers hard the fluttering of a butterfly.
Dates for your diary are as Each crop will be harvested and The noises came from a robin If you have a pond or a water of (insect) species declines appear Perhaps we should use greener
follows: weighed at the Flower Show on and ‘rustling flowers’. No mention feature, these will rapidly become to be in order of importance: i) leaf blowers for a shorter length
13 Feb: Coach trip to Anglesey Saturday 13 June at 3.30pm. of lawn mowers, hedge trimmers clogged if leaves are not removed. habitat loss and conversion to of time, start compost heaps
Abbey NEW MEMBERS or leaf blowers. Today, however, It is also essential to remove intensive agriculture and urban- and adorn our gardens with
7 Mar: Quiz Night New members are always welcome. if we are lucky enough to sit in leaves from paths, drives and isation; ii) pollution, mainly that plants that attract insects like:
2 Apr: Talk on butterflies To join, contact David Broome, our garden, the chances are that drains. Once gathered, leaves can by synthetic pesticides and alyssum, buddleia, honeysuckle,
2 May: our acclaimed Plant Sale Membership Secretary, on 020 our reflections on the passage of be added to the compost heap to fertilisers; iii) biological factors, lavender, marigold, etc, etc.
13 Jun: Summer Flower Show 8444 2329. You can now pay time will be interrupted by one counterbalance a mass of green including pathogens and MARIE-CHRISTINE O’CALLAGHAN
21 Jun: Visit to Great Easton Open your membership on our website of these noisy tools. So, we sigh material such as grass clippings,
Gardens using Paypal. The annual sub is and we bear it because we know or kept separate and converted In case you are interested in the full poem:
3-5 Jul: 3-day trip to the gardens £7 (single) or £10 (double), due that the same noisy tools will into precious leafmould.
of North Devon in January each year. This offers be used in our own garden to As a lot of us employ gardeners Their Lonely Betters
30 Jul: Coach trip to Aston members free entry to all shows make it look they way we want who are paid by the hour. It is As I listened from a beach-chair in the shade
Pottery and Rousham Gardens and most talks, copies of our it to look. understandable that they choose To all the noises that my garden made,
5 Sept: the Autumn Flower Show newsletters and Handbook and A lot has been written about leaf blowers to enable them to It seemed to me only proper that words
with brass band a 10% discount on plants from the ‘hate’ for leaf blowers. The finish the job in their allotted Should be withheld from vegetables and birds.
22 Oct: Talk on Finchley Nurseries local garden centres. Junior problem is that they are ubiquitous time. It still remains that leaf A robin with no Christian name ran through
10 Nov: AGM and Prize-giving membership (under 18) is free. because they work. When there blowers are noisy and polluting, The Robin-Anthem which was all it knew,
5 Dec: Christmas singalong supper. OPEN GARDENS 2020 are a lot of leaves to be collected, but there are electric versions And rustling flowers for some third party waited
‘GROW A POTATO IN A As usual many members’ gardens it makes sense to use a leaf which are greener. It is to be To say which pairs, if any, should get mated.
BAG’ COMPETITION will be open in support of the blower to gather the bulk of hoped that, with more emphasis Not one of them was capable of lying,
By popular demand we are National Garden Scheme charities. them into piles that can then being placed on the environment There was not one which knew that it was dying
repeating our ‘Grow a Potato in Details will also appear on the be dealt with. Even the RHS uses and more research being poured Or could have with a rhythm or a rhyme
a Bag’ Competition! It is open to Horticultural Society and National leaf blowers because sometimes into the area, cordless and Assumed responsibility for time.
adults and children of all ages Garden Scheme websites, but it is best to collect leaves. They corded electrical blowers will Let them leave language to their lonely betters
and there is no entry fee. In opening dates are as follows: advise the prompt removal of become more capable and Who count some days and long for certain letters;
2018 it was a huge success with 7 Jun: 10 Wordsworth Walk, leaves on evergreens such as greener over the next few years. We, too, make noises when we laugh or weep:
nearly 100 entries. Seed potatoes, NW11 6AU and 48 Erskine Hill, conifers, evergreen azaleas and The article in Biological Words are for those with promises to keep.
growbags and instructions will NW11 6HG silver-leaved plants because the Conservation highlighted the
be supplied by the society and 14 Jun: 79 Church Lane, NT 0TH fallen leaves will cause the fact that biodiversity of insects WH Auden
may be collected between 11am 21 Jun: 18 Park Crescent, N3 2NJ
and 6pm on Saturday 8 February and 74 Willifield Way, NW11 6YJ Reference:
from 4 Asmuns Hill, NW11 6ET 28 Jun: 26 Normandy Avenue, Suburb rainfall Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers
and on Sunday 9 February from EN5 2JA Francisco Sánchez-BayoaKris ; A.G.Wyckhuys
48 Erskine Hill, NW11 6HG. 19 Jul: 18 Park Crescent, N3 2NJ. Biological Conservation, Volume 232, April 2019, Pages 8-27
Only the potato and growbag MARJORIE HARRIS 2019 was almost a year of two Over the whole year, rainfall https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320718313636
halves. When writing for the last was only a couple of inches
edition of Suburb News, we were below average.
I specialise in all domestic and suffering from a dry summer The present high pressure has Four Seasons
commercial carpentry and were hoping that rain given us some wonderful sunsets
to the highest possible standards would soon come. Well, since and subsequent cloudless days. GARDEN MAINTENANCE
then, rain has most certainly One spectacular red sky at night
Professional decorating services come. The 11.3 inches from was followed by a red sky in the
also managed with over 10 years October to December, while not morning. So were shepherds  Weekly or fortnightly maintenance contract  Garden clearance
of excellence quite a record, were certainly expected to experience delight  Lawn care (mowing, turfing, fertilisation etc.)  Planting
well above normal. Indeed, we or warning? Certainly, the  Weed killing & treatment  Hedge trimming, tree works
 Patio cleaning  All general garden services
Call now for a free quotation have only had higher figures in present pressure reading, at We offer a professional, reliable service with 10 years of
just five years since 1980. time of writing this article, is experience at an affordable price. Call Roland or leave a message
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carpentry needs joshuabergercarpentry.com gales probably did more harm probably not a record.  07584 574520  fourseasonsgarden@hotmail.com
than the excess of water. DIANA IWI FROM MEADWAY
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