Bexrose Bulletin
SEPTEMBER 2006
Published by the Bexleyheath & District Rose Society.
Patron:- Dr. David G. Hessayon
President:- Mr. W. Skinner
Vice President:- Mr. J. Elliott
Chairman:- Mr. A. Nunn
Vice Chairman:- Mr. B. Rainsbury
Hon. Secretary:- Mrs. J.Newton
Hon Treasurer:- Mrs. Z.Neale
Show Secretary:- Mr. A. Neale 28, Herbert Rd, Bexleyheath, Kent DA7 4QF (020-8304-8183)
Membership Secretary:- Mrs. M. Cornell
Miss V. Rochester
Other Committee members:- Mr. R. Jones, Mr. R. Pulling, Mrs. D. Carr, Mrs. D. Lemon, Mrs. J. Dyer.
Web Site:- www.bexrose.org.uk
Webmaster Chris Newton Email:- postmaster@bexrose.org.uk
Next Meeting Tuesday 26th September 2006
We meet once again at St. John Fisher Hall, Thanet Rd, Bexley where the hall will be open from 7-15pm for setting up. The meeting will start at 8pm until 10pm with a break at 9pm for refreshments and the raffle and of course a chance to chat to other members. Our speaker this month is Mr. R. Garwood and his subject is " A reluctant gardener looks at National Trust Gardens". The Floral Art subject this month will be the colour "Gold" flowers or foliage may be used and artificial aids may also be used. Size no more than 12" X 12".
The Rose Growers Calendar by kind permission of Don Charlton.
September
1. Continue with the general housekeeping of the rose beds and if necessary spray for insects and disease early in the month. Usually it is advisable to spray 10 - 14 days before the flush of flowers is expected, this avoids the need to spray and spoil blooms when they are opening. Unless the growing season is prolonged for some reason this is probably going to be the last spray treatment needed for this year, so do this one well.
2. Complete any outstanding budding this month.
3. Complete orders for new rose bushes as early as possible.
4. Start the preparation of new rose beds when the weather is kind and other jobs allow.
Date for Your Diary
12th & 13th September Late Summer Flower Show RHS Halls Westminster.
16th & 17th September KFHS Autumn Show Sutton Valence Village Hall Entry 50p
2nd - 4th October Great Autumn Show Harrogate Yorkshire.
10th & 11th November London Flower Show RHS Halls Westminster.
Topical Tips
This is the dreaded month for planting new spring bulbs. I hate this job as I always seem to dig up bulbs already in situe. A good idea is to make a little map of your garden in the spring showing just where the bulbs are. Of course, you have plenty of time over the summer to put the map in a safe place and then forget where that is. Don't plant bulbs if the soil is soggy although there seems there will be little risk of that this year. Don't forget that Tulips like to be planted really deep at about 8 ins, scatter a little horticultural sand or grit in the hole to help drainage. Gladioli bulbs should be lifted this month and dried off by hanging in the garden shed. All you vegetable growers should be spraying your Brussel Sprouts, Savoy and Winter Cabbage, Sprouting Broccoli and winter and spring Cauliflower to protect them from caterpillar and whitefly attack. You can still sow your onions and fill in the gaps from harvesting with some winter lettuce. Now is the time to put the grease bands on your fruit trees to prevent infestation from winter moths. Start to plant winter and spring flowering plants in your containers. Conifers do better being planted at this time of year as their roots can get settled in over the winter months. Will the lawns pick up or have they died over the long hot summer? Grass is pretty tough stuff and all our lawns will probably revive with a drop in temperature and early morning dews. If you have lost any grass you can re sow now. Perhaps it would be sensible to leave the winter feed until later in the month in the hope that the grass has bucked up.
The History of the Rose
1867 is considered to be the birth date of the modern rose as we know it today. Before this date the Hybrid Perpetuals had a limited colour range and sporadic repeat flowering, giving a good first flush and then scant summer and autumn blooming. They were difficult to grow in an urban garden as the bushes were large and vigorous. There were many varieties of Tea rose around which was more to the public's liking but they were not winter hardy. In 1900 Pernet-Ducher from Lyon produced "Soleil d'Or" from a red Hybrid Perpetual and a Persian Yellow giving a close to yellow rose on a manageable bush with glossy leaves. "Rayon d' Or was the first true yellow rose bred in 1910 followed by a true and delicate pink, "Ophelia in 1912. Many successful varieties were introduced up to the second world war and then a rose was bred in France that came to be known as "Peace". It was introduced into this country in 1947. Here was a vigorous rose with large glossy leaves, and a large yellow bloom tinged with pink. It was almost indestructible and could be grown in most soils. (We highlighted the history of the Peace Rose in the Bulletin some time ago). The quest for better and better Hybrid Tea's continued and many of the roses we use on the exhibition bench today such as "Silver Jubilee", "Admiral Rodney", "Red Devil","Grandpa Dickson" and "Wendy Cussons", came into being, all from the cross of the Hybrid Perpetual and the dainty Tea Rose.
Other types of roses were beginning to be bred and Polyantha, Patio, Miniature and Ground Cover roses started to appear together with the Floribundas which seem to be everyone's favourite. Guillot who raised the first Hybrid Tea " La France" in 1867 crossed Rosa multiflora and a china rose to produce "Ma Paquerette", a small bush with large clusters of white flowers that would bloom over a long period. This was known as a Polyantha Rose but the Danish breeder Poulsen decided that the bush needed to be taller and raised Else Poulsen in 1924 which not only had greater height but also larger flower size. Firstly known as a Polyantha, the rose was accepted into a new group in 1934 called Floribunda but the varieties were not accepted by the National Rose Society until 1952. Perhaps the most famous Floribunda is Queen Elizabeth, a vigorous pink rose which was introduced in the 1950s. Masquerade was bred as the first multi coloured rose and is still popular after 50 years.
Next month we will look at and try to clarify other types of roses.
Rose Table Show for August
Experienced
HT Bloom 1st A, Nunn 2nd D. Lemon 3rd B. Rainsbury
Floribunda 1st A. Nunn 2nd No Entries 3rd No Entries
Miniature 1st D. Lemon 2nd B. Rainsbury 3rd No Entries
Novice
HT Bloom 1st V. Pulling 2nd O Brooks 3rd R. Madden
Floribunda 1st V. Pulling 2nd No Entries 3rd No Entries
Miniature 1sr No Entries 2nd No Entries 3rd R. Madden
Points awarded
Experienced A. Nunn 8 D. Lemon 6 B. Rainsbury 3
Total D. Lemon 16 B. Rainsbury 15 A. Nunn 8 M. Downs 1
Novice V. Pulling 8 R. Madden 2 O. Brooks 2
Total V. Pulling 15 R. Madden 7 O. Brooks 6 R. Harrris 6 R. Brum 4
V. Giltrow 3 L. Beadle 3 A. Nunn 1
Floral Art for August
1st No. 2 2nd No 4 3rd No 1 4th No 3
Total amount raised for the Woodland Farm Trust £5-09p
As no one put their names on their entries only they know if they won.
Report on the August Meeting from Dave Reynolds
Alec Nunn introduced the new President of the Society, Jack Elliott.
Our speaker this month was Sue Buckingham , who spoke about Wild Orchids. Sue is a Tutor, Photographer, Tour Leader and lecturer on Botany and Natural History. She first introduced some basic information about Orchids in general. They are the "Royal Family" of flowers, with 25,000 separate species and some 200,000 sub species. They are still rapidly evolving. Back to the classroom now, because a basic Botany and Biology lesson followed, explaining how Orchids differed from other plants, both in their flower structure and reproductive "equipment". Basically Orchids are monocotyledons with leaf veins parallel to the stalk. They are not woody. The flower consists of 3 petals, 2 sepals and a "lip". The reproductive parts are associated with the lip, but are totally different to other plants, and vary with the species. The seeds are minute, no more than dust, and require a fungus to provide nutrients to allow the seed to germinate and grow. One species, the Burnt Tip that grows in Sussex takes 18 years from seed to flower, though most take 3 to 6 years. Many rely on only one species of insect to pollinate them, and have adopted some bizarre ploys to attract the insects, sometimes imitating the female insect to bring the males!
This gave a very interesting and informative background to the remainder of the talk, illustrated by excellent slides of the wide variety of flowers. First the 40 odd species in England, many in Kent since they like chalky soil. Only one remaining wild Ladies Slipper plant remains, but other varieties are easily spotted when out walking in the appropriate Kent Countryside between May and July. Some Orchids can grow in dark woodland environments because they do not need sunlight, as the association with the fungus continues to provide nutrients in place of photosynthesis, throughout the plants life.
European Orchids followed, including high altitude varieties. Then more exotic and flamboyant species from the rain forests of Costa Rica, where orchids grow high up in crevices in trees, usually only using the trees as a perch, although some are parasitic. Then more slides of multi coloured Orchids in the Seychelles, including one providing the flavour Vanilla. Next South Africa followed by some completely different shapes and sizes in Australia.
After a few questions from the audience Alec Nunn thanked Sue for a very interesting and informative talk and members responded with a round of applause.
(Thanks to Dave for writing this excellent report as I was on holiday, well done, you've got the job!! Secretary)
Put a Cork In It!!
Do you remember a talk we had several years ago by a lady from Sidcup who had worked in the cork industry all her life. It was quite an eye opener to find that cork could be used in so many different ways, from flooring to sound proofing and for decorative items as well as the good old bottle stopper that makes that wonderful sound when pulled only to be bettered by the sound of the wine glugging into a glass. The World Wide Fund for Nature has recently completed a study that warns that due to vineyards going over to plastic corks many Oak trees could be lost. The Mediterranean Oak forests cover an area roughly half the size of Switzerland and each tree has to have its cork bark stripped every 9 or 10 years. As plastic stoppers are becoming more in demand the trees are not being looked after. The hot dry summers we are experiencing are causing soil deterioration and forest fires are wiping out gigantic areas of forest that are not being replanted due to lack of demand. I personally hate the plastic corks, they are very difficult to extract even with the cork screw with the arms. I suppose it is much cheaper to extrude plastic in the shape of a bottle stopper rather than have to pay people to strip the bark and then process it. I can see that in order to save ourselves bursting a blood vessel we will have to bow to the lesser of the two evils and go for the screw top bottle!
RHS London Flower Show 12th & 13th September
This is the start of the flower shows to be held in the Horticultural Halls Westminster and the theme for this month is defensive plants. At 2-15 pm on the first day Alastair Culham from Reading University will give a short talk on how plants cope with adverse predatory and environmental factors. This is a good day out and doesn't cost much if you are not an RHS member, there are hot and cold lunches available and its only a short hop on the tube up to Oxford Street to round off the day with a little shopping, that is if you haven't already bought a large and unwieldy plant at the show.
RHS Gardens Rosemoor
Those of us who will be going on the Devon trip will see the alterations that have been made to the Foliage Garden at Rosemoor. This was brought about because of Box Blight to the parterre. We reported on this decease in a Bulletin some time ago. The whole parterre had to be dug up and rather than reinstate it it was decided to open up the southern entrance to the Foliage garden which also meant removing the Beech and Hornbeam Hedges either side. The original path design has also been replaced with a more informal layout. Work will carry on throughout the winter to take advantage of the extra planting space.
Down House
Down House at Down, near Bromley was the home of Charles Darwin and is now run by English Heritage. Over the past year a field study has been carried out by Conservationists, Botanists, local volunteers from the Natural History Museum and the London Borough of Bromley. Darwin carried out a study in the meadow next to his home in 1856 and found 142 different plant species.He was the only person in the country to make this type of study at that time and his work is proving invaluable now to scientists in proving how we have damaged our environment in the last 150 years.The latest study in the same meadow found only 119 species and it is thought that modern farming methods have contributed to the 15% loss. Efforts are now being put into effect to try and restore the grassland in the area to its previous diversity.
The Naked Pensioner
1. For a 20 year old who is trendy & bold 2. At 30 & 40 an outfit that's sporty
To shop for new clothes is a doddle. Is easy to find and affordable.
The stylish and slim can appease every whim While having a passion for shopping and fashion
To help them dress like a model. Is somehow considered quite laudable.
3. Good garments that flatter a shape that's-well-fatter 4. At 60 the same oh it's a tedious game,
Are harder to find when you are 50. You're trudging the streets and despairing.
You can be a head turner if you're a high earner You long to look smart, but you're fast losing heart
But some of us have to be thrifty In the five year old things you're still wearing.
5. The shops are all bulging with styles for indulging
The young, as I'm sure you've discovered.
But at 73 there is nothing for me-
I shall just have to go round uncovered!
Many thanks to Joyce Millgate for supplying this poem.
If any members have excess produce from their gardens or allotments that they would like to donate, please bring it along to our monthly meetings. We will be able to sell it to other members and donate the money to our charity "Woodlands Farm Trust".