Bexrose Bulletin
NOVEMBER 2007
Published by the Bexleyheath & District Rose Society.
Patron:- Dr. David G. Hessayon MBE.
President:- Mr. B. Rainsbury
Vice President:- Mr. J. Elliott
Chairman:- Mr. A. Nunn
Vice Chairman:- Mr. M. Andrews
Hon. Secretary:- Mrs. J. Newton
Hon Treasurer:- Mrs. Z.Neale
Show Secretary:- Mr. A. Neale
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, Mrs. E. Cleall.
Web Site:- www.bexrose.org.uk
Email:- postmaster@bexrose.org.uk
Next Meeting Tuesday 27th November 2007
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 will be Russell Bowes from Eltham and the subject " Dig for Victory". Many of our members are old enough to remember the war years so come along and jog some memories of how we provided fresh food for our families and friends from just outside our own back doors. Our Floral Art competition this month will be a vase of autumn foliage and grasses with one stem of an autumn flower. Please try and enter (gentlemen included) as all the money collected goes to our charity "Woodlands Farm Trust". Any excess produce would be gratefully received for us to sell for the same cause.
Dates for your Diary
November 9th & 10th RHS London Flower Show.
Obituary
We were very sorry to hear of the death of Jenny Charlton, wife of Don Charlton, after a long illness. Don lovingly cared for his wife during her illness to the extent that he gave up growing most of his wonderful roses. The Committee and members send our condolences to him and his family on their sad loss.
Casualty Corner
Vanessa is progressing slowly and thanks everyone for the cards and good wishes that she has received from members. It will be a long job but she has the Christmas trip in her sights and hopes to join us even if it is only as a passenger.
Day trip to the Chocolate lady November 22nd 2007
We still have some seats for this day out to north Essex. The cost is £25 which includes a visit to the Chocolate lady and a cream tea in her workshop. She is very entertaining so we should have a good afternoon with her and her sister. We will be picking up a guide who will tell us about the area we are visiting which includes Thaxted where we will have a morning coffee and Saffron Waldon where we will have lunch. We will leave Townley Road Library Bexleyheath at 8-30am. We will leave Steeple Bumpstead at 4-30 to 4-45pm so hope to be back in Bexleyheath by 6pm.
Welcome to new members
Mr. & Mrs. R. Bishop Bexleyheath
Mr. & Mrs. Kirby Bexleyheath
Results of Floral Art for October
1st Edie Purnell 73 coins 2nd Dora Lemon 59 coins. Total money collected £4-01p. Congratulations to the two ladies, their arrangements were stunning with wonderful autumnal colours.
The Rose growers Calendar by kind permission of Don Charlton
November
1. Continue tidying, light pruning and firming the ground around roses.
2. Your new rose bushes should arrive this month. If the ground is waterlogged or frosted and you have the time your new bushes can be planted directly into the prepared beds. The plants should be well watered in. If weather or time does not allow you to plant the bushes immediately then they can be temporarily "heeled in".
3. Any roses in pots should have their roots protected from frost for the winter period. Some miniature roses in the garden are sensitive to frosts, particularly if they have a shallow root system. Covering miniature roses, likely to be affected by frost, with straw or cloches or similar insulation until the end of February will pay dividends.
Don's rose growers calendar has been printed every month for some years now and we thank him very much for his generosity as we should pay a copyright fee to print verbatim from his book. I hope members are not getting bored with it as it serves as a small reminder to what they should be doing in their rose garden. However, we must remember that we are gaining new members all the time who may not be up to speed with the monthly chores, and we also have web site hits from all over the world who appreciate the information we print in our Bulletin.
Chelsea Physic Garden. A History of the Garden.
The Chelsea Physic Garden was founded in 1673 and was firstly known as the Apothecaries Garden. It is situated on the same street and to the west of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, home of the famous Chelsea Pensioners. Its function was to assist in the training of apprentices in identifying plants. The River Thames being very close by created a warm microclimate allowing many non-native plants - such as the largest outdoor fruiting olive tree in Britain - to survive our harsh British winters. The river was also important as a transport route and before Sir Joseph Bazelgette built the embankment to house his mighty sewer system in Victorian times the river came right up to the Garden gates allowing easy movement of plants and botanists. Other areas of botanical interest in London and the surrounding countryside could be easily and quickly reached. The garden has always sought to achieve good communications with others working in the same field and by the 1700's an international botanic garden seed exchange system had been established which continues to this day.
By the mid 1700's, Dr. Hans Sloane, after whom the nearby locations of Sloane Square and Sloane Street were named, purchased the Manor of Chelsea from Charles Cheyne after whom Cheyne Walk is named. The area of about 4 acres was leased to the Society of Apothecaries for £5 a year in perpetuity, probably a substantial sum of money in those days but a mere snip in the 21st century.
Environments for supporting different types of plants were built, including a pond rock garden, constructed from a variety of rock types, stones from the Tower of London can be found complete with carvings. Icelandic lava (brought to the garden by Sir Joseph Banks in 1772 on a ship named the St. Lawrence ) fused bricks and flint. This unusual structure has been listed Grade 11* and is the oldest rock garden in England on view to the public. It was completed on 16th August 1773 and is planted with many rare plants.
In 1848 Robert Fortune transported seedlings of Camellia Sinensis ( tea plant ) from China, leading to the establishment of the tea industry in India. The seedlings were carried aboard ship in Wardian cases. These are large boxes made of wood on the bottom half and glass on the top half and look like miniature greenhouses. Specimens were planted inside and they watered themselves by continual circulation of the moisture contained within.
In 1876 the Garden decided to run a lecture course for young women who were training as botany teachers, a very bold move for the times. At the end of the 19th century the trustees of the City Parochial Foundation agreed to take over the running of the Garden from the Society of Apothecaries and in 1983 The Garden became a registered charity. It was then opened to the general public for the first time. They now have a restaurant serving lunches and afternoon teas and also a gift shop.
The Chelsea Physic Garden has developed a major role in public education focusing on the renewed interest in natural medicine. "The Garden of World Medicine" which is Britain's first garden of ethnobotany ( or study of the botany of different ethnic groups and indigenous peoples ) is laid out together with a new "Pharmaceutical Garden". Small beds are devoted to plants that are used in such medical practices as anaesthetics, neurology, and the treatment of arthritis and rhuematism. Lots of rare plants from all over the world rub shoulders with ones that we recognise and grow in our own gardens but did not know that they had healing properties. It is well worth joining one of the guided tours round the garden which are conducted on the hour by several very knowledgeable ladies. There are also several gardeners always working around the garden if you need to ask a question.
The Garden is located at 66 Royal Hospital Road, London SW3 4HS Tel: 0207 352 5646
More information can be found on the web at http://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/garden/
Secretary's Report on the October meeting.
Our speaker this month was Irene Palmer who came with her husband John to tell us about Charles Darwin, his family home at Down House, near Bromley and the flora of the kent countryside that so influenced his thinking and observations. Irene and John are honorary wardens of the "Kent Wildlife Trust" and have a great deal to do with the care and conservation of much of the countryside around Down House which now belongs to English Heritage. They have been trying for 8 years to have Down House and Down Bank made a World Heritage Site but have not managed it so far as the site does not fit all the criteria but has special features of its own. They first showed us slides of Down village and particularly the George and Dragon Pub with a wonderful display of hanging baskets. Darwin's family were very involved in village life, the children went to the village school where Charles's wife Emma was a helper. Many people associate Darwin with his voyages of discovery to The Falkland Islands and the Galapagos Islands but most of his greatest discoveries were made in the Kent countryside. He would spend hours just looking at the foxgloves in his garden and in the study of the wild and cultivated plants he observed the bees and other insects going about their business of cross fertilisation. He wrote 6 books on plant life and 1 on worms. He also wrote " A General Aspect of the Kent Countryside" apart from his famous "Origin of Species".
Irene told us the a lot of restoration work is being done in the garden, the greenhouse has been completely restored and the orchard replanted. The house lawn has now had a deer fence installed which has caused some controversy. The lawn has never had fertiliser on it so may species of fungi and wild plants now abound. The slides that John had taken of the wax caps were excellent. Darwin had many experimental beds in the garden where he carried out lots of his studies. He was forced to publish his "Origin of Species" earlier than he wanted as the following year he had discovered much more evidence that backed up his theories. He loved Down Bank and we saw slides of it in different seasons, it was particularly beautiful in Spring covered with primroses. Darwin liked to walk and would do a circuit along the bank and through the wood. He would leave a pile of stones in a particular place so that he would know how far he had walked but his children, being very boisterous and healthy children would play tricks on him and either add stones or take some away without him knowing. He would often get in a muddle and not know how far he had walked or had gone farther than he intended that day.
Everyone said what an interesting lecture this was and the slides were absolutely exquisite, especially the close up ones of the flowers and insects which were taken by John.
Pot Grown bulbs for the Spring Show.
Mick Andrews still has a few bulbs left if you missed the last meeting. The Hyacinth is selling at 80p and the Narcissus are selling at £1 for 3. There is still time to pick these up at the November meeting. The Hyacinth is not prepared and should be grown in a 5" pot and kept outdoors in a sheltered position. The Narcissus should also be grown outdoors in a sheltered position and all 3 planted in a 7" pot.
Chrysanthemums
Love them or hate them, Chrysanthemums are always in your face! They must be doing something right as they have been grown in China since 1,500 BC and are still revered throughout Asia. The Japanese throne is known as the Chrysanthemum throne and the flower was adopted as the imperial flower. They feature strongly in fabrics, paintings, carvings, silk embroideries and many other works of art in both China and Japan. In the great plant hunting era of the 18th and 19th Centuries the species was brought to the British Isles and has been in and out of popularity ever since. They are big and blowsy and magnificent on the show bench as we have seen in the past at the Harrogate Autumn Show. Together with Dahlia's, another far eastern import, they are a useful plant to have in the garden as they flower late in the summer and go on through autumn into early winter when most other plants have died off. They make a good cut flower too if you can put up with the harsh smell that they emit. They have the advantage of being cheap to buy and have a long vase life. They will brighten up your home over the Christmas period when most other flowers are not around or foreign imports are expensive.
New varieties seem to come out every year and the most popular variety at present seems to be the pot of "Mums" that crowd the garden centre shelves in their hundreds at this time of year. On our visit to America some years ago we found that literally everyone had a pot or two of Mums on their front veranda together with bright orange pumpkins and ghosts, skeletons and witches to celebrate Halloween. It made everywhere look very jolly.
Chrysanthemums will over winter in the garden if cut back but if the winter is cold and wet it would be better to lift them and keep them in a cold dry store until the warmer weather. They are easy to propagate and cuttings should be taken in the spring. Find the new shoots and break them off as near to the root as possible. Pot them up around the edge of a terracotta pot with compost and grit. Pot them up individually when they have rooted and keep in a cold frame and plant out in early summer. Your established plants will appreciate a feed of liquid seaweed in the spring. So as these plants are easy to grow why not have a go, I am sure you could find a more modest variety that would blend in well with the other plants in your garden.
The editor apologises to any members who went along to Woodlands Farm on Saturday October 20th for the Apple day. The note should have read Sunday October 21st. Apparently it was a very enjoyable day. Hope you were not too inconvenienced by the mistake.
The Society still needs another Auditor to help Ron Pulling audit the accounts in January. This is not a long job as we no longer have a trading section to confuse the issue and Vanessa's holiday account is balanced after every trip. You don't have to be a qualified bookkeeper or accountant. If you are interested please ring Janet.