Bexrose Bulletin
MAY 2008
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
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
Webmaster Tony Dixon Email:- postmaster@bexrose.org.uk
Next Meeting Tuesday 27th May 2008
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 Mr. Leeds and his slide lecture will be on Clematis. We have had Mr. Leeds speak to us before and his lecture is very good with some beautiful photographs of this very popular plant. For our Flora Art theme this month we would like you to try an oriental or modern design, this will be practice for the Summer Show which will be fast upon us.
The Rose Growers Calendar by kind permission of Don Charlton.
1. Look for excess shoots, die back and blind shoots, nip out or cut back as necessary.
2. The first buds should be appearing this month and if you wish to improve the quality rather than the quantity then now is the time to consider disbudding. Nip out the centre buds of cluster flowered roses and the side buds of HT roses.
3. Apply the second application of rose fertiliser and water in if the weather is dry.
4. Look out for insects. It is likely that your first application of insecticide needs to be applied this month. Follow the manufacturers instructions fully.
5. Mildew and blackspot are just around the corner and it makes life easier by applying fungicide now as a preventative measure rather than trying to find a cure.
6. The first decent blooms of the season should come around the last half of the month. If you want to cut some for the house then cut the stems when the blooms are about 1/4 open and leave the stems in deep cold water, in the shade, for at least 3 hours before arranging them in their vase or bowl indoors.
Dates for your Diary
May 17th Open Garden & Plant Sale Saltwood Castle Saltwood Nr. Hythe £4
May 20th - 24th RHS Chelsea Flower Show Royal Hospital Chelsea
June 7th Bexleyheath & District Rose Society Summer Show BB Hall Bexleyheath
June11th - 15th BBC Gardeners World Live NEC Birmingham
July 8th - 13th Hampton Court Palace Flower Show Hampton Court Palace
July 23rd - 27th RHS Flower Show Tatton Park Knutsford Cheshire
September 7th Plant Fair Hadlow College Nr. Tonbridge Kent 11am -4pm
September 11th - 13th RHS at the Inner Temple Inner Temple London
September 27th & 28th Malvern Autumn Show The Show Ground Malvern
October 7th & 8th RHS Great Autumn Show Horticultural Halls Westminster
Ellenor Hospice Open Gardens scheme
Sunday May 18th 2pm to 5pm. The Old Vicarage, School Lane, Swanley Village BR8 7PJ
You are invited to the lovely home of Lady Ramsey, a patron of the Hospice.
Admission £2-50 children 50p
Sunday June 8th 2pm to 5pm. Conifers, Ash Road, Ash TN15 7HN
Beautiful grounds and extensive gardens with a feature pond.
Admission £2-50 children 50p
Greenwich and Bexley Hospice
Hospice Garden Festival Sunday 18th May 1pm to 5pm. at Bostall Heath Playing Fields, Bostall Hill, Abbey Wood SE2. Free entry and parking. 99 and B11 bus. Lots of plants and shrubs, hanging baskets, garden ornaments, sheds and compost available. If you are hungry there will be a barbecue, drinks, ice cream, country kitchen and home made cakes. Also there will be many more activities to join in or watch.
Sunday 1st June 2pm to 5pm. Foresters Homes, Tower Road, Bexleyheath. This is a warden assisted home tucked away behind the Police Station and has been a frequent winner and runner up in the Bexley in Bloom competition. Admission £2 children free.
Vanessa's family have asked us to thank everyone who attended her funeral and who also gave so generously to the Pilgrims Hospice in her memory. The Society members gave a final total of £620. Family, Neighbours and Work Colleagues contributed another £840 so the Hospice has benefited by some £1,460.
Tombola
We still need more Tombola prizes to make this a really good stall this year. Its your last chance to clear your cupboards of unwanted items in good condition. Bring them to the next meeting and Joan Raggett
or Maureen Cornell will accept them.
Day Trips run by Greenfingers Gardening Club.
Wednesday 25th June 2008 A visit to Downe House, home of Charles Darwin and then on to Cooling Nursery. The cost of the coach and entry to Downe House which includes a self guided audio tour is £18 ( less for English Heritage members)
Monday 14th July 2008 Greenfingers is arranging a visit to Wisley which has so much to see including
the new greenhouse. The cost of the coach is £14 including entrance.
If you are interested in either of these trips please contact Philip Pilbeam on 0208 304 2682
Secretary's Report on the April Meeting The Bert Powell Lecture.
Over a hundred members attended the meeting and Mr. Fred Booth from Kent Wildlife Trust gave a slide lecture on the coastline & seashore of Kent. He said he could only give a brief outline as each section of the coastline is a lecture of about 1 1/2 hours but he packed in an amazing amount of information in the time we had. He told us that the total coastline is 350 miles stretching from Dungeness to the River Thames. Kent Wild Life Trust was founded when it was decided to document the whole coastline and every inch of the 350 miles has been walked by members making notes along the way. Some areas are difficult to observe as there are cliffs and the shore can only be reached at low tide. Time is short too in these circumstances as observers have to retrace their steps before the tide comes in. He started off at Dungeness with its two great nuclear power stations which are soon to be decommissioned. He showed us old photos of the area and then an up to date one demonstrating how much the shoreline has altered in about 50 years. Shingle and flint pebbles make up the seashore and the prevailing wind is from the south west. There is a strong long shore drift here and the shingle is constantly on the move due to wave action; so much so that every day lorries are filled with shingle from the Folkestone side of the promontory and are dumping it at the Hastings side where it originally came from. An airial photograph gave us a good idea how the area has grown over thousands of years as the bands of deposits are quite visible. Part of the area is an RSPB reserve with a great variety of birds. The discharge pipes from the power stations warm that area of the sea and attract marine life which the birds feed on. A common plant on this shoreline is sea kale which thrives on chalky soil.
Passing through Greatstone and Littlestone we come to the wonderful expanse of sand at St. Mary's Bay
where I am sure many of us spent summer holidays when children at Dymchurch and Hythe. Folkestone just around the corner has posed a problem to this area of the coastline. A new harbour arm was build out into the sea and it was soon found that this broke up the natural wave pattern and began to destabilise the cliffs towards Dover. Concrete defences had to be built to protect the cliffs, rock falls can be seen as they leave the cliffs with their famous white appearance, otherwise vegetation grows on the rock face. We first see seaweeds at Folkestone as they have a rocky shore line to attach themselves to. Sea urchins, razors, mussels, limpet and crabs can all be found here.
There had been two previous attempts in the 19th and 20th century at boring a channel tunnel and the residue from these was dumped at the bottom of the cliffs between Folkestone and Dover and is known as the channel tunnel platform. A natural bore hole was discovered which in turn led to the discovery of the kent coal fields. The coal was not very good quality and the mines are now closed. The area is known as Sandfire Ho. One half of it was seeded after the latest channel tunnel was dug and the other half was left to develop naturally. The natural area has now produced spider orchids and wild cabbage which are quite rare plants. Moving round to Sandwich Bay and the Goodwin Sands we come to the end of the long shore drift.
The Isle of Thanet is made up of chalk but a different type that erodes and is made into chalk stacks by wind and tide. These are carefully monitored by measurements and photographs to see how fast the erosion is happening and if there is any speeding up or slowing down of the action. There was a sea channel between Reculver and Richborough and this was where the Romans landed and forged their way inland. At Reculver the area is left to nature and thousands of sandmartins make their nests. Often they return each year but find that last years nest has been damaged by the elements so have to rebuild. Sharks teeth have also been found here. From Thanet and along the north Kent coast the long shore drift is north to west. Sea Salter and Sheppey are on London clay which gives a hard sea bed and is ideal for shell fish. Oysters are grown on the sea bed at Whitstable and were a great favourite with the Romans. There was a disaster in the shell fish trade in Victorian times when the native oyster all but disappeared and fishing was abandoned, however eventually Pacific and Portuguese oysters were brought in and these are grown in plastic sacks on floating pontoons at Seasalter. They are much smaller and a different shape to the Whitstable oyster. Fortunately the natural oyster is now doing well. Shore crabs, star fish and sea anemone's can been found in this area. The Isle of Sheppey has shell beaches because of the vast amounts of shell fish that live in the area particularly cockles. Along the rivers Swale and Medway can be found 25% of the world population of Brent Geese. Plenty of other birds can be found, particularly Dunlins, Lapwings, Aversets and Marsh Harriers.
I am sure our members did not know that our local coastline was so rich in its wildlife and history. Our thanks to Fred Booth for his most interesting talk which was delivered totally from memory. Maybe we will invite him back at a later date to give us a more in depth view of one particular area.
Eltham Cactus Club
Eltham Cactus Club meets at the Lional Road Community Centre, Westhorne Road, Eltham. This is just past the Rochester Way flyover on the left hand side coming from Shooters Hill. They would like to invite any of our members to attend their meetings as visitors or you may like to join. It is a very small but friendly club which several of our members already belong to so you will see a friendly face that you know including Dr. John Hughes. They hold their meetings on the second Tuesday in the month and have some very good speakers and slide shows, Tom Hart-Dyke being a recent one.
Holiday to Cochem Germany December 5th to 8th (3 nights 4 days)
I have booked our short break Christmas special to Cochem Germany staying at the Alte Thorschenke Hotel on a Bed Breakfast and Evening meal basis. The cost will be £230 for a twin/double room £245 for a single. This includes all coaching,drivers tip and a wine tasting session with the Baroness who owns the hotel. We will visit Trier Christmas market on the Saturday and take a leisurely drive over the mountains to Boppard on the Sunday where we will have coffee and cake at a local hotel and then a 11/2 hour cruise on the Rhine, prices not included but very reasonable. We will have time to wander round this pretty town before returning to Cochem. The hotel was built in 1332 and is part of the city walls.It is one of the oldest wine taverns in Germany and is furnished with genuine historical German furniture. All rooms have bath/shower, WC, cable TV, minibar, direct telephones and you may be lucky to even get a room with a four poster bed. The kitchen use local produce including their own fresh trout and game from the local forests. If you are interested please contact Janet to book your place with a £25 deposit.
Holiday to Oxford 5th to 8th September
There are 8 twin rooms still available for this trip but the singles are all sold. If you would like to join us the cost is £177 each with a £25 deposit. Our destination is not far and we will make a visit on both travelling days.
We still have not had everyone's contact addresses yet, please let Janet have them as soon as possible.
Cornwall We now need your final payment for this holiday £468 single £356 sharing
If you are fed up with having all your plants eaten by slugs and snails try growing the ones they don't like, such as :-
Astilbes Astrantias Aquilegias Begonias Crocosmia Euphorbias
Ferns Fuchcias Grasses Hardy Geraniums Hellebores Hydrangeas
Japanese Anemones Ladys Mantle Lavender Pelargoniums Penstemons Roses Sedums
Manolo Blahnik creates image for Chelsea
Manolo Blahnik, the famous shoe designer , has created the image which will be used to represent the 2008 Chelsea Flower Show. The fashion designer's beautiful illustration of a daylily will grace the cover of the catalogue, programme, and posters and be used for exclusive 2008 Chelsea Flower Show merchandise. Hermerocallis "Grace & Favour", a bold flower with deep burgundy petals, was chosen for it's striking beauty , as well as for being a flower that is representative of a traditional English garden, and for flowering in May when RHS Chelsea Flower show is held.
With a career spanning 30 years, Manolo Blahnik has become on e of the worlds most influential footwear designers. He opened his first shop in Chelsea in 1973 and now has a following of loyal devotees to his shoes, which spans the globe.
Grow your own veg
The RHS Grow Your Own VEG Campaign, launched at the beginning of 2007, has been a great success, with thousands of gardeners signing up for our E-mail newsletters and taking advice on how to grow their own. To find out more about growing your own, visit www.rhs.org.uk/vegetables
New Master plans for RHS Gardens
The RHS has appointed The Landscape Agency, based in York, to prepare the first phase of the masterplans for the 4 RHS gardens at Wisley in Surrey, Hyde Hall in Essex, Rosemoor in Devon and Harlow Carr in Yorkshire. The new masterplans will create a framework for the development of all aspect of the charity's activities, taking into account the needs and interests of visitors and those that work and live in the gardens. The Landscape Agency have a wealth of relevant experience with clients including Chatsworth, Strawberry Hill Trust and Hereford Estates for the Duchy of Cornwall. A key aspect of the masterplan brief is to celebrate the geological and seasonal distinctiveness of the RHS Gardens and make the most of their individual characters. The Agency presented an interesting landscape orientated approach which chimes with the RHS ethos of making a visit to an RHS garden a unique and enjoyable experience. Phase one masterplans for each RHS Garden will be completed by January 2008, to provide the basis for more detailed planning work during 2008. The process will include broad consultation with garden users, planning authorities and local communities. In the mean time, work continues apace on several key developments identified in previous masterplans. These include improved front of house facilities at Wisley and Hyde Hall and a new learning centre at Harlow Carr and Rosemoor. The RHS has published guides for each of its four gardens to help people enjoy and make the most of their visit. The guide includes details on what to see and which areas are at their best during various seasons. The guides are available from the garden entrances and shops. Make sure you get one on your next visit.
Both RHS articles taken from RHS Affiliated Societies Annual Newsletter 2008
Joke of the month
A chemistry teacher wanted to teach his class a lesson about the evils of drink, so he produced an experiment that involved a glass of water, a glass of whisky and 2 worms. "Now class, closely observe the worms" said the teacher while putting a worm into the water. The worm in the water writhed about, happy as a worm in water could be. He then put the other worm into the whisky. It curled up and writhed about painfully, then quickly sank to the bottom, dead as a doornail. "Now, what lesson can we learn from this experiment ?" the teacher asked. One little boy responded promptly: "Drink whisky and you won't get worms."
Summer Show June 7th
Do try to put an entry into at least one class. Please visit us in the afternoon to view the entries and enjoy tea and home made cakes. We are being joined this year by Brampton Art Group who will be showing some of their botanical art work. Some of their paintings will be for sale.