Sandling Park Virtual Open Gardens 2020

Club Member John Horne has sent us the following link to a virtual tour of Sandling Park, Hythe, Kent 

https://youtube/pSU3iwjoGN4

These are spectacular gardens which are normally opened in aid of Pilgrims Hospice.

Free Garden Plants for NHS and Key Workers

Dany Garrett is offering her spare plants to NHS and other Key Workers. The plants are ones she would normally have sold at various local plant sales that have been cancelled this year.

She is making them available from this  weekend at the lay-by adjacent to the Old Beams Pub. Dany is putting up some signage nearby and on the main road. Key workers will be welcome to take what they fancy for their homes/gardens.

Dany has suggested that members of Ibsley Horticultural Society, and other local gardeners, may also like to contribute any of their spare plants in the same way.

Dany lives conveniently close by and will keep the set-up organised. She has requested that any persons wishing to donate plants either email her on  danygarrett@talktalk.net   or give her a call on   01425 471635  and she will arrange for the plants to be set up at the lay-by.

The proposed offer is  very kind and generous, and we believe many of our members may also wish to support.

Thanks.

National Gardens Scheme in Hampshire - May update

                                                                                      
                                                                                                 HAMPSHIRE

I would like to update you with what is happening within the National Garden Scheme.

Every Thursday more ‘Virtual Garden Tours’ are being added to our website:- ngs.org.uk   In the great scheme of things these are becoming more and more popular and proving very uplifting to all our supporters.

Week commencing 8th May would have been our Gardens and Health Week.  We did still celebrate this with some very moving stories and video’s  from people to whom their gardens and gardening proved a real release from some of the stresses of life and the impact of their health issues.  These stories were ably introduced by Rachel de Thame, who is not only a renowned Gardener and Presenter, but an Ambassador for the NGS.  Rachel openly discusses her own recent issues with breast cancer . You can find Rachel’s introduction here  https://ngs.org.uk/gardens-and-health-week/  and click on Watch Now.

In my Mach Newsletter I mentioned that the NGS had set up a ‘Just Giving’ page.  It very quickly became apparent that this was not the best way forward, so it was very soon dropped in favour of our own in house account.   You can rest assured that 100% of your donation goes to our charity - we do not have someone sat there creaming a % off the top!!  The donations from our Virtual Tours currently exceeds £50,000.00  This is extremely generous and will go some small way to support our charities.  It is now even easier to donate - via your smart phone.  Simply text GARDENS  (5, 10 or 20) to 70085. Text cost the donation amount plus one standard message rate. Please ensure to leave a space between GARDENS and the number (5, 10 or 20).

Whilst our ‘Virtual Garden Tours' have proved very popular and people have been very generous with their donations, there is nothing like the real thing.  To this end the NGS has in place procedures for when we get the green light to open our gardens to the general public again.  Things won’t be quite the same though, as a result of Coronavirus.

1) All visits will have to be pre-booked online and a ticket will be issued.  This is a very simple operation - if  you can read this email, you will be able to book tickets.

2) The tickets will be issued for timed slots, and limited numbers per slot, to comply with social distancing.

3) There will be no refreshments and plant sales are still under discussion.

Our main priority is to protect our volunteers, our garden owners and our garden visitors.  Some garden owners may not be able to open for a variety of reasons - size, access or health issues.  Whether a garden opens or not is strictly down to the garden owner.  So we are all ready to go…..we just have to wait for the Governments decision to allow us to do so, along with RHS and NT.

I’m sure it has not passed you by, that this week should have been the  Chelsea Flower Show - don’t forget your Chelsea chop!  On our website you will find a celebration of this from five esteemed garden designers, with 30 Gold Medals between them.  As this is the bi-centenary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, the Florence Nightingale Garden was planned - deigned by Robert Myers.  It will now feature in Chelsea 2021. You can have a sneak pre-view of this https://ngs.org.uk/robert-myers-the-florence-nightingale-garden/ 

Finally I will leave you with some images from our Hampshire Garden Owners - all from their own gardens.

GREAT COLOUR COMBINATION

Courtesy of Jonathan & Sheila Richards.  of POVEY’S COTTAGE  STONEY HEATH   BAUGHURST  RG26 5SN:  NEW FOR 2020 AND WERE DUE TO OPEN IN JUNE & JULY:

SO DELICATE AND INTRICATE

AQUALEGIA:  Courtesey of Audrey & Jonathan Crutchfield: 146 BRIDGE ROAD     SARISBURY GREEN    SO31 7EJ:  WERE DUE TO OPEN IN MAY:

BEARDED IRIS

Courtesy of David & Victoria Wormsley:  THE OLD RECTORY   E. WOODHAY    RG20 0AL:  WERE OPENING FOR GROUPS:

REFLECTIONS:

Courtesey of Tessa & Clive Redshaw:  SPITFIRE HOUSE    STOCKBRIDGE    SO20 6JS:  WERE DUE TO OPEN IN JUNE AND JULY:

It would be amazing if the next time I contact you I could tell you which of our gardens are opening - albeit not as we knew it.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime take care - keep safe

Best Wishes 

Pat Beagley (Publicity)

National Garden Scheme - Hampshire

Marcus Dancer Plants

Marcus Dancer was originally sheduled to give a talk to the Club in June. This has had to be postponed until 2021. 

He has sent us the following message regarding supply of plants from his local nursery at Sandleheath

 

 

Good evening

I am sending you this email advising that I am now able to offer a mail order service during this very difficult and challenging time.

On my website you will see a wide range of clematis, climbers, shrubs and perennials.

For people living more locally I can deliver orders of plants direct to your door observing social distancing.

Please advise all your friends and contacts.

Kind regards
Marcus
Marcus Dancer Plants
clematisplants.co.uk

Coffee Grounds

DID YOU KNOW ?

Used coffee grounds are a precious resource for the garden , so don’t throw them away. Use them.

 How? 

Read on and give it a go :

1.       Deter  pests by spreading around plants to discourage ants, slugs and snails – they dislike the texture and that lovely coffee aroma

2.       Free fertiliser a -  coffee grounds are high in nitrogen content

a.       Dig into your soil to improve it, especially for worms,

b.       add directly to your compost  ( with the filter paper if you use one)

c.        mix with grass clippings  ( ensure there are no seeds in it) or leaves and spread around acid loving plants like azaleas or camellias

d.      pre mix with carrot and beetroot seeds before planting to increase your yields ( you will have to dry the grounds first for easiest application – spread out on newspaper on a sunny window sill)

Why not try it now whilst more coffee is being drunk in lockdown.  ? – you have nothing to lose.

Azalea. Hints, Tips and Help

I thought that the number of members that took up the offer of Azalea seedlings might be interested in a few hints and tips on bringing these seedlings to fruition and take ones mind off the plague

For those in Poulner a warning. In the nineteen hundreds all the land there was small holdings and would have been limed quite a bit so it’s a risk to plant out lime hating plants. However I knew someone who lived in the centre who had no problems growing Magnolia and Camellia in his garden.

For those in and around the new Forest most of the soil is acid and should have no problems.

OK to keep in as plugs but OK to pot on if needed, in most cases by the end of the year.

Use the correct compost if potting on.

When planting or potting on plant level with the surrounding soil. DO NOT bury the root ball.

If possible use rain water

Water every day in the summer heat.

Keep out of direct sunlight. The hot sun burns them up at this stage. After 12 months should be OK.

Any enquiries Email me at hornejohn1@gmail.com.. Could be a delay in answering.

John Horne

IDHS Newsletter May 2020

Dear All 

After a lovely few weeks and a spell of rain, I’m sure many of you are spending lots of time in your gardens and like many of us expect to have lovely tidy tended patches by the end of lockdown whenever that is!

Some of you have contacted me to find out if anyone has spare plants available and the most common vegetable to be sought after is the courgette!

I received a timely email today which may help a few in the Hyde end of our patch of plants for sale with proceeds going to Hyde church.

“Not the usual stock but various tomato varieties, courgettes, butternut squash, aubergines, various herbs, hollyhocks and some perennials. If interested, please contact me on 07557 531712 to discuss. If I cannot speak please leave a message and I'll call back. Alternatively email me on darkefamily@btinternet.com “

Otherwise don’t forget to check our IDHS webpage or http://idhsociety.blogspot.com where John (our secretary) has been placing members photos, videoclips, items for sale or wanted. Do take the time to have a look as its lovely to see how members gardens are shaping up.

There is also a photograph of an azalea that Alleyn has nurtured from one of John Horne’s cuttings to go with his article he has written for the newsletter, particularly of interest if you have purchased one of his cuttings previously   (see  the article that follows in the blog )

I promised last month to update you re decisions on future events and after an interesting telephone conference committee meeting we have with regret, decided to cancel the annual show. This is partly due to not knowing what position we will all be in by September but also in acknowledgement that our sponsors paying for advertising allowing the show to break even would expect the schedule to be out in shops by now which clearly can’t happen.

Should you be the lucky recipient of a cup from 2019 show, please keep these safe for another year.

We have also decided to cancel all garden visits for 2020 but if things change, we will look to arrange a local visit by car later in the year. Hopefully Forde Abbey will go ahead in 2021 (third time lucky)

Don’t forget Frogham Fair has also been cancelled this year.

Do keep a lookout for items of interest for other members such as virtual garden tours, articles or competitions and send me details to put onto our blog or in a future newsletter.

I have included a few below which have been sent to me to share with you:

• Baskets and Blooms are offering a limited delivery service – see their Facebook page for more details
• Chelsea Flower Show is going virtual 19^th -23^rd May
• Virtual tours of closed visitor gardens – Exbury, Minterne and Beth Chatto to name a few – see www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52152303 for more details
• RHS and BBC One Show have launched a competition called My Chelsea Garden asking you to enter by submitting a photo by 18^th May 2020. See the website for full details on www.bbc.co.uk-2020-mychelseagarden

I need to let you know of the sad deaths of two people who have links with our club.

The first is Pat Baines, the sister of Pauline Wells who many of you will know from the beautifully painted cards that she made for the club to sell last year and who came on some of the garden trips.

The second is Evelyn Cousal who was a long time member of the group. Our thoughts and best wishes go to their families.

My final request is one for all members to think about.....

Sadly, due to the fallout of this pandemic, we will be losing our Treasurer as Debbie feels she needs more time to spend on her business. I and the other committee members will be very sorry to see Debbie step down, she will be a great loss but thankfully has agreed to stay on until our AGM.

Please give this some thought and if any member feels that this might be a role for them, please contact me and I will put you I touch with Debbie to discuss the role further. Remember, the club cannot function without a Treasurer!

Having not thought that there would be much to say, I have managed  to fill a lot of space! Hopefully we will be able to get together again at some point this year but will keep these newsletters going in the meantime. Dont forget to send me things of interest.

Take care everyone and stay safe

Your Committee