The Norfolk and Suffolk Group of the HPS

Be on your guard!

I bought from Thompson & Morgan what I thought were two new cultivars of Geums listed on their web site - but the plants I received were labelled Mrs Bradshaw and Lady Stratheden, very old, standard varieties.  Here is their reply to my complaint:

Winter has arrived with a vengence. Here  in South Norfolk the temperature dropped last night to -7c (February 11th) and is expected to be as cold again tonight)


all photographs by John Metcalf

What an astonishing contrast this winter has been to the previous year.

Last year we had snow from November onwards but this year none. We have had very few frosts to date - January 15th, but at last a reasonable amount of rain.

Many bulbs are showing some very early buds and lots of other plants showing some flowers and have not yet gone fully dormant.

(click thumbnails to enlarge)

Photographs by Pauline Roberts

Sunshine today, compared with the snowy conditions this time last year. Our winter event was based on the autumn garden and members were greeted with tea and coffee on arrival. Members were able to buy plants from our own stall or Plantsman's Preference, plus a selection of jams and chutneys and pickles.

We were treated to a fun event of ‘Call my Bluff’ organised by Megan Dennis, the Curator of Gressenhall Museum. We had to guess the correct definition of a weird and wonderful garden tool that Megan showed us and our panelists were John Foster, Nick Hales and John Metcalf. This proved to be very amusing. Megan then gave a talk about gardening at Gressenhall. She also had strange tools on display, one a three-bladed pair of shears!

A delicious lunch of a selection of autumnal soups and crumbles/pies had been prepared by our committee. In the afternoon John Metcalf gave a talk entitled "Autumn in my Garden".

We had a competition entitled "Autumn Bounty" which members voted on by placing a coin by the entry they most liked.

I would just like to thank members for providing raffle prizes, which were most appreciated, and all helped to make the event a most convivial day.

May I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

photographs by Linda Hall

Don't forget, our next meeting will be on Saturday 28th January 2012

commencing at 2pm at Hethersett Village Hall

our speaker will be Tony Goode with a talk entitled

Small is Beautiful - Alpines and Dwarf Bulbs.

These pictures show the dramatic changes in foliage colours from summer to autumn in the Acer palmatum group.

I have also included a picture of A. p. 'Autumn Glory' which shows the range of colours possible all at the same time.

photographs by Len Speller