The Norfolk and Suffolk Group of the HPS

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

The rainfall in this four month period shows little variation across the three sites apart from the odd localised heavy shower and matches well with the Met Office averages for East Anglia.

More interesting to us farmers and gardeners are the sunshine averages for East Anglia;

May - 242.9 hrs, 123% of average. June – 216.3 hrs, 115% of average.

July – 164.8 hrs, 83% of average. August – 161.9, 82% of average.

How our Plants Fared

Geoff Wilson, over in Lowestoft told me how well his hanging baskets had done, particularly at this, the end, of the summer season. Although I don’t have hanging baskets I do have a brick trough in front of my front door porch and the geraniums in it with the summer bedding is looking very luxurious.

Pam Ratcliffe, Editor of the National publication – ‘The Hardy Plant’ expressed an interest in this part of our newsletter. She went on to put together an article entitled ‘Some Lessons Learned‘ which compares how plants did in our region, compared to those growing in Devon and those in the North – See page 48 of The Hardy Plant, volume 32, number 2.

Our group were able to visit a number of this beautiful village's gardens as Walsham-le-Willows had recently held their Open Gardens Weekend 2011 over the August Bank Holiday, details of which can be found on their website www.walshamopengardens.com. A date for your diary is that they will be celebrating their 32nd Anniversary next year on the 25th and 26th August, the Bank Holiday weekend.

On arrival we were welcomed by Robin Newell, Chairman of The Gardens Weekend Committee whilst we enjoyed tea or coffee accompanied by delicious cakes and biscuits, all made and provided by the W.I. John Stebbing was our guide and he led us round the following gardens, four in the morning and five in the afternoon, all descriptions of which are taken from the official Open Gardens programme:-

When the property was purchased in October 2006 the house and garden were in great need of restoration. This has progressed over the last four years and the predominantly walled garden now has mixed beds of shrubs and herbaceous perennials, together with fruit and ornamental trees. The main aim of the changes was to open out the garden and provide continuous interest through the year, whilst indulging the placement of the owners' favourite species.

Our morning visit was to Mill House, Bassingbourn. 

Retired garden designers, Mr & Mrs A Jackson, have developed the garden over many years, dividing it into interesting enclosures.  These provide formal and informal settings for rare trees, shrubs and herbaceaous plants, clematis and topiary, set in beautiful countryside.  Stunning, colourful dahlias were in abundance.

At lunchtime we stopped at Hopleys Nursery and Gardens in Much Hadham.

A small family owned business established in 1968, growing choice garden plants.  They have a reputation for raising good, new plants.  The 5 acre garden contained many mature trees, including a large ash tree reputed to be the fourth largest in England. 

Visit their website www.hopleys.co.uk for more information and to buy plants.

In the afternoon we travelled a short distance to Bromley Hall, near Bishops Stortford.

This garden, developed since 1963 by Julian and Edwina Robarts, covers 4.5 acres around a 16C farmhouse.  Julian is in charge of the kitchen garden and Edwina the flower borders.  There is a partly walled garden providing much-needed shelter, many trees planted by the owners and a number of interersting plantings, including an area of eucalyptus and silver birch for the bark in winter.  A recent acquisition was a Wollemi pine.  We were told the orchard is underplanted with camassias.  There are a number of groups of containers.  Fuchsias, agapanthus and dahlias were in abundance for us to see, some as seasonal plantings and others, as part of the all-year round border,  near the entrance.

all photographs by Linda Hall