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NOTTINGHAM AND NOTTS

FUCHSIA SOCIETY

SEPTEMBER 2019 NEWSLETTER

 

MY MONTHLY GARDEN DIARY – SEPTEMBER

FUCHSIAS

W/C 24/8

  • SHOWTIME STILL! – it’s a busy time yet again for me, only this time it was Derby & District Fuchsia & Gardening Club’s 50th Annual show.  With a change of venue and already aware that we would be some regular exhibitors down, I hoped that we would still be able to put on a good show.  In fact, I needn’t have worried.  The show benches looked really impressive.  I managed to bring along my full standard ‘Lady Boothby’ which I was quite proud about and even more relieved that it got back home in one piece! Most classes were represented.
  • Bank Holiday Sunday saw me showing at Beauvale show.  I didn’t put as many entries in as usual but still happy with my achievements.

W/C 7/9

  • Busy deadheading and keeping the fuchsias looking tidy as I still want to enter in the Long Eaton & District Horticultural Autumn show, so needed to be sure I had some decent plants to put on the show bench.
  • I still had some young cuttings which needed to be potted up – to give them a fighting chance of survival over the winter months, overwintering in my basic mini greenhouses.
  • Unfortunately, rain has stopped play and I have been unable to work outside preparing my plants ahead of Saturday’s show, instead I remained inside and studied the schedule a little bit longer!

W/C 14/9

  • Long Eaton & District Horticultural Autumn show – the final show of the season for me and a special one as the Society has been celebrating their 50th Anniversary ALL YEAR LONG! So it was an early start again for me, collecting my exhibits, checking them off the schedule and loading them into the car.  I arrived at Coronation Hall, and set to placing them on the show bench and submitting my entry form.  It is always a very tense time as all exhibitors are focused on making sure their exhibits are just so! It was good to see so many exhibits, but wish there had been more footfall through the door over the two days.

W/C 21/9

  • I decided to repot some of my fuchsias into bigger pots, only because they were really pot bound – ‘Space Shuttle’ and F. ‘Speciosa’. 
  • I also repotted a couple in an attempt to hide a long stem by cutting back the roots which then enabled me to repot deeper into the same size pot and cover up some of the stem.  This will look more pleasing to the eye when (or if!) they get onto the show bench next year – ‘Debrons Black Cherry’ and ‘Alan Titchmarsh’.

 

GENERAL GARDENING

W/C 7/9

  • Bonsai Bash Weekend at Greenwood Bonsai Studios – I went along Saturday morning and bought a few bonsai containers that had been reduced and watched Corin work wonders on an untouched (un-bonsai’d) Spruce.
  • As always, this inspired me to look at my own Bonsai specimens and started to wire the branches of a Spruce which I had purchased for just £1 from the ‘bargain basement’ area in a small nursery in Breaston.  I also wired up 2 x Fuchsia bonsai ‘Lottie Hobbie’ which I hope to transform into 2 cascades.
  • On the Sunday, my mum and I went on a coach trip (organized by the Long Eaton & District Horticultural Society) to RHS Wisley. It was a glorious day with plenty to see and do! There was a sculpture trail; a bonsai walk’; a new alpine house; a fantastic rockery & rock pool area.  The greenhouse was full of exotic and unusual plants which led on to an Art exhibition.  If that wasn’t enough, we were able to browse round the Plant Fair, study the Floral art and admire the Dahlias that were divinely displayed in the marquee.  A splendid trip out indeed!

W/C 21/9

  • After attending the East Midlands Bonsai Society’s monthly meeting, it inspired me to spend some more time with my bonsai plants and I continued to wire, repot, dress and light prune.  I must admit a bonsai looks so much better when it is displayed in a proper Bonsai container – the plant looks transformed already!

 

 Speaker's Review

 

Last month, Sally Cunningham spoke to us on ‘Gardening in Small Spaces’.  She shared some very informed best practices on how best to make the most of the space that we have.

-       Consider using climbers to make the most of the walls and trees in the garden

-       Choose cultivars, carefully, especially when choosing vegetables and fruit as although there are dwarf varieties around, they don’t always taste that good.

-       Consider growing produce in hanging baskets – Runner beans; tomatoes; herbs.

-       Remember to underplant with epimediums; crocus for example

-       Consider ‘Square metre Gardening’ – growing vegetables in a small space

-       Grow succulents on shed roofs, using vermiculite instead of grit

-       Grow in ‘storeys’ (like permiculture)

  • 1. Meddlers or Hazel,
  • 2. Peonies or Redcurrant/blackcurrant,
  • 3. Perennial Rocket; alpine strawberries; leeks

-       Consider creating a woodland patch, plant bulbs in the lawn

-       Grow roses and underplant with geraniums and campanulas

-       Screen off working area and store pots under bench in a dry area; this reduces the number of snails.

-       Plant dwarf bulbs in pots

-       Create mini ponds.

 

WANTED

 If anyone has been searching for a long lost fuchsia, then why not ask your friends at the society!  The Noticeboard will now be on show at our monthly meetings.  Complete form and attach to the noticeboard. Simple! 

Please use forms already provided in previous newsletters or there will be some near the noticeboard.

 

Following the Shows this year, I have had several requests for cuttings of the following cultivars: -

 La Campanella

Space Shuttle

Whiteknights Pearl

Delicate Purple

 

NEWSLETTER

 If anyone wants any item included in the Newsletter, please let me know, either at a meeting, or phone me on Tel: 0115 8758928, or email: jayne.daykin@ntlworld.com  I will gladly include any article or event in the Newsletter. 

 

Also, if anyone would rather I send them an electronic copy, please let me know. 

Remember: It is YOUR newsletter.

 

FUNDRAISING

 The easiest way for all internet users to help raise funds for our Society is simply by every time you search the Web you use easysearch.

 

Easysearch combines results from Yahoo!, Windows MSN Live Search and Ask.com in one simple search, the address is http://nottsfuchsia.easysearch.org.uk  Please try it and encourage others too. Don’t forget if you make any purchases on the internet, to go through our webshop to make sure we receive commission from the retailers (currently over 2000 well known retailers), the address is http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/nottsfuchsia .

 

Dates to remember

        

24 Sep

Monthly Meeting: Ian Strawson talking on ‘Fuchsias’

 

22 Oct

Monthly Meeting: Jeff Bates talking on ‘Colour in the Garden’

 

26 Nov

AGM followed by Xmas fuddle

 

 

Remember our next meeting

Will be

 

Tuesday 22nd OCTOBER 2019

 

Jeff Bates

on

 

  Colour in the Garden