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Ely & District U3A Garden Groups 1 and 2

U3A Garden News Editor Joan Wall/David Latham

No 13 Tuesday 216nd June, 2020

Welcome to U3A Garden News that we hope will keep you in touch during the Covid-19 lockdown. The Garden Groups are going to be a joint enterprise, U3A Garden News.

Joan and David continue to edit your contributions and Peter Lee arranges the distribution, and its success depends on your continued contributions to the content. Joan and David thank you for your contributions for future issues, please continue with your good work: short items, questions, photos, or simply something amusing. Please feel free to answer or ask questions and contribute your garden related thoughts. Thank you to the people who print off the newsletter and deliver it to members who do not have email.

Julia’s Good News +

My good news is that the NGS have agreed that from Sat we can open garden by appointment – 39 Chapel Street, Ely. They are currently insisting that people have to book a slot through their website and numbers to our garden are limited to 8 in any 1-hour slot. We are offering 5 one-hour slots 10am, 11.15, 2p.m., 3.15p.m and 4.30pm on Sat, Sun, Wed, Thus, Fri. If U3A members would like to visit they can book individually (https://ngs.org.uk/product-category/garden-tickets/east/ ) and have to pay (£3 per person) on line direct to NGS. We are currently not allowed to offer refreshments but would be happy for people to bring their own thermos/drink and sit in garden. There is room for adequate distancing with at least 4 different seating areas. There will be plants for sale as well

Also I emptied a large pot of congested bulbs that I had taken over with the garden and found these odd white worm like ones which I do not recognise and even after trawling through my 2 specialist bulb books cannot identify. Could you pose the question to the

garden groups newsletter? Meantime I will plant them in a separate pot and see what happens.

(Ed) I loved all the virtual garden tours David put in his last newsletter and we will have a few more this issue. If you can’t make it to Julia’s garden here is a suggestion from Pauline Lancaster.

If you want to go on some virtual audio tours of some beautiful gardens these are available on the R.H.S. Website. rhs.org.uk. and click on gardens. If you would like to see photos of Ely gardens which can’t open because of Coronavirus .... go to elyopengardens.com

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Brenda’s Baffler Do you know what this is? My daughter just sent the photo and I thought it may be a rose but it isn't thorny and the leaves look different. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

(Ed) Julia and I both think it is a peony – there have been some gorgeous examples in the newsletters. Mine is a bit young and small and over now.

And now for something completely different – Chris’ Conundrum

I found these two beautiful (but dead) moths trapped in webs on my clothesline, both still intact. I thought they might be hawk moths but really not sure. Any idea please? Thanks Chris (Ed) I see many pictures of insects and creepy crawlies, on the Nature of the Fens Facebook Page and I find them so beautiful and intricate. So much energy goes into fragile lives.

All that in this delightfull Gardin growes, should happie be, and have immortal bliss. (E. Spenser)

Black Lily Bargain from Joan Last year, described as “late in the season – last chance to plant” I bought a ‘bargain bucket’ of lily bulbs from Gardening Express. And boy were they right. The bulbs were well sprouted and some of the fragile flowering stems were broken off. Never one to waste a bargain I was off to Emmaus and bought all their large square planters – another bargain. I also found any other tubs and troughs which were not already in use in the garden and planted them all up, far too densely, but just got them into the soil. There were at least

50 ‘Queen of the night’ rare black flowering lilies (the one that I had really wanted), 50 Double flowering lily ‘Mystery Dream’ and 20 Lilium Roselily Tatijana. The ‘Mystery Dream’ came up well and gave a good show – interesting but not very colourful, mainly green. I just got a few leaves showing from the other two varieties, but at least some of them were still alive. So I left them for another year and Wow. I think you will agree the Black lilies are very

striking and what a show. They are still in tubs till I decide where to plant or position them. The other two varieties are coming on well and I am expecting flowers soon. I will post an update if we are still producing the newsletter. I cut some of the black lilies to put in a vase indoors and even Andy approves – they have no smell. He is so boring.

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Sempervivums - Always Flourishing from Pauline Lancaster

I have 9 different hardy Sempervivums, although there are now dozens as new ones are being bred because they have become so popular. My schoolgirl Latin translates the name to “live for ever” This is disputable, although I have had some “clumps” for years I think it means that if you break off a rosette it will last for ages relying on water stored in fleshy leaves before it reaches soil again. Alternative names for Sempervivums are House leeks (they used to grow on roofs made of straw/thatch etc. in days gone by) and they are also called Hen and chickens from their growth form (little rosettes around a bigger one)

Sempervivums are hardy and I have included a photo with frost on the leaves. They also flower readily, particularly when I keep them “hard up” as the photos show.

The last three photos show “non hardy” rosettes, which I have to put back in greenhouse before the first frost. I haven’t called them Sempervivums …the flowers don’t grow from centre of rosette, which doesn’t die afterwards. I am sure that David will know what these succulent rosettes are called.

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How about a tour of Chris Cunnell’s garden

The clematis is ‘First Love’, a beautiful white flower with a good show of flowers.

The others are just blue delphiniums that the bees spend lots of time in and around.

The peony was from my mother in law’s garden and has been with me for 16 years, it produces flowers every year but sadly needs splitting and moving as the centre has gone very woody.

Bev wants better Kiwis

As a follow on regarding Kiwi Vine & Sheila Hackett's article: Peter Jackson was a guest speaker at Garden Group One in November 2014. He sang the praises of the plant and the delicious fruit it produced. He said the offerings were far superior in taste to any you would purchase in a supermarket & he looked forward, every late autumn to picking his kiwi's and enjoying it on his breakfast cereal! He urged us to go out & buy the plant and try the taste experience ourselves. In spring 2015 I did just that & planted it on a S.SW fence. So this is it's 5th year, so far it hasn't produced any flowers or fruit. Very disappointing, but the plant is a vigorous grower with attractive foliage. Can Sheila give me any tips regarding pruning and how to get it to fruit, does she feed it? Thanks.

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David’s Dark Water and Dating Dilemmas

(David) On our Allotment in Witchford we have no water, we collect water off the sheds. We have installed a large white plastic tank (you see them along the road side on farmers’ fields). All our water butts plus this tank fill up over winter. This has been very useful during this the recent dry spell. The white plastic water has turned green, this is obviously due to the sun, I read somewhere that this water is not very good for young plants. Any comments? An idea to break the lockdown boredom, I have just subscribed to Garden News a weekly magazine, it is only £ 1.99 less than a cup of Costa coffee, you also get a packet of seeds, last week it was Cosmos, this week sweet peas, bit late for sowing this year, but I am giving the sweet peas a go. This raises another question how long do seeds keep? I found a number of seeds dated 2014 in my shed, they were in silver foil packets and they have to my surprise sprung to life. The magazine is a light read with interesting articles. It is something to look forward to each week just like our newsletter. Garden News number is 01858438884 or www.greatmagazines.co.uk/gn I have also subscribed to People’s Friend mag for Rosalyn. You can also set up for a friend, good present. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… (Peter) Couldn’t resist your question on seed viability. True seeds need to be kept dry and in a steady cool temperature. Often seeds will remain viable in the foil packet for a couple of years or more but it depends on the species. Seeds from the carrot family are notoriously short-lived...e.g. you should get parsnip seed fresh each year. Beans, peas, beets, onion and squashes noticeably decline in viability from the second year, so sow more thickly. Lettuce seed should be kept dry in the fridge (and sown cold) but even then, they lose viability after about 5 years! Tomato and brassica (cabbage family) seeds stored normally also seem to last for years. Similarly seeds for flowers have very different viability. We all know that weed seeds can spring up after years in undisturbed ground. Yet some seeds have to be sown as they fall from the plant (and are sent out damp for immediate sowing). Cool climate perennials often have seed that needs at least one cold spell after they are sown in order to germinate, but that’s a different subject. For vegetables and flowers grown as annuals, Bob Flowerdew (GQT) suggests sowing a few seeds first to check the viability of old seed; and perhaps if they seem to be losing viability, sow the rest more thickly. You don’t say what your 2014 seed is from, but you may like to try testing it in this way. By the way, check the use-by date on the seed packet... you can go a bit beyond that but not much. Of course seed banks store seed for many years and do this dry (but not desiccated) at very cold temperatures, but even this does not work for all species. Welcome to botany... Well done, David, at having a go with the seed off magazines. I’ve grown lots from such seed in the past, and they are generally for good plants with which you are likely to have success. Seed sowing is one of the most interesting things to do in gardening. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, (David) It was veg seed. I have grown cabbage etc. The cucumber did not work. This confirmed what you were saying.

I had two packs of peas from last year, stored in the same place. I started them in green house, one pack has grown, and I am about to pick a hand full of peas of the allotment. The other pack I started later and they are not so good. I always buy new seed each year. but this year it has been difficult purchasing.

Gardening has so many twists and turns. Learning all the time.

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And back to the pictures on a tour of Lynn’s garden

Veggies - Doing well in spite of Mr

Blackbird wrecking my neat rows !!!

And the sun moves round

Sorry the newsletter keeps getting longer. Thanks. Keep Safe and Keep Contributing. Thanks, Joan

Clematis This one was bought from Waitrose - it’s called Bijou and is classed as a Dwarf one- low growing with mound forming habit - it’s very pretty.

Hosta Early morning in Lynn’s garden.

Salvia This is called hot lips and should have a little white lip - it is from our home in Dorset and it was profusely red and white there. Different soil plays a large part.

Penstemon I don’t know the name of this one. A dear friend brought the seed packet back from America

Poppy Just flowered for the first time !