gardens

‘The House on Stilts’ by Paula Davies; Next Meeting; Summer Social; ‘A Gardener’s Dream Itinerary’

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Paula Davies (aka Head Gardener) came to Pumsaint, along with her husband Iain (aka Assistant Gardener), to talk to us about the garden she has created in Ferryside, Carmarthensire, on the edge of the river Towy estuary.

In purely factual terms, the garden is a third of an acre in size, eight metres above sea level (when the tide is out!). It faces west, being exposed to south-westerly winds and considerable precipitation. The soil is sandy clay over Old Red Sandstone, neutral to slightly acid (pH 6.5). To Paula, however, the garden is much more about people, places and time; it’s about the past, the present and the future.

Turning first to the past, Paula told us that her maternal grandfather had been a professional gardener, and as a child, along with her three sisters, her weekends were spent helping in her parents’ new garden or being dragged around other gardens or nurseries. Paula’s passion was drawing and painting and, influenced by books such as ‘The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady’, she wanted to become an illustrator, perhaps of botanical or children’s books.

Once at art college, Paula discovered textiles and surface pattern, and went on to become a very successful international designer first for interior products and then fashion, always focussing on floral design. Thinking about colour, texture, shape and scale, and using these to create rhythm, repetition, focal points and balance, is a similar process to creating a garden – which came later!

The part-time lecturing which Paul did alongside her design work brought her to Carmarthen School of Art. Here, without any career plan but with a lot of hard work, she rose to become Faculty Manager and met Iain her husband, a handsome photography lecturer. Together in 1998 they bought a run-down modernist house in Ferryside, which at that time came with only a tiny plot. Paula had pots of architectural plants she had moved around various rented accommodation until then. The plants were finally put in the ground, which was then covered in 20 tons of gravel. As far as the garden was concerned, job done – or so they thought.

Then along came their son, and as he started to grow, gravel no longer seemed like the best idea. In 2013 it became possible to extend the plot as the neighbouring farm was up for sale, so that it is now one-third of an acre. And this is the land as it was when they bought it – an overgrown pond, goat willow, reeds, flag iris, brambles, nettles, hogweed, dock.

Paula’s inspiration was a book called ‘The Lost Words’ by Robert Macfarlane and illustrated by Jackie Morris, itself a response to words associated with nature being dropped from the Oxford Children’s Dictionary to make room for words from the world of technology. Paula and Iain wanted their son to grow up knowing and experiencing acorns, conkers, dandelions, frogspawn, herons and kingfishers.

The first stage, after Paula’s father had helped clear the land with his chainsaw, was to bring in a digger to excavate the pond which was clogged with couch grass, and then use the spoil to create different topographies and habitats – the pond, damp meadow, wooded shade, dry slopes. There were all the practicalities to consider, such as light, circulation, viewpoints, usage; then where the sun and shade naturally fall, where to put places to sit, paths, steps and so on. Their son got involved as well, creating drawings for what he wanted from the garden – his drawing of a tree-house perhaps the start of his interest in architecture.

This was to be a garden providing food, water and shelter for wildlife. They planted a mixed native hedge (560 plants!) including species such as beech, blackthorn and guelder rose. They left some goat willow and added more trees for height – six oaks, a golden weeping willow and birch – ‘Snow Queen’ and ‘Trinity College’. The rest of the land was sowed to meadow – with different mixes for different areas. Again, job done – or so they thought. The first year, 2014, the annual wildflowers were pretty as a postcard; the next year it was largely perennials – oxeye daisies with some red campion, knapweed, self-heal etc., but a couple of years later it was mostly grass, despite all the yellow rattle seeds sown annually.

By 2017, it was time for a rethink, aiming for dense planting with variety and succession, and value for wildlife. This time the land was cleared slowly by hand (it took weeks!). In the first section under the oaks a liner was used, and the planting (woodland edge/dry shade) was done through that. Now liner is only used for the paths, and other areas , such as the bog garden, have been cleared section by section, using cardboard to cover the ground over winter before planting. Job done – or so they thought.

The pond is a natural clay-lined pond fed by a spring at the rear and rain water from the roof. It was planted up with marginal plants, floaters and oxygenators, but it was not without its problems – nutrient levels, algae and duckweed. Norfolk Reeds were planted to help filter the nutrients – but they are the bamboo of the water world! After they began invading the land, in 2019 work had to begin to dig them out. This work is still on-going – so job not done!

Then along came the pandemic and lockdown. The garden provided wonderful views while working from home, and technology offered online opportunities for connections with other gardeners – for example @myrealgarden with Ann-Marie Powell – and for learning such as garden design courses with Adam Frost. Meanwhile the battle with the Norfolk Reeds continued, now from within the pond, and the bog garden was planned and replanted, and pond marginals chosen for succession. Lockdown was also a time for reflection, and after 32 years working in education, the tables turned and the lecturer became the student.

In autumn 2021 Paula enrolled on an RHS course at Aberglasney Gardens – the RHS Level 2 Certificate in Practical Horticulture. This was harder than any other course she had done at a much higher level, but very rewarding. At the same time more areas in the garden were cleared with the help of a friend, also a student on the course. After the areas had been left over winter, they were planted up for dry shade and woodland edge habitats. The work continued in 2022 with clearing the steepest area, the upper bank, in the autumn and planting up for a sunny well-drained position in the spring with shrubs, perennials (including fruit bushes and other edibles) and bulbs.

Every section of the garden includes wild flowers, which are either a legacy from the meadow seedbank or sown by the birds. These include red campion, ribwort plantain, and ox-eye daisies, with the addition of native ferns (which were always there) and Epimedium x versicolor ‘Sulphureum’. You have to be selective and choose plants which will work well together.

After finishing the RHS exams, Paula enrolled in autumn 2022 on an online Garden Design Course with KLC School of Design, covering how to build a garden design portfolio – storyboards, moodboards, customer profiles, masterplans, elevations and perspective drawings. All this learning was also being applied at a practical level by creating planting plans for a specific situation or purpose – in this case a wetter slope out of sight of the house to be planted colourfully for the birds and the bees. The course also gives access to CPD with the Society of Garden & Landscape Designers covering the latest thinking in design and sustainable gardening. Through this, inspired by visits to Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage at Dungeness, and the Walled Garden at Knepp designed by Tom Stuart-Smith and Professor John Hitchmough, as well as Beth Chatto’s Dry Garden, Paula began to rethink the front garden.

This was designed to be drought tolerant, with sand and grit layered above the topsoil, and mulched with local cockle shells. Then, after the summer of 2022, the driest since 1976, came the wettest winter since 1766! Despite this, the drought-tolerant planting survived the floods. Paula realised that we need to learn to garden in a time of climate change with more resilient plants, more species and more natives; we need to think about the soil and the substrates.

So in the following autumn (2023), she began to rethink the areas under the oaks, and the woodland edge plant communities that she wanted to create. The process involves drawing up plant longlists for these areas, taking into consideration growth type, longevity and competitiveness, in order to create successful plant communities that include natives and well-behaved or controllable weeds. The lists are then refined to reach more considered plant combinations which take into account colour, texture, form etc, and which ensure interest throughout the year as well as good ground coverage to retain moisture and avoid weeds or unwanted self-seeders.

Paula and Iain got involved with garden opening through the Ferryside Garden Crawl starting from 2018. From there connections were made with the National Garden Scheme, for whom the garden has opened since 2024 with 186 visitors raising £1100 for NGS charities, and 272 visitors in 2025. Through the NGS Yellow Book, the BBC Gardener’s World programme got in touch, and came to film the garden in May 2024, which was a wonderful experience, and provided great exposure for the garden when aired.

For a number of years Iain had been encouraging Paula to enter the B&Q Gardener of the Year competition, and in 2024 she finally did so in the ‘Most Sustainable Garden’ category – which she won!

In June 2024 photographer Sarah Cuttle had visited the garden to take photographs which were then used by Gardens Illustrated Magazine in an article written by Alys Fowler. That was when Paula realised how much she and Iain had achieved by attracting so much wildlife and creating a magical place for their son to grow up, knowing all the ‘Lost Words’ and having seen them in the garden.

For the future, Paula plans to continue to work with wildlife at the heart of the garden, completing the Garden Design course and implementing the learning. As she now knows, a garden is never finished – and the job is never ‘done’!

Members would be invited to visit ‘The House on Stilts’ on 31 May at 2pm, details to follow by email.

Next Meeting

Cothi Gardeners’ next meeting will be held on Wednesday, 18 June at 7.30 pm. Our very own Mair Evans will be giving a talk on ‘Pelargoniums and Geraniums’, which is bound to be fascinating, and as a bonus she will be bringing along plants for sale!

Summer Social

Members, save the date! On Wednesday, 20 August Cothi Gardeners’ summer social will take place at The Plough Inn, Felingwm. We will be able to order delicious pizzas of our choosing, and hear a talk on dahlias by Joseph Atkin, owner of The Plough Inn and former Head Gardener at Aberglasney Gardens. A real treat in store!

‘A Gardener’s Dream Itinerary’

A recent article in The Guardian newspaper has highlighted how lucky we are to live where we do. It is entitled ‘A Gardener’s Dream Itinerary: a Tour of Carmarthenshire, the Garden of Wales‘ and is a very nice write-up of gardens and a nursery we know and love, and you may just spot a reference to our Summer Social venue!

‘A Year in Aberglasney Gardens’ by Nigel McCall

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Nigel was originally a landscape and wildlife photographer, then about 11 years ago, looking for a local project, he realised that there was one on his doorstep in the form of Aberglasney Gardens. An agreement was made that if he could go into the gardens at any time of the day to take photos, he would share them for publicity purposes. The result is also his book ‘Aberglasney Gardens – A Calendar Year’.

Aberglasney is within the parish of Llangathen and was derelict and unloved until 1995 when a charity (the Aberglasney Restoration Trust) was set up especially to save the property. Fast forward to today and with the help of volunteers it is utterly fabulous – the gardens are constantly changing with new and exciting planting schemes, which makes them a photographer’s delight.

The first photographs we saw showed how the house sits within the land and then an early map describing the gardens without the buildings. We then began the year in photographs and saw the gardens in snow in December, with Viburnum giving colour and scent, three different varieties of Witch Hazel, and Christmas Box.

Nigel constantly looks to find the best version possible of each subject by adding small but necessary additions such as a flower with a spider web or a bit of moss attached. He takes many photos of a subject from all different angles and in changing light before being satisfied with the result. He initially looks for a suitable background before starting and mostly will take the photos from ground level, as low as possible, with a telephoto lens. The gardeners are very useful and will happily point out things of interest.

The first flowers (Crocus and Iris) to appear will be in the Alpinum area which gets sun throughout the day. Pictured opposite are a beautiful Hellebore with snowdrops captured in the Alpinum in February this year.

Nigel uses a process called focus stacking where he programmes the camera to take a number of shots at different focus points through the image to result in control both over the plant and the background. The background will be blurred so that there will be nothing distracting behind the image, it will take 15 to 30 photos rapidly to result in a good depth of focus of the image with a blurred background. By February there will be Pulmonaria and Willow coming to life, though this year the Camellias did not flower until February.

In March, there is more happening in the garden with Cuckoo flowers, Primula, Scilla, Cornus, different varieties of Narcissus and Crocus, Camellia, many types of Hellebore and more, and the woodland area is beginning to come alive.

This is a new look for the spring Cloister Garden in 2025. A lovely mixed Tulip border on the mansion terrace with Tulipa acuminata amongst the daisies & dandelions in the formal grass areas.

At the end of March and into April, there will be more Camillias, Prunus and Magnolia joining the displays along with Tulips and Fritillaries. It is unfortunate that the Magnolias will often be at the mercy of the weather and some varieties will not be seen every year (and some very rarely!). In April the butterflies will begin to appear to make the flowers even more beautiful and enhance any photographs. 

Nigel explained another photography technique called high dynamic range which accounts for the fact that the camera sees the world very literally and deals with the tones of colours (i.e. dark through to light) very differently.  A high dynamic range shot will take five shots starting with the area which is darkest then  through to the lightest and the five shots will merge on the inbuilt computer to result in the best version of the image. 

A wide angle lens is not used very often because it will lack definition and push the image away, but if you can get as close to the subject as possible it will improve the shot. Nigel tries to get combination photographs where possible and will have to spend quite a long time to get the shot just right, and again the background  has to be correct when considering colours and light. The Ninfarium at the back of the mansion provides cover and a different atmosphere for plants of a more exotic nature and different types of Orchids can be found. 

During several sections of the talk we were shown pictures of the gardens with musical accompaniment. We saw photos of  the latest work in the garden including the Aviaries which are in use for growing Squash and other vegetables. 

This is the display of Wisteria on the wall of the old cowshed with planters of daffodils. The photograph was taken on 17 April this year, when the wisteria arch would soon be coming into bloom.

Into June & July – roses are of course popular and can be found throughout the garden. Some varieties will continue until quite late in the year and there is a definitive rose garden which includes a beautiful rose arbour. The wildflower meadow no longer exists unfortunately, largely because they can be such a lot of work to get them at their best. 

Flowers of the Bromeliad, which is an epiphyte, will hopefully appear by September. This is a favourite month for Nigel when leaves will change colour, and Japanese anemones, vines  (particularly Vitis coignetiae ‘Crimson Glory’) and Hydrangea can be seen. September and October are excellent months for photography when the light can have a warmer hue and reflected light will be a useful addition to the photos. 

By October, Cyclamen and Cornus kousa (with their crimson fruits) are coming through and plants in the Alpinum also. One of the last flowers to be seen, which is actually a fruit, is Clerodendrum trichotomum or Harlequin glorybower. After the talk, Nigel answered any questions from the audience. He had also brought along for sale copies of his book ‘Aberglasney Gardens – A Calendar Year’, full of his stunning photographs.

Carol thanked Nigel for giving his very interesting talk and sharing the beautiful photographs which will hopefully inspire us to get into the garden with the usual tools plus a camera! 

Exciting News – Gelli Uchaf on BBC ‘Gardener’s World’!

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On Friday, 18 April at 8pm BBC2 will be showing the next episode of ‘Gardener’s World’ which will feature a clip of Fiona and Julian’s garden Gelli Uchaf Garden showcasing their daffodils. If you can’t catch it on Friday, the programme is repeated at 9am on Saturday, 19 April. For those in the UK and with a TV licence you will also be able to watch it on iPlayer.

You can read about the filming in Julian’s blog post about daffodils, spring and lambing.

As a reminder, in 2025 Gelli Uchaf garden will be open for the NGS on the following weekends, for either 10.30 am or 2.30 pm arrival times:

April 19th and 20th
May 24th and 25th
June 14th and 15th
July 5th and 6th

If you’d like to visit the garden in 2025 on one of the opening dates given above, then you need to email thegardenimpressionists@gmail.com, or phone: 01558 685119, giving at least 24 hour’s notice, to book a visit.

August Social

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The Cothi Gardeners annual social, hosted by our Chair Dawn, was held on an overcast, but fortunately not rainy (at least not until the end, when the remains of Storm Ernesto arrived!) day, allowing us all to make the most of the wonderful garden in Ffarmers, and the activities arranged. Plenty of members brought along produce or flowers for the various competitions, and the table was laden with savoury delights and delicious cakes for us all to tuck into.


After much conversation over the food, the results of the raffle and the competition prizewinners were announced. There were a total of six prizes for the raffle, which also benefitted the Club’s funds.


Certificates and medals were awarded for the best exhibit in each category, ably judged by guests Angela and Martin. Rob won the prize for the largest weed (by definition of being a plant in the wrong place, not an undesirable plant). Jenny claimed the prize for the best three runner beans, and Honour for the best flower arrangement and also single rose. Amanda won for best single dahlia, and the best potatoes. 


After that Dawn gave us a tour of their garden and land bordering the River Twrch and encompassing SSSI areas including swathes of Devil’s Bit Scabious, the food plant of the Marsh Fritillary butterfly, in perfect flower when we visited. I think that everyone was impressed with the natural beauty of the site and what Dawn and Nick had achieved in removing the overgrown brambles from much of the land, as well as creating a lovely more formal garden around the house and barns.

There was also an opportunity to try our hand at archery, with Nick a very friendly and able instructor. Let’s say that some of us were better than others, but everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience. 

We all enjoyed meeting Dawn and Nick’s lovely dogs, who played a full part in the proceedings and many balls were thrown during our walk. All in all it was a fabulous day out, and the raffle and plant sale (thank you Rhoslwyn Plants) raised welcome funds for the club. 

‘Plants with a Past’ – a few stories about plants, people and places – by Kari-Astri Davies

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It was a pleasure to welcome back Kari to talk to Cothi Gardeners again, this time about plants and their history. Knowing the history of the plants in your garden encourages you to spend more time in your garden, enhancing the experience.

A good place to start is Alex Pankhurst’s ‘Who Does Your Garden Grow?’ published in 1992. In Kari’s own garden, she discovered that the tall, double Delphinium ‘Alice Artindale’ was named by John Artindale from Sheffield for his wife, and that Campanula lactiflora ‘Prichard’s Variety’ was bred by James Prichard from Christchurch, now Dorset but then in Hampshire.

The first record of British gardens as places of pleasure is from 1260, but only for the nobility. It is not until the 16th century that garden flowers can be found along with vegetables in the grounds of tenant farmers or yeomen – as can be seen at the restored Bayleaf Mediaeval Farmstead in West Sussex dating from 1540. In 1597 John Gerrard published his ‘Herball’ where cottage gardens are referenced.

Paintings are another reference source for finding out what plants were around when. Aquilegia, a native plant, was certainly known in gardens in 1503, when a Flemish painter depicted double aquilegias in a vase among other flowers. Double A. ‘Nora Barlow’ was named after a grandchild of Darwin who studied plant biology and genetics at Cambridge. After leaving Cambridge she carried on her cross-breeding work. She herself didn’t particularly like her namesake, but passed the plant on to the nurseryman Alan Bloom for propagation and distribution.

Gertrude Jekyll, who designed over 400 gardens, not all with Lutyens, said ‘Why do we always have to go after the new?’ In 1904 she published ‘Old West Surrey’ describing traditional rural life where she lived, including illustrations of gardens. Working at the same time, Helen Allingham (1848-1926) was an illustrator and painter. A flower that pops up in her pictures of cottages and their gardens is the hollyhock. But its history in illustration goes back to at least 1486, in Herat, Afghanistan. By the 1600s big double hollyhocks had been bred. In Saffron Walden, Mr Chater (1802-85) was famous for his double hollyhocks of which he had 117 different varieties. Then along came hollyhock rust from South Africa, putting paid to his stock (fortunately he grew other things as well)! Helen Allingham’s painting of Gertrude Jekyll’s garden shows that it also included hollyhocks. The illustration on the cover of the Metro-land guide (Metro-land was the name given to the housing development – about 3,500 houses to the north west of London that took place between the two world wars) showed a large house with hollyhocks in the garden. Hollyhocks were also depicted on a well-known Sanderson fabric design.

Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750) is a Flemish painter famous for her still lifes with flowers, depicting among other things aconites, ranunculus, tulips, hyacinths and carnations. At one point double hyacinths were more expensive than tulips, and there were many more varieties than there are now. In the 1790s a bulb of the variety called ‘gloria mundi’ cost the equivalent of £30 in today’s terms. It was the stripes in tulips, caused by a virus, that led to the excesses of tulip mania. Striped tulips can be seen on Meissen china from the 1740s. William Pegg’s designs for Royal Crown Derby in the early 19th century also included striped tulips. By the early 20th century a Dutch company had bought up Flemish tulip stock, and started breeding solid colours giving predictability – the Darwin tulip. A Darwin variety surviving to this day is ‘Bleu Aimable’.

Florists’ societies had flourished in the 18th century, exclusively male and meeting in pubs, devoted to the growing of a specific flower, eg pinks. Even though the societies gradually died out, flower showing continued, and in 1804 the Royal Horticultural Society was founded. Its first show was in 1827, to which 3,000 people came. The population was growing, and so was the middle class. Greenhouses were no longer the prerogative only of the upper classes, indeed by the end of the century they had moved on to wilder gardening. Pelargoniums, of which Charles Dickens was very fond,  required greenhouses, and a particularly fine red called ‘Paul Crampel’ was bred in 1892 which is still widely grown today. 

Dahlias were first recorded by Hernandez in 1570 in Mexico. They appeared in Europe when some  tubers were sent to the Director of the Madrid Botanic Gardens in 1791. Originally there was confusion about the name – Dahlia or Georgina (which it is still known by in Eastern Europe – ed.)  – but Dahlia won, and it is of course a plant widely grown today. Treseder & Son of Cardiff were responsible for breeding the very well-known D. ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ (along with Pelargonium ‘Lord Bute’). 

Sweet peas are another flower that is still with us. The original sweet pea was first noted around 1700, of which ‘Painted Lady’ is probably a sport. Henry Eckford (1823-1905) bred 214 of the 264 cultivars known in the 19th century. One of those was ‘Dorothy Eckford’, still grown, white and quite small flowered. The variety ‘Prima Donna’ (pale pink) gave rise to the Spencer sweet peas – bigger, frillier with longer stems for showing, but with less scent.

Although roses are generally associated with France, it was the Dutch who first dealt in roses. R. centifolia, the cabbage or Provence rose, was developed by the Dutch. It is well-known that Josephine Bonaparte had at least 200 different cultivars in her garden. One of the main rose nurserymen then was Descemet, most of whose stock was acquired by Vibert, who greatly increased the number of cultivars available. In the 1800s in the UK Henry Bennett, a cattle farmer from Wiltshire, diversified into rose breeding and moved to Middlesex, being responsible for many of the new hybrid tea rose varieties of the time. Constance Spry started collecting old roses when she saw varieties disappearing – one of her favourites was R . ‘Mme Isaac Pereire’, a rose originally bred by Garçon in France.

In a fast-paced, wide-ranging and much appreciated talk, Kari covered many other plants and their stories including wallflowers, auriculas, lupins, anemones, daffodils and snowdrops. She started and finished by quoting from Plant Heritage, formerly known as the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens: ‘If garden plants go, a tantalising slice of social, cultural and horticultural history dies with them’.

Kari had brought along a selection of some of her favourite plants, including sweet peas (which scented the hall throughout the evening) and pelargoniums, including P. ‘Paul Crampel’, in the centre.

The Flower Garden by Sara Redman; Upcoming Club Events

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Sara grew up on a farm and worked for the council for 30 years but had always been a keen gardener with an award winning allotment, and then she bought her smallholding, where she now lives, in 2015. The house needed renovating, and she spent 2 years preparing the ground for the Flower Meadow, which opened as a business in 2017 when she joined all the local markets to start selling flowers.

There are now 2 polytunnels (with another to come), and a greenhouse (with another on the way). The smallholding is totally organic, with ducks for slug control and she makes all her own compost. She only does any serious weeding twice yearly, uses no plastics and sticks to a permaculture system. She only attempts to grow flowers that are happy in the smallholding and feels it’s a waste of time trying to bring on unhappy plants. She joined the “Flowers from the Farm” organisation in 2018 which is a group of (nationally) like-minded flower growers which you can find near you on their website .

The flowers from Sara are not posted, and can only be bought either from the farm (from £15 per bouquet) or from events she attends; she has done demonstrations at the Royal Welsh show, and the RHS show in Cardiff although there are sadly no more RHS shows in Wales now. She did the Chelsea Flower Show once, but says never again!

There are flower workshops at the smallholding and the premises are also used for other types of craft sessions. Supplies for weddings are a big part of the business (and weddings can be held on the smallholding) but with a caveat that the flowers are returned to the farm afterwards thus reducing waste. When arranging flowers, foam is completely avoided and chicken wire is used. Sometimes she makes whole flower installations for weddings.

There are Christmas wreath making sessions and some sessions for children. There is a wild flower meadow at the farm which is just cut down by hand once yearly, otherwise it needs no attention. She keeps bees (they must think they are in heaven!) and donkeys.

Lots of types of dahlias are grown and planted twice as deep as normal and are unusually generally left in the ground in the winter, although in the last wet winter, about half of them were lost. Dahlia plants are surrounded by sheep’s wool which deters the slugs. Although the farm is on a hill, it does get quite wet.

She uses the greenhouse for growing plants from seed and recommends only using fresh compost for this as it loses its nutrients. She starts growing sweet peas (her favourite flower) in the greenhouse in September but only grows them on in the polytunnel as the site is windy which they can’t handle. She also uses thee flowers from shrubs which are useful for greenery in arrangements – Eucalyptus is really handy and is easy to grow from seed.

Making compost is never-ending and she uses a concrete mixer to combine ingredients with alpaca poo which is brilliant because it can be used straight from the point of delivery.

Dawn thanked Sara for an entertaining and useful talk and encouraged us to make a note of the Open Day at the Flower Meadow which happens on 10th August 2024.

Upcoming Club Events

Members are reminded that our club summer social will be on Wednesday 21st August, probably (by general consensus!) at Dawn’s house – Cae Caradog, Ffarmers SA19 8NQ – see pictures below. Please think of any activities we could do outside and remember to bring food to share.

Our October meeting, on 16th, will be hosted by Richard Bramley of Farmyard Nurseries and he will take questions, following the format of the radio programme “Gardeners’ Question Time”. So please make a note in advance of any problems (garden related!) that you would like a solution for.

Ten Ways to Use Willow in the Garden (and Beyond) by Justine Burgess

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Justine began working with willows as a basket weaver ten years ago; she had always been interested in gardening and then eight years ago she and her husband Alan founded West Wales Willows on ten acres of land in Gwernogle (two acres of which are devoted to willow). They hold the National Collection of Salix for Plant Heritage, currently the only one in the country. The nursery was visited by Frances Tophill for  one of the Gardener’s World Winter Special programmes at the end of 2023, and has also featured on ITV’s Coast and Country series.

The nursery will be open for the NGS on 22 June from 10am to 4pm, and will be open as part of the Tywi Valley Open Studios from 27 July to 4 August, running taster willow weaving workshops on 29 July. An Open Weekend 4-6 October, when the winter colours are already starting to show through, will focus on growing willow.

On to the ten ways to use willow:

No. 1 – Plant Willow for Pollinators. Willow is very early flowering, some varieties as early as late January and early February in a ‘normal’ year (this winter it was considerably earlier). Five years ago, the National Botanic Garden of Wales analysed the pollen content of spring honey, and found that it was made up of 80-85% willow pollen, showing just how important it is for bees. This would probably mostly have been the wild growing willow such as the goat willow – Salix caprea – and the crack willow – S. fragilis. Of the more decorative varieties, S. udensis ‘Sekka’ is a magnet for all sorts of insects including bees, wasps and even bluebottles! S. gracilistyla ‘Melanostachys’ has black catkins, and makes a very good-shaped shrub in the garden, reaching only 7ft after a number of years. S. gracilistyla ‘Mount Aso’ has bright pink catkins, and is also not huge.

No. 2 – Plant for Winter Colour. The winter colour of willow stems ranges from pale white through yellow and orange, green and brown, to purple and black. The purple-barked willow is Salix daphnoides, the black-barked willow is S. nigricans, and the orange-barked willow is often a form of S. alba ‘Britzensis’. It is also worth remembering that there are alpine willows, growing no more than 2 ft tall. Frost intensifies the stem colour of all willows.

No. 3 – Plant a Fedge. What’s a fedge? It’s a cross between a fence and a hedge. It is a decorative barrier, rather than a stock-proof one, created by planting willow stems in the shape of a lattice. To keep the fedge at a reasonable size, it is best to cut off all the current year’s growth once the leaves have fallen. S. nigricans, the black-barked willow, is stunning when planted in this way. 

No. 4 – Plant Something Bigger. This could be something like a willow dome, or a willow tunnel. To create stability, you need to plant the willow rods 12 inches into the ground. Willow doesn’t like competition, so in order to get it to grow strongly you need to use membrane; Justine has recently been experimenting with cardboard and wood chip to see how they will perform in place of membrane. Some people have used willow to create mini-domes to provide shelter from the sun in summer for chickens and for dogs. In Germany a willow cathedral has even been created. 

No. 5 – Use Willow Baskets. Willow stems , of course, are perfect for weaving baskets – and what could be better than collecting your own fruit and vegetables in baskets and trugs woven from your own willow!

Woven willow articles
Woven willow articles

No. 6 – Incorporate Willow Garden Structures. In the vegetable garden you can use willow to create supports for runner beans and sweet peas as well as mini-pumpkins. Willow also makes a great base for a wedding arch decorated with flowers and greenery. The only thing is that willow structures don’t last forever – four seasons is about the limit.

No. 7 – Make Willow Water. The bark of willow is packed full of growth hormones at the base of the stem when in growth. Take one-year-old willow stems, cut them into 1.5-inch chunks and cover them with water. Use about one-third willow to two-thirds water. The water will only last for one to two weeks before you have to make another batch, but it can be used as a replacement for hormone rooting powder. 

No. 8 – Chop and Drop (Ramial Woodchip). One- or two-year old willow wood, chipped, which breaks down really fast, is amazing for feeding fruit trees. It is also brilliant for making hot beds. You can use wild willow for this. The wood should be cut no later than May, because after that you won’t get much regrowth. The leaves from the wood can be dried, chopped, and then go into the compost bin.

No. 9 – Build a Dead Hedge. Dead hedges are great homes for insects and can serve as good temporary fences.

No. 10 – Make Something Fun! Willow is great for making sculptures – for example, a stag, a hare, even just a big ball.

Justine then took questions from the audience. She recommended Salix nigricans and S. triandra ‘Blacktop’ as the best black-stemmed willows. She confirmed that willows need quite a lot of sun – about 6 to 8 hours in the summer, so you shouldn’t plant them on the north side of a hedge. They also don’t like being next to established trees. They need a lot of water, although they don’t have to be in wet ground. They don’t like chalky ground, and love clay or clay on shale. Willow stems should be cut during the dormant season. As they dry, they lose one-third of their width. They should be allowed to dry for three to four months, then rehydrated. A bundle of 5-foot long willow lengths should be submersed under water for 5 days to fully rehydrate for weaving.

West Wales Willows run a variety of different courses, at Gwernogle, at Myddfai Community Hall, at Abergwili and at Denmark Farm Conservation Centre. 

Lots of interest at the Club's plant sales table
Lots of interest at the Club’s plant sales table
Tea and a natter before the main event
Tea and a natter before the main event

Remember to browse the rest of the Cothi Gardeners’ website for other upcoming events, the Surplus to Requirements section and updates to Members’ Gardens. If you have any ideas for new content or would like to contribute a piece about your own garden, please contact cothigardeners@gmail.com.

An Acid Trip to Llwyngarreg; John and Helen’s Plant Sale for NGS Charities in May

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Paul and Liz O’Neill have been gardening at Llwyngarreg for 24 years, when they originally turned a field into a garden open to the public for the NGS with a variety of different environments: peat beds, azaleas and rhododendrons, a tropical bed with Tetrapanax and ginger lilies, a fritillary meadow, gravel beds creating a dry garden (see right), to mention just a few.

A soil map of Wales shows that generally the pH is about 6-6.5, so on the acidic side. Some plants are calciphile (lime-lovers), and others are calcifuge (lime-haters), and there are plenty in-between. But even then things are not so simple. Buddleja, honeysuckle, and ash are defined as being calciphile, but generally do well in Wales. This talk focuses on plants that must have or don’t mind a low pH soil, starting with trees and shrubs, and moving on to plants that grow beside or under them.

To start with – Rhododendrons, the plant that first triggered Paul’s interest in gardening. First come the species, considered to have ‘snob value’, compared to the ‘commoner’ hybrids. A lot of species rhododendrons originate from the Himalayas, but also from North America, and Europe, including Portugal (R. ponticum) and the Caucasus.

They generally come true from seed, which is how Paul has grown many of the species that he has, including R. calophytum (left), which over the years has made a huge plant. Species can take up to 20 years to flower if grown from seed – meriting a glass of champagne when one flowers for the first time! R. cinnabarinum is another favourite, this time grown from cuttings.

Hybrid rhododendrons come from crossing different species. They are generally tougher, easier to grow, and flower earlier in life. They are propagated by cuttings or layers. Paul’s favourite is R. ‘Pink Walloper’, while Liz’s is R. ‘Sappho’ (right) , a lovely old hybrid from Waterer’s Nursery in Surrey – the plant’s only fault is that it is a bit straggly.

Both species and hybrid rhododendrons hate having wet feet – so if you garden on clay soil, plant them on a bit of a mound.

Finally there are what we call the Azaleas (although they are of course Rhododendrons). They can be evergreen, such as R. ‘Hinomayo’ which forms a dense bush (so much so it can be pruned to shape with a hedge trimmer). They are also deciduous – R. luteum (left), from the Caucasus, with its scented yellow flowers and gorgeous autumn colour. The latter can tolerate really sticky grey clay, and Paul and Liz plant them on what they call the ‘killing grounds’ where many other plants won’t survive. R. occidentale, again scented, is from America.

Next come the Camellias. Over time, even in our environment, they can get large (in Cornwall they have been known to take the chainsaw to them!). Some examples Paul gave are C. ‘Donation’, C. ‘Debbie’, and C. ‘Jury’s Yellow’ (right).

Most magnolias want acid conditions – and they vary from huge trees to shrubs such as M. stellata. At Llwyngarreg one of the stars of the show is M. ‘Caerhays Surprise’, a magnificent hybrid bred at Caerhays Garden in Cornwall.

Another is M. ‘Black Tulip’ (left, in bud), a Mark Jury hybrid from New Zealand (which in addition to flowering in the spring can also flower again in September). M. loebneri ‘Merrill’ is pure white with a delicious coconut fragrance in the sun.

Another of the magnolias that Paul and Liz grow is M. ‘Yellow River’ (right), a lovely yellow flower, but as it is late the flowers can sometimes get lost among the emerging foliage. M. ‘Daphne’ is probably the yellowest of the Magnolias, but late, with the flowers coming out with the leaves. Paul recommends the Arboretum Wespelaar in Belgium as a place to see the many species and varieties of Magnolia.

Moving on to other shrubs, a hydrangea that not so many people are aware of is H. aspera subsp sargentiana, with large velvety leaves and lacy flowers which tolerates deep shade underneath beech trees. On the other side of the path from the Hydrangea is a mass of the ginger lily Cauttleya spicata ‘Robusta’, rather surprisingly also enjoying the shade.

Crinodendron hookerianum has magnificent red bells in spring, and like many other acid-loving plants hails from Chile. There are also now other white and pink-flowered varieties, although they have not yet been tried at Llwyngarreg.

Paul and Liz started by planting trees at Llwyngarreg, including Parrotia persica (with tiny red flowers in late winter) and Nyssa sylvatica (the tupelo), both with fiery autumnal foliage.

Eucryphia lucida ‘Ballerina’ is a small evergreen tree with lovely pink flowers in late summer, although here in west Wales we cannot grow the huge eucryphias (trunks like trees!) you see in Northern Ireland. Enkianthus campanulatus has small pink-tinged bells in the spring, with fantastic autumn colour. Jovellana violacea, a sub-shrub, has pale purple bell-shaped flowers with a yellow throat; also from Chile, Desfontainea spinosa has holly-like leaves and tubular red and yellow flowers, a lovely shrub, which in west Scotland can be a tree up to twenty feet tall. The latter is a true acid-lover and will die if it comes anywhere near an alkaline soil.

Jovellana violacea
Desfontainea spinosa

Moving on to climbers – the star of the show is Tropaeolum speciosum, a perennial nasturtium with red flowers and blue berries, renowned for growing very well in Scotland. It is often lost in gardens when first planted, because slugs graze it off. 

Amongst perennials, Meconopsis, the Himalayan poppy, are perhaps the ultimate acid-lovers. They are definitely challenging to grow, and need a shady, damp bed with no sun. M. ‘Lingholm’ – the one to grow if you are only going to grow one type – used to seed around in the peat beds, but not so much any more as summers have become hotter and drier.

M. horridula, being monocarpic, takes three years to reach flowering size and then dies after flowering. So too does M. x complexa (it used to be called napaulensis), flowering red or yellow after two to three years.

Primula capitata (right), with its striking blue flowers, is a short-lived peat-lover of moist woodlands. It comes easily from seed if you sow the seed green and don’t cover it.

Another primula for a peat bed is P. flaccida – a lovely lavender blue but it is loved by vine weevil. P. ‘Arduaine’ has ice-blue flowers in January and February. P. poissonii is a candelabra primula which likes wet feet. P. viallii will grow in any soil, but thrives in a peat bed.

Roscoea ‘Harvington Evening Star’ is a dark purple. It comes up late in the year, and slugs don’t like it, always a bonus. It has a tendency to flop over, but it has a long flowering season from mid-Summer to October. Trilliums are invariably expensive to buy, but it is hard to understand why. Trillium luteum, for example, is easy to propagate by chopping it into small pieces, each with an eye, and replanting. Cypripedium, hardy slipper orchids, are gorgeous but difficult to grow, and always expensive.

Cardiocrinum giganteum, known as the giant Himalayan lily, is a truly impressive plant at up to 4m high with gloriously scented flowers (see left, with Liz). Slugs adore them so they can be difficult to grow for that reason. They produce masses of seed after flowering, but it takes seven years from seed to a flowering plant!

Gentians need moist, peaty soil, and also full sun. A good place to buy gentians is Aberconwy Nursery near Bodnant Gardens. G. asclepiadea is a great late summer plant and will tolerate light shade. Corydalis alata (blue flowers), C. flexuosa (blue flowers) and  C. solida (purple flowers) are plants that need shade and moisture.

Two favourite plants in the lily family are Nomocharis alata, which requires moist peat, and Lilium mackliniae. 

Podophyllum delavayi, P. ‘Spotty Dotty’ and P. ‘Kaleidoscope’ are plants for a moist and shady spot.

Myosotidium hortensia, the Chatham Island forget-me-not, is a challenging plant for acid soil, and unfortunately completely slug-delicious. It must have no sun at all.

At the very low ground level Paul and Liz plant Saxifraga stolonoifera, which makes huge mats of leaves covered in white flowers, and two Chilean plants – Asteranthera ovata, and Philesia magellanica which requires a pure acid soil. 

Ginger lilies do surprising well – they prefer an acid soil but don’t have to have it. Hedychium edgeworthii (yellow) and H. ‘Tara’ (orange), produce some of the most exotic-looking flowers you can grow in the UK. 

Other plants not requiring acid soilthat grow well at Llwyngarreg include Epimedium, lovely for its new foliage, and Aquilegia. Primula pulverulenta prefers a woodland environment rather than wet feet. Primula bulleyana (orange-yellow) and beesiana also do well. So too do Rodgersia podophyllum, which is easy to propagate, and Matteucia struthiopteris (the Ostrich fern).

At the time of this talk, the second half of March, some of the highlight plants in the garden at Llywngarreg are listed below: 

Snakeshead fritillaries, which love wet grassland. Paul and Liz started with ten pots, over the years religiously collected the seed and sowed it – and now they have a whole fritillary meadow; sadly, Mr Badger has developed a taste for the fritillaries.

Ground cover in the form of Eomecon chionantha with poppy like white flowers from China, which can be quite a thug; also Maianthemum racemosum.

Rhododendron arboreum ‘Album’ is now starting to flower properly. So too is R. calophytum, which this year is much pinker in flower than it has been previously.

Magnolia ‘Caerhays Surprise’ (left), M. ‘Merrill’ and a large M. stellata, along with M. ‘Black Tulip’, which is a very reliable flowerer.

The talk concluded with a video of a dramatic burning of the Monocot bed, largely populated with Miscanthus but also Dierama. Paul and Liz have discovered that the simplest way to tidy up the grass beds is to cut down all the old foliage, and then set fire to the bed!!

In response to a question about tropical-looking plants that he would recommend, Paul suggested Tetrapanax papyrifera. It can be a little bit tender, and even though it was cut back by the hard frosts of December 2022, it has come back strongly. You need to be careful when handling it, as it has little brown hairs which make you cough badly. Paul also recommends cannas and hedychiums.

The talk was fast-paced, very informative, and delivered with lots of humour. The web editor, for one, came away with a long list of plants new to her to try in the garden. All those present were very appreciative and made a beeline for the plant sales table afterwards.

Llwyngarreg Garden is open for the NGS (which supports seven main and other guest charities) every day by appointment, but please check the website and ring beforehand.

Plant Sale for NGS Charities 12 May

John and Helen Brooks will be holding a plant sale for NGS Charities on Saturday, 12 May from 1pm at their garden Ty’r Maes, Ffarmers, Carmarthenshire, SA19 8JP. As usual there will be lots of plants for sale, to swap and to order online, all proceeds going to NGS Charities.

Remember to browse the website for other upcoming events, the Surplus to Requirements section and updates to Members’ Gardens. If you have any ideas for new content or would like to contribute a piece about your own garden, please contact cothigardeners@gmail.com.

AGM; Website Update

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The Annual General Meeting of the Cothi Gardeners Club was held on 21 February 2024. Elena Gilliatt, the outgoing Chair, gave her final Chair’s report on a year packed not just with great talks (organised by Fiona and ably managed by Amanda and Carol) but also garden visits:

  • In June we had a wonderful Mad Hatters Tea Party at Gelli Uchaf, Fiona and Julian’s amazing NGS garden. What a lovely afternoon; fab hosts, loads of mad hats and we raised £80 for club funds!
  • In July we visited Paul and Liz O’Neill at their wonderful garden in Whitland, coming away laden with plants, gardening tips and planting ideas.
  • In August, our summer social had us touring 3 member’s gardens. Thanks to Jane, Jenny & Gordon and Dawn for making us so welcome and sharing their lovely, and very different, gardens.
  • At our October meeting we were treated to 3 mini talks by members Sheena, Sally and Elena. The response was great, so hopefully other members will share their gardens with us in the future!
  • At the beginning of December, 36 of us visited Ystrad Garden Centre for a demo and tea. Thanks to Amanda and Carol for organising such an enjoyable afternoon. A great way to round off our gardening year.
Mad Hatters Tea Party
Llwyngarreg
Summer Social

Thanks were extended to all outgoing Committee members for their contributions, and in particular to Elena for chairing the Club so enthusiastically and steering it through the difficult Covid years.

After the AGM came a delicious buffet of savoury dishes and cakes contributed by those attending, followed by an extremely challenging quiz on varied topics, not just gardening, compiled and organised by Carol Clarke.

Website Update

The Cothi Gardeners website has now been updated to include the new programme for 2024, upcoming events will be listed as and when we are advised of them, and their are additions to the Members’ Gardens and Surplus to Requirements sections. Please take the time to peruse the new content by following the links above, and if you have any ideas for new content or would like to contribute a piece about your own garden, please contact cothigardeners@gmail.com.

‘Delightful, De-lovely, Deranged – Aren’t Plants Wonderful’ – A Talk by Nancy Stevens

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This was a recording of the talk that Nancy originally gave to Cothi Gardeners over Zoom during one of the Covid lockdowns , describing a cornucopia of amazing plants from almost every continent.

Nancy started with Wistaria sinensis, and in case you’re wondering, that is not a ‘typo’. The species was originally named by Thomas Nuttall after Dr Caspar Wistar; but when the name was being transcribed it was spelt as Wisteria, and so it has remained ever since. The particular specimen depicted is Wisteria sinensis ‘Lavender Rain’ in Sierra Madre in California – covering one acre, it is the largest flowering plant in the world. It was planted 100 years ago by a young couple at the time of their wedding, and it grew so large that it actually destroyed their home, and threatened that of their neighbour. Wisteria japonica is not so vigorous, the largest known specimen has covered half an acre over 150 years. Looking down at the plant, W. japonica climbs clockwise, and W. chinensis twines anticlockwise. W. japonica is considered the choicer plant, more delicate, with very scented blooms and strong autumn colour; it requires full sun. W. sinensis is now designated in the US as an invasive species, and people are being encouraged to grow the American W. frutescens instead.

No talk about plants would be complete without a rose – and Nancy chose R. damascena for its magnificent scent. It is the source of Attar of Roses so widely used in perfumery. A lesser known use for it is in the space industry as a greasing agent because of its resistance to temperature change. The Valley of the Roses in Bulgaria has been famous for its rose harvest since the 17th century when it was part of the Ottoman Empire. The peak period of flowering, and thus harvesting, is from mid-May to mid-June. The petals are harvested between 5am and noon every day. It takes 3.5 tonnes of petals to produce 1 kilogram of rose oil, which is worth more than the price of gold. As a consequence for use in the perfume industry it is very heavily diluted.

From here to Japan, for the Japanese Iris – I. laevigata, I. ensata and I. sibirica. These forms of Iris are highly prized in Japan, where they are frequently depicted in works of art. They like their feet to be wet,  and one of the best places in the world to see them is the Suigo Itako Aquatic Botanic Garden where there are at least a million iris plants. You can view the iris from boardwalks built around the canal network, but you can also view them at eye level from a boat cruise. People apply from all over the world to get married by boat at flowering time. There are festivals around Japan to celebrate the flowering of the iris, but one of the best is at Itako.

A very different aquatic plant is the Cahaba lily, or aquatic spider lily, hailing from the Cahaba River in Alabama. It flowers in the late afternoon and evening to attract its pollinator, the Trumpet Vine Sphinx Hawkmoth. 

It is a member of the Amaryllidaceae, as is another spider lily – Lycoris radiata, the red spider lily, native to East Asia but now naturalised in some southern US states. It is a very poisonous plant and is grown around rice paddies and houses to keep vermin away. It requires heat and rainfall. In Japan where a festival is held in its honour attracting 10,000 visitors a day. It blooms in late summer/early autumn and also goes by the name of the equinox flower.

From the southern USA and tropical South America comes the most dangerous tree in the world, the Manchineel Tree, Hippomane mancinella. Its fruit are known as ‘little apples of death’ or ‘little apples that make horses mad’. It is a member of the Euphorbia family and causes acute allergic dermatitis. People are warned not to stand under the tree when it rains, and the smoke from its burning can cause blindness. On the positive side (!) the roots sterilise soil, and the timber when dry is excellent for furniture. Because of its toxicity, it has become an endangered species in Florida.

Ceroxylon quindiuense is the wax palm from Colombia. It is extremely tall and thin, and its usefulness has been its downfall. The leaves were used as fodder for pigs and cattle, and the stems were stripped for wax. It was on the very verge of extinction when in 1985 it was declared the national tree of Colombia and afforded full protection; its population has since recovered.

Next we turn to the Cook pine, Araucaria columnaris, from New Caledonia. At home they can reach 200ft in height. However, the species missed out on plants’ normal ability to detect gravity, and they lean towards the equator – the further from the equator, the more they lean!

Returning to aquatic plants, the water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes, is from tropical and semi-tropical parts of the world. It is one of the fastest growing plants on the planet, spreading by both runners and seeds which remain viable for 28 years. It was originally introduced into the US by a Japanese businessman. Because of its rapid spread and ability to choke waterways, it is banned in Europe and the UK. In the nineteenth century three unlikely men formed the New Food Supply Company with a plan to introduce hippos to eat the plants, and people would then be able to eat the hippos (there was then a meat shortage in the USA). A law was debated in the House of Representatives to allow this, and it fell by just one vote. In Louisiana many millions are spent annually just to control it. However, in the Philippines there is a cottage industry which makes eco-friendly charcoal from the plants. The roots are able to absorb dangerous toxins, including Strontium 90. It is eaten in Thailand; in Malaysia it is being investigated as a potential biochemical control against Mimosa pigra (there an invasive semi-aquatic species). 

The Red Lotus Sea is a shallow lake in Thailand renowned for the red water lilies that flower there en masse. Flowering time of day has come up before in this talk, but here you have to go early – the flowers start to close at 10am and by noon there is nothing to see!

Now to plants resembling birds or animals. Harbenaria radiata is the White Egret orchid, a very elegant plant getting its name from its appearance of a white egret in flight. Two plants from SE and southern Asia get their names from their resemblance to bats – Tacca chantrieri, the Bat Flower, and Tacca integrifolia, the Bat Lily, the latter used in Malaysia to create a paste to treat insect bites and minor burns, and to lower blood pressure.

The Flying Duck Orchid from Australia, so named because of its obvious resemblance, has a unique symbiotic relationship with a fungus in the soil in its native habitat, whose destruction, along with a consequent lack of pollinators, has caused it to become endangered. 

Kudzu is the Japanese arrowroot, also known as the ‘flower that ate the south’ in the United States. In Japan the plant dies back in the winter, but in the warmth of the southern US it grows up to a foot a day. It was introduced at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876. As a member of the pea family, it fixes nitrogen in the soil. It was seen as a weapon against dust storms, and farmers were paid $8 an acre to plant it – 17 million plants were grown. However, a plant that was seen as a saviour is now a nightmare. Power companies spend $1.5 million per year just on repairing power lines. Goats have been some help in controlling it, and kudzu bugs are now infesting and killing the vines. However, the bug has also developed a taste for the soya bean, a crop which is very valuable to the economy of  southern USA. 

Superblooms are an extraordinary and beautiful phenomenon. They occur rarely in the Atacama Desert (where some parts have never recorded rain). However, when it is an El Niño year and the right conditions are met (a rainstorm producing half-an-inch or more of rain, and then intermittent rain through the winter and spring), a superbloom does occur. It happens more regularly in the Namaqua National Park in South Africa from mid August to the end of September. Here it is condensing fog that creates the right conditions. There are 8,500 fynbos species here, 5,000 of which are endemic, including Restios and Proteas.

Finally, back to Japan, which has the greatest species diversity of hydrangeas and where their flowering heralds the start of the rainy season. In Okinawa the Yohena Hydrangea Garden attracts 20,000 visitors per year. It was created by Mrs Uto Yohena, who lived to be 100, and planted the garden on the site of a tangerine field. 

The talk was a most enjoyable whistlestop tour around the world, taking in a great variety of plants notable in very different ways, and there was a lively discussion afterwards.