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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.

Three Local Gardens; John’s Plant Sale

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For our October meeting, three members of the Club volunteered to give short talks about their gardens ranging from borderline hardy shrubs and perennials to ponds.

Sheena’s Borderline Hardy Trees and Shrubs

Sheena’s garden is situated at 700’ with a northwest aspect; it has evolved over the years from a field to a garden where shrubs and trees are the main focus. There have been successes and failures with plants that might be considered to be borderline hardy in this area. The soil in the garden is acidic, and most of the plants featured, with the exception of the first, are ericaceous; they are all more-or-less evergreen. 

Borinda papyrifera is one of the bamboos from Yunnan that has survived (just!). Borinda lushuianensis (originally known as Yunnan 4, much simpler to pronounce) did not survive any quite mild winters here, but B. papyrifera has proved to be tougher.

Said to be hardy to -14°C to -16°C, as a small plant it did not come through the very hard winter of 2010-11. We decided to give it one more chance, and by 2020 (above) it had made an impressive specimen in the garden.

December 2022 saw some fairly low temperatures in our area, certainly into double figures below freezing. It became clear that B. papyrifera had suffered badly, and initially Sheena wasn’t sure it would survive – but it has, and developed a number of new shoots this year, although it may be a few years before it recovers to the size that it was. The young canes are a powdery blue-grey initially,  maturing to olive green, with large silvery-buff sheaths, and develop up to a height of 7m. If you have the space, it is definitely a ‘statement’ plant.

Of the large-leaved rhododendrons, R. falconeri has proved to be the hardiest (it has not suffered in even the coldest temperatures while others, such as R. sinogrande,  have). It is a striking plant, with leathery dark green leaves, fawn indumentum when the leaves emerge, deepening to a rusty colour on the underside of the leaves, peeling pinky-brown stems and pale yellow flowers with a maroon blotch. It has not been extremely floriferous here, but the young leaves make up for that as they emerge.

The west wall of the house is the only place where Crinodendron hookerianum has proved happy, and it is now a very large plant. It has elongated dark green leaves and lantern-shaped crimson flowers are suspended from its branches in May, giving the shrub its name of the lantern tree. In our part of the country, it definitely requires a sheltered position.

Another red-flowered plant, this time with bright scarlet flowers, is Embothrium coccineum, which takes over from the Crinodendron flowering in late May and June. It is an evergreen or semi-evergreen small tree with clusters of bright scarlet tubular flowers (hence its name of the Chilean firebush). It has not proved to be very long-lived in the garden (Sheena thinks that late frosts in May were the culprit).

A replacement, a sucker from her parents’ garden, even though still quite small, came through last winter unscathed, even though it is said to be hardy to -5°C to -10°C.

Finally, Eucryphia x intermedia ‘Rostrevor’ is a hybrid between E. glutinosa  and E. lucida, which originated in Co. Down. It forms a columnar, evergreen small tree which bearing masses of scented white flowers abuzz with insects; its flowering period of late summer makes it particularly valuable in the garden, and this variety has proved to be very hardy.

Sally’s New Garden with Hardy Perennials and Grasses

After studying painting Sally at college, Sally practised as an artist for 10 years.  She was influenced by medieval depictions of the flowery mead in her later work. Gardening became Sally’s main interest after moving to a house with a big garden in Oxfordshire. For ten years she ran a specialist plant nursery, with most of the plants grown from cuttings or seeds, selling out at Rare Plant Fairs, Specialist Plant Fairs and Yellow Book Gardens among others. A few years ago she moved to the Cothi Gardeners area and began to develop her new garden from scratch, focussing on hardy perennials. She has a greenhouse where she propagates perennials from seed and cuttings. To the south of the house is a border 15m long and 5m deep. Huge stumps of C. leylandii had to be removed by a tree surgeon to be able to make best use of this space. The soil is deep and rich, quite a contrast to the heavy clay in Oxfordshire.

The garden to the rear is north-facing and exposed, backing onto set-aside land with plenty of wild flowers. In this area in 2021 Sally decided to try a no-dig flowerbed which she planted up exclusively from seeds and cuttings she had raised herself.

The no-dig bed was created by laying down cardboard, adding compost and cut material on top. It has been a great success and
become a varied tapestry of perennials.

In her gardening style, Sally has been very inspired by Piet Oudolf and his use of perennials and grasses, and plants particularly to attract pollinators. She gardens exclusively organically, and uses only peat-free compost. She doesn’t water  plants after two weeks have passed since planting, unless a plant dehydrates completely.

 Sally showed us many pictures from her garden of beautiful combinations of hardy perennials and grasses.  A group of plants Sally uses widely are the hardy geraniums – including G. ‘Patricia’, G. pratense, G renardii, G. ‘Rozanne’ (which flowers from May to October), and G. ‘Cloud Nine’ raised by Helen Warrington of local Ty Cwm Nursery. The latter is extremely floriferous over a long period, and the bees have an unusual trick to get at the pollen, by making  a hole on the underside of the first petal layer.

G. ‘Cloud Nine’ with G. ‘Patricia’ and Astrantia ‘Buckland’

 Among the grasses are Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’, which as the name suggests catches the light beautifully, and Miscanthus malepartum, which is extremely tough. Molinia caerulea ‘Transparent’ is another favourite, as it stays small in the border until mid-summer, but then shoots up with stems as much as 8 feet tall, making a real statement without taking up too much space.

Deschampsia cespitosa with Geranium ‘Rozanne’

 Sally has particular praise for Dianthus carthusianorum, with its single pink flowers held on tall stems above narrow, grassy, grey-green leaves; it flowers all summer long. 

Other perennials that Sally uses include Salvia ‘Purple Rain’, Papaver ‘Royal Chocolate Distinction’, Asphodeline luteum, Phlox ‘Hesperis’ (with violet flowers that become almost luminous at night), Salvia uliginosa, Salvia turkestanica, Knautia macedonica, Morina longifolia (hailing from Tibet), Centaurea ‘Pulchra Major’ and Selenium wallichianum.

A beautiful grouping of plants from Sally’s garden

Elena’s Tropical Pond in Wales

Twelve years ago Elena moved from Trinidad to the Cothi Gardeners area – where the climate and vegetation couldn’t be more different! There was an unused patch of grass in her garden, with just 4 daffodils and half-a-dozen bluebells, which she had been considering turning into a ‘tropical pond’. The site is exposed to the north and the east, and on top of a rubble heap – not promising! Then along came lockdown in 2020, creating an opportunity, and providing a much-needed focus for activity. 

The first step was to lay the outline of the pond with twigs on the grass. Then Elena dug up from her garden and divided any plants with tropical-looking foliage. She also scavenged what she could from friends.

 But, in lockdown, where to get the materials? James, Elena’s next-door neighbour, came to the rescue. He supplied both the butyl liner, and the soft cushioning layer. He also borrowed a mini-digger to dig the pond.

Even with the mini-digger, the spoil heap proved to be a tough proposition – the pond became shallower, and shallower… Elena collected the stones for the pond, to hide the butyl liner, from the small stream which runs along the boundary of the garden. More of the butyl liner was used to create a bog garden to one side of the pond. Lifting the canopy on the sycamore trees has been effective, giving the stems a tropical appearance.

Then Elena spent hours placing pots in and around the pond, and the next thing the pond needed was a waterfall. Lockdown again turned out to be the provider, as Farmyard Nurseries had been clearing out their sheds and discovered a water fountain – just what was needed!

What of the plants? They include a Banana (which stays out all year, wrapped in the winter), Gunnera, Persicaria (which was gifted as a bunch and distributed about under the stones), watercress (also from a friend), Macleaya and even a carnivorous plant (which also overwinters!). Gingers (Hedychium) also are surprising and beautiful plants in this environment. Houseplants are brought out for a summer holiday, including Hibiscus and Bougainvillea.

 Gravel has been put down around the pond, joining to the existing path, which has been lined with trellis screens bought online. At the base are ferns, which have proved to be very hardy. Hostas have been hung in pots from the tree adjoining the path, and stumps have filled with thyme and evergreen ferns.

 It is just a tiny pond, but it attracted so much wildlife, almost immediately: birds, snails, dragon- and damsel-flies, frogs, toads, newts and lots of hedgehogs. The frogs come in huge numbers, as Elena and her grandchildren discovered in the spring when they went down to the pond at night to explore! 

Around the pond the hedges have really thickened up, and the planting has become lusher and lusher. Many plants have died, but lots have survived. Making the pond has been an enjoyable journey; the tropical feel of the pond reminds Elena of Trinidad and the plants of gardening friends old and new. 

Neighbour James, who came to the rescue with materials, with his daughters by what is now a very tropical-looking pond
Bench with bling

John’s October Plant Sale

John and Helen held a very well-attended plant sale for NGS charities in early October, which has so far raised a sum of over £1000 for the charities. This figure will rise as there are plants still to be delivered and collected. John and Helen would like to thank all those who contributed plants, bought plants and helped out on the day. The autumn plant sale has been so successful they may well hold another sale in the spring of next year – so watch this space…

August Garden Safari and Picnic

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Previous garden safaris had been very successful and popular occasions, so for this year’s August event it was decided to repeat the experience, with members offering three gardens for the safari in Crugybar, Ffaldybrenin and Ffarmers. It was our great good fortune that, despite the grey and soggy conditions that have prevailed for much of August, we had a lovely sunny day for it. An enjoyable time was had by all, there was much of interest to be seen in all the gardens, and great thanks are due to those who opened their gardens for us. Here are a selection of photos from the day.

Jane’s Garden

Jenny and Gordon’s Garden

Dawn and Nick’s Garden

‘A Garden above the Estuary’ – a Talk by Adam Alexander; Pottiputki; Updated Website

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The 2023 year of talks opened with this fascinating and entertaining talk on the creation of Adam’s current garden which combined practical tips with stories of adventures tracking down vegetable seed and its links with food identity and culture, and the history of many vegetable seeds and their names. Adam’s particular interest is the conservation of the genetic diversity of edible crops.

As background, Adam told us that he has grown something every year for the table from a very young age. Despite having trained as a film-maker, Adam became a market gardener in the mid-late seventies; then that was what Adam describes as a “mug’s game”, as there was little interest in unusual vegetables such as purple-podded peas or yellow courgettes, and he returned to the film industry. That was a job that enabled him to travel widely and led directly to Adam’s interest in acquiring and protecting vegetable seeds with a history and cultural connection.

That is where this story begins – in Donetsk in 1988, where Adam had travelled as producer of a film about a Welsh industrialist who founded the steel industry in Ukraine. In the hotels of the time vegetables were not in great supply on the menu, and Adam ventured to the local market with an interpreter. There he encountered an old lady selling the surplus of vegetables she had grown, from seed she had saved herself, from seed saved previously by her mother and her grandmother. Adam bought some peppers and took them back to the hotel kitchen and was blown away by the sweetness, fruitiness and hint of heat. During his stay Adam returned to the market several times to buy more peppers (which are a very important part of the culture in parts of the former Soviet Union and eastern and central Europe, and central to the food identity of the peoples there). The taste of the pepper was unique and he wondered about saving seed to take home to propagate for conservation purposes; seed was duly dried on the window sill of the hotel and has successfully been propagated and conserved, so that it can now be distributed to displaced Ukrainians to reconnect them with their home.

Fast forward to 2013. By now, Adam was growing over 500 varieties of vegetable for the various seed libraries and gene banks. He grows at least 70 varieties each year to renew each of the seeds that he has. This takes a lot of space, which Adam found in different gardens, but he really needed to have everything in one place. So in 2013 he moved from the Forest of Dean to Monmouthshire, to a property outside Chepstow 170m above the Severn Estuary.

With the property came a field to transform into his garden; it was effectively an unrestored wild flower meadow, in which the previous owners had kept chicken and had a lot of bonfires (as the opening slide of the presentation illustrates).

In the spring of 2014, having covered parts of the ground with anything he could find (polythene, corrugated iron sheets etc.) for weed suppression, he planted potatoes (excellent for cleaning the ground) through black plastic. Then some raised beds were built in terraces to maximise the light in an East-West orientation. Adam had always used cedar for his raised beds, as it was readily available from plantations in the Forest of Dean. If you turn the cedar boards in your raised beds around every couple of years, they can last for up to 20 years.

Within 2 or 3 months, Adam had created the framework and the shape for the garden that he needed. There were 14 raised beds, each one-metre wide, which means you never have to walk on them. You can extend the season by using clear polythene film with metal hoops. As the beds are all the same length, these cloches can be re-used, and typically last five years. He also uses and re-uses fleece in the same way for warmth and to keep pests out.

While some digging was required to create the framework of the garden, the basic philosophy is to keep digging to a minimum and use black mulch (polythene or membrane) to grow through; it warms the soil and gives off heat at night creating a micro-climate for the plants. The aim is also to recycle and re-use materials as much as possible.

The contents of a 40-foot duck pond provided the base, spread on the ground and covered with black polythene, for two 30-foot polytunnels, the first of which was erected in October 2014. The polytunnels had been with Adam since 1976 and have moved with him to all of his different gardens ever since. In his raised beds within them, now in March, he has peas and broad beans in flower, fennel for eating, herbs, salad crops right through the winter and cauliflowers beginning to heart up. A trickle irrigation system is essential – he is lucky to have his own spring water (with a pH of 6.9) for this, one of the original attractions of this site.

One of the crops that Adam plants in his polytunnels is garlic – but not any old garlic! One of his filming assignments took him to Oman, home to damask roses and famed for its rose water. In Oman terraces tumble 100 metres down into ravines with the most amazing irrigation system. Adam saw garlic being cultivated, and got into conversation with the owner of the hotel where he was staying. It turned out that the plantation of garlic that Adam had seen belonged to the hotel owner; this was in April, and Adam asked him to send some garlic when it was ready, not really expecting that this would be possible. In June, having been away, Adam walked into his house to find a strong smell and a large plastic sweet jar covered in stamps and with the appropriate immigration certificate. In South Wales, Adam plants this garlic in a polytunnel in October through black polythene. The mountains of Oman in the winter experience a dry cold. This is replicated in the polytunnel where, even if the air temperature drops, the soil temperature is maintained. The garlic in the polytunnel can be harvested in the green in May, and then after that for storing in June/July. It is a hardneck variety, and doesn’t keep terribly well beyond October.

Adam also wanted polytunnels for broad beans; he grows three crops in a year in sequence, from autumn through to April, so that they do not cross-pollinate. A delicious broad bean is ‘Bowland Beauty’, which was originally bred for exhibition.

It has to be said that timing is key in terms of getting crops into the ground. Since 1976 Adam has kept a diary of what he sows when, the temperature, conditions etc. This is giving very direct information about climate change. Saving seed helps to build in local adaptations, which means that plants from very different environments from our own will in time thrive here. Carrot ‘Red Elephant’ from Australia is a good case in point. Adam has grown it outside in beds for a number of years. He discovered by chance, from seed spilt in the bed while collecting, that it can grow with absolute neglect when sown in October outside for early harvesting – there is no need for special forcing varieties.

None of Adam’s growing would be possible without compost. He uses all sorts of old materials to make the compost bins, including pallets and old carpet (this has to be pure wool). A lot of grass is used in the compost, which has the benefit of generating heat, but it does have to be turned regularly (once a week).

The last thing that Adam installed on his new site was a greenhouse, which he uses for tomatoes, capsicum, cucumbers, lemongrass, okra, ginger etc. A propagator is also key for starting seed off in early spring. There is only one cucumber which he now grows, for its taste, which comes from Syria. He encountered it in Aleppo, in what was known as the ‘fertile crescent’, and he now grows out a number of vegetables from the seed bank there for seed. The cucumber is unusual in that it has both male and female flowers. Seed is now being distributed to displaced Syrians, including those in camps in Jordan; later this year they will be sent to camps in Kurdistan.

Polytunnels or greenhouses allow you to create controlled environments for the production of seed; you can water when necessary during the growing period, and keep the crops dry when seed is setting.

One of the things that Adam has discovered on his travels is that growers like to mix things up together, and that plants don’t mind being crowded; polytunnels or a greenhouse allow him to do both of these things. Sweetcorn is an example: he has had good success growing 9 or 10 plants in a small block a foot apart, producing very good crops. Sweetcorn is a wind-pollinated crop, and growing them in a polytunnel gives good control (rather than the wind blowing the pollen far and wide, tapping the plants means the pollen falls where it needs to).

Moving on to the seed that Adam grows, here is a whirlwind tour through just a few of them:

  • Fava bean ‘Syrian Small’ – first seen in Damascus, being wheeled through the streets in barrows piled high. They are traditionally eaten whole when young, but can also be eaten shelled. The seed is now primarily being distributed to displaced Syrians.
  • Radish ‘Pasque’, is a French radish, which is lifted in the autumn, stored in clamps, and then eaten at Easter. It is an interesting plant in that the flowers start white, but then turn pink once they have been pollinated.
  • Fava Mourda Reina Mouz (‘Purple Queen’) is a purple broad bean from Catalonia (another very interesting area for endangered vegetable varieties), which Adam is growing out to make safe for the future.
  • Blue potatoes from Atacama in Chile – they have a shape like Pink Fir Apple, but are deep blue right through; they are now being included in an official breeding programme to establish their blight-resistance.
  • Pea ‘Champion of England’ is the only pea still in cultivation of the 13 listed as having any merit out of the 200 catalogued by the RHS at the end of the nineteenth century. Although held in seed libraries, it returned to commercial seed catalogues in 2016, originating in the US. Adam still held some seed from 2009, so that seed is now being grown for comparison to see whether the newly-listed variety is the true original variety.
  • Pea ‘Daniel O’Rourke’ was one of the most successful varieties of pea in the United States until the 1920s. Its name derives from the 1852 Derby winner, when it was introduced to the UK the following year, as a marketing strategy to encourage growers in the UK to buy it.
  • Pea ‘Fesol Negre del Belgarda’ is a purple-flowered, black pea from Catalonia grown for drying and storing.
  • Pea ‘Panther’ is a pea that the Heritage Seed Library was told grew to about two foot in height – but in fact grows to three times that!
  • Pea ‘Jaune de Madras’ is one of the peas used by Mendel in his work on genetics. It is a mange-tout pea, its name implies it had originated in India. However, it was being introduced to the UK at the time that yellow Madras curry, which was a British invention, was very popular, so the name was purely a marketing strategy. In the US, it was called ‘Golden Sweet’, and it is now sold here as that as well.
  • Blue Hopi Maize hails from very arid regions of Arizona, where three inches of rain falls in a year if they are lucky. There it is sown in very deep holes to reach the damp where it can germinate. It is sown in clumps, and the drooping leaves create shade and a particular micro-climate which enables them to grow in such a harsh climate. There is a particular culture around blue maize within the Hopi nation where it used to make blue polenta, and the ability to grow blue maize is key to winning the heart of the woman a man wants to marry.
  • Tomatoes – Adam grows many different tomatoes from all over the world – including ‘Burmese Sour Tomato’ from Yangon (which is recently in demand thanks to ‘Gardener’s World’), and ‘Bolivian Orange Cherry.’

Adam stressed the importance of using green manures over winter. A very important one is Caliente Mustard – its biofumigant properties attack pathogens such as onion white rot in the soil. He also grows comfrey as a feed for plants, particularly tomatoes.

Autumn in Adam’s garden is all about harvesting. Beetroot is a great crop, as you don’t need many plants to produce masses of seeds (33,000 seeds from a single plant!). Cucumbers are much tricker – the cucumbers have to be almost rotten, and even then there is no guarantee the seed will be viable.

On that note of seed harvesting, Adam’s talk came to a close. Appreciative thanks were expressed for such a wide-ranging, erudite, and engrossing talk, and there was then a rush for the table where different seed varieties were laid out, along with Adam’s book ‘The Seed Detective’.

Pottiputki

At our last meeting Julian introduced us to the Finnish tree-planting tool, the Pottiputki. Although originally designed for forestry planting, Julian has discovered it is invaluable for transplanting snowdrop divisions. He has created this video to show how the tool can be used and to demonstrate the process of dividing snowdrops in the green. Thank you Julian!

Updated Cothi Gardeners Website

The Cothi Gardeners website has recently undergone a bit of an update, and now includes a new section for members to write about their garden as it changes through the year – highlight ‘Members’ Gardens through the Year’ from the main menu at the top of the page. The more members who would like to contribute pieces about their gardens the better! Please contact cothigardeners@gmail.com with your text and photographs (or any queries you may have), and the web editor will do the rest.

Sex, Lies and Putrefaction – a talk by Timothy Walker; October Plant Swap and Sale; December Festive Tea

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During the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020-21, the Zoom talks organised by Fiona Wormald in lieu of our in-person meetings were a beacon of light which helped to lift the gloom of the general isolation. This repeated Zoom talk at our November meeting was shown in our meeting hall so that we could all enjoy for a second time what was a fascinating talk with the added benefit of social interaction, tea and biscuits!

Timothy Walker is a highly respected British botanist who was the Director of The Oxford Botanic Garden and Harcourt Aboretum from 1988 – 2014. He is passionate about plants, particularly regarding conservation and pollination, and is the author of several books on these subjects.

The talk began with with a quote from Charles Darwin in his ‘Origin of Species’ where he identified the relationship between the flower and the bee, and how they were perfectly adapted to each other, describing “pollination biology”. One of the many ways in which this was demonstrated was with the orchid, where a visiting hawk moth was able to reach over 12 inches into the flower in order to obtain the nectar. So, it was pointed out, not only did the moth end up with food, it also helped with pollination by dusting itself with pollen as it left which was then transferred to the next orchid it visited.

Pollen grains are different on each variety of plant, and fertilisation will generally only work when pollen of one variety is transferred from the anthers (male) to the stigma (female) of another plant of the same variety. Moving the pollen from one plant to another occurs via animals, insects, wind and (rarely) water. Even slugs can be pollinators (!), but not often. Plants have different ways of attracting pollinators, such as colour and scent, (though some use both, plus pattern); some, such as a number of trees, produce catkins where the pollen is then blown away to hopefully land on another catkin. The birch tree cleverly has a flap on the flower which protects the catkin and opens on landing, thus preventing random spillage of the seed. There are plants which actually inject pollen into the atmosphere. Grasses are almost always blown on the wind with only very few, such as the Canadian Pondweed, using water as a vehicle. Around 87% of water plant pollination is done by animal life, the majority being bees and wasps.

Night-flowering plants (such as nicotiana and night-scented stock) are hard wired to attract (mostly) moths via scent. Again, a short proboscis is catered for with a short pollen tube (or it could be the other way round!). The same theory applies to butterflies.

Birds obviously help with pollination and they particularly favour red flowers, although they also see UV colours; bats help as well, although they are quite clumsy and throw stuff around a bit.

Pollen is a highly nutritious substance and the whole organisation of fertilisation runs on a reward or bribe system benefitting both parties. The fig is a clever example of pollination where the fig flower is hidden inside what is effectively a brood chamber and a female wasp enters through a hole. She lays eggs; the male wasps hatch first and fertilise the unborn female wasps, create exit tunnels for those female wasps to move on to the next fig, and then die. Thus, if humans eat the fig they also eat the poor dead male wasps – not a reward for them but probably extra protein for the human!

Victoria amazonica is a South American water lily, which attracts a beetle of the Scarabaeidae family; it crawls into the flower, eats so much pollen that it gets drunk & is then too confused to remember its way home, eventually leaving the flower only to stagger on to the next one. Hopefully the wife (or husband) doesn’t possess a rolling pin otherwise there will be trouble!

There are, however, flowers that don’t smell good at all (to humans anyway), such as Dracunculus vulgaris, which smells like rotting meat and Helicadiceros muscivorus (or Dead horse Arum, which is probably a clue). These plants are largely pollinated by flies.

This really interesting Zoom talk by Timothy was just as entertaining the second time around, very well put together and certainly educational.

John and Helen’s October Plant Swap and Sale

John and Helen Brooks held a plant sale at their garden Ty’r Maes on a Sunday afternoon in October to raise funds for the National Garden Scheme charities. It was very well attended, with visitors coming from as far away as North Pembrokeshire.

There was a great variety of plants on sale, provided by members of the Cothi Gardeners, and mostly of course by John and Helen themselves. The plants on offer ranged from trees, such as Paulownia tomentosa (the Foxglove tree) through to a great variety of perennials, including asters, geums, crocosmia, geraniums, hesperantha, persicaria, primula, rudbeckia, salvia, and many others. A great bonus of the afternoon was the enormous quantity of delicious cake provided by volunteers along with teas, and the opportunity to chat with other gardeners.

In total the amount raised for the NGS charities was a fantastic £900! This is a reflection of the tremendous generosity of the plant providers, Cothi Gardeners members and other visitors, and we should never forget the hard work that goes into organising such an event, including the refreshments.

Festive Christmas Tea on 14 December

This year the Cothi Gardeners are celebrating Christmas by holding a festive tea at Granny’s Kitchen in Lampeter at 3.30pm on 14 December. Twenty-two of us are attending, and it’s bound to be a jolly (and delicious) event, bringing to an end a year when we have finally been able to hold in-person meetings and celebratory gatherings again. Long may it continue!

Ornamental Grasses; August Social

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There was a great turn-out of members and guests for the excellent July talk given by Jennifer Matthews, who had travelled from Rhyd-y-Groes Gardens in the Preseli Mountains, where for 20 years until 2017 she ran Moorland Cottage Plants nursery. Now Jenny offers services such as garden design and photography, and has been opening her own garden for the National Garden Scheme for 22 years.

As background, Jenny began by telling us about her garden, which was just an upland field to begin with, explaining that she has always tried to garden with nature. It now contains, among other elements, a herbaceous perennial border, lime lollipops, a wildflower meadow including bluebells in spring, a shrub border including rhododendrons, and an ornamental meadow with cultivated native grasses and big, bold perennials.

Jenny’s introduction to grasses explained their importance as a plant family – from cereals for food and fodder to ground cover and now more and more to another plant group that gardeners are adding to their repertoire of ornamental plants.  Grasses offer elegant linear forms and year-round interest along with low maintenance.

There are three types of grasses – true grasses, sedges and rushes, and bamboos. True grasses have a wide variety of colour and growth habit, with round stems, while ‘sedges have edges’, the stems being almost triangular. Rushes have solid, round stems and need more moisture than sedges. Bamboos in their turn have hard woody stems – they can be specimen plants but also make effective screens and hedges.

Grasses can be variegated – with white, cream or yellow variegation; they can be plain green, yellow (these often do best in shade) or blue (for hot, sunny situations). There are also red, copper and brown grasses.  They do not have vivid, showy flowers, but the flowers do provide attractive structures which last well from summer into autumn.Jenny described all the different situations in which grasses can be used: herbaceous borders, island beds, mixed borders and beds, woodland gardens, architectural garden styles, flowering lawns, meadow and orchard gardens, ornamental meadows, bog gardens and water gardens (largely rushes). There are grasses for dry shade, damp shade, part shade, sunny and open sites, as well as well-drained and very sunny locations.

Jenny gave us tips on caring for grasses (they are fairly low maintenance – she described her own regime of weeding and dividing if necessary in spring, and cutting back in winter as the grasses themselves being to collapse), and for propagating them (always wait until you see the first signs of growth in spring or early summer – some grasses will be later than others). She also ran through a list of perennials which make good companion plants for grasses, a good selection of all of which she had brought with her for sale to members. After questions and warm appreciation for a fascinating talk, our appetites suitably whetted, many members made a beeline for the array of beautiful plants for sale.

Cothi Gardeners’ members enthusiastically inspecting the plants for sale

August Social

It was agreed that the August Social would be held at the Telegraph Garden Centre on 17 August in the early evening. The event will include a talk as well as refreshments – more details to follow, so watch this space…


Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year to everyone.

This is a brief post to let you know that our 2022 programme starts next week. We are having the first two meetings by Zoom and then will hopefully be able to have ‘in person’ meetings from March onwards – fingers crossed!

Next weeks’ meeting is on Wednesday 19th January, 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start when Carole Whittaker will be talking to us on “The History, Medicinal Qualities and care of Monarda“

These beautiful perennials from North America have been utilised since 2,500 BC by the Native American peoples for their medicinal qualities.  But the history does not stop there!  The talk covers all aspects of caring for these unusual, late summer perennials.

Carole and her husband, Pete, have established a beautiful garden, Glyn Bach, in Pembrokeshire which is home to their National Collection of Monarda. The garden is open through the NGS and Plant Heritage. Click here for their website.

If you would like to join the Zoom meeting and have not received the email with the invitation please contact Fiona at cothigardeners@gmail.com so she can send it through to you.

Monarda Collection at Glyn Bach Garden ©Carole & Pete Whittaker

For the rest of the years’ programme click here. NB we plan on holding our much delayed AGM at the March meeting.