nature

The Underclass: A Gardener’s Best Friends

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Julian Wormald, one of our members, returned as a speaker in March to talk to us about bulbs, corms and tubers to lift our spirits from October to March – something much needed given our recent experience of the dullest February on record in Wales. Over 30-odd years, Julian and Fiona have created a renowned garden at Gelli Uchaf which incorporates many of the geophytes featured in Julian’s talk.


Putting together the slides for the talk from photographs of the garden taken over many years brought home to Julian a number of things: how essential winter bulbs are to boosting one’s mood and to getting us out into the garden during what are often dreary months; bulb populations aren’t static, and while some survive for ages others can fade away over time; winter bulbs rarely get the attention they deserve in the media, but in our generally temperate part of the world, we’re lucky that gardens can really be full of flowers and colour interest for most months. If we include bulbs, we can cram many plants into the same area to have a succession of interest over many months.

To give some context to the garden, Gelli Uchaf is 250 metres above sea level and 20 miles from the Irish Sea; this usually mitigates really low winter temperatures – which are occasionally, but rarely, below minus 10 degrees C. There is high annual rainfall concentrated in the autumn/winter months (now typically over 2 metres annually), at least 50 % over the average for Wales, and not an awful lot of sunshine. But it is quite a steep sloping hillside site, which means that for most of the garden, even heavy rain will drain away quickly. This is a huge advantage for many winter/spring bulbs.

A common theme in the talk is the interaction between pollinators (generally honey bees) and the geophyte flowers, resulting in the production of seed which is a good way of increasing drifts of flower, as well as providing nectar and pollen for the bees.

Julian began with Lilium speciosum album – an introduction from Japan – which starts flowering before October but goes into October and November. The white flowers go well with autumn leaf colour; it is planted with other members of the understory such as tulips, crocus and bluebells providing a succession of colour.

Julian and Fiona bought about 20 bulbs in 2013 after seeing it in flower in Aberglasney Gardens; since then, however, they have been unable to obtain any more. This can be a problem with bulbs – particular varieties can drift in and out of fashion and disappear from bulb catalogues. The moral of the story is that if you like a particular variety, get your skates on and order more quickly! 


Next up – Cyclamen hederifolium. It is  one of the most reliably long-lived of any flowering plant in the garden at Gelli Uchaf – tubers can survive for over 100 years, becoming larger over time.  Several of the original plants were brought to Wales from Julian and Fiona’s previous garden in Bristol and are still thriving and growing in size.

It’s the best plant for planting beneath deciduous shrubs/trees or even evergreens, doing what many geophytes do – becoming dormant in early spring, as these areas become drier and shadier, and then pushing up their wonderful shuttlecock flowers in early August, continuing into late October in most years. The fact that the flowers hang down mean that they’re always open, leaving the critical parts of the flower always available for pollination in any brief weather window moments when pollinators can reach them. The marbled leaves make excellent ground cover. 

C. hederifolium is succeeded by C. coum in November. It is frost hardy and copes with snow, but it may need more light than C. hederifolium. The tubers and leaves (more rounded than heart-shaped) are smaller than C. hederifolium. Both varieties with suitable pollinators will make seed, and once the population reaches a certain size they will freely spread themselves around. Both cyclamens are slug- and disease-free and make excellent woodland plants.

Moving into January, sometimes even in late December, we head into the Crocus season. Crocus, however, have a major flaw, which most gardeners hoping for long-term success will be aware of: the corms are loved by squirrels and rodents.

The least favoured are C. tommasinianus forms. This is wonderful, because tommasinianus forms are also the most appealing flowers to honey bees and early emerged bumblebee queens, and so set masses of seed in a good year when our wet weather has some respite, and flowers can open for long enough to be pollinated. They should be planted where they will catch the sun for best pollination results. 

Scattering the seed is a great way of multiplying C. tommasinianus. At Gelli Uchaf there are now Crocus in many areas of the garden, and Julian is even trying to establish them in the wildflower meadow. Crocus sieberi ‘Firefly’ is also not so tasty to rodents – it is early and hardy, although Julian is not sure it sets seed.

Moving on to snowdrops – these were the first flowers planted in the garden at Gelli Uchaf over 30 years ago. It started with a few clumps of Galanthus nivalis, dug from Julian and Fiona’s garden in Bristol. In turn, they’d come from Fiona’s parents’ garden in Shropshire. They, in turn, had collected them from a much older farmhouse on the banks of the River Severn where they were ‘naturalised’. This is what happens with snowdrops, across Europe – people love them so much as symbols of hope in the depth of winter, so will plant a few, and then lift and divide them and give them to friends.

Over time, a few more snowdrop varieties were acquired, coinciding with Julian’s interest in honey bees and the realisation that growing snowdrops (and crocus!) close to honey bee colonies could benefit both.

And so began the Welsh Historic Snowdrop Hunt! This project involved Julian visiting locations associated with pre-1850 properties, where snowdrops are naturalized, and where there is a written or word-of-mouth history associated with the site. Most ‘naturalised’ populations of snowdrops are quite localized into island communities, and many have significant variations in flowering season as well as what they looked like. Some of these different snowdrop types now grow in Gelli Uchaf! 

In addition, Julian has added to the collection with various named snowdrop forms, to try to establish which do well in our West Wales climate.


They now grow in most parts of the garden – from woodland areas, with semi/deep summer shade, to near full sun, or even in grass beneath deciduous trees. Good forms will survive in most of these locations. But they undoubtedly seem to do best where associated with deciduous trees or shrubs, in semi or deep shade, which is damp but not waterlogged over winter, and which dries out more during the spring/summer.

Julian had plenty of tips for those wanting to establish drifts of snowdrops at home: 

  • Start planting them when you’re young if you can, but remember it’s never too late! 
  • Avoid the very expensive or new cultivars – if they’re cheaper, or have been around for decades, it’s much more likely that they are vigorous and reliable, and best to plant them in the green. Start with any that have, or come recommended by a local snowdrop fan. 
  • Plant them in optimum conditions beneath deciduous trees and shrubs, where there will be plenty of leaf litter to encourage fungal interactions with the bulb’s root system.
  • Be prepared to lift, split and move growing clumps, replanting them in twos, threes or more into new locations. This will give quicker and better results than planting singly. Do this any time from when the bulb shoots first emerge, to when the foliage is dying back, if the weather and soil are damp.

Plants that associate well with snowdrops (along with Crocus and Cyclamen coum) include: Scilla mischtschenkoana, Scilla bithynica, Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Pink Giant’, Leucojum vernum.

In the same family as Galanthus/snowdrops/ – the Amaryllidaceae – are Narcissi/daffodils. The latter have a number of unique features. They are the only flower with a corona/trumpet; they have a unique way of preventing self-pollination; and they have a unique stem structure to help them support the comparatively large flower. 

Daffodils were popular between the 1500s and the mid 1600s – in a book published in 1629 daffodils accounted for 100 out of the 1000 plants listed. They then fell out of favour for the next 200 years; however, now there are about 32,000 named daffodils (as opposed to 3,000 named tulips).

Daffodils are, of course, the national flower of Wales and can be relied upon (mostly but not always) to be in flower for St David’s Day on 1 March. The earliest daffodil in bloom is always ‘Rijnveldt’s Early Sensation’, and ‘February Gold’, as its name implies, is also early. Another early daffodil is the Tenby daffodil – Narcissus pseudonarcissus obvallaris – and the only one native to Wales. It is a bright yellow and very vigorous, although it can sometimes flower poorly. The other daffodil native to the UK , the Lenten Lily, is Narcissus pseudonarcissus lobularis.

This latter daffodil is a good producer of seed, unlike most daffodils (Julian reckons that less than 5% of the daffodil varieties at Gelli Uchaf ever set any seed). It takes about 5 years from seed to flowering, and has been a successful, if slow, method of multiplying this variety, including on the sloping wild-flower meadow. 


With careful selection of cultivars, you can have daffodils in flower in the garden from before March until early May – the last to flower are usually the poeticus varieties (which need a moth to pollinate them). The early variety ‘Brunswick’ is a very good ‘do-er’; the cyclamineus hybrids (eg ‘Jetfire’) do well in wetter conditions. Julian also mentioned ‘Damson’ and primrose-yellow ‘Helford Dawn’ as varieties that he likes.

Like snowdrops, daffodils can be transplanted in the green – although as the bulbs are bigger and deeper, it is harder work – a tub space is very useful for this.

Cotehele Garden in Cornwall is a very good place to see a superb display of daffodils in flower, with many heritage varieties among them. There are two main suppliers of old daffodils – Scamps Daffodils and Croft 16 – but you need to place your orders in spring!

Julian concluded by inviting us to remember the ‘Underclass’ and to enjoy the journey. He had created a display of lots of different varieties of daffodils for us to view, and also brought for sale a range of snowdrops and other plants.

Fiona and Julian’s garden will be open for one weekend each in April, May and June. Details of opening with more information about the garden, and specific guides to snowdrops and daffodils which do well in our part of the world are on the Garden Impressionists website.

Bibliography

Smithers, Peter. Adventures of a Gardener.

Ruksans, Janis. Crocuses A Complete Guide to the Genus.

Kilpatrick, Jane and Harmer, Jennifer. The Galanthophiles – 160 Years of Snowdrop Devotees.

Parkinson, Anna. Nature’s Alchemist. John Parkinson, Herbalist to Charles I.

Parkinson, John. Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris.

Kingsbury, Noel. Daffodil.

O’Neill, Helen. Daffodil – The Biography of a Flower.

Pelargoniums and Geraniums by Mair Evans; Upcoming Events

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Mair firstly explained the differences between Pelargoniums and Geraniums –  Pelargoniums are tender and originated in the Southern hemisphere (they are endemic to Australia and New Zealand ),  whereas Geraniums are hardy and herbaceous, can be found in borders and come from the Northern hemisphere.

We had a quiz to find out who knew the difference between the two, with Mair holding up different potted plants to see if we knew whether they were Pelargoniums or Geraniums, and quite a few people did know it seems.

The name ‘Geranium’ for Pelargoniums comes from St Helena where the “Valley of Geraniums” can be found; it was given the name by Napoleon when he was exiled there, because it reminded him of the valleys of hardy geraniums in Europe. The land on St Helena was constantly shifting and the plants could be found even in the dunes which would not normally be a favoured habitat for them. They were then almost extinct there, when the trade routes were opened by the British East India and the Dutch East India shipping companies. The ships berthed in South Africa to load provisions, found the Pelargoniums and were keen to ship them back to Europe because apparently they were thought to be a cure for dysentery.  In the early 18th century, they would flower in January, February and March, but were nothing like the Pelargoniums we know now and were quite scruffy with a strange scent, growing out of rocks and very tough. The Dutch particularly collected them and took them back to Holland with them.

There are now thousands of different cultivars of Pelargonium and a lot of research is carried out. Trials involving thousands of varieties, the numbers of which are whittled down to about six, are done to ensure that the required characteristics and disease resistance are present in the chosen handful.

When keeping our own Pelargoniums, the plants can get very leggy in the winter so cuttings need to be taken in late summer or early autumn and a puff of sulphur on the cut parts will really help. Mair demonstrated how to take cuttings (sharp intake of breath from the audience when she started happily chopping at the lovely plant which she had brought with her!) and explained that once the cuttings are in the compost, they should root within six weeks. She uses a mixture of coir, garden soil and compost, just fairly constantly damp, but not wet. The coir helps with drainage but obviously makes the mixture dry out quicker so they need to be checked regularly. The best time to take cuttings is September which is the ideal time to be cutting them back, and then they should put on some growth before the winter dormant phase.  They can be cut back a little, usually three times between September and January. The theory goes that you need to get your cuttings in pots by the time the Malvern show comes around! Always take cuttings from the healthiest plants and, during either the growing or the dormant period, any dead leaves and flowers should be removed straight away. In the winter, the plants are happy in a cold greenhouse or porch, though if the temperature really plummets they may need to be covered. 

It is possible to take cuttings and root them in water, though adding a drop of orange juice will help and the water needs to be changed weekly. The best time to feed with a good all round plant feed from June onwards and potash can be given in December and January.

There are so many different types of Pelargonium; any single variety will do very well outside and the semi-double are happy inside or out. There are also many scented varieties, with scents all through the spectrum, spicy, sweet, flowery, sharp etc. Mair has some Pelargoniums, all of which are home bred and she hand pollinates them with a paintbrush.

Mair explained that she did have a problem last year with cuttings going black at the stem end, which turned out to be the water. A drop of orange juice in the water cured the problem, so the extra acidity did the trick.

Tracey thanked Mair for her talk and for bringing her beautiful Pelargoniums for the audience to buy.

Upcoming Events

At our next meeting on Wednesday, 16 July mixed-media artist Juliet Edgar is running a printing workshop. Juliet takes nature as her inspiration when creating using macrame, eco-printing and painting. It should be a fascinating evening.

Following that, our Summer Social will be held on Wednesday, 20 August at 7pm at ‘The Plough’ in Felingwm. We’ll be sharing the most delicious pizzas, and we will also be treated to a talk by Joseph Atkin, the former head gardener at Aberglasney Gardens on Dahlias.

‘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! 

‘Bees Are Amazing!’; New Committee; April Meeting

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‘Bees Are Amazing!’ by Sandy Halstead

Sandy has been a beekeeper for eight years now, and has never lost her enthusiasm for them, in fact it plainly just increases.  She began by explaining that in this country we have the North European bees, which used to include the black bee species, although these have now died out, along with some other previously commonly found species. We need to conserve bees now, their numbers in general are declining and they are amongst the most useful pollinators.

Within a hive, the different types of bees are workers, drones and of course, a queen. At the beginning of the summer season, the hive will increase by 100/day and by July, by 2000/day. In a healthy hive there can be anything from 20,000 to 80,000 bees and a single queen will be the sole egg layer. Royal jelly, which is a nutrient rich solution derived from propolis, is fed to the queen and the larvae by the workers although the queen will only ever be fed this for her life. Queen cells are not made in the same way as the worker and drone cells (which are hexagonal), they are larger and hang generally at the bottom of a frame. When the queen emerges, she will have a stinger and, if she should need to use it, will not die as the other bees do. If more than one queen emerges from the hive they will fight until one of them dies.

Drones are male bees and they do no work and expect to be fed by the female worker bees. Their only job is to  mate with a virgin queen, which they do in mid-air during a nuptial flight, and they die shortly after mating. They are bigger than workers, their cells are larger and they cannot sting. Multiple drones will mate with the queen, ensuring the longevity of hive numbers. She will store their sperm in her spermatheca for future use. Whereas the worker bees have specific jobs to do right from the point where they emerge from their cells, drone bees don’t do anything except look out for a passing queen but on mating successfully, will leave their sex organs inside her and die, so it’s not such a happy outcome for him. When the queen has had her mating flight and returns to the hive, she will be cleaned and fed and her egg laying duty will begin within two or three days. She also plays a crucial role in regulating the colony through pheromones, which will determine the temperament of the bees and influences social behaviour. 

The workers will emerge from their cells after nine days and their first job will be to clean their cell, ready for re-use. The process of growth will take approximately 21 days from the egg, which grows  into a larva then a pupa and finally an adult. They will then for two or three days be employed in housekeeping duties, after which they will be a nursery attendant, taking any mess away, then an attendant to the queen. After this a worker will be a wax maker then a guard bee (warding off any possible threats) and finally a honey maker, accepting nectar from foragers, putting it in a cell and capping it off. After this the honey will never deteriorate. Foragers will collect pollen, water, nectar and propolis which comes from trees and they will carry in the collected pollen on their legs. 

Foragers will communicate sources of food by doing a “waggle dance” which the other bees can interpret as to how far, which direction etc. 

Swarming of bees from the hive is a natural solution to make another colony, which is likely to be if the hive is overcrowded and there is an abundance of food. .A new queen will have been made and the old queen will take a proportion of the bees off to find another home; scout bees will be sent off to look – it could be in a tree initially and then they’ll find a small opening somewhere, with accessible water nearby, maybe in a wall where they can establish another hive and start to make wax for the new cells. The new queen will remain in the original hive. 

Worker bees will look constantly for sources of forage, starting in January with snowdrops and making the most of tree pollen. The bees will put different types of pollen of diverse colours in each cell. 

Sandy finished by answering questions on bees:

  • There is a good amount of reading on the subject available; also there is a novel “The Bee” which was recommended by one member of the audience.
  • Life span of bees – winter bees will live for around 6 months but in the summer, because of the workload, bees will only last 6 to 8 weeks. 
  • Construction of hives – generally they are made from cedar wood because it weathers well, but there are now polystyrene hives, which are warmer.
  • Wasps – will construct their own nests or nest in a hole in the ground, excavating quite large amounts of soil.
  • Catching a swarm – can be done more easily if they are in a tree, ideally the queen is caught first so that the rest of the bees will follow.

Sandy was thanked for a very interesting talk and slide show, which everyone enjoyed and which sparked quite a bit of discussion afterwards. 

Following the AGM in February, Cothi Gardeners’ Club has a new Committee:

ChairTracey Parkin
TreasurerRob Usher
SecretaryCarol Cook
Programme Co-ordinatorCarol Carpenter
Website AdminSheena Wakefield

Members: please remember that Sheena welcomes contributions for the website or ideas for new content. You can also view upcoming club talks and external events on the website.

As a reminder, the next talk on 16th April will be ‘Aberglasney: A Calendar Year’ by Nigel McCall. Nigel’s book of the same name will be available for purchase (£20, please bring cash) – it features his beautiful photographs of the gardens through the seasons, with plant identification by Joseph Atkin (former Head Gardener at Aberglasney). The book’s foreword has been written by Chris Beardshaw. Note that the meeting will start 15 minutes earlier than usual, at 7.15pm.

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.