King's Lynn Horticultural Society klhs.co.uk
April 2019 Volume 6, Issue 2
KLHS News
Worms exploring their new wormery.
ANNUAL MEETING At the Society’s recent annual meeting it was announced that Kevin Ayres would be the new secretary and also adopt the new role of membership secretary.
publicity; Stephen Fairweather, website manager; Elizabeth Fairweather, newsletter editor. Nolan Mills, Teresa Brandon, John Germeney and Tom Turnbull will make up the committee.
Reappointed as vice presidents were Elizabeth At the meeting in the Roy- Nockolds, Veronica Lane al British Legion Club, in and Cyril Route. King’s Lynn, outgoing secThe chairman later reretary, John Player, bevealed he had managed to came vice chairman. obtain discounts for memOther appointments were: bers at various outlets on Paul Brandon, president; production of a memberDavid Wilson, chairman; ship card. Steve Barker, treasurer; The companies who have Rachel Vyse, show secretary; Kelvin Fairweather,
klhs.co.uk
(Continued on page 2)
Honesty (Lunaria annua) is one of the food plants of the Orange tip Butterfly.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Annual Meeting continued
2
Visit to Harlow Carr
2
Earthworms
3
Annual Plant Fair
3
Hanging Baskets
3&4
(Continued from page 1)
agreed to take part in the scheme are: Belford Garden Centre of South Wootton, Lawn-Boy of Downham Market, Ward’s Nurseries of Ringstead, Moulam and Horn of Heacham, and Norfolk Country Clothing of King’s Lynn. So now’s a good time to make sure you renew your membership of the Society—just £5 a year for adults and free for under-16s. For any queries over membership, contact Kevin Ayres by email— kev_ayres@btinternet.com or telephone—01553 674623.
VISIT TO HARLOW CARR This year, the Society has chosen the RHS garden at Harlow Carr, in Harrogate, for its outing and the final details have now been decided. The cost for the trip on May 18th is £20 for KLHS members, £25 for nonmembers and £22 each for groups of four non-members. The coach will leave the car park near the postal sorting office in Austin Fields, King’s Lynn, at 7.45am. Harlow Carr garden covers 68 acres (27.5 hectares) of a valley in the Yorkshire countryside. There is a wide variety of growing landscapes to explore, from running and still water to woodland and wildflower meadows. Also of interest is a hedgehog friendly garden, designed in conjunction with Hedgehog Street. If you fancy going along, please contact Steve Barker at steve.barker495@btinternet.com or telephone 07771902182 (after 6pm please).
EARTHWORMS
them as “nature’s ploughs”.
The two organisations are urging people to remove unnecessary paving and artificial turf so worms can find a The RHS and the Wildlife Trusts have home. begun a joint project aimed at garWorms also provide essential food for deners. birds and animals. Worms are deceptively humble creaSee: wildaboutgardens.org.uk tures, but Charles Darwin described Make 2019 the year you give serious thought to earthworms.
ANNUAL PLANT FAIR The Society would like to hear from anyone who could provide plants for their stall at the annual King’s Lynn Plant Fair on Saturday, May 11th, Staged on the Tuesday Market Place, the event is run in conjunction with
the Hanse weekend organised by Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council. If you have anything you think may be suitable, or if you could spare some time to help with the stall, please contact Kevin on 01553 674623.
very prone to drying out particularly in hot, windy weather. For this reason I like the plastic baskets with a water By Nolan Mills reservoir; all you have to do is make If you want to brighten up a bare area sure the reservoir is full. Simple basparticularly a wall and there is no kets need careful and regular waterroom on the ground then a colourful ing, sometimes twice a day in hot hanging basket works wonders. weather. They need water applied You can grow plants in any container slowly to make sure all the compost is thoroughly wetted. Even after rain providing it has drainage. Any comthe compost in the centre may not get post can be used, however because wet. there is a relatively small amount it needs a wetting agent for better water What plants can you grow in a hangretention. Alternatively water retain- ing basket? The object should be to ing crystals can be mixed in. They grow spreading plants so you don’t also need feed, I have found that Mir- actually see the basket. Of course you acle-Gro continuous release plant can grow any plant but I think the food mixed in is easy and works well.
HANGING BASKETS
Hanging baskets are in the air and
(Continued on page 4)
(Continued from page 3)
best and most spectacular are the surfinia petunias; these come in a range of colours – red, blue, blue veined, white, yellow and purple.
lobelia and white alyssum and both have performed surprisingly well. I also like ivy leaf geranium - when we were on holiday in Switzerland every window box was full of these. How many plants should you put in a
A hanging basket bursting with colourful blooms. You also need some trailing foliage plants such as nepeta variegata and helichrysum silver or gold; these give structure to the basket and are still good at the end of the season when the main flowering plants are diminishing. Last year we tried begonias, fuchsia and bidens, unfortunately the fuchsia did not do well as they got swamped by the other plants. In the past we have grown trailing
basket? I keep asking this question to many people and get all sorts of answers. I guess the correct answer is as many as you can. Last year because the plants were bigger than I expected I ended up with just 7 in a 14� basket - I was planning for 9 or 10. Each year I learn more and more and will continue in my quest for the perfect hanging basket.