Garden Visits

June is the month where many gardens are at their best.  We had several gardens open in Kenilworth, and it was nice to see that three members of the Horticultural had open gardens.  I did a little stint in Bob and Liz Watson's garden, and hopefully we will have attracted some new visitors to our meetings.  I enjoyed all the gardens I visited, and was impressed by the Bomb Shelter in one of the open gardens which was built during the second World War for residents of Field Gate Lane.

In Liz's garden I was impressed by this little succulent like plant with yellow flowers, which seemed to seek out the shade.  How strange: one would expect plants with succulent type leaves to enjoy the sun.  It is called Chiastophyllum oppositifolium.

Liz and Bob's garden is full of interesting plants and every little space be it in full sun or shade has just the right plant growing.  The pale lemon flowers of this plant brought light to a shady corner.

Recently, at the Horticultural club, we have been racking our brains on how to increase our revenue to help meet the increasing costs of speakers and their travelling expenses.  We have of course been inviting rather good speakers and this has been thanks to the generosity of some of our members.  Some of us have started to open our gardens to club members, with invites to our garden on a specific date, with tea and cake included!  One of our members even opened her garden recently where were celebrated the Queen's 90th Birthday with a special tea.  These events have been very popular and a good way of sharing gardening knowledge, and also getting to know other members whilst admiring the gardens and chatting.  I have picked up many ideas I would love to put into practice for all the visits

This week at Barbara and Mervyn's garden we had a wonderful tour and were enchanted by the wonderful selection of herbaceous plants, with roses and shrubs, and even a little chamomile lawn.  Geraniums are to the fore at this time of the year, and this one: Elke, in their front garden, was a clear winner for me on the day.  The foliage is attractive, and for a geranium that keeps on flowering for weeks when dead headed, this was well admired and also photographed by several of us.  With a white margin on the petals and strong pink veining, the  blooms really stand out.  Barbara and Mervyn have many excellent geraniums, and I think she may be asked to give a club a talk one of these days!

Here and there in the garden were lovely clumps of Erigeron karvinskianus...and guess what?  I came home with a little plant.  Mr S has always admired this one, so I just had to get it didn't I?  Barbara and Mike had propagated some of their plants, and had a little sale, and I believe all of them went home to other members' gardens, with quite a tidy sum going to the gardening club.  When I go out and see this one also flourishing in garden I shall remember this lovely afternoon, and Barbara and Mervyn's garden.