CLIFTON GARDEN SOCIETY - Four Seasons by Philip Haas: Winter
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CLIFTON GARDEN SOCIETY
Four Seasons by Philip Haas: Winter
NEWSLETTER VOLUME 22 No.3 Winter 2020
For further information visit our website at: www.cliftongardensociety.co.uk
MEMBERSHIP 2021
As we have been unable to arrange any events for 2020 since the snowdrop visit in
February, we have already announced that there will be no membership fee for 2021.
However new membership cards will be issued for that year and we need to know who
wishes to renew their membership. A brief form is enclosed. If you wish to rejoin for
2021 please complete the form and return it to Christine Baldwin by 31 December. If
joint members please include both names. New cards will be sent out during January.
It is very frustrating that we are unable to arrange any events at present. The rule of
six being the maximum number who can meet rules out all meetings for us and the
reduction in available seats on coaches for social distancing means that visits are not
viable. The committee is keeping the matter under review and, as soon as there is any
indication that these restrictions will be eased, we will start planning. Unfortunately at
this current time it seems unlikely that there will be any early change. We are all
missing seeing our friends and enjoying lovely gardens together. Hopefully we can
meet soon!
Christine Baldwin
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COPY DATE FOR NEXT ISSUE: 15 JANUARY 2021
Please send contributions to: Gundula Dorey aghdorey@blueyonder.co.uk
14 Goldney Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4RB Tel: 0117 927 6812
The editorial committee is particularly keen to welcome more contributions from
members as we do not have any garden visits to write about at present. Do you have
a favourite plant you would like to tell readers about? Do you have any top tips to
share? What else would other members be interested in?
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PHILIP HAAS 'FOUR SEASONS' SCULPTURE: WINTER
The Club was meant to visit Wisley in September and sadly this was not possible.
However I did go there on a pre-booked visit in the summer when restrictions were
relaxed as my son and family live nearby. I was bowled over by the sculptures of the
"Four Seasons" by Philip Haas. Created by this American artist and film maker they
were inspired by the late 16th-century paintings of the seasons by Giuseppe
Arcimboldo (1526-93). Actually made from fibreglass for durability, all the body parts
look like items from Nature. Children are apparently a bit frightened by 'Winter' but this
one was my favourite, with its wild hair and gnarled bark skin. 'Spring' is a lot softer as
you would expect and maybe we will use that in a future edition.
Chris Purvis
2FLOWER WORDSEARCH
BY SUE STOPS
Y P E T U A I L E B O L
S W E E T W I L L I A M
N S U C O R C L U Y V I
A E R Y N G I U M P X F
P S Z H E X M T U L I P
A O P H M D A I S Y F N
I R E S T R I T C A C T
N M T G E R A N I U M E
O I U R G E U M Y L I L
G R N P R Q L I L A C O
E P I J O R C H I D A I
B D A F F O D I L U T V
By searching horizontally, vertically or diagonally, find the following flower
words:
PANSY SWEET WILLIAM FORGET-ME-NOT LUPIN DAFFODIL
GERANIUM LILY CROCUS LILAC TULIP VIOLET PRIMROSE
LOBELIA BEGONIA ORCHID ERYNGIUM IVY GEUM PETUNIA
CACTI DAISY
Happy Hunting!
3MUSINGS ON MALLOWS
I live in Old Bower Ashton where the lanes still have verges on both sides. Gradually
many wild flowers have seeded themselves there or local people have planted wild
flower seeds. Last year we extended the verges to their original size. Now we have an
abundance of flowers and grasses, some of which are still flowering at the end of
October. I spent a lot of time during lockdown wandering down the lanes and
identifying flowers and grasses. I think I identified nine different species of grasses
and many wild flowers.
Recently I became interested in mallows. I started looking them up in my wild flower
books, and found the best one was illustrated by Marjorie Blamey, whose work I have
always admired. The ancient name for mallows was Malacho, derived from the Greek
word Malachi meaning 'to soften'. Hence their medicinal uses.
The book illustrated by Marjorie Blamey that I referred to has the title Wild Flowers of
Britain and Northern Europe, and eight different mallows are described and illustrated.
I was only able to find two of them as some are quite rare. Marsh mallow only grows
in Romney Marsh in Kent, I believe, and tree mallows grow in Pembrokeshire.
Common mallow is, as it is named, common but I couldn't find it this year.
The one I have illustrated is musk mallow, Malva moschata, recognisable by its
deeply-cut leaves and the blunt ends of the petals; the flowers are rose pink. Earlier in
the year I think we had, dwarf mallow, Malva neglecta. This mallow is more or less
prostrate; it flowered much earlier in the year with much smaller flowers. I was
confused by a white mallow growing in the bank opposite our house but I think its an
escapee!
There are of course many local names for mallows such as Rags and Tatters, Billy
Buttons, Cheese Flower and many others. Historically mallows were used extensively
for many ailments, as they are mucilaginous plants so good for various aliments such
as coughs. But it needs a medicinal herbalist to know how they were used. In
Culpeper's Complete Herbal there is a very detailed list of ailments marsh mallows
were considered suitable for. As in many herbals they seemed to have an enormous
scope of ailments that were cured by concoctions of marsh mallow such as the gut,
kidneys, skin ailments etc. More recently Jekka McVicar mentions skin rashes and
sore throats as treatable. It seems the root was the most important part to be used
medicinally.
I guess that the sweet ‘Marsh Mallow’ was originally made from mallows??
So my wanders down our lane has made me realise that it is worth looking down
sometimes! Next year I hope to identify a lot more wild flowers. So that completes my
musings, of a wandering mind!
Fiona Williams
4Fiona Williams
MUSK MALLOW, MALVA MOSCHATA
5DAVID SPELLER’S GARDEN MISCELLANY
We hear lockdown stories of increased input to gardens and allotments, or even first
interest in the occupation. Mini-gardens have been created on balconies; cherished
projects have been accomplished. For garden and plant societies, Zoom meetings,
and sales with honesty boxes have been held. The urgent transfer of a national nerine
collection from Cornwall to the Midlands was accomplished, requiring three journeys
with special dispensation.1 Our great gardens have been preserved, often working with
reduced staff. In a season of drought this has implied copious watering; and the weeds
have been awaiting the return of volunteers. How much many of us miss our monthly
transportation to visit gardens, in good company!
Further evidence of the link between health and wellbeing and ‘gardening’ (which
included relaxing as well as working) has been obtained in a study of 8,000 people.2
The Landscape Institute is among organisations using such evidence to put pressure
on the government for greening in the current Environment Bill,3 but the assurances
sound hollow in the face of the current neglect of Sites of Special Scientific Interest,
and the apparent contempt of these in current, including railway, planning.
The RHS is hoping to harness the surge of enthusiasm to increase recruitment to
horticulture,4 and has issued more than 60 videos to show the variety, interest and
satisfaction of jobs available after horticultural training. A particular aim is to dispel the
idea that the sector is unskilled and underpaid.4
Can plants be harmful to humans? This year there have been many cases of the Toxic
Squash Syndrome, a possibly severe and even dangerous gut and general illness,
after eating extra bitter squash, which contained high concentrations of cucurbitacin.
A Bristol sufferer has described to me the unpleasant aftermath of ploughing on with
eating very bitter courgettes. At first it was thought that slow growth during the drought
had caused the problem, but it seems that a particular batch of seed, of courgette
‘Zucchini’ (which has been withdrawn) may have been responsible, and suggested
that the seed-producer plants may have been pollinated by a wild gourd. 4,5
Meanwhile it has been a lovely early autumn in the garden, with prolonged warmth.
We greet again the blue-purple-pink palette of the various ‘Michaelmas Daisies’ –
asters – which have confusingly changed their genus name to Symphyotrichum.6 I
remember the other autumn palette, of the berries, when I used to present prickly little
bouquets of gold and scarlet Pyracantha and purple Callicarpa. I should not like to be
without the glorious vermilion berries of the Gladdon, even though its flowers are not
very decorative. It is unfair to call this plant the Stinking Iris (in Latin, too, Iris
foetidissima) as the strong smell of raw meat only emerges when the roots are cut.
Turning to spring... It has been shown that bumblebees emerging early can prompt
plants to flower sooner by biting holes in their leaves.7,8 The end of flowering, in any
case, is brought about by a hormone (auxin) produced by the fertilised seed.7,9 This
explains the sometimes observed phenomenon that flowers cut and put in water
indoors, away from pollinators, last longer than their fellows outside. I have
demonstrated this, by weeks, this season, in the flowers of the Bristol Onion (Allium
sphaerocephalon).
6Many (one in 24 of a survey of Which members) have received unsolicited seeds from
abroad, through the post. Usually essential plant health documentation was missing,
and sometimes the contents were falsely described, for example as necklaces.10 Any
such should be referred to the Plant Health Agency.10,11 On the other hand, it is good
to learn that 13 million seeds from over 70 species of British trees have been collected
and banked.2
Plant pests are difficult to lock down. The oak processionary moth, which is now
encountered in England from Kent to Berkshire, has reached Dublin, where a single
nest has been destroyed.2,6 Also the marmorated shield bug – the ‘stink bug’ – with a
wide host range and common in Europe and the USA, has been found in the UK, in
Essex.3 Further funding has been obtained to investigate Acute Oak Decline (the term
replacing Sudden Oak Death, which provided a more readily memorable acronym).2, 4
When we complain about a bland, tasteless radish … do we assume that it has been
grown in artificial conditions, away from character-forming influences, such as soil and
stones, mixed weather, pests and competition? ‘Vertical farming’, growing crops on
shelves, in artificial light, with water and nutrient supplied on carpet or jute, is
increasing.3 This has advantages of site (abandoned air-raid shelter, or next to an on-
line supermarket, say) and also of control, including of light quality and crop timing.
Use of water and pesticides is greatly reduced. Disadvantages are the costs of set-
up, labour and energy, and limitation to rapidly growing crops.3 In the entire article the
taste experience is not mentioned, but regular customers seem satisfied, and most of
us will have eaten such produce.
Finally, two piquant topics. The floral clock in Edinburgh’s West Princes Street
Gardens was founded in 1903. This year, when it is dedicated to workers during the
Covid-19 pandemic, it contains 35,000 plants (misquoted as 350,000 in one
publication) and took three gardeners six weeks to create.4,12 Secondly… the wine
grapevine (Vitis vinifera) was domesticated about 6,000 years ago, and now genomic
analysis of seeds from archaeological sites is revealing a long history of vegetative
propagation of vines. The modern wine grape, of the Jura, Savagnin Blanc has been
traced to 1100 AD. Not Sauvignon Blanc … but it is probable that your consolatory
lockdown wine was made with grapes known in mediaeval times or earlier.2,13
David Speller
(dave.speller@virginmedia.com; 0117 929 8425; 078131 68494)
1Plant Heritage Journal 29(2) Autumn 2020; 2Plant Review 2(3) September 2020;
3The Garden 145(11) November 2020; 4The Garden 145(9) September 2020;
5Which? Gardening October 2020; 6The Garden 145(10) October 2020;
7Which? Gardening September 2020; 8sciencealert.com/bumblebees;
9 Science News Daily October 2017; 10Which? Gardening November 2020;
11gov.uk/government/organisations/animal-and-plant-health-agency;
12www.edinburgh.gov.uk/news; 13Nature Plants 5 2019
7"SCAREDY CAT"
Fed up with all the neighbourhood cats using my garden as a toilet, I resolved to try
out a plant I found in a garden centre called Plectranthus caninus. These low-growing
plants are tender and come from southern and east Africa so it will need to be moved
into the greenhouse for the winter. I find it rather amusing that the species name for it
is caninus which the Latin scholars amongst you will realise means ‘dog’ so a bit
confusing. This plant and some others in the genus were reclassified to Coleus in
2019. The common name is scaredy cat but also dogbane. The unpleasant smell of
the crushed leaves is meant to deter them but does it work? The answer is I can't be
sure if it's the plant or the jars of ammonia that my husband has distributed round the
garden but we do see fewer cats. Imagine my delight when I witnessed the flowers for
the first time in late September.
Chris Purvis
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