Friday 29 October 2021

Jeannie Hunt - zonal pelargonium

Zonal pelargonium "Jeannie Hunt"

Raised in the UK by Hunt, and released in 2004.  This dwarf pelargonium has soft pink double flowers.  The leaves are gold with a darker zone.  The leaves in my photo do look green, but it was taken on a dull day in a shaded glasshouse.

I have been busy taking lots of cuttings.  Far too many and now I wonder where I will keep them all when I have to pot them up.   Having said that, I have not had a lot of luck with cuttings this year, starting with the zonartics I took for Fibrex at the beginning of this year.   For many years I have used coir mixed with half vermiculite, with good success. I wrote about my coir method in 2019 here . I have also used the same coir and quarter perlite .  But this year I have lost a lot of cuttings. Could it be the coir?  I don't know, but it is very odd. I, therefore, reverted to my old method of sieved compost and silver sand - mixed half and half and so far have had good results.      The cuttings I have seem to be half with the coir and half with the compost.   I will keep you informed

Sunday 12 September 2021

"Charmay Baccarole" - Angel Pelargonium and visit to Fibrex Nurseries

 


I have had this in my collection for several years now.   As many of you know, I m not a great fan of Angel Pelargoniums (or Regals), but I do like this one, so it has a place in the greenhouse.     The flowers are quite large and I love the frilled look of the petals.   I don't know a much about this Angel, except it was raised by Ken Attfield of Australia.   

Many of you will know that the National Collection of Pelargoniums has been held at Fibrex Nurseries, near Stratford upon Avon for 34 years.   Sadly a decision was made to give up the collection, manly due to the health, of the family who own and run the nursery, and the fact that the collection house, along with others on the nursery,  is very old and becoming dangerous.   The collection has been given to the R.H.S. and has been distributed among the five RHS Gardens.   Having handed over the collection at the end of last year, Fibrex kept it going on the nursery for this year for members' of the public to see it in its entirety for one more year.  

Fibrex very kindly opened the nursery at the end of August specially for members of The Pelargonium and Geranium Society to see the collection one last time.  We were able to purchase sales plants in the sales house. After we had tea and cake we were able to buy many of the plants that had been in the  Collection House.   This was a great opportunity to purchase plants that had not been offered for sale previously.   We all had a grand day and I am sure I was not the only member to go home with far too many plants.   As well as being able to purchase plants, it was lovely to meet and chat  with so many of our members.  















 


Thursday 26 August 2021

"Downlands" - Dwarf zonal pelargonium

 


This stunning flower stopped me in my tracks one morning recently when I enterered the greenhouse.  It is much paler than I expected but so beautiful.  Palest pink flowers, which darken as the flower ages.  Light green leaves with no zone.  "Downlands" was new for me this year, from Allwoods and was raised by Jack Cox, grandfather of the present owner of Allwoods.    I have now cut it back in the hope it will be a larger plant next year.  Naturally, I am rooting the cuttings and hope to get more.  

August has been busy, with the Village Gardening  Club Flower Show to help organise - After ten years as Show Secretary I don't have quite so much to do now, but I am pretty much busy for the day before the show taking entries and also busy on the day. 



It was a good show with entries down a bit, but the standard was as high as usual.   We were going to open to the Village last year, but Covid put a stop to that (no show, obviously) and this year we thought it best to stick to what we know and not open our doors to the village.  Hopefully, next year, we can.

I'm off to Fibrex Nurseries this weekend.  The National Collection they have held for the last 34 years has been broken up and distributed between all the RHS Gardens. This weekend will be the final opportunity to see the collection all in one place.   It was a hard decision for Fibrex to make, but the owners are not getting any younger, and the glasshouses are becoming dangerous and very expensive to repair or replace.  So, although we are very sad at the Collection going, the nursery will still be there, and we can still buy our favourite plants.

Sunday 18 July 2021

"Stenbury" Miniature tri-coloured leaf zonal

 


The miniature tri-coloured zonal "Stenbury" was raised by the late Brian West and introduced through Denmead Nursery.  The leaves are tri-coloured and unusual in that they are not bright, but 'dusky. The flowers are double reddish-pink.   I haven't gown "Stenbury" for several years and I was lucky to get a plant when I visited Fibrex earlier this year.

Well, it's been a while since I was on this Blog.  Nineteen months in fact.  A lot has happened in that time and everything in the world has changed completely.   Covid-19 has taken its toll on everyone, and it still is.  Here in the UK, we are due to have an easing of lockdown on Monday, but numbers are rising again, so it is possible we will be back in another lockdown.   Brian and I have both had our two 'jabs', but we will still be cautious when we are out and about.    

Since I last wrote I have retired as Membership Secretary of The Pelargonium & Geranium Society, although I am still managing the Direct Debit payments.    I am still on the committee, and we have had several meetings via Zoom.   We seem to have achieved far more than we would have with our usual three meetings and AGM.  I would be happy to continue with Zoom. It saves us a lot of money in room hire, not to mention the time each of us individually takes to drive to the meetings.  Sadly we had to cancel our two National shows, last year and this, because of the restrictions.  We did hold two Virtual Shows online, which were a great success.   You can see this year's show here.

I hope to be back again soon.