At the October meeting of the AHS, Peter Marshall, the Arboricultural and Horticultural Officer of Redbridge, spoke about the trees of Redbridge. He explained how all trees owned by the Council, growing on streets and council land, are mapped by the Council and inspected regularly. 

Peter and his team of 7 select and order trees to be planted, oversee tree planting and maintain and manage the trees. There are 44,000 council trees and 128 hectares of council woodland in the Borough of Redbridge.  The tree officers identify trees in high-risk areas so that they can be effectively maintained, particularly overhanging branches on street trees.  Redbridge was one of the first Local Authorities to employ a tree officer and recognise the ecological benefits of growing trees; there are 700 trees grown on the Council’s highways. With the support of a grant from the Greater London Authority, Redbridge has planted over 1.000 trees in 2 years. 

Trees are ordered from reputable Tree Nurseries like Hilliers and Wyevales and purchased at the height of 2.5 – 3 metres. Before they are planted on streets, a check must be made for underground services and away from street furniture. 

Each area of the borough has a score which reflects the proportion of trees, with Loxford & Ilford having the lowest score.  Working with the Woodland Trust, the borough is aiming to plant more trees on school playgrounds which have a tarmac surface.  A central government grant to be paid in April 2027 will result in more trees being planted.   

Peter spoke about the variety of trees that will survive drought better than others – the Council will be purchasing more trees that can withstand drought conditions.  Click on the link for the notes from Peter’s talk. 

The winners of the plant of the month competition were:- 

 1^st Jane Karavasili – Solanum laxum 

2^nd Marjorie Lewis– Dahlia 

3^rd Judith McCann – Fuchia  

Please note that future meetings of the AHS will take place in St Gabriel’s Church,

At the first meeting of the horticultural year at Aldersbrook Horticultural Society, we welcomed Ashley Edwards, one of the presenters of Gardeners’ World, who spoke first about his career – as a small child, he loved bedding plants and he was close to his grandmother, who encouraged him to love gardens and nature.

 As a young man, he worked in a local garden centre and then studied at Kew Gardens, where he gained his RHS qualifications and the Kew Diploma.  

This gave him the opportunity, through the Interchange Fellowship, to work at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania – a contrasting horticultural experience to Kew Gardens.

This was followed by an internship in Sicily where he concentrated on growing food for the table.  On his return to the UK, he became Head Gardener at Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham and from there to becoming the Head Gardener at Horatio’s Garden at The London Spinal Cord Injury Centre in the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore. Here he focussed on growing plants for wellbeing and creating beautiful outdoor rooms for seriously injured patients and their visitors. As his broadcasting commitments have increased, Ashley has now taken up the part-time position of Head Gardener at Crocus, which is based at Dorney Court near Windsor.

Ashley showed us how the garden is being revived and replanted – although it has an original walled garden, the growing conditions on the site are challenging, with strong crosswinds and planted with dense hedges and skinny borders.  Ashley shared with us the new planting designs for each part of the garden, with a focus on growing climate-resilient plants, adding shade, structure, sensory planting and a seating area.  The work was only started in February and from the slides it looked as if it had been planted for years!  A rain garden has been developed with plants that can cope with water and drought. Sand and aggregates have been used as a substrate in some of the beds, which improves the growth of drought-resistant planting. There are cutting beds with dahlias and annuals and beds that show examples of Crocus collections.  

Crocus is a well-known online nursery that provides plants for many Chelsea gardens.  The next phase of the project is to look at providing an alternative to a lawn – maybe a wildflower meadow or alternatives to grass such as camomile.  

The garden is open on Mondays & Tuesdays, so we hope to visit next year.

Plant of the Month

A new feature of our monthly meetings is the Plant of the Month competition – we are delighted to announce that there were 14 really good entries and the winners this month were:-

1^st Jan Tallis with a beautiful and unusual Clerodendrum trichotomum var. fargesii, ‘Glorybower’

2^nd Jane Karavasilli – Clematis vitalba

3^rd Barbara White – Hibiscus

Beth Chatto’s Plants and Gardens in Elmstead Market, east of Colchester, is a great place to visit for anyone fascinated by gardening, as 55 members of the Aldersbrook Horticultural Society (AHS) discovered on Saturday 13 June.  

Members enjoyed the day’s unfamiliar sunshine (we were so lucky with the weather!), the glorious planting schemes, plant colours and a wide variety of wonderful cakes and scones to go with a cup of tea in the delightful Tea Rooms.

The gardens are unique in maintaining the philosophy of their founder.  Beth Chatto was a plantswoman, author and gardener who revolutionised horticulture by promoting ecological, “right plant, right place” gardening.  She transformed the wasteland she purchased with her husband in Elmstead Market in Essex into the now famous Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens, winning ten consecutive gold medals at the Chelsea Flower show and receiving an OBE for her services to horticulture. 

The dry garden in particular, designed by Beth Chatto in an old car park, is iconic.  It is a gravel garden and almost all of it is in full sun.  Plants there were watered once on planting and not thereafter, although shrubs and trees sometimes need a little more attention.  It seems extraordinary but, because all the plants are known to survive well in these seemingly harsh conditions, the garden thrives.

By contrast, there are also parts of the Beth Chatto Gardens which focus on woodland and on damp and shady areas.  The philosophy remains the same: find plants which like these conditions and they will grow well.

Visitors from the AHS were able to spend time (and money!) in the nursery which sells plants, 80% of which are grown on site.  Inevitably members got a little carried away: some bought more plants than they could carry (or had room for – I heard it said more than once: “I’ll find room for it somewhere”) … and one or two forgot they had no means of getting their purchases home.  It’s OK: they were bailed out by kindly neighbours with cars!  

We are so grateful to the garden administrators for making the visit so enjoyable for us; undoubtedly: many of us will be returning.