Author Archives: aldersbrookhorticul

Horatio’s Gardens – a talk by Charlotte Harris.

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At the February meeting of Aldersbrook Horticultural Society, Charlotte Harris, internationally renowned garden designer, spoke about the garden that Charlotte and her business partner, Hugo Bugg, designed and built for the Chelsea Flower Show 2023. The garden won a gold medal at Chelsea as well as being the ‘Best In the Show Garden’. Harris Bugg Studio is renowned as a values driven practice designing a range of gardens – residential; public; historic and botanic. 

Charlotte told us how the Horatio’s Garden that they had designed for Chelsea is being relocated to The Princess Spinal Injuries Centre in Sheffield. She showed us designs for the Chelsea Garden which were made after extensive research on the effect of spinal injuries, as well as planting plans and a film of the award winning Chelsea show garden. The garden was designed as a woodland garden to provide dappled light and the main trees used were Field Maple (Acer Campestre) and Black Stemmed Birch (Betra Niger). A number of Pods were constructed to provide private spaces for patients as well as stone built ‘cairns’. The show garden incorporated beautiful planting at a level that could be seen by wheelchair users, paths which are wheelchair friendly, and a water feature including replicas of tools used in the production of Sheffield steel. A Chelsea garden takes 12 days to build and 5 days to plant – it is a risky business and Charlotte told us about the 4 out of 6 trees that they were going to plant which became defoliated just before planting, even though they had bought them two years earlier! An emergency visit to a tree nursery replaced those trees. Chelsea gardens are judged twice in two days the judges were provided with wheelchairs from which they could judge the Harris & Bugg Chelsea Garden. 

Charlotte then went on to explain how the garden was being repurposed and rebuilt for the Hospital in Sheffield, sharing with us plans and 3D images of what it will look like when it is completed. It is being built on a car park, with a shelter belt provided by existing trees. The trees from the Chelsea Garden have been replanted in Sheffield and the stone wallers who built the cairns for the Chelsea garden will build the cairns in Sheffield. Once more the paths which will be built will be wide and reflect the shape of the River Rivelin. Perennial plants used in the Chelsea Garden were sold at the end of the Show and the money will be used to buy perennials for the Sheffield Garden. Horatio’s Garden is a wonderful charity bringing green spaces to hospitals for patients with spinal injuries and we are looking forward to hearing from Ashley Edwards, the Head Gardner at Horatio’s Garden in Stanmore, Middlesex who has been booked to speak to our group in February 2026.

“…wanted to tell you how much we enjoyed the last meeting. Really interestin. You all make the AHS work so well.” Sue, AHS member.

“Wonderful evening, thank yo SO much for organising it. Charlotte was an entertaining speaker and there was an awful lot about Chelsea Gold Medal gardens that I just had no idea about…” Sandra, AHS member.

Tips of the month – February

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February is the month when dark days depart and when there are signs that spring is on its way. As the days get longer we are desperate to get out into the garden for some tidying and planting.

But as February is usually the coldest month of the year, hold off with any jobs involving plants that can be susceptible to the cold and wet. Focus on maintenance jobs and give borders a health check to ensure that they are tidy and healthy so plants are ready to spring into life come springtime. 

Also clean paths and patios, keeping them algae free to reduce slip hazard.

Bulbs

  • Lillies bulbs can be planted out towards the end of this month in pots or directly in the ground.
  • It is not too late to plant alliums, that will flower later than those planted last autumn. 
  • Summer bulbs: Order bulbs now to plant them when all risk of frost has passed, 

Lift Snowdrops

It is the right time to lift and divide congested populations of snowdrops, replanting smaller clumps at the same depth as they were before.  

Cutting back and pruning

  • Clear away old stems and seed-heads of perennials left to stand over winter, making space for new growth. 
  • Prune summer flowering shrubs 
  • Lavender: trim back the old flower stalks 
  • Sedums: cut the brown stems down to ground level
  • Ornamental grasses: cut deciduous grasses down to the ground before new growth starts to emerge.
  • Shrub roses: remove dead or diseased stems and cut back repeat-flowering roses by a third to a half. 
  • Prune late-flowering clematis (group 3 clematis): cut just above a pair of healthy buds about 30 to 60 cm above ground.
  • Autumn fruiting raspberries: simply cut down all canes to the ground and apply a thick layer of homemade compost or mulch. 
  • Wisteria: February is the last month to give wisteria a winter prune. Cut back the stems to two or three buds. 
  • Fuchsia, penstemons: best to wait another month until you see signs of new growth. 

Sowing Annuals

  • It might still be too cold to sow outdoors. The end of the month is a good time to give annuals a head start, indoors in a warm sunny windowsill, or a heated greenhouse. Once the seedlings are big enough to handle, transfer them to small pots to grow, before moving them in late spring in the ground or bigger pots. 

Chitting potatoes

Chitting is a way of encouraging potatoes to sprout before they are planted. That way they will crop a little earlier and will be more productive. 

February is a good month to start chitting seed potatoes in a light, cool but frost free place. Potatoes will need 4 to 6 weeks of chitting before they are ready to plant. This will give them a chance to sprout and start putting on growth. They will be ready for planting in mid-March to April when the soli temperature warms up to 6-10 degrees.

Mulch perennial vegetables

Spread a thick layer of well-rotted manure or garden compost, around asparagus and globe artichoke. This will feed them, suppress weeds and retain moisture 

Visit to Anglesey Abbey – 31st January 2025

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On the last day of January, members and friends of the AHS, went on our Winter Garden Trip to visit Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire. The Winter outing has a special place to cheer us at this dark and inclement time and every seat on the coach was taken.
The weather was kind, overcast, not too cold, with no rain. 


The attractions included the Jacobean House, a Watermill, Lode Mill and of course the garden. 
A small group of us managed to take the guided snowdrop tour where we saw the specialist collection of snowdrops some directly linked to Anglesey Abbey. An artist has painted over 300 different snowdrops collected in a beautiful book on sale in the bookshop. We learnt that the snowdrops hybridise and subtle new varieties emerge. They propagate in a Fibonacci pattern so once they establish they spread. The flowers also lean over and reach the ground once they are past their best. Those with seed heads drop their seeds and germination can begin again.There are lots of names for the snowdrops including Robin Hood and Anglesey Grumpy. 

The winter garden has a wow factor with the beautiful silver birches planted in a group, their white trunks stark against the deep colour of the soil. The dogwoods gave contrasting rich colours of reds and yellows. Block planting, with repeating patterns, was a notable theme in the expanse of the garden..
The woodland walk and the path to the Lode Mill were explored and those that managed a tour of the house enjoyed it. One of our party was spotted in the woodland play area.

The restaurant provided satisfying hot food at reasonable prices. The shop and plant centre were busy and many came away with purchases. The shop is the busiest National Trust shop and we proved the point.
A much enjoyed outing for the Aldersbrook Horticultural Society.