Long House Plants Newsletter 2025
Thank you to everyone for your support for our Open Garden days last year. We raised about £7900 in all. We were able to send £3600 to the National Garden Scheme, their beneficiaries include Hospice UK, Marie Curie and the Queens’ Nursing Institute. Countrywide in 2024, the NGS raised over £3.5 million and have now supported Macmillan Cancer support for 40 years! Harold Hill Salvation Army raised over £2500 and we sent £1800 to Macmillan Cancer Support when we opened the garden at the end of September. Thank you to everyone for their support; helping in the tea shed, garden, selling tickets, bringing cakes and organising the car park. We couldn’t do it without you. Thanks also to all of you for visiting the garden and eating cake here and then taking cake home to eat.
The cake competition on the Macmillan open garden day had coffee and walnut as the most popular, closely followed by lemon drizzle and Victoria sandwich. The coffee and walnut cake was a new recipe so that feedback was useful. The Alma Arms in Navestock kindly supported our catering last year by providing quiche and have offered a contribution again this year.
Experimental cakes at the end of 2024 included caramel cake with chocolate frosting and a chocolate flecked cake, both of which were popular with all of our very kind panel of guinea pigs!
I have helped several customers with garden and border design. Please let me know if you would like any assistance. It’s something that I’m always happy to do, ranging from finding the right plant for a difficult place to designing a whole garden.
We had very nearly the same amount of rain in 2024 as in 2023 – 33.15 inches (842.5mm) in 2023 and 33.2 inches (853mm) in 2024. The average rainfall for 2006-2024 was 28.3 inches (719.18mm). The timing of the rain was different particularly for the last quarter of the year. In 2023 October to December the rainfall was 12.4 inches (315mm) and in 2024 it was 6.81 inches (173mm) so we were able to do more work in the garden over the autumn. The windy spells did result in some damage. Let’s hope the weather in 2025 is kind to us gardeners.
The garden will be open to the public in aid of the Salvation Army between 11am and 4pm on:
Saturdays 28th June, 19th July, 16th August and 13th September 2025
The garden will be open to the public in aid of the National Garden Scheme between 11am and 4pm on:
Wednesdays 9th July, 6th August and 3rd September 2025
The garden will also be open to the public in aid of Macmillan between 11am and 4pm on:
Saturday 27th September 2025
Please add these dates to your diaries – all the admission and refreshment takings go to the respective charities and I know these donations are important to them.
We changed the nursery hours slightly starting in 2024 – here are the details;
The opening hours for the nursery from the beginning of March to the end of June,
every Friday and Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 10am-4pm and
Bank Holidays 10am – 5pm
From the beginning of July to the end of September,
Saturdays 10am-5pm
or by arrangement; via the website www.longhouseplants.com
tim@thelonghouse.net
or 01708 371719
One of the things that I like about growing plants and gardening is that it’s hopeful – you’re looking to the future, anticipating new shoots and flowers.
My garden is a relatively new one. I started planning and thinking about it well in advance – making note of the path of the sun at different times of year and looking at the soil and drainage. The soil here is not great. I have very little top soil over some very heavy London clay. This type of soil has poor drainage. Some areas of the garden are often waterlogged, mainly in the winter but some areas can stay wet after heavy rain in the summer.Once I had assessed the site, I started to plan. I considered where the paths would go, where I could put the compost heap and washing line out of sight, where to run the water and how to hide the taps. I looked at where the best views are so I could include seats and some shade. I considered shelter from the weather, I want to be able to hide from the rain or hot sunshine. I thought about perfumed plants and how far the scents would travel.
I knew I couldn’t get it all done at once, so I planned which areas to make a start on so that some plants would have a chance to mature. I double dug some areas to improve the soil and put down type 1 to make an area for plants that need better drainage. I always wanted to open the garden to the public so I could share it. I considered how other people would use it, for example, my paths are wide with more than one way through the garden and most of the garden is wheelchair friendly. I thought about my eyes leading me around the garden and the sensations I would feel, different textures underfoot are worth considering as are scents and things to touch. It can be something soft or something spiky.
I planned the planting of the garden very carefully. I understand that I cannot fundamentally change the soil so it’s much better to work with it rather than against it. I knew I had collections of plants that I wanted to include in the garden – both for propagation purposes and so that you can see the plants together. There is always something that I covet for the garden or to try propagating!
Using different textures, flower shapes and colours provides interest in the garden but it’s worth bearing in mind that echoing shapes and textures and colours creates harmony. I do consider the colour wheel and the impact that contrast and shading can have on a border.
The Hemerocallis bed is in a really nasty piece of soil, there’s very little or no top soil but they thrive there – not caring if the clay is wet and sticky or set like concrete. The Agapanthus, Kniphofia, Crocosmia bed is in a very hot part of the garden, which suits these South African natives. The soil is neutral to slightly acid so Camellias are happy, the other effect of the acidic soil is that pink Hydrangeas turn blue once they’ve settled down into their planting position. I planted my dog wood and grass collections to make the most of the low winter sun and to ensure that the grasses catch the breeze. Plants that enjoy damp conditions are planted against the growing area so they receive run off water when the nursery is irrigated. Some collections are glorious for a few weeks like the Iris sibirica, some like the Agapanthus, Kniphofia, Crocosmia collection and Hemerocallis collection last for longer. The Camellias give colour nearly all year round. My collection of Camellias includes varieties that start flowering in September with others that can still be in flower in June when the roses start to bloom.
The grasses give almost year round structure and visual impact in the garden – they peak in late summer to autumn and can be useful to give temporary privacy and link different areas of planting.Like most gardeners, I have had some failures – there are parts of the garden that some plants just do not enjoy so you learn and move them. The snowdrop bed is thriving now. It’s just a couple of paces away from the original bed which can get waterlogged.
I have been planting a new area around the bridge. It’s dry and shady so I’ve used Aucuba, Fatsia, Mahonia, Nandina and Polypody ferns and as all gardeners do, I’m looking forward to the future so see what works and how it matures.
I look forward to seeing you in the nursery and garden. Tim