What a treat we had in store with this month’s Digs and Dibs speaker Simon Partridge. As head of the How Hill trust he was the perfect person to show us with his excellent slides, knowledge and amusing talk the little known joys and wonder of the gardens at How Hill.

The house itself was built by Edward Boardman, originally as a summer house for himself, his wife and then his family but at the outbreak of WW1 he added to it and made it his permanent family home. The development of the house and gardens in its amazing position continued up until his death and when the family finally sold it the purchaser was Norfolk Education Committee. What foresight Sir Lincoln Ralphs, the chief education officer, had. Staff training and school visits took place there and when the How Hill trust took it over the work with school visits was certainly accelerated. The house provides a superb place for the children to stay and the grounds, Toad Hole Cottage and the new centre provide a wonderful base to study wildlife and the Norfolk broads.

The gardens surrounding the house are not always on public view because schools are in residence but the rest of the garden is open every day and is well worth a visit. At one time they were only open for a few weekends a year to see the azaleas and rhododendrons, which are spectacular, but now work has been done to make the gardens a place of all round interest. There is also a coffee shop!! Simon showed us slides of the restoration of one of the gardens near the house which promises to be really beautiful.

This talk was special for me as I took the children from Angel Road School and every year of my time as headteacher at Tacolneston School to How Hill. It is a place of real beauty and wonder and to my great delight Isobel, one of my pupils, came to Digs and Dibs to hear the talk. I would urge you all to visit this magical place on the Broads which was so eloquently spoken about by Simon.

A keen audience for Diggers and Dibblers' 'Gardeners Query Time' absorbed a wealth of information and advice given by our experts for the evening.

(photos by Su Leavesley,
  click photo for slide show)

Our panellists were Charlotte Philcox, garden consultant and designer, broadcaster and teacher; Ben Potterton of Blacksmith's Nursery, with a string of horticultural and ecological titles to his credit, and Ian Roofe, gardener at East Ruston, and well known for his regular spot on Radio Norfolk's 'Garden Party'.

There was plenty of easy banter with witty interjections, (mainly sotto voce from Ben), as well as serious, in-depth discussion of people's gardening dilemmas, which ranged from Brian's invasive Carex taking over his lawn and Fiona's massive attack of ground elder, to lots of non-fruiting blueberries, plums and gooseberries and leaf dropping figs.

Louise Chapman, BA Hons burst on to the D and D meeting in a whirl of information and hilarity! Louise started her talk with information about how she began her extremely unusual job. From Garden design to finding a gap in the market for a lady mole catcher! She made a film about what and how she caught moles and suddenly she was front page of the Wall St journal followed by The Daily Mail, the Jeremy Vine show, ITV news, The Times and the Telegraph. Her fame then spread as she went from mole catching to Brisbane to be in charge of Pest control! But moles are everywhere so Louise came home and set up her business!!

During the next part of the talk there was a great deal of hilarity and interaction! Lots of facts about moles were given to us so here are just a few! Moles are everywhere!! They eat 20 earthworms a day and if they are starving they come above the surface and die. In a population of 64 million people there will be 35 to 40 million moles! They have no natural predators as they are bitter to the taste. Traditional mole catchers were wealthy as catching moles was lucrative. Their breeding season is February to March, this year being early February. The female is in season for only 24 hours, governed by the soil temperature with the moles moving around during the mating season. Louise gave us a vivid description of courtship and mating.

February's talk was given by Andrew Brogan from Henstead Exotic Garden . He entertained us all again with his story of how he had moved from urban London to rural Suffolk, and had gradually planted and landscaped his garden, whilst increasing its size by befriending the eccentric owner of the adjoining estate.

Andrew showed lots of photos of the garden (and an eclectic selection of additional images) on the large, new screen, which certainly enhanced the experience. He described arranging 35 tons of Derbyshire rocks, and showed some of the hard work required to construct the different areas of hard landscaping in his garden. One of his main themes was that it is not necessary to bring exotic plants indoors in the winter, as long as you plant carefully and are prepared to take a risk- one of his photos was of his plants covered in snow and ice. Although hardy palms do not like wind, he assured us that they can survive down to minus 17 degrees.

He also stressed the importance of creating a micro-climate in your garden and learning what will survive where. Andrew also uses a mixture of true exotics and other plants which help to create the impression, such as ferns. He has been very successful with bamboos, and mentioned one type which can grow up to a foot per day and reaches 30 feet high – not for the faint-hearted! He has also left native trees at the back of his garden as they help to create the right backdrop, despite not being 'exotic'.

There were two trees he showed, which particularly struck me - the strawberry tree – which I have looked up and shall be buying soon - arbutus unedo, which has beautiful red bark. Although it is mediterranean it grows in Ireland (and Suffolk!), so should be safe in Norfolk. The other was the evergreen magnolia, with huge, but short-lived lemony flowers in August.

Andrew also brought plants to sell.