COLINTON GARDEN CLUB
NEWSLETTER NO 75 August 2006

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Welcome

…from our new Chair
Christopher Davies
see below

The membership renewal form for the new session is here. Please complete and return to
Linda Innes.

The first meeting of the new session is on Monday 25th September 2006 at
8.00 p.m.

Winter fertiliser order

A blank order form is available here. Please pass your completed form to Dawn Ellis by Monday 25th September.

Garden Club Library

Jo McEwan writes:

My 4 years as librarian have now come to an end as I move roles within the committee.

The club benefits from an extremely well stocked library which I am sure will continue to be well used.

Don't forget to bring back to the September meeting the books you've had out over the summer! Thanks for your custom!

Thank You!

A big thank you to our unsung heroes – the friends who hand-deliver the newsletters. They save us money in postage. We are currently looking for volunteers to hand-deliver 6/7 newsletters in the following areas:

Firrhill
Fairmilehead
Craiglockhart
Lanark Road

If you live in one of these areas and would like to volunteer, please contact the Secretary, Alasdair Ferguson.

Christmas is coming…!

Our Christmas party this year is on Wednesday 20th. December at 8.00 p.m., in our usual venue, Dreghorn Loan Hall. We can promise you an entertaining and festive evening!

Linda Innes, our Membership Secretary writes:

Members, another topical and varied programme of events is about to be revealed for the forthcoming winter session.

To ensure that you are fully informed about this and other club features, please let me know of any changes in your contact details including your e-mail address, if you have one, using the renewal form attached.

We always welcome new members, so please tell your family, friends and colleagues about our club.

Our regular meetings are held at 8.00 p.m. in the Dreghorn Loan Hall, Dreghorn Loan, Colinton.

Changing roles

Two new committee members have joined us – Pat Taylor and Johanna Carrie. Pat is well known to us as a leading light in last year’s panto (who can forget her Gentian?) and Johanna has been a stalwart of the School Club. We welcome them both and hope they enjoy their time on the committee. Some committee roles have changed – see the new membership leaflet for full details.

Colinton Primary After School Garden Club

Johanna Carrie writes:

We have had a good first year. You will remember that the club was started as a pilot project last September. It was popular enough to run for the next two terms; we do about nine sessions in each of the three school terms. There have been up to 21 children involved, with a committed group of a dozen who have hardly missed any activity. The children have been enthusiastic about most things; favourites have been planning and making gardens of any size ! ( we did keep it small ) We got progress reports on their spider plant cuttings, many of which are thriving – a whole new generation of persistent plants, potted up with jokes about single parents.

Taking one of their three pallet gardens to the Gardening Scotland show was fun; going round the exhibition hall as ‘competitors’ was a treat and the children were made to feel very welcome. Being on the ITV news that night was an added bonus!

Isobel and I look forward to more ‘school gardening’ over the next year. Any club members who want to drop in, let us know, we will be glad to see you and to introduce the children to more gardeners.

Reflections and farewells… Isobel Lodge

Green is a colour too

“I should have answered that green is a colour. That I had spent months observing the multiplicity of shades and tones in “plain” green foliage, and searching for ways to describe the subtleties of what I saw: even the simplest specimen tree shading a green lawn conveys a constantly changing pattern of colour as the light alters from minute to minute, and as the seasons modulate the tones of the leaves.”

Penelope Hobhouse

As this long hot summer shimmers towards September, I glory in the shades of green in my Scottish garden; the dark spikes of the conifer, the soft indented leaves of the acer trailing in the water of the pond, meeting the great round whorls of the water lilies and sharp blue/grey swords of the rushes. After spending some time in the garden of an Italian friend where the contrast is between the dry brown of scorched grass, the limp grey of olives and brash annuals maintained by relentless watering, I appreciate the gardens of Colinton, afresh. I hope that you too have been happy in your gardens, this summer? The first flush of roses is over but, as with the Garden Club, there are more good things to follow.

The Club has had a happy and satisfying end to the year. The months following the A.G.M. have been full of activities which have been enjoyed by many members. On a cool evening in May, members were privileged to wander in the delightful setting of Alex Kerr’s hilltop garden with its wonderful planting, design and stunning views of Edinburgh. I would like to thank Alex for this opportunity and for his innovation. We hope that, following his example, an evening garden visit will become an addition to the Colinton calendar.

The Gardening Scotland Show which took place from 2nd to 4th June was an exciting time for Colinton. The sun shone on all our aspirations. A team from the Club which comprised: Pat and David Taylor, Mary Griffiths, Gill Smith, Elizabeth Ferro and yours truly designed and constructed an exhibit for the pallet garden competition. Pat had the brilliant idea that this should have the theme of Scottish success at the Commonwealth Games.

David masterminded and built a podium and the rest of us rushed about researching, purchasing and planting gold, silver and bronze plants. We won a Silver Gilt medal and second place in the competition which entitled us to £30 of vouchers for plants for next year’s competition! I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues for their comradeship, creative thinking and hard work.

Not only did Colinton have one entry of distinction but a second pallet was produced by the School Club. Christopher Davies made three beautiful wooden pallets which the children filled to their own designs. They made a Vegetable garden, an Oriental garden and a Toy garden. These were judged by a member of the Garden Club and the Head of the school and, while two gardens remained and can be viewed at the school, the Toy garden was installed as the only children’s garden at the Show. Although it attracted much attention and was even filmed for TV, the judges felt they could not consider it against adult entries so it only received a certificate. More important was the joy it afforded the children who went around the Show stalls asking intelligent questions and singing for happiness!

I was sad to miss the Open Gardens on 10th June but I helped set up the previous evening and I know the gardens were beautiful and the plants for sale were plentiful and of excellent quality. Indeed, the Sale made a record sum. I have heard that it was a gorgeous morning and everyone was very happy. Thank you, Anne Duncan, Janet and Bill Munro and Vivienne and Jim MacPhail for your generosity in allowing the Club to view your gardens and Vivienne and Jim for hosting the refreshments and plant sale. I thank the Committee members and others for their hard work, selling plants, manning, and preparing refreshments.

The outing took place on another lovely day on 8th July and, thanks to Jonathan Davey’s careful planning, Christopher Davies’ excellent organisation, and Mitchell Mclean’s skilful calculations, (as Treasurer, he paid everything, dear readers), it was another memorable occasion.

Colonel Simon Furness shows Garden Club members       
around the wonderful walled garden at Netherbyres      

Members strolled in the stately grounds of Manderston, after a repast of rather good scones, and admired the vistas. Fortunately not a member was lost from the wobbly bridge over the lake! After lunch on the beach at Eyemouth, we had a conducted tour by the ebullient and charming owner of the elliptical, eighteenth century walled garden at Netherbyres. Then, there was time for a quick spree of plant viewing and buying at the famous Edrom Nursery before returning to Colinton.

This is my last contribution as Chair. I am sad to leave but it is time to go. I relinquish the task, knowing the future is safe in the hands of a very capable Committee. Christopher will lead you into the future in the piece which follows in this Newsletter---a transition between old and new.

Thank you for your support. I have enjoyed talking to you and wish you all the very best.

Isobel

From the pen of our Chair…

Well, it is time to be thinking about the forthcoming season and, fortified by warmth and sunshine, to launch ourselves into the 2006-7 year of Colinton Garden Club.

Welcome back, Members, Friends and Family! We hope you had a good break. Just sitting outside on those balmy evenings in July or venturing to the pavement cafés in the City to hear the exotic mix of languages from visitors to the Festival, gave us the illusion of being on the silvery lagoon of the Forth. It can only be a matter of time before the now lush vegetation of Colinton supports vineyards on the slopes of the Pentlands!

But back to reality! Yes, a new club year and with the stepping down of that seasoned pair, Isobel and Mitchell, a new challenge for the Committee, a full list of which you will find in your members’ booklet.

A new job for me, which I and our enterprising committee, with your support, are looking forward to.

We have put together an interesting and varied programme of talks covering gardening in its broader definition. In two meetings we will be looking at seeds or bulbs, in others Winter Garden or Wildlife, yet other meetings tell us about the History of the Royal Botanic Gardens, or the hidden history of Scottish Plant explorers. Our aim is to offer you a tapestry of themes which will entertain and stimulate you.

We also want the Garden Club meetings to be an event you enjoy coming to, where you can meet like-minded people, exchange ideas, get advice, or simply find out what is going on in our community. The Club itself is like a Garden, where seeds are sown and ideas bear fruit. So please put the dates in your diaries – the 4th Monday of each month (and Wednesday 20th December for the Christmas Party) – and come along!

For those who don’t yet know, the Christmas Party is a not-to-be-missed event. It is a fun evening where the main happening is the unique performance of a specially created div-ersion performed by real amateurs. Please join us, and if you would like to be part of the show, let us know.

A request for help from the Colinton Amenity Association which does excellent work in preserving and enhancing our environment. The CAA is looking for a tree warden to act as their contact person on trees which are such an important part of our landscape. In due course the CAA also want to carry out a “tree audit” whereby teams of recorders will be organised to list the number, type and condition of our trees. An above average knowledge of trees is desirable but mainly enthusiasm and the wish to contribute. Surely one of our members can help? Please contact me or get in touch with Dr E R Seiler via the website: www.colinton-amenity.org.uk

Now all that remains in this newsletter is to say that we are looking forward to seeing you in person on Monday 25th September, at 8pm in Dreghorn Loan Hall, welcoming you to the Club and to starting a new season together.

Christopher Davies

Dates for your diary…

Colinton Garden Club on the web

Whether you were there at our Summer 2006 events – the Open Gardens and the Summer Outing to Fife – or missed these occasions, you might like to see the pictures which were taken.

If you have access to the internet, the website is a useful source of information about the club. We hold current and back copies of the Newsletter, information about forthcoming events, details of club services and lots of pictures. Follow the News link on the opening page (homepage) to see what is new.