COLINTON GARDEN CLUB
NEWSLETTER NO 87 August 2009

Membership

The 2009/10 membership renewal form is attached
to this newsletter…

Please complete and return to Membership Secretary
Colin Whitehead

Still just £5 per household!

Autumn fertiliser order

A blank order form is enclosed with this newsletter. Please pass your completed form to Dawn Ellis by Monday 28th September 2009

Garden Club Library

Gill Perry writes:

We will have some new additions to our well-stocked Garden Club Library at our first meeting of the Club year in September.

Come along and have a look, and if you have had any books over the summer, please remember to return them.

Many thanks

Newsletters

Thanks again to those members who hand-deliver the newsletters. They help us to keep your subscription rates down by saving us postage costs.

You can now opt to receive your newsletter by e-mail. Details on the subscription renewal forms.
We try to keep our records up to date but if you don’t receive a newsletter, please contact the Secretary, Alasdair Ferguson, on

0131 477 0178

From the pen of our Chair…

Dear Friends

As other local societies adjourned for the summer – thoughtfully giving their members more free time to look after their gardens – the Garden Club emerged from its winter programme into the glorious summer. This is the time when we come into our own, when Nature blossoms forth in proliferation, fulfilling her command to grow and multiply and adding her profusion to the skills and aspirations of us gardeners to produce the displays which delight us as we make our way through gardens, streets and suburb.

The memories of our outdoor events will accompany us as the evenings draw in, which inevitably will happen within a few weeks. The summer has been kind to us, kinder still to our plants, flowers, trees and shrubs (not to mention their bedfellows, the weeds….which, even they, also have their place in the natural order of things….)

Our outdoor season started on May 11th with the Evening Open Garden at the house of Morag and Lawrence Marshall. A goodly number of our members came to enjoy this beautiful garden freshly clothed in the green of the late Spring. We stood on the lawn and gazed at the setting sun whose light was reflected in the wine glass in our hand. It was a calm evening with a powerful feeling of harmony. Thank you, Morag and Lawrence.

Members enjoy the May Open Gardens evening!

On June 6th, it was time for the Open Gardens. The day dawned warm and bright. It was a memorable occasion in that we had four large gardens, each in close proximity with the other: Caroline and Michael Pearson, Lindsay and David MacLure, Sally and Jake Miller and Maggie and David Robinson – thank you all for your generosity and the welcome you gave to the Club. What was so remarkable was that each garden had its own personality, the views were subtly different, combining however into an inspiring panorama, on what felt like the roof of the world. Members enjoyed each others’ company, either in walking round, over the plant sale (at Millers) or teas (at Pearsons). It is on such occasions that one realizes that Colinton is a real community.

Our Summer Outing this year took us, on 11th July, to Earlshall Castle in Leuchars, and St Andrews Botanic Garden. It was an outstanding event, bright sunshine as we left Edinburgh, slightly overcast when we arrived in Earlshall, which gave us the bonus of being warmly welcomed by the owners, Paul and Josine Veenhuijzen in the historic Long Gallery of the Castle. After tea or coffee and homemade cake, and Paul’s entertaining introduction, with the sun breaking through the thin cloud, we wandered at leisure through the lovingly tended gardens. St Andrews, bathed in sunshine, welcomed us for lunch and then on to a guided tour of the extensive and well laid out Botanic Garden with surprisingly varied habitats and a wealth of plants. All agreed that it had been a relaxing and exceptionally pleasant day.

We had two successes at the Gardening Scotland Exhibition (29th – 31st May), when our entry for the increasingly popular Pallet Garden Competition was awarded a Gold Medal. Congratulations to the team led by Christine Ireland together with Andy Ireland, Jeannie Laidlaw, Jim Murray, Gill Perry and Margaret Semple who so cleverly translated the themes
of a Robert Burns poem and the “Homecoming” into a visual display. This success was added to by Colinton Primary School receiving a Silver Medal for their entry to which our members sub-stantially contributed. Thanks to Johanna Carrie, Jean Haskell and Isobel Lodge. It is a great example of ‘hands-on’ gardening combined with education where members are using their talents and at the same time opening new horizons for the Club’s activities.

You can view photos of these events, and more on our well maintained website (thanks to Sonia Duffy). Don’t forget to check it out for the latest information, and thanks to our photographer-members who sent in pictures of the events.

The phrase “new horizons” prompts me to suggest that we should always be on the look out for new ideas so that we can move the Club forward and keep it interesting. In the last few years, we have introduced the Evening Open Garden, the Pallet Garden Competition, Workshops (e.g. Photography) and
Members’ Evening. The point is to keep such events within our remit and resources, and we are always pleased to consider ideas from our members, not only from the Committee.

We continue to make our contribution to the communal life of Colinton. The Conservation Trust is engaged on a project to refurbish the Long Steps from Bridge Street down to the Parish Church and our team, led by Bryan Dale is lending a hand, in addition to maintaining the Triangle. Colinton Primary School in conjunction with BBC Beechgrove Garden have a project “Room to Grow”, supported by Beechgrove and the Colinton Amenity Association (CAA) to which the Garden Club is contributing knowledge and help in terms of gardening expertise, help with planting, layout and project management.

Event

Meeting: “Alpine Plants of Scotland”
Ian and Carole Bainbridge,
Scottish Rock Garden Club

Plant sale and coffee morning:
St Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church Hall, Westgarth Ave. (Please note that bulbs will be for sale at this event)

Meeting: “A Plant View of Climatic Warming”
Professor Robert Crawford,
University of St Andrews

Meeting: “The Redwood Trail, California and Oregon”
Ian Douglas,
Scottish Rhododendron Society

Members’ Christmas Party

Meeting: “Creating a Country Garden”
Margaret Kilpatrick,
Honorary Member, CGC

Meeting: “Growing and Showing Roses”
Iain Silver, National Rose Society

Meeting: “Birds in Your Garden”
Stan da Prato, Wildlife Consultant

Annual General Meeting

Evening Open Garden
Date and details to follow

Open Gardens Morning
Date and details to follow

Summer Outing
Date and details to follow