Talk

The Grampian & Tayside Group of Plant Heritage

Saturday 30^th March 2pm

The Education Centre, Dundee Botanic Garden

Riverside Drive, Dundee DD2 1QH 

A Tour of Scotland's Rich Heritage of 'Useful Plants'

 By Greg Kenicer

Head of Education, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Tickets on the door or by advance booking. £4

To make a booking or for more details, contact Sue Hewer on 01575 560259 or suehewer1@btopenworld.com

Come along and join RBGE’s Gregory Kenicer for a whirlwind tour through Scotland’s ‘useful plant heritage’ as seen through the eyes of everyone from the first hunter-gatherers to the gentlemen botanists of the Enlightenment. Scotland’s useful wild plants are superbly versatile, and we’re very lucky to have excellent accounts of their traditional uses. The spread from pragmatic everyday food and materials, to mainstays of local economies, to weird and wonderful magical cures adds a fascinating dimension to the plants beyond our gardens.

If you've heard Greg speak before, you'll know that this is going to be a really good one!

Plant of the month - March

Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Charles Lamont’

Family: Adoxaceae           Origin: Garden              Accession: 1974

find it at the end of the rose garden 

Viburnum x bodnantense is the result of a cross between V. farreri  and V. grandiflorum. The cross was originally made by Charles Lamont, Assistant Curator at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh in 1933, but was not widely propagated until 1935 when the same cross was made at Bodnant, hence the name of the hybrid. ‘Dawn’ was the first named form, and ‘Charles Lamont’ was subsequently named as one of the original seedlings raised at Edinburgh.

A medium to large deciduous shrub, it has a strong upright habit when young, later arching outwards gracefully. Ample clusters of exquisitely fragrant, rose-tinted flowers are produced in winter, before the leaves appear in spring. The foliage also turns an attractive bronze in autumn.

Originally thought to belong to the family Caprifoliaceae, recent studies using DNA sequencing have shown Viburnum to be a member of the family Adoxaceae.

Email address

Up to now we have not been able to make use of email to inform those Friends' happy to be contacted in this way about forthcoming events and matters of general concern to the Garden. Hopefully this is about to change - details will be published in the next Newsletter due out around Easter. 

Plant of the Month

February

Hamamelis mollis (Chinese Witch Hazel)

Family: Hamamelidaceae         Origin: China           Accession: 1978

Afternoon talk

 The Garden's Curator, Alasdair Hood, will give a talk about his adventures Down Under 

in the Visitors' Centre

on Wednesday, 6th February from 1 - 2 PM

This is the first time we have held a Friends; meeting at lunchtime so please come along and show your support. Visitors' welcome too!

Happy New Year!

Gardeners' Question Time

The audience may have been small but the enthusiasm was great. Our thanks go to our panel of Experts.

Gardeners' Question Time

TODAY

Saturday, 1st  December

GARDENERS' QUESTION TIME

2.30 PM

at

St Peter's Church Hall

Notes for November

Mid-November and the sound of a digger accompanied me on a recent walk round the Garden. This was not clearance of some wind-damaged victim. This was deliberate prior to establishing an eco building to the east of the Mediterranean Section. The building is an on-going project by Architecture students and Dundee University. Modern architecture can be exciting so we will watch this space. 
Alasdair Hood is now safely back from his visit to Australia and New Zealand. He obviously encountered more sun than those of us who stayed at home. 
As the clocks were put back it seemed to stimulate a change and autumn came to the Garden in a few short days Leaves carpet the the ground in shades of gold as the temperature fluctuates between 13 degrees C and very cold. A recent forecast of the winter to come suggests I buy some more thermals.
The Friends are participating in the West End Christmas Fayre on Saturday, 17th November. This allows us to meet people who may not be visitors to the Garden and hopefully they will fill in our questionnaire so we can discover what would make it attractive to them. We will also publicise Gardens' Question time which takes place on 1st December. 
Christmas is fast approaching - and still the grass grows!

Frances Tait 

Updates

Frances has offered to give us monthly updates on what to look for in the garden. Here's the first one. 

The Wednesday afternoon lecture series got off to a splendid start on 10^th October when Louise Bustard, Education Officer at Glasgow Botanic Garden, spoke on “Plants Can Kill”. This humorous and knowledgeable lecturer talked with enthusiasm about every day plants known to us all in gardens or on countryside walks. Almost fifty people attended and, despite hiccups with the University’s I T system, this was a remarkable start to the season. As a gardener I am accustomed to wearing gloves and  washing my hands when I come inside. Now I shall do it with a little more care and I shall watch with trepidation where my host puts her proffered bunch of daffodils when I call in spring. (Don't ask) After such a successful beginning whom shall we call on for the 2012/14 session? Suggestions are welcome!

As the days and nights grow colder, the Garden puts on a new set of clothes. Gone are the greens, the blue-greens and the green-greens. Now come a range not seen throughout the rest of the year. The weeping branches of the parotia on the far side of the pond seem to be on fire while the birch leaves glow creamy yellow and greenish bronze. Look out for the oaks, both English and Red, that surprise us with their variations in colour and shape.

There are still flowers to be found;: peppermint pink nerines at the rear of the glasshouse, muted red species dahlias to the south and, nearby, the ranks of watsonia and crocosmia stand in orange livery. Look at the trees outside the Visitors’ centre and you will see  texture and bark colour that rivals their spring display.  Search and you will find the leaves and flowers of winter-flowering cyclamen. Deeper In the Garden the rhododendrons, camellias, and magnolias are carrying their spring buds.  Take a walk yourself! There is much to enjoy  to in these winter months.

On Being Happy

Don't miss Neil's talk at Dundee University in the Baxter Conference Room 1.36, 1st Floor, Tower Building at 2.20 pm on Wednesday, 3rd October.

Neil Paterson (Botanic Garden)
On Being Happy: Epicureans in the Garden
Our health is intimately connected to our mental attitudes and approach to life.  The Greeks advocated living the Good Life but what precisely is that to be - Epicurus had an interesting answer.

See "Feeling Good" for the full programme.
All the talks are free!

Special Event

University of Dundee Wednesday Afternoon Lectures

To be held in Lecture Theatre, Tower Building, Perth Road

No need to book - Tickets  £2 per person available at the door.

           

The Friends have been asked to open the 2012/13 series of the University’s Afternoon Lectures on Wednesday 10^th October at 2.15p.m.

Our speaker for this occasion is Louise Bustard, Education Officer, at Glasgow Botanic Garden.   Her illustrated talk is entitled “Plants that Kill”  Do we know how treacherous some of our plants can be?  We know about foxgloves and laburnum but what about daffodils and snowdrops?   Came along and learn more from this excellent and humerous speaker who will keep us entertained while passing on some of her considerable knowledge. 

Other lectures in the series are –

            14^th November   Susan Keracher: Dundee’s Two Intrepid Ladies

            12^th December    Jim Cook: The History of Local Natural History

            16^th January        Bob McCurly & Graham Smith: The Birds of Angus

            6^th February        Derek Hall: Recalling a More Ancient Perth

            13^th March          Martin Kirkbride: How Green Was My Valley

AGM 2012

As you can see from the video the meeting was lively and well attended. It was a lovely autumn evening and many of those present had accompanied Alasdair on his guided walk round the Garden. Frances's report and the names of the members  of the new committee will be posted here shortly for those of you who missed the meeting. At the close of the meeting our Honorary President, Hugh Ingram, gave a moving tribute to Eddie Kemp, the Garden's first curator, who died recently, at the age of 101. He was the inspiration for the innovative design of the Garden. 

AGM 2012

Visit by DCC Councillors

City Councillors on a tour of the Garden on Tuesday evening. 

AGM

NOTICE of 30^th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING to be held in the EDUCATION CENTRE at the BOTANIC GARDEN on WEDNESDAY 12^TH SEPTEMBER 2012 at 7.00 p.m.

GARDEN WALK – Prior to the AGM the Curator, Alasdair Hood, invites Friends and Visitors to accompany him on a “Twilight Walk” round the Garden. The walk lasting approximately 1 hour will depart from the Visitor Centre at 5.30 p.m. (meet at 5.15 p.m.)Light refreshments will be served in the Education Centre from 6.00 p.m with the AGM starting at 7.00 p.m. and lasting approximately 45 minutes

AGENDA

1.      Apologies

2.      Confirmation of Minutes of 29^th AGM held on Wednesday 26^th May 2011

3.      Matters arising from Minutes

4.      Chairman’s Report

5.      Treasurer’s Report including a short talk on the BT/MyDonate method of payment.

6.      Proposal to elect Honorary President

7.      Election of Office Bearers

a.       Chairman willing to stand for re-election

b.      Vice Chairman willing to stand for re-election

c.       Treasurer willing to stand for re-election

d.      General Secretary Position vacant – Nominations invited

e.       Minute Secretary willing to stand for re-election

f.        Membership Secretary Retiring Nominations invited

8.      Election of Committee: there are three vavancies

9.      Election of External Assessor

10.  A.O.C.B.

Scotland in Bloom comes to Dundee

Frances shows the judges round the Garden

In the student allotment

Visits

The combined visit by the Friends and local Plant heritage Group to Binny Plants resulted in 20 people booking. This number made hiring a coach economically possible. Great strides have been made since the Friends' last visit. The two groups united again when we visited Madeleiene Tinsen's garden in Perth to see the Chris North lilies originally developed at SCRI. Due to the lack of sunshine only two varieties were in bloom. This was a spectacular garden enjoyed by 19 people many of whom car-shared. 
Both groups felt that combined outings were the way forward. - one organised by each group. the first of which will be next March when we will go to see the Plant Heritage National Collection of Aloes and Gasteria, held in the Winter Garden, Aberdeen. There we will meet up with those gardeners whom we entertained in Dundee when they visited us in May this year. The numbers should be suffient to organise a coach. 

Report of Meeting

At the meeting of 23rd May the Friends welcomed the statement by Jim McGeorge. Secretary to the University.
"Following the University's affirmation of its continued commitment to its Botanic Garden and the re-establishment of the Advisory Group in 2010, considerable work has gone into developing a new vision for the Garden focussed on supporting the University's educational research and public engagement activities and acting as a key point of interaction between the University and the local and national communities.

The vision forsees the the creation of a 'Horticultural Development Plan' to provide the focus for future investment and fundraising to support the work of the Garden in conserving the natural environment and hosting ex-situ conservation programmes; and a 'Capital and Commercial Plan' to enhance the infrastructure of the Garden in ways that increase its attractiveness as a visitor destination and/or generate additional commercial revenues."


The summary of the Friends' spending during the last year and the report on the background to the Endowment Trust that were presented at the meeting are availble as pages in this blog.

Plant Sale

The suns shone and Saturday's sale organised by the Friends
was a great success,

raising approximately £1000 for the Garden.

Ready, steady.....

GO!