1 THE FRIENDS OF THE CRUICKSHANK BOTANIC GARDEN Newsletter September 2012 In this issue :- • Programme of events for the year • What’s going on in the Garden • Synopsis of a recent talk: Perennials that stand up for themselves • Our Autumn Plant Sale on October 27 • Herb series: Betony Please let the editor know if you would be happy to receive our newsletters by e-mail rather than in printed form. Saved costs on postage would then be available for the good of the Garden.
Transcript
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THE FRIENDS OF THE CRUICKSHANK BOTANIC GARDEN Newsletter September 2012 In this issue :-
• Programme of events for the year • What’s going on in the Garden
• Synopsis of a recent talk: Perennials that stand up for themselves • Our Autumn Plant Sale on October 27 • Herb series: Betony
Please let the editor know if you would be happy to receive our
newsletters by e-mail rather than in printed form. Saved costs on postage would then be available for the good of the Garden.
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Plant labelling Committee members and volunteers who staff the stalls at our Plant Sale can be hindered when plants are not well labelled. With blooms long gone and most foliage died back, identification can only be guesswork. We offer these suggestions: • Prepare plastic (not paper) labels in advance. Most 500g yoghurt pots and litre
ice cream containers can be cut up into labels. Use a paper perforator on the former if you want to add ties.
• Use a waterproof marker pen in case there is rain. • Masking tape is strong enough to secure unwieldy herbaceous plants in carrier
bags. If short of labels you can write on it as well. • If you do not know the full name of the plant, please add a description including
colour and height. Lack of labelling can have unexpected results, including the unidentified, small-leaved plant left unsold which I bought for 50p and planted in the rockery. It grew to over a metre among the dwarf plants and turned out to be Greater knapweed!
Autumn Plant Sale Saturday October 27 10.30 until noon by the potting sheds or if it is raining, in the Zoology foyer instead - look out for the signs.
Please deliver your clearly labelled plants the day before, or well
before 10am on the morning of the sale. House plants can be left in the glass corridor by the potting sheds.
There is no need to pot up large herbaceous divisions, as long as you dig them just a day ahead, wrap in damp newspapers, pop in a carrier bag and tie on a label securely. (see below)
Do tell your friends and neighbours about the sale and bring them along, armed with baskets, boxes and bags to carry home the many desirable plants on offer.
Let a committee member know soon if you can advertise the sale, perhaps in a community newsletter or put up some posters supplied by the committee in local halls or community centres.
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Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden Programme 2012-2013 October 11 Ken Cox Fruit and vegetables for Scotland October 27 (Saturday) Plant sale in the Garden – 10.30am to noon November 8 Jim McColl A life in gardening December 13 Mark Paterson From Eden to Aberdeen
The full season’s programme is enclosed as a green reminder for your notice board, so the above is just in case you misplace it!
Committee News Several of our committee members come to the end of their term at the next AGM. Every position is important but we certainly can't run without a Treasurer. As we had no-one willing to take on this position last year, Leona Whiteoak and Joan McKenzie took it on as a job share, for this year only. Both Leona and Joan have put in many years on the committee in different positions and both will definitely step down when the year is up. All that is required is the ability to use a simple Excel spreadsheet to manage a membership list of around 300 members, and income and expenditure transactions which average only about half a dozen a month. So, please, don't wait to be asked. If you can help the committee in any way your assistance will be most gratefully received - most especially if you could offer to be the Treasurer. Just speak to any of the committee members if you would like to know more about what is involved in being on the committee and Joan will be happy to talk through the detail of the Treasurer's role. We keep hearing about David Cameron’s ‘Big Society’, demonstrated by volunteers playing an important part in the success of the Olympics. A turnover of volunteers can bring enthusiasm and new skills to any organisation, including ‘The Friends’.
Cancellation of meetings There may be occasions where meetings have to be cancelled at short notice due to severe weather - as in some previous winters. When this happens it is not possible for the committee to contact all those who may be planning to attend, unless you have given the treasurer your E-mail address. If you are in any doubt about possible cancellations, please contact any committee member whose phone number is on the back page.
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Cruickshank Garden Notes - Autumn 2012 ‘Mrs Noah, one day she asked “How does it look outside?” Out of the window, Noah popped his head and said “We’ve got plenty of water!” So indeed have we, the rainfall of early summer has been matched by the rainfall of late summer and we cheer each other up with hopeful talk of an Indian summer- hmm! The plants that can grow have been growing exuberantly and rank vegetation abounds, grass has yet to slow down and trench foot remains a danger as the rising damp meets the falling damp. Thus it was a on a dreich Monday afternoon that I found myself splashing round the Cruickshank Garden in a steady downpour, taking notes on increasingly soggy bits of paper. I noticed the Clematis montana climbing over the small rowan on the left just after the Chanonry gate, and up into the holly behind it, and wondered quite how far an entirely unpruned one would travel. It is excellent plant, in its many forms, from white to pink, often with good purple new foliage and sometimes well-scented, but very rampant and inclined to smother all but the most vigorous of supporting plants unless trimmed – though not too late in the year or you lose much of the potential flower. The agapanthus, in the ‘Noticeboard Bed’- as elsewhere in the garden, are flowering very well indeed. Whether this performance, which is matched in my garden and several others I visit, is the result of the mild winter or the aforementioned moisture, I know not, but it is nonetheless very welcome. The dahlias in the nearby bed look less pleased with the wet! The foliage of Parrotia persica and the Viburnum plicatum ‘Mariesii’ which flank the path through to the weeping elm, is colouring already and berries and seedheads are more in evidence than flowers on the shrubs in this area. The skimmia, as always thriving as an understorey, are covered in bright red berries, matched in colour by baneberries, Actaea rubra, which have seeded liberally into beds and borders. In the west-facing half of this shrub border, the Chilean shrub Eucryphia glutinosa - deciduous with us, though evergreen in the wild - is well decorated with large clear white flowers and prominent stamens, whilst in the increasingly wooded area between the Shrub Border and the Rose Garden, a skimmia relative - a fellow member of the ‘citrus family’, the Rutaceae - the Chinese tree, Tetradium danielli, with large pinnate leaves, is about to fill the warm air of our Indian summer (!) with the fragrance of its corymbs of small white flowers. In the Rose Garden too, the hips of Rosa moyesii are striking, and the sweet peas very pleasing and fragrant. The floribunda roses in the sunken area, already in their twilight years, have not enjoyed this summer at all. The bedding begonias in the central bed seem to relish the damp and flower insouciantly well. The bulb lawn in the Sunken Garden has had its annual haircut and the short turf is waiting for the imminent emergence of autumn flowering colchicum and crocus. In the South African bed on the north side of the sunken area, very much the same plants are flowering as when I
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described them three months ago - a testament to their sustained flower power. Thus various forms of the cape figwort, phygelius spp. combine with a dwarf form of the pink daisy, Osteospermum juncundum, now enhanced by the delicate pink blooms of their fellow native Tritonia rosea, like a delicate crocosmia, which thrives in this relatively sunny, well-drained spot. The Chilean fire bush, Embothrium coccineum , still with some fine orangey-red flowers near the summer house, is in danger of being smothered by excellent if over-vigorous climber, Vitis coignetiae, which will soon be resplendent in its autumn crimson and scarlet foliage. Nearby the plants in the bed against the wall on the terrace are suffering from increasing shade from the large pine that is spreading above them, but the pods of Piptanthus Nepalensis dangle in spectacular fashion. If we are not having to deal with plants that aren’t growing, then it is plants growing too well that cause the problem! The Herbaceous Border is the major provider of floral impact at this time and as always timeously staked, the plants are standing up to the conditions well. The border phlox in colours from white through various pinks to an excellent strong purple are thriving and taller than usual. The grey foliage of the tall member of the poppy family Macleaya cordata provides a cool foil to the brighter colours and the globe thistle, Echinops ritro, various eupatoriums and many members of the daisy family are all flourishing. In the Rock Garden, the first delightful Cyclamen hederifolium can be found, their delicate reflexed petals belying their robust hardy constitution. The equally delicate
though less hardy autumn snowflake, Acis autumnale (formerly Leucojum autumnale) can be found here, as can the much larger though equally elegant Dierama pulcherrimum - Angels’ fishing rods - with pleasant violet flowers on improbably long stems. In the shady border at the lower edge of this area, there is a fine specimen of the large leaved hydrangea, H. aspera subsp. sargentiana, now in fine flower, large bluish inflorescences with white ray florets, enhancing its large velvety leaves. So back to work cutting more sodden grass whilst dreaming of summer days of wine and roses. David Atkinson
Piptanthus nepalensis pods, drawn by Hazel Carnegie
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Words from the Garden, September 2 With inevitability, summer progresses to cooler evenings with a few shrubs and trees showing a hint of autumnal colour. From a growing standpoint, observing the seasonal progression in Cruickshank Botanic Garden continues to be a delight. I have been looking with interest at the species of Sorbus x vagensis on the Auris lawn, well aware of the root heave that had occurred this past January. With help from Victor, one of my first tasks had been crown reduction and propping up of the tree (see photo). It is satisfying to observe a full leaf cover has developed over recent months.
The Rose Garden has been an area of further summer work as a focus for much of Richard’s time and energy; propagation and pruning of the Gallica roses. The cuttings are taking, and over the next couple of years, once potted and bulked up they will be replanted to replace the existing stock. Further autumn plans for the Rose Garden include extending the width of the top beds parallel to the sunken edge, while changing the lower area into a more extensive parterre garden with herbal plants for an ethnomedical display. The Sunken Garden itself has been an area of additional extensive work. The ongoing removal of branches hanging over the paths to reduce the trip zone is helping show off the path network, not least the team coming across and digging out a path overgrown and previously forgotten. This new path now provides another loop on
the north side. Additionally, Eveline (summer student gardener) has worked diligently weeding the South African collection on the north bank. The bold colours of Phygelius and Agapanthas continue to be a colourful addition to the bed as we progress into September. Wet weather has to a certain extent hindered various seasonal tasks around the Garden. With August being the month to cut back the extensive hedges across the property, George continues to finish the task. The beautifully trimmed hedges now once again on display belie the ease with which George carries out the task. While hedges are being trimmed, so seasonal growth of the herbaceous border dominates the central path of the Garden - the vibrancy of colour and height of growth is a real show-stopper. If you haven’t recently strolled around CBG, make sure your next visit includes walking up and down the herbaceous border, once again admiring a further area maintained by George. Further propagation work, along with ongoing extensive maintenance around the tranquil Rock and Water Garden has been a core element of Audrey’s diligence. Audrey is gradually reducing and removing some of the ‘dwarf’ conifers, once again exposing the original stones of the Rock Garden. If you have enjoyed this beautiful area of the
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Garden in recent months, you may have missed the sound of running water. The pump to the self-circulating system is due to be replaced and it is hoped running water will be a common sound once again in the weeks to come. Audrey has been both determined and invaluable in keeping the rain fed pools oxygenated – such work takes a lot of her time. While I have had the pleasure of the odd day working in the Garden, such opportunities are infrequent. Accordingly, the ongoing help and interest from volunteers remains invaluable. Holiday time and other commitments have inevitably resulted in the normal base of volunteers spending less time on site. However, it is pleasing to report that two other volunteers have given time and expertise. Megan Lodge (a student I previously worked with and taught at the Eden Project) came for a week in July. Megan is based in Devon and now running her own gardening business. In recent weeks (through to October) Cristina Losa is also providing assistance. Cristina is a Spanish Landscape Architect and spending two months in Aberdeen to improve her English in formal lessons each morning. She is volunteering her time for two afternoons at an Aberdeen Landscape Architecture firm and two afternoons with us per week. It is enormously pleasing and satisfying to recognise that the combination of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden collection and horticultural team are encouraging and promoting help from further afield. While I will be able to provide more news in the next Newsletter, I am also particularly happy to report that Victor is extending his horticultural knowledge with further academic learning. Over the next nine months he will be doing an NC in Horticulture, Garden and Landscape Design at Elmwood College in Cupar. Already a trained agronomist, gaining further skill in horticultural practice, combined with his hard landscaping knowledge will without doubt help broaden his skill-set. While this summer has unquestionably been testing with regards to weather, that which has been accomplished throughout CBG has been through the ongoing hard work of the horticultural and voluntary team. Though it will be sad to see Eveline finish her summer placement on the 7th September, I know she has thoroughly enjoyed her time and will use this opportunity as a stepping stone in her horticultural career. Eveline’s passion for gardening and help has been of huge assistance over the past three months. Indeed, Eveline’s placement encapsulates one of my strong desires: to have CBG become a recognised venue for horticultural skill and learning. Such an aspiration is occurring and in no small part to you as the Friends of Cruickshank Botanic Garden continuing to fund and encourage such placements. Once again, I thank you. Mark Paterson, Curator Garden opening hours - daily September 9.00 to 18.30
October to December 9.00 to 16.30 Closed December 24 to January 6
From January 7 opening times will change to 9.00 to 16.30 GMT (Greenwich mean time) and 9.00 – 19.00 BST (British summer time)
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More dates for the diary The Scottish Rock Garden Club, North East Branch Meetings are on Tuesdays at 7.30pm in Rubislaw Church Centre, Fountainhall Road. Guests and visitors will be warmly welcomed with a £3 donation requested. September 25 David Sharp Autumn in the Peloponnese October 16 Joan Mc Caughey Yunnan in 2011 October 30 C and I Bainbridge The art of crevice gardening November 27 David Milward Spring plants along the Anatolian diagonal Website: www.srgc.org.uk (source of Ian Young’s bulb log) Royal Horticultural Society, Aberdeen Meetings are on Tuesdays at 7.30pm in the Girls Brigade Hall, 19a Victoria Street. October 2 Pat Edwards Tale of the tattie November 6 Campaign for Real ale The botany of beer December 4 Jo Goldsworthy Seasons of Magic January 8 AGM and Jane Bingham Putting down roots at Beechgrove February 5 Lorna Dawson Mudsticks Website: www.rhsofaberdeen.co.uk
National Trust for Scotland Drum Castle Two events which start with soup and a roll, followed by a talk from head gardener, Diana Robertson: Booking essential: Tel: 0844 493 2161 September 20 Planting for autumn September 27 Gardening for wildlife: Creating and maintaining wildlife habitats in your garden. September 10-25 Castle Fraser Annual sale of spring bulbs and organic garden produce at weekends: September 8/9, 15/16 and 22/23 from noon until 4.30pm. September 30 Pitmedden Apples and Cornkisters event from 11 until 5pm, with home-grown apples and pears for sale and musical entertainment.
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Perennials that stand up for themselves Noel Kingsbury presented the Noel Pritchard Memorial Lecture in May, based on his PhD study at the University of Sheffield into the ecology and behaviour of ornamental perennials, and further research into their long term performance. Information gained has been used to provide advice on the cost effective management of public spaces, which has proved its worth already in Bristol. Aberdeen is much further north, but he assured us that all the following recommendations are relevant for the North East. First of all we should select plants to suit the habitat and firmly avoid those which are short-lived such as Coneflowers, Echinaceae, Globe thistles, Echinops and Achillea ‘Lachsschönheit’. Don’t be tempted by Begamot, Monardas, as they soon separate out and disappear. However, Aquilegias and Wood cranesbill, Geranium sylvaticum can be included as they self-seed so help to fill gaps in the border. Highly recommended: Meadowsweet, Filipendula ulmaria, with foamy clusters of cream, fragrant flowers. Goat’s beard, Aruncus dioicus, similar to Meadowsweet but taller with white flowers. Aster ‘Little Carlow’ since it spreads slowly. Siberian iris, I. sibirica and its many cultivars. Dusky cranesbill, Geraneum phaeum ‘Lily Lovell’ which self-mulches. Loosestrife, Lysimachia punctata has dense roots providing good stability. Purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria as seen in the wild, with tall, deep pink racemes. Golden rod, Solidago rugosa provides late summer colour. Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia fulgida is the most reliable in its family. Masterwort, Astrantia major, makes early growth and will self-seed under trees. Cardoon, Cynara cardunculus, and Globe artichoke, C. scolymus. Bear’s breeches, Acanthus spinosus has attractive early leaf colour. Sunflower, Helianthus ‘Lemon queen’ flowers from July to October. Japanese anemones, Anemone hupehensis cultivars are slow to establish as it takes years for them to develop root mass, but worth the wait. Flowers which fill the gaps between taller plants: Euphorbia saccharata Geranium x oxonianum and its cultivars Plants which provide structure and interest in winter: Jerusalem sage, Phlomis russeliana with it’s seed heads in tiers, and mass planting of Purple moor grass, Molinia caerulea and Tufted hair grass, Deschampsia cespitosa. Noel’s websites, www.nowlkingsbury.com and http://noels-garden.blogspot.com are worth a look for his entertaining prose and further information. He recommended Colin McBeath, Quercus Garden Plants of Cupar in Fife as a reliable source of the plants mentioned. Hazel Witte
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Betony, Betonica officinalis ‘Sovereign remedy for all maladies of the head’ Half a leaf of betony finely chopped and added to a green salad treats your tongue to a heady essence. What a delight it was this summer (on a rare dry day) to browse my herb border and here and there pick a leaf: marjoram, chives, a peppermint leaf warmed by the sun, apple mint, parsley, fennel. I would toss them into a bowl of lettuce with olive oil and lemon juice and at the end of the border select just one leaf from my stately Betonica officinalis to top the mix. 2012 was my summer to discover the pleasure of betony. See photograph on opposite page. I bought the betony plant in July 2010 at Rowancott Herbs Open Day www.rowancottherbs.co.uk/. Now, in its third growing season, the perennial plant produced a substantial mat of dark green corrugated leaves in May, described fondly as ‘on long stalks and of a drawn-out heart shape, all leaves are rough to the touch and are also fringed with short fine hairs’. Betonica officinalis is a woundwort in the dead nettle family and commonly called Wood betony or Bishopswort. It is also recognised as Stachys officinalis, a synonym acceptable to the world check list http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/home.do of selected plant families, whereas ‘Stachys betonica’ is not acceptable. The two-lipped, pale lilac-purple-pink flowers are easily recognisable and are borne on equally characteristic interrupted spikes. Mrs Grieve’s description captures the flower head’s individuality: ‘the stems rise to a height of one to two feet and are slender, square and furrowed. They bear at wide intervals a few pairs of oblong stalkless leaves two to three inches long.’ In my herb border betony’s sparse, restrained flowering stems sway assuredly above a tumult of wormwood and mint. Betony has a long history as a medicinal herb. It was used before heavy drinking sessions by Romans to reduce hangovers and drunkenness and was listed growing in Edinburgh’s physic garden in 1683. The name derives from Celtic ‘ben’ (head) and ‘ton’ (good), implying an ancient cure for headaches and it was cultivated widely by Mediaeval apothecaries as a panacea useful for ‘hysteria, palpitations, pain in the head and face, neuralgia and all nervous affections’. Betony leaf can be smoked as a herb tobacco. I make an infusion of betony leaves and flowers in a roomy china teapot with a good lid using water just off the boil. I brew the mix for at least eight minutes and include any herbs to hand such as Melissa officinalis or Mentha spicata and even white tea, Camellia sinensis. When I started the day with a cup of betony infusion in July and August I found myself smiling at passers by on my walk into work and continuing bizarrely cheerful throughout the day. You can order betony seed from Emorsgate seeds http://wildseed.co.uk, - £1.50 for 700 seeds. After visiting Beannachar herb garden, http://www.beannachar.co.uk/ in July I have become more ambitious for my herbs and I am likely to dig up the lawn this autumn and sow betony.
Colette Jones
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Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden calendar
We have chosen another twelve superb photographs of the Garden for our calendar,
which will be available at evening meetings from October. It is A4 size with the lower section in grid form to enter your appointments. If you are unable to attend and would like to order some, please contact Kathleen Bull, 3 Donmouth Terrace,
Bridge of Don, Aberdeen AB23 8DN Tel: 821886 E-mail: [email protected] Costs are £6 or £7 if it is to be posted.
Cheques should be made out to ‘Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden’
Thanks to the six Friends who took turns to attend our pictorial display at the
Royal Horticultural Society of Aberdeen’s Summer flower show at Hazlehead on August 25 / 26.
Saturday’s torrential downpour led to early closure at 4pm due to water rising within the marquee, but this had drained away by Sunday. You probably saw the newspaper photos of cars floating by the upper park entrance. More folk visit the
Duthie Park rather than the previous location at Hazlehead, so we were kept happily busy extolling the virtues of the Garden. Many visitors had seen the
previous week’s Beechgrove TV programme featuring the Cruickshank Garden, so were keen to learn more about it.
The next issue will be published in January/February 2013 Please contact the editor with ideas and any information
which you wish to be shared with other Friends. Articles should be sent in by January 6 Hazel Witte, Monearn, Maryculter, Aberdeen AB12 5GT Tel: 01224 732738 E-mail: [email protected]
