A fair turnout of members and people from much further afield enjoyed the DBHS open allotments day which took place on a very hot summer's day. This combined with what appears a very good growing year meant that the allotments were looking at their best with some members making a big effort to win the "Prettiest Allotment" competition (won by Julia Miflin). Many pictures were taken and a sample of these may be viewed on a Google pictures page here.

Internationally, Floriade is one of the biggest exhibitions of flowers and gardening and is held every 10 years in Holland. Sandra Halliday, our speaker at our meeting last week has been there and showed us around all of the wondrous sites to be seen there. By the sound of it, the slides did not do it justice. There seems to be so much to see and so much to do. The next one will be held in 2012. Hmmm…….that could be a DBHS outing.

Last weekend, DBHS ran a coach outing to Gardening Scotland in Edinburgh. We were blessed with the weather and we enjoyed a good day out. DBHS entered the Pallet Garden competition this year thanks to two of our Committee Members, Julia Miflin and Susan Bains. We won a silver gilt award. So well done Julia and Susan and congratulations. Julia also managed to get a couple of new members.

The DBHS Annual Gardener’s Question Time was held at Dobbies Garden Centre, Dalgety Bay on Friday 7th May 2010. The panel, Willie Duncan, Bill Tait and John Dewar were on form answering all the gardening queries and adding their own little anecdotes and little stories. All in all it was quite a hilarious evening. Around £55.00 was raised for charity and given to the manager of Dobbies to pass onto CHAS, the chosen charity for the GQT. The prize ticket of meal vouchers for the Clubhouse Restaurant in Dalgety Bay went to member Eileen Donaldson of North Queensferry.

Mike with Peter Hart

What an absolutely excellent evening we had at our meeting with Peter Hart, who took us round his garden at Kirklands in Saline. He gave a professional power point presentation and had an interesting and often amusing little anecdote for every nook and cranny of the garden. I particularly liked the one where his dog had a better understanding of the local Scottish dialect when he asked some worthies to clear up their rubbish. DBHS is running its Annual Coach Trip this year to Kirklands Garden in Saline. We are looking forward to it very much. Thank you Peter for a great evening.

Plant Conservation in Hawaii was the topic of the presentation given by Clare Reaney at the March meeting of Dalgety Bay Horticultural Society. It was a professional power point presentation delivered expertly. Clare had volunteered to go to Hawaii to do the conservation work and she had obviously enjoyed it very much. I indulge in a bit of plant conversation myself, in Dalgety Bay. I speak to them all the time. It’s said it helps them grow better

Clare, at the end of her talk, shaking hands with Mike Gourlay

The DBHS Annual Cheese and Wine evening, one of the great social events of the year took place at the beginning of February. Seventy plus people attended to listen to and laugh at the Chairman’s stories and to enjoy what was a really enjoyable evening. There was plenty of food, plenty of drink and plenty of really good chat. Two new members were signed up on the evening, which is a bonus. The quiz called “So You Think You Know Cliff Richard” outed a couple of die hard fans. It was a really enjoyable evening.

Our next meeting is a presentation called Plant Conservation in Hawaii to be given by Clare Reaney on Friday 5th March 2010 in Dalgety Bay Community Centre at 7:30pm. Pease come along. We’ll be happy to see you.

The first DBHS meeting of 2010 was a power point presentation entitled Paris in the spring, given by our old friend Tom Mabbott. The presentation followed the study tour last year of Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society members who traced the footsteps of some of the great gardeners of the past by visiting some of the most amazing parks and gardens in and around Paris. My favourite garden was Monet’s garden brought alive by some of his instantly recognisable paintings. Tom usually has some interesting asides and did not disappoint.

Our next meeting is our Annual Cheese and Wine evening. This is by ticket only. If you would like to go, join DBHS or ask to be asked by an existing member. It will be held in the Community Centre on Friday 5th February 2010.

Susan Falconer is a Senior Ranger at Pentland Hills Regional Park and has a definite passion for her job. She took us on a virtual visit of the area with some stunning slides and an extremely good presentation. There are only six full time rangers in the park but there are nearly forty volunteers. Some of the views from the top of the Pentlands are stunning (especially those of Fife). She was well received by the DBHS members in attendance and had leaflets and her book about walks in the Pentlands to hand out afterwards.

John Dewar, who teaches at Elmwood College, gave DBHS a demonstration on Practical Plant propagation and showed us the different ways that you can grow on your plants. Seed, of course, is obvious and anyone can plant seeds but do you always get results. The different methods of planting shrubbery from cutting, to soft wood and hard wood were shown and if all the members of DBHS propagate half a dozen plants each and donated them to the plant sale we would have a whopper of a plant sale next year.

DBHS – Annual Show Results 2009 

Here are the results of the Dalgety Bay Horticultural (DBHS) 34th Annual Show, held on 5th  September 2009:

Confined Vegetables: Dalgety Quaich, J Miflin; Confined Flowers: B&D Powell Trophy, D Forrester; Confined Pot Plants: Maureen Trotter Memorial Trophy: D Forrester; Most Points in Confined Sections 1,2 and 3: DBHS Championship Quaich, D Forrester; Confined Industrial: Joe Meldrum Trophy, G Shah; Vegetables: Weekend Magazine Cup, G Whyte; Best Vegetable entry: NVS Medal, G Whyte; Fruit: Millennium Quaich, D&D Baty; Herbs: DBHS Silver Jubilee Quaich, G Reid; Cut Flowers: Herbaceous & Annuals: Mansfield Trophy, T Nelson; Roses: Stewart Rose Bowl, T Nelson; Carnations: Carnation Bowl, D&D Baty; Chrysanthemums: Dalgety Bay Cup, A Davidson; Dahlia: Garden Plan-It Trophy, J Rodger; Sweet Peas: Society Quaich, T Nelson; Gladioli: J&S Brown Trophy, D Forrester; Most Points in Cut Flowers Sections 8 to 14: Marconi Trophy, T Nelson; Fuchsia: Douglas Boath Memorial Trophy, D Forrester; Special Fuchsia Class: Balnacraig Fuchsias Trophy, D Forrester; Pot Plants: Anniversary Cup, A Hain;  Alpines: MJG Bowl, G Reid; Cacti & Succulents: Pitcairns Trophy, D Forrester; Bonsai: DBHS Decanter, A Duff; Most 1st Placed Entries in Sections 5 to 19: Printing Services Show Champions Shield, T Nelson; Just for Fun: Pat & Pat Bacon Fun Cup, D&D Baty; Floral Art: DBHS Silver Jubilee Plate, M Haynes; Floral Displays: Shell Expro Trophy, P Craig; Wines & Beers: DH Chalmers Trophy, M Simpson; Baking & Sweets: Lambert Trophy, G Shah and M Laing (this was a dead heat); Preserves: Dalgety Bay Sports & Social Club Trophy 2005, I Robertson; Handicrafts Traditional: Scothomes Trophy, J Forrester; Handicrafts Contemporary: Curtis Motors Trophy, L Cooper; Most Points in Industrious Sections 24 to 27: DBHS 2006 Trophy, I Robertson; Photography: Henson Trophy, G Bird; Nursing & Residential: Lion’s Club Quaich, Craigie House, Crossgates; Novice: St David’s Quaich, B Kurzman; Green & Recycled: Laughllan-Deans Trophy, J Miflin; Young Gardeners: DBHS Young Gardeners Cup, M Rodger; Local Groups: PJG Trowel Trophy, 1st Dalgety Bay Guides; Allotments: DBHS Allotments Cup, D&D Baty; Schools: Community Council Schools Cup, Donibristle Primary School; DBHS Top Vase: A&M Sherry DBHS Top Vase, D&D Baty; DBHS Top Tray: A&M Sherry DBHS Top Tray, G Whyte; Choice of the Sponsor: DBHS Sponsorship Cup, G Bell.

The Dalgety Bay Horticultural Society (DBHS) Annual Show 2009 will be remembered for the enormous cabbage entered by society member Graham Bell from Meadowfield. This was the first time he entered anything anywhere and I’m sure he will be persuaded to enter more next year. It was entered in Section 1, Class 1, Cabbage on a dish and you couldn’t see the dish. This year again was a well supported show and there are a few new names on the trophies, which is always nice to see. A though the cloud cover was heavy and it rained only for five minutes it was windy and the Trade Tent people nearly blew away at times. Thank you for the support of everyone involved, to all our sponsors and advertisers and to Laura Hastie, who represented Dobbies Dunfermline and presented the trophies. The van Steve Curtis Cars supplied this year was particularly appreciated by Ian Henry, who is a dedicated Pars fan. I’m glad we were able to make his day. 

Michael Gourlay

Many of you will have heard of Green Thumb. Some of you may use them. We use them and we like them. They came and gave us a talk at our last meeting about how they started up, what they do and how they have grown over the last few years. They were all very enthusiastic about the product. The presentation was straight and to the point. Mark, the franchisee introduced the product and was supported by Michael, the technical expert and smiling Norman the marketing man. He was always smiling, he said, because he enjoys his job so much.

The presentation was followed by an informative question and answer session and they even came up with the “spray whisky on the grass joke”………”to keep it half cut”.

The DBHS Gardeners Question Time is now a well established meeting of our syllabus. It is held in partnership with Dobbies in Dalgety Bay and we have a panel of three experts all with a wealth of horticultural knowledge and all with a great sense of humour. Our first resident panel member is Willie Duncan, an honorary member of DBHS and a great character. He was a Fife Council parks man many years ago and worked with apples. His garden at Dumeldrie near Upper Largo is well worth a visit and is open under Scotland’s Garden Scheme. See the yellow book for more details. He has a poppy named after him, meconopsis Willie Duncan and is well respected in the world of horticulture.

Our second resident panel member is Bill Tait, who was the herbaceous supervisor at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh for many years. He has been awarded the horticultural medal from the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society for services to horticulture and is now Horticultural Advisor to Dobbies. He is a well travelled man and loves to tell stories of where he has been what he has seen and who he has met.

Our guest and third panel member this year was Tom Hardwick from Dalkeith. Tom is a retired gardener. Do gardeners ever retire? He has been a Vice President of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society and a past President of the Fuchsia Society. He has also been President of Dalkeith Horticultural Society.

What a threesome. The questions were a wee bitty slow to start with but, as I threatened to tell some jokes if nobody started to ask, people started to ask. There were some examples of diseased plant life and the experts answered as you would expect with a good deal of humour thrown in.

It was a very enjoyable evening with wine and nibbles and shopping available. The income from the raffle was given to Dobbies to present to their chosen charity of CHAS in Kinross. This amounted to just over £80.

So, moths are not just dull, brown beasties who fly at lights in the dark and turn to powder when you squash them!! A lot of the butterflies we see flying about in our gardens are, in fact, moths, very colourful and very exotic looking in some cases. Duncan Davidson gave us an insight into the caterpillar to butterfly and moth transformation and what a really captivating talk it was. He is passionate about his subject and the talk was well put over. Most interesting it was.

March 2009

What a really well presented meeting DBHS had at the beginning of March. Jim Jermyn took us on an Alpine finding tour of the Dolomites in Northern Italy and ventured also into the Alps. Mind you, a few visits would be necessary to see all we saw in one evening because of the flowering seasons of different species. He was most interesting and most informative. We are lucky to have such people to come and talk to us. Jim is also Show Manager of the Ayr Flower Show and of Gardening Scotland. He chatted about these as well. The meeting was very well attended with new members coming along for the first time.

February 2009

DBHS held its Annual Cheese and Wine evening on 6th February 2009 and what a night. There was plenty of food, plenty of wine lots of good humor and a different sort of quiz this year. We had close up photographs of everyday objects, some more everyday than others and we had to guess what the object was. It was very good and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We always have a bigger than usual raffle on this night and there were plenty of prizes to go round. Thank you to all who helped in the background and to all of you who donated prizes for the raffle.

January 2009

The first DBHS meeting of 2009 was David Boath on preparing Photography for the Show. His advice was absorbed and some of the photographs he showed were absolutely stunning. On some of them he pointed out little details, which would be judged against you at the show. These details are things that you or I would not really notice but they are what the judge is looking for. The presentation went down really well with those who were at the meeting and feedback has been that it was extremely interesting and well presented. David is a member of DBHS and it’s nice to have a home grown meeting from time to time. Well done and thank you David.

Bill Tait worked a great deal of his life in the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. Latterly he was responsible for the herbaceous borders. Since leaving there he has been the Horticultural Advisor to Dobbies. He was awarded the Horticultural Medal for services to horticulture in Scotland. All in all he is very experienced in his field. Bill is a world wide traveller and takes photographs wherever he goes. This presentation was about a subject closer to home, Gardens to the North of Inverness of which there are a few. The most well known is the Castle of Mey, which was one of the Queen Mother’s favourite places. Bill designed a hebaceous border here. Other gardens included Dunrobin, the House of Tongue, Lanwell at Berriedale and, of course, Inverewe. It was pleasing to see that, despite the hospitable weather in some of these places, the plants survived. It was a very interesting trip Bill took us on.

Mike and Bill Tait after Bill's talk on "Gardens North of Inverness".

October 2008

Tony Payne, Director of the Craigencalt Ecology Centre project at Kinghorn Loch gave his presentation to DBHS on Friday 3rd October 2008. This replaced the scheduled speaker who had had a holiday offer he could not refuse. His wife told him he could go with her or never speak to him again. Tony had slides, which showed Craigencalt to be the really beautiful place it is. Nestling on the shores of Kinghorn Loch the centre is an education centre for the many school children who visit each year. A lot of work is done with the handicapped and those less fortunate than ourselves as well.

It is run by a small band of key employees and an army of volunteers. Recycling is a big thing at the centre and this message came over loud and clear in the presentation. The site has charitable status and is well worth a visit. New buildings are planned when the lease runs out on the old ones and these, I’m sure will have the most up to date methods of recycling and power saving there is.

September 2008

DBHS – Annual Show Results 2008

Here are the results of the Dalgety Bay Horticultural (DBHS) 33rd Annual Show, held on 6th September 2008:

Confined Vegetables: Dalgety Quaich, T&R Courts; Confined Flowers: B&D Powell Trophy, T&R Courts; Confined Pot Plants: Maureen Trotter Memorial Trophy: T&R Courts; Most Points in Confined Sections 1,2 and 3: DBHS Championship Quaich, T&R Courts; Confined Industrial: Joe Meldrum Trophy, G Shah; Vegetables: Weekend Magazine Cup, T&R Courts; Best Vegetable entry: NVS Medal, T&R Courts; Fruit: Millennium Quaich, D&D Baty; Herbs: DBHS Silver Jubilee Quaich, T&R Courts; Cut Flowers: Herbaceous & Annuals: Mansfield Trophy, T Nelson; Roses: Stewart Rose Bowl, T&R Courts; Carnations: Carnation Bowl, D Forrester; Chrysanthemums: Dalgety Bay Cup, J Rodger; Dahlia: Garden Plan-It Trophy, D Forrester; Sweet Peas: Society Quaich, T Nelson; Gladioli: J&S Brown Trophy, D Forrester; Most Points in Cut Flowers Sections 8 to 14: Marconi Trophy, D Forrester;Fuchsia: Douglas Boath Memorial Trophy, D Forrester; Special Fuchsia Class: Balnacraig Fuchsias Trophy, D Forrester; Pot Plants: Anniversary Cup, A Hain;  Alpines: MJG Bowl, T&R Courts; Cacti & Succulents: Pitcairns Trophy, T&R Courts; Bonsai: DBHS Decanter, A Duff; Most 1st Places Entries in Sections 5 to 19: Printing Services Show Champions Shield, T&R Courts; Just for Fun: Pat & Pat Bacon Fun Cup, D&D Batyr; Floral Art: DBHS Silver Jubilee Plate, Not Presented; Floral Displays: Shell Expro Trophy, A Weir; Wines & Beers: DH Chalmers Trophy, M Simpson; Baking & Sweets: Lambert Trophy, J Magee; Preserves: Dalgety Bay Sports & Social Club Trophy 2005, G Harraghy; Handicrafts Traditional: Scothomes Trophy, D&J Boath; Handicrafts Contemporary: Curtis Motors Trophy, D Smyth; Most Points in Industrious Sections 24 to 27: DBHS 2006 Trophy, D Smyth; Photography: Henson Trophy, D&J Boath; Nursing & Residential: Lion’s Club Quaich, Benarty View Nursing Home; Novice: St David’s Quaich, J Miflin; Green & Recycled: New Laughllan-Deans Trophy, D&J Boath; Young Gardeners: DBHS Young Gardeners Cup, T Shannon; Local Groups: PJG Trowel Trophy, 1st & 3rd Dalgety Bay Guides; Allotments: DBHS Allotments Cup, I Henry Esq; Schools: Community Council Schools Cup, Dalgety Bay Primary School; DBHS Top Vase: A&M Sherry DBHS Top Vase, G Shah; DBHS Top Tray: A&M Sherry DBHS Top Tray, T&R Courts; Choice of the Sponsor: DBHS Sponsorship Cup, A Duff.

It was a well supported show. There were lots of exhibits. There were lots of people. Although the cloud cover was heavy it did not actually rain but it was windy and the Trade Tent people had to be inside. There were plenty of volunteers to put up the show and plenty of volunteers to take it down again. In particular, this year, a lot of the youngsters helped. Thank you very much to those who helped in any way with the show and thank you to our 2008 Sponsor, Steve Curtis of Steve Curtis Cars, who presented the trophies for us this year.

Michael Gourlay

Chairman, DBHS

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