Dalgety Bay Horticultural Society

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.

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.

James MacMaster is the Chairman of the Scottish Branch of the Delphinium Society and came all the way from Ayrshire to deliver his presentation on delphiniums. Part of it demonstrated how to take cuttings and grow them on and part of it was about a Delphinium Society Show in Yorkshire. There were more than 20 classes to the show, which gives you an idea of how many different things there are about the flower. They differ in colour from light blue to dark blue to white and red and are displayed strikingly as spikes or as flower heads. James is keen to have DBHS affiliated to his society and would like to come back to give us a practical demonstration on the plants at some time. He reckoned he was asked at the last minute but you all know as well as I do that he just never replied to my original email in October last year.

A visit to Willie Duncan’s garden at Drumeldrie, near Upper Largo, is always a trip to look forward to and it was indeed a delight. Willie and Barbara are the perfect hosts and we were taken round or wandered around the garden ourselves to take in all the amazing plants. The garden has little footpaths which weave in and out and you will see something wonderful walking one way along a footpath and see something you never noticed before when you go the other way. Barbara had a cup of tea and biscuits ready for us when we needed a rest. The takings of the raffle amounted to £72 and were donated to Scotland’s Garden Scheme in which Willie is heavily involved. Last but not least the weather held but the rain was really heavy by the time we arrived back in Dalgety Bay.

Who spotted the strawberry tree, which Willie has grown from a cutting taken from the Dalgety Bay strawberry tree at the back of Donibristle House? It has a long way to go to become the size of our one but it will get there eventually.

Hostaman, Stephen Baker, gave an excellent presentation on Hostas, the friendly plants, at the last DBHS meeting on Friday 31st May 2008. The friendly plant is so named because you can split a hosta and share it among your friends. He is passionate about hostas and one of his ambitions is to spread the word of the British Hosta & Hemerocallis Society. A world convention is held every year in the USA and he goes and has been successful in beating the Americans in competition. Stephen has a three an a half acre garden in Aberdeenshire where he grows over 800 different types of hosta as well as his other love, trees. He brought a variety of plants for selling to the meeting and was successful in doing so. The British Hosta & Hemerocallis Society had a stand at Gardening Scotland and DBHS ran a coach trip there on Saturday 31st May 2008. Many members visited his stand and congratulated him on the previous night’s presentation. He liked that.

The Gardener’s Question Time evening with Dobbies always goes down well with the audience. A lot of members and a good few ordinary folk came along to have their questions answered and to listen to the gentle banter and anecdotes of the panel. The three panel members were Willie Duncan, Bill Tait and Tom Mabbot, all highly respected experts in horticultural circles with a wealth of knowledge on the subject. Refreshments of wine and nibbles were enjoyed and the raffle raised a sum of £81, which was donated to Rachel House, a worthy cause indeed.

April 2008

Bob Mitchell gave us a presentation on the history of St Andrews Botanic Garden, a teaching garden attached to the University of St Andrews. He was the Assistant Curator when it moved to its’ present site. He took us through the development of the garden and showed us how each part of the garden has changed quite remarkably over the years. One part was built up of peat blocks, which as he admitted himself, they would not get away with these days. On the strength of the talk Dalgety Bay Horticultural Society (DBHS) will arrange a coach trip there in 2009. Thinking ahead……..but that’s what your committee does.

March 2008

Wild Birds in Your Garden, a talk by Stan da Prato went down very well with the DBHS membership. We had a full hall with around 70 people to hear Stan describe, with great authority, all the different birds we are likely to see on the bird table. Some are here all the time, some are merely passing through. Some are very spectacular some are very dull. The same goes for their bird song. One of the most pleasant for bird song is the blackbird who will soon be waking you up at 4:00am leading the dawn chorus. His slides were excellent and his presentation was excellent. All in all it was a good evening for our March meeting.

February 2008

DBHS held it’s Annual Cheese and Wine evening on 1st February 2008. It is one of our great social events of the year (we have around 12) and again, was a great success. The evening was hosted by yours truly in dinner suit and dickie bow and the stories went down well. There wasn’t much food left and the wine was enjoyed by all. Something fishy was the quiz this year and I thought it was easier than last year but………maybe not. The main thing was that everyone enjoyed themselves and everyone laughed at my jokes. Thank you to all who helped in the background and to all of you who donated prizes for the raffle.

January 2008

The first DBHS meeting of 2008 was from Donald Wemyss, a horticultural consultant specialising in large scale composting. We found out what happens with the contents of the brown bin collected by the council. In West Fife, it goes to the Fife Council site at Carslogie Road where it is piled high and turned frequently so that the enzymes work away and make good quality green compost. After about 14 weeks it should be ready for use and will be available to the public once the finished product gains a PAS 100 certificate. The compost is weed free and is ideal as a soil conditioner. We cannot wait to get our hands on some of it.
Donald showed us slides of a large scale project to create a golf course on the old Polkemmet Coal Mine site in West Lothian. The soil was made from green compost and a certain grade of the pit waste. The grass is growing and, as Donald said, if grass grows then anything will.
Donald also has a passion for trees and he showed us pictures of the re-siting of a strawberry tree in the grounds of what was Trinity Park House, an office block built in the seventies. The office has been knocked down and the site will be redeveloped for housing. Part of the deal was that the tree be moved. It is a very large tree and although it wasn’t moved very far, great care had to be taken with it. It now has guy ropes holding it up until it takes proper root again. It was quite an exercise. Donald was most interested that we had a strawberry tree of our own.

DBHS held its’ Annual General Meeting on 7th December 2007. Business was brisk and the new Committee was elected within a reasonably short space of time, which left us plenty of time for a Beetle Drive. What a hoot. A really enjoyable evening was had by all who attended. Who says that an AGM has to be boring?

So all cactuses are succulents but not all succulents are cactuses. Alan Weepers talked about succulents and told us how to look after them, how to propagate them, how to repot them, in fact he gave us a good presentation on all aspects of this beautiful and varied plant. Some of the spines are pretty lethal with barbs like fish hooks and there are varieties of succulent that grow like, and are named after the human brain. Alan has well over 200 plants and he brought some in for us to see. His slides showed the plants in flower and most were pretty spectacular with large blooms. 30 to 40 members enjoyed the talk.

Orchids was the subject of the presentation given to DBHS by Janet Halcrow at our October meeting. Janet is a past President of the Orchid Society and a British Orchid Council judge and last gave us a talk in 1993, when the World Orchid Conference took place in Glasgow.

There are many varieties of orchid but the more common are the Phalaenopsis, commonly known as the moth orchid, the Paphiopedilum, commonly known as the lady’s slipper orchid and everyone knows the cymbidium, the big one of the orchid family. We discovered that orchids aren’t the fragile beauties often thought of but they can be a long time in flowering so orchid growers must be patient. They need little feeding but the correct temperatures for them are important.

In their natural habitat they cling to the bark of trees but are not invasive plants. To simulate favourable conditions for growing, orchids are planted in tree bark. Bark chippings from the North American redwood tree are a popular medium in which to grow them. When watering, the bark needs to be wet through but drained properly otherwise the plant may start to rot. Janet showed us how to repot and donated plants to the raffle.

Here are the results of the Dalgety Bay Horticultural (DBHS) Annual Show 2007, held on 1^st September 2007:

Confined Vegetables: Dalgety Quaich, T&R Courts; Confined Flowers: B&D Powell Trophy, K Brand; Confined Pot Plants: Maureen Trotter Memorial Trophy: T&R Courts; Most Points in Confined Sections above: 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, I Simpson; Fruit: Millennium Quaich, D&D Baty; Herbs: DBHS Silver Jubilee Quaich, M Johnston; Cut Flowers: Marconi Trophy, K Brand; Herbaceous & Annuals: Mansfield Trophy, K Brand; Roses: Stewart Rose Bowl, I&C Greig; Carnations: Carnation Bowl, D&D Baty; Chrysanthemums: Dalgety Bay Cup, A Davidson; Dahlia: Garden Plan-It Trophy, K Brand; Sweet Peas: Society Quaich, T Nelson; Gladioli: J&S Brown Trophy, K Brand; Fuchsia: Douglas Boath Memorial Trophy, T Dair; Special Fuchsia Class: Balnacraig Fuchsias Trophy, T Dair; Pot Plants: Anniversary Cup, T&R Courts; Alpines: MJG Bowl, T&R Courts; Cacti & Succulents: Pitcairns Trophy, T&R Courts; Bonsai: DBHS Decanter, A Duff; Most Points in Open Sections above: Show Champion’s Shield, K Brand; Just for Fun: Pat & Pat Bacon Fun Cup, D Forrester; Floral Art: DBHS Silver Jubilee Plate, V Kent; Floral Displays: Shell Expro Trophy, P Craig; Wines & Beers: DH Chalmers Trophy, M Simpson; Baking & Sweets: Lambert Trophy, Sheena McEachern; Preserves: Dalgety Sports & Social Club Trophy 2005, G Shah; Handicrafts Traditional: Scothomes Trophy, D&J Boath; Handicrafts Contemporary: Curtis Motors Trophy, D Smyth; Most Points in Industrial Sections above: DBHS 2006 Trophy, D&J Boath; Photography: Henson Trophy, D&J Boath; Nursing & Residential: Lion’s Club Quaich, Henderson House; Novice: St David’s Quaich, G Harraghy; Young Gardeners: DBHS Young Gardeners Cup, D Simpson; Schools: Community Council Schools Cup, Donibristle Primary School; Local Groups: DBHS Trowel Trophy, 5^th Dalgety Bay Brownies; Allotments: DBHS Allotments Cup, J&M Kelly; DBHS Top Vase: A&M Sherry DBHS Top Vase, D Forrester; DBHS Top Tray: A&M Sherry DBHS Top Tray, T&R Courts.

It was a good show. There were plenty of exhibits. There were plenty of people. The Trade Tents were buzzing and we had good weather. What more could you ask for. Read about DBHS and running a show in the Autumn issue of Kingdom Magazine. Find out more about the magazine at www.kingdommagazine .com

The scheduled speaker was unfortunately elsewhere so our old friend Willie Duncan stepped in and gave a talk on his extensive apple collection, or as Mike Gourlay put it "A Naples Garden".

As many of you will know, Mr Duncan has an amazing collection of apple trees and is both a knowledgeable and entertaining speaker, keeping us amused with a wealth of stories. For those of you thinking of putting in some apple trees, here are a few points gleaned from Willie.

Modern apple trees are grafted onto a root stock. The root stock is the the most important bit of the tree as it governs the height, rate of growth, disease resistance, vigour and earliness of fruiting. Without a suitable rootstock the tree would grow to its 'normal' height which would be unmanageable in the average garden and makes picking the fruit a major expedition.

Apple rootstocks, in order of height, are:
M27 - very dwarfing, good for cordons
M9 - dwarfing
M26 - semi-vigorous, espaliers, cordons
MM10 - semi-vigorous, medium trees
M25 - vigorous, larger trees

Bare rooted trees should be planted during Winder and early Spring with October to December being the best. Container grown trees can be planted at any time.

Willie mentioned recommeded planting step-over trees, ie ones which are short stemmed 'trees' with a horizontal branch. They are best formed by using a maiden (one year old) tree on very dwarfing rootstock, M27. After planting, cut the stem back to a bud at the height required, perhaps a foot or so. In the next season two shoots should be trained horizontally along a fixed wire. It is possible to purchase them in this form from specialist growers.

Step-over apples have the advantage of being out of the wind, easy to spray, horizontal branches (better fruiting) and need minimal pruning.

Willie also had some advice for trees affected by mildew. The mildew is attracted to weak growth so a good feed with a high nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium fertiliser (about 16% of each). This will help the tree to get over the attack and stand it in good stead later.

Brogdale (www.brogdale.org) has some useful and interesting information and there is also more detail of the Tesco sponsorship of Brogdale. It seems as though the supermarkets are finally waking up to what consumers really want - taste.

Before Willie arrived at the hall he had been looking around Dalgety Bay for a rare 150 year old Strawberry tree, which he knew grew somewhere in the town. Hugh and Myra Rodger were able to produce an old map of Donibristle House, which showed the tree. After the meeting they took him to the spot and there it was in all it’s glory. He has a four foot cutting from the tree and was fair made up to see the parent in real life.

Although the DBHS Gardener’s Question Time is not actually until May 18^th,the cut off date for articles is the 15^th of the month and I was persuaded to write an article anyway. You’ll not realise, but by doing so, you don’t get a “fill this space” recipe.

The Gardener’s Question Time is a DBHS evening run in partnership with Dobbies and is open to the public as well as members. This is its’ fourth year and it has been very successful in the past so there is no reason for it to be any different this year. There is wine and nibbles on offer and the lucky ticket winner will enjoy a meal for two at the Old Inn in Carnock, a very pleasant place to eat.

The panel consists of two residents and a guest. The first resident panellist is Willie Duncan, horticulturalist. Willie is a great friend of DBHS and has been in horticulture for many, many, many, many years. He was once in the Parks Department of Kirkcaldy District Council, long before Fife Council became Fife Council. He has the most wonderful garden at Drumeldry near Upper Largo, which opens for charity under Scotland’s Garden Scheme. He has a blue poppy named after him, Meconopsis Willie Duncan.

Our second resident panellist is Bill Tait, Horticultural Advisor to Dobbies. Bill has been in horticultural for many, many, many years. Bill was the supervisor of the herbaceous borders at the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. Bill travels the world and has visited many interesting gardens in so doing. He holds distinguished qualifications in horticulture and is very knowledgeable in his subject.

Our guest panellist this year is George Anderson, who also has a horticultural CV as long as your arm. He has been in horticulture for many, many years. He has spent a large part of his working life at the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh in the Education Department. He has been awarded medals in horticulture and an MBE for services to horticulture. He was the tutor of David Howard, who is Prince Charles’ head gardener at Highgrove and you’ll maybe recognise him as a Beechgrove Garden presenter.