Issue 44, Spring 2011 - Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Issue 44 | spring 2011
spring treasures
Alpines at the Edinburgh Garden
Open season
What's new at RBGE's four Gardens
plants and the polymath
Patrick Geddes and RBGE
Contents Foreword
2 | T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1
Cover: Fritillaria crassifolia at RBGE by Lynsey Wilson.
In this issue…
4 Little gems
Introducing the work of our
Alpine Team
6 What’s new?
The work undertaken at
our four Gardens for 2011
8 Welcome to the Team!
Developments with our visitor welcome
9 Vibrant Vireya
A new addition to RBGE Rhododendron
10 By leaves we live
Patrick Geddes at RBGE
12 spring events and
exhibitions
A Botanist, a sculptor and an anniversary
at Inverleith House
The Quicken Tree
Atomise comes to the Botanics
A closer view
An enlightened Victorian
15 postcard from nepal
RBGE staff report back from work abroad
16 Kids’ Zone
Plants and the weather
18 Membership
Exclusive Companion event
Reciprocal agreement
The Friends of RBGE
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a Charity registered in Scotland
(number SC007983) and is supported by the Scottish Government
Rural and Environmental Research and Analysis Directorate.
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
20A Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR
Tel: 0131 552 7171
Fax: 0131 248 2901
Web: www.rbge.org.uk
Enquiries regarding circulation of the Botanics should be addressed
to Hamish Adamson.
Every reasonable effort has been made to get copyright permission for images on page 11.
Any copyright owner omitted should contact us as soon as possible.
Opinions expressed within the Botanics are those of the contributors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Hamish Adamson
Email: [email protected]
Alice Jacobs
Production Editor Email: [email protected]
Caroline Muir
Designer
Email: [email protected]
Editor
All information correct at time of going to press.
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The Botanics is a world renowned
scientific research institute specialising
in documenting and protecting the
diversity of plants but, at the same time,
it has an enviable reputation in the arts.
Some people regard science and the
arts as worlds apart, but to me both are
expressions of human creativity and our
desire to understand and interpret the
world around us. Art in the garden seems
entirely natural. Gardens themselves
are inherently beautiful, which is why we
see them as sanctuaries and as inspiring
places for relaxation and rejuvenation.
At their best, botanic gardens, with their
collections of plant biodiversity, can be
both works of art and works of science.
One of Scotland’s greatest thinkers,
Patrick Geddes, would surely have been
comfortable with this dual perspective.
In Life: Outlines of General Biology
a textbook published in 1931 with
Sir J. Arthur Thomson, a section headed
“The Fact of Beauty” says, “No one who
studies Animate Nature can get past the
fact of Beauty. It is as real in its own way
as the force of gravity”. Such pithy writing
is typical of Geddes yet I know of no other
biology textbook that makes even passing
reference to beauty. Born in Ballater in
1854 and knighted in 1932, the year of his
death, Geddes has inspired many followers
around the world, including myself, but
he still deserves to be much more widely
known. In this issue, Walter Stephen, who
has published extensively on the life and
influence of Patrick Geddes, writes about
the connections between the great man
and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Above: Professor Blackmore (centre) with RBGE’s
Researcher, Historic Collections, Dr Henry Noltie
(left) and Curator of Inverleith House, Paul Nesbitt.
If garden landscapes are conducive to
contemplation and are works of art in
themselves then perhaps it was natural
that Scotland’s first Gallery of Modern
Art should have opened at Inverleith
House in 1960. To this day people speak
fondly of the Henry Moore sculptures
they remember seeing on the lawn in
front of the building. Although the Gallery
of Modern Art moved to its present
home on Belford Road in 1984, art had
become deeply rooted in the Botanics.
Inverleith House remains an award
winning gallery and its imaginative and
innovative programme continues to weave
science and art together. Paul Nesbitt
and Henry Noltie, pictured above with
me in the archives at RBGE, joined the
staff in 1986 and over the past 25 years
have presented a remarkable series of
exhibitions in Inverleith House. Often, as
with the exhibition described in this issue,
they place botanical history alongside
contemporary art, something rarely if
ever seen elsewhere. I am grateful for the
support we receive from Creative Scotland
to sustain this important strand of the
Garden’s work. Next time you visit the
Edinburgh Garden look out for a personal
favourite of mine, the Barbara Hepworth
sculpture near the East Gate.
Stephen Blackmore CBE FRSE
Regius Keeper and Queen's Botanist
News
CBE for
Regius Keeper
Professor Stephen Blackmore,
Regius Keeper of the Royal
Botanic Garden Edinburgh, has
been awarded a CBE for services
to plant conservation in the New
Year Honours List. In response to
the news, Professor Blackmore
said, “I feel delighted that this
award recognises the importance
of conserving plants – the life
support system of the planet. I am
privileged to lead one of the world’s
top botanic gardens and proud of
the contribution Scotland makes,
through RBGE, to conservation
on the world stage.” The honour
comes at the end of the John Hope
Gateway’s first successful year
in operation, officially opened by
Her Majesty The Queen in July
2010, providing RBGE with new
opportunities to explain plants and
their role in our world. It follows
from Professor Blackmore’s
appointment as Her Majesty’s
Botanist in Scotland, in recognition
of his work at RBGE.
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Weather
station move
After consultation with the
Meteorological Office we have recently
moved our weather station to the lawn
in front of the Edinburgh Glasshouses,
as we were concerned that our existing
site in the Demonstration Garden was
too sheltered, which could influence
the daily readings. The station is now
partially automated with solar panels
powering the transmission of weather
data – daily rain gauge, maximum
and minimum air temperature and
soil temperature to 10 cm, 20 cm and
100 cm - via satellite direct to the
Met Office. We will still be responsible
for monitoring sunshine levels, using
our Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder
situated on the roof of our Temperate
Palm House, wind speed and direction,
but eventually all readings will be
automated. Our new weather station
went live in early February when staff
at the Met Office were satisfied that
readings are accurate and consistent.
Business
accolade
Carbon
management
Staff from the Chartered Institute
of Management Accountants (CIMA)
nominated Alasdair Macnab,
RBGE Director of Corporate Services,
for a CIMA Annual Award 2010 for
Innovation in Business, based on his
research outputs up until July 2010.
Shortlisted entries were judged by
a final panel of external industry
leaders and key CIMA figures.
Alasdair gained a “Highly Commended”
from the judging panel for his work
on adapting the Balanced Scorecard
and for developing an innovative
accounting methodology Strategic Objective Costing.
A presentation was made by MSP
John Swinney on 21 September, on
behalf of the Carbon Trust, to RBGE
along with 40 other public sector and
Non Departmental Public Bodies. It was
to recognise our completion of the five
month Carbon Management Programme,
run by the Carbon Trust, and the writing
of a Carbon Management Plan. The Plan
provides details of our carbon footprint
and how we would like to reduce this
over the next five years. The Programme
involved the use of a tool that will
calculate our carbon footprint annually
(according to the data input) to measure
how the Plan is progressing.
Award at Dawyck
Dawyck, already
the only garden
visitor attraction
in Scotland to
hold the coveted
5 stars, was
awarded a Silver
‘Green Tourism Award’ in December
2010, a major achievement and a
credit to all those involved.
The Award, administered under the
Green Tourism Business Scheme,
recognised the work of the Garden
in responsible tourism practices,
such as composting, water and energy
conservation, developing a green
visitor charter and an environmental
policy statement.
4 | T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1
The Alpine Team consists of seven staff,
two permanently in the alpine area and
five in the Rock Garden and Woodland
Garden, with one member of staff
swapping every week in the alpine area.
We also have five Volunteers who
work with us on a Thursday.
The alpine area was rebuilt in the
1970’s with a new cedar Alpine House
built to cultivate alpine plants that are
difficult to grow outdoors in the UK,
requiring protection from the winter wet,
particularly ‘cushion’ forming alpines from
remote regions of Afghanistan and Iran.
The north side of the house is set up
as a permanent display of these ‘cushion’
alpines including Dionysia, Draba, Raoulia
and Daphne. These plants are all grown in
clay pots and plunged in sand, a method
Little gems
Beside Edinburgh’s iconic Temperate Palm House lies the Alpine House,
one of the most visited places in the Garden with an average of 14,000
visitors passing through each month. Here John Mitchell, Horticultural
Supervisor, introduces the team behind these extraordinary plants.
of cultivation which helps to keep the
roots cool in the summer time. The south
side is a display area where plants are
changed on a weekly basis to showcase
specimens in bloom cultivated in the back
up collection. Each week the display is
changed so visitors can view the diversity
of alpines from around the world.
The area surrounding the Alpine
House has frames in which particular
collections are cultivated in pots
including New Zealand, Saxifraga,
Lewisia and Primula frames.
To the west of the Alpine House a
number of old stone sinks and troughs
are used to cultivate a range of smaller
species of alpine plants. These are again
themed and include a Scottish native
trough with Primula scotica the native
Scottish Primula from northern Scotland
and a South African trough next to the
Alpine House door. The rest of the area is
laid out with a limestone wall where you
can find gems like Stellera chamaejasme
and Paraquilegia anemonoides from
China, Bolax from New Zealand and
Top: The Alpine House beside the Palm House
in the Edinburgh Garden.
Inset: Crocus and Fritillaria in the Alpine House,
the display changes weekly.
Left: Staff are able to control the growing
conditions at the House.
T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1 | 5
Helichrysum from South Africa.
The main collection of alpine plants is
cultivated ‘behind the scenes’ in the
back yard with over 3,000 accessions of
plants from the screes of the Himalayas
to the deserts of Chile. Most recently
we have built a new bulb house where
we grow our Iris, Tulipa and Fritillaria
collection. Air movement and light
levels can be controlled in this house,
as the sides and the roof open up, so we
can give the bulbs the correct growing
conditions. We have two glasshouses,
one small which holds propagated
material and a larger house which
holds collections of less hardy material.
Other collections we cultivate include
Primula, Narcissus, Crocus and Allium.
Horticulturist Anne Prestage is the most
recent member of staff to be bitten by
the alpine bug. She spends her time in
the alpine area taking cuttings, potting up
the huge bulb collection, helping change
the displays and trying to keep up to date
with all the record keeping, which is no
mean task as new plants come into the
department on a daily basis. These require
inputting on to RBGE’s record system,
BG Base. Plants also die, and we need to
keep records of these and the reasons why.
The work of the Alpine Team
increases in the spring as we come into
one of our busiest times with plants
springing into life. At weekends you can
find staff from the Alpine Team heading
off to Scottish Rock Garden Club shows
up and down the country and even
crossing the border into Northumberland
to display the range of alpine plants,
cultivated by RBGE, to a wider audience
at shows across the country.
Elspeth MacKintosh, Senior
Horticulturist, says “When the show
season starts, it is very hectic. We
begin by checking the plants on a Friday
morning and lay the plants out on the
bench, with tall specimens in the middle
and smaller ones at the end. It takes
a while to get the plants looking right
and we also try to colour coordinate the
display depending on what is available.
Once we are happy with the display,
we start cleaning the pots and packing
the plants into trays. On the Saturday
morning we load up the Garden van and
we are on the road at 6.30 am, as the
displays have to be finished by 9.45 am
for judging. We then have to repack the
display at 4.00 pm and head back down
the road to the Botanics. This is repeated
every second weekend for 12 weeks.”
Last year at the shows, we
received various awards including five
Gold Medals for displaying a range of
alpines, two Certificates of Cultural
Commendation, two Certificates of
Merit and a Scottish Rock Garden Club
Professional Medal for Lewisia cotyledon
var cotyledon; these awards were for
growing plants to a very high standard.
This year we will be showing again at
all the local Scottish Rock Garden Club
shows and displaying a range of plants
at the Eighth International Rock Garden
Conference-Alpines 2011 in Nottingham.
Our plans for the future include
looking at building a new Alpine House
Top: Senior Horticulturist Elspeth MacKintosh at
work changing the display in the Alpine House.
Bottom left: A specimen of Lewisia cotyledon
var cotyledon which won the Scottish Rock Garden
Club Professional Medal.
Bottom right: A gold medal winning display of
alpines at the Aberdeen Rock Garden Club show.
to the west, whilst retaining the existing
Alpine House, which will demonstrate new
ways of growing and showing alpines.
This will be a permanent display, blending
into the surrounding area; many of the
specimens will be planted in, rather than
cultivated in pots, thus allowing RBGE
to contrast two very different methods
of cultivating and displaying alpines.
As spring approaches, the Alpine House
area is one of the most interesting in
the Garden to visit to see what is new
in flower and what is flowering for the
first time. In particular look out for the
majestic Iris from Iran and the lovely
colour forms of Primula allionii and all
the Crocus, Galanthus and Narcissus.
6 | T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1
What’s new?
The Curators of the four Gardens of RBGE give us an insight into developments in the Gardens in 2011.
Edinburgh
At the Edinburgh Garden, staff braved
the cold to redevelop certain areas.
Over the autumn and winter months
Garden staff have been hard at work
curating and redesigning a number of
areas within the Garden. These include the
plantings between Inverleith House and the
John Hope Gateway, the Upper Woodland
area to the west of the John Muir Grove
and the Chinese Hillside. This work has
involved the removal of moribund trees and
shrubs, particularly in the Upper Woodland
and Chinese Hillside, with the transplanting
and re-spacing of existing Rhododendron
in the Upper Woodland and the planting
of new wild collected trees and shrubs
both here and in the Chinese Hillside.
Many of the herbaceous plants in
the plantings between the John Hope
Gateway and Inverleith House have been
lifted, divided, moved and replanted
both to increase the space available for
exciting, new, wild collected plants and
to improve the seasonal interest in this
part of the garden.
Indoors in the public display Glasshouses,
the fingers of the staff are very firmly
crossed that a titan arum, Amorphophallus
titanum, has hopefully been nurtured to
flowering size and will flower for the first
time in Scotland during mid to late spring.
David Knott
Below: The Amorphophallus titanum corm which
staff are hoping will flower soon.
Above: The Bhutanese Glade at Benmore, where winter improvements have taken place.
Benmore
The winter closure has given the opportunity for some extreme horticulture
at Benmore.
Preparations for the new season at
Benmore have focused around the
Bhutanese Glade where work continues
to curate the collection, helping the Glade
to reach its maximum potential. Work
was delayed due to snow and ice, creating
difficult conditions for the team, but we’ve
managed to make the Bhutanese plants
more prominent and created opportunities
for future introductions to the collection.
In recent years we have added
additional paths at the lower and
upper levels of this area of the Garden,
to enable greater visitor access. One of
the tasks of the 2010 – 2011 Benmore
Winter Work Programme was to remove
unwanted natural regeneration material
from the steep slopes and cliffs of
the Glade. This mainly comprises
Tsuga heterophylla, western hemlock,
and Rhododendron ponticum. Only
staff certificated in the use of rope
and harness equipment, with aerial
tree work skills, could be used for this
work; Benmore has four qualified staff
for this purpose. A minimum of two is
required to progress the operation at
any one time. There has to be a great
deal of attention paid to valuable
plants so they are not damaged or
destroyed during the clearing process.
Peter Baxter
T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1 | 7
Logan
Staff at Logan have used the winter
season to develop new projects
in the Garden.
The long perimeter border along the
west wall in the lower Walled Garden is
currently being lifted and redeveloped.
The existing mixed herbaceous material
will be replaced with tender wild origin
Maddenia series Rhododendron, many of
which are new to the collection at Logan.
The revamped border will also house an
extensive collection of gingers, many of
which are rarely seen outdoors in the UK.
Following on from the lifting and
splitting work that was carried out
around the Pond last year, three island
beds will be targeted this year in the
lower Walled Garden.
The new Bamboosolem has now been
planted up with exotic plants, many of
which are from Vietnam and Taiwan.
The final part of the jigsaw will be the
installation of the Yurt and the creation
of a grass path linking the Discovery
Centre and the Woodland Garden.
The new extension to the Tasmanian
Creek has now been landscaped and
planted up with a focus on wild origin
material. Over time this should marry in
with the now well established Tasmanian
plantings on the other side of the path.
Richard Baines
Below: The Bamboosolem at Logan has been
further developed over the winter months.
Dawyck
Snow at Dawyck led to a focus on protecting key species for the year ahead.
Dawyck was covered in a thick blanket
of snow for much of the winter. With
its inland location, almost completely
surrounded by hills, Dawyck enjoys a
more continental climate with lower
winter temperatures (-18.8°C in 2010!)
than the other RBGE Gardens.
The plants have to be very hardy
to survive. While in some cases
(perennials or lower shrubs) the snow
helps to protect plants from the low
temperatures by providing a layer of
insulation, in others it can overload the
delicate structures leading to snapping
and breakage of branches (particularly
trees and Rhododendron). Winter is a
challenging time for the Garden staff to
preserve our valuable plant collections
and ensure that they re-emerge
unscathed and vigorous in the spring.
Some plants do the work for us,
for example the blue Himalayan poppy
Meconopsis 'Slieve Donard' which, despite
seeming very delicate, is extremely
hardy (they grow above 12,000 feet in
their native habitat). The cold winter
temperatures bring out the best in their
striking blue flowers, so they should
put on a fabulous display this year. The
unusual and aptly named skunk cabbage
from North America actually produces
Top: The Garden at Dawyck during the heavy snow,
Rhododendron roxieanum (right), Lysichiton americanus
or skunk cabbage (middle) both have their own
defences against the cold weather.
a small amount of heat around its
crowns to protect against the freezing
temperatures. Rhododendron too have
their own defence; high altitude species
like R. roxieanum have narrow lanceolate
leaves which are fluffy underneath
(indumentum), a bit like a woolly blanket,
and when the leaves curl in the biting cold,
this helps the plant reduce moisture loss
and maintain warmth.
Graham Stewart
8 | T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1
It is 8 am on a cold morning in January
and Dale Johnson and Sheena Elliott
are starting their day’s work. As Visitor
Welcome Managers at RBGE, there is
plenty to plan for the day ahead and
they are soon consulting staff duty rotas,
logging the previous day’s Shop sales
and checking the events schedule
from the office on the top floor of the
John Hope Gateway in Edinburgh.
“The Visitor Welcome Team is all about
creating the most positive experience
for the visitor to the Garden,” explains
Dale, “and our role is to ensure the Team
understand the needs of the visitor and
can deliver what is expected of us.”
The Visitor Welcome Team was created
in August 2010 as part of the newly
established Enterprise Division, merging
the activities of the Garden Ranger staff
with those already providing retailing,
stewarding, security and support duties,
enabling the delivery of a more cohesive
welcome to RBGE’s visitors. As the Team
encompasses so many roles, its duties are
wide ranging. “Providing a warm front of
house greeting and accurate information
at all entrance and retail points at all of
our Gardens is of course one of the core
duties of the Team,” says Sheena, “but
safety and accessibility throughout the
Gardens is paramount, especially during
the recent snowy weather.” Patrolling
the Garden and liaising with other Garden
staff to ensure that paths and public
areas are safe, secure and clean is part
Welcome
to the Team!
In August 2010 a new Visitor
Welcome Team was established
at RBGE to coordinate the
RBGE visitor experience.
Hamish Adamson speaks to
Dale Johnson and Sheena
Elliott, RBGE’s Visitor Welcome
Managers to find out more.
of the daily routine of the Team of 35
at Edinburgh and they are quick to flag
up any incident or potential issue which
could affect the visitor’s experience.
The Visitor Welcome Team at the
Edinburgh Garden are responsible not only
for the opening and closing of the Garden,
but also for the Shop and the Gateway,
the public Glasshouses, Inverleith House,
the Terrace Café and the Balfour Building.
At Dawyck and Logan the same visitor
welcome is managed by the Botanics
Trading Company staff and at Benmore
by the catering contractors Helen and
Gavin Dick.
Top right: Visitor Welcome Managers
Dale Johnson and Sheena Elliott at work.
Left and inset: The enhanced facilities at the
John Hope Gateway which improve the
visitor experience.
“It is essential that each area is
closed securely each day and reopened
the following morning to a standard
the visitor expects,” Dale says.
This involves a great deal of ‘behind the
scenes’ working; from the coordination
of site contractors to the unloading of
deliveries, pricing and stocking for the
Shops. The Team also provide mailing,
stationery and room booking services
for RBGE staff within their role.
“Essentially the Team is all about the
smooth running of the Garden for the
visitor,” summarises Sheena, “and that
involves the coordination of several
different elements.”
The Team has aspirations to help the
Edinburgh Garden achieve the Scottish
Tourist Board’s coveted five star rating
attained by Dawyck in 2008, by ensuring
all Team staff perform at a consistently
high level, and both Dale and Sheena
are involved in the training of all new
Welcome staff. Today, however, the
telephones are starting to ring and a
van is pulling up to the Gateway railings
with a delivery for the Shop…
To learn more about the work of
the Visitor Welcome Team at any
of the four RBGE Gardens, contact
Sheena Elliott on 0131 248 2958
or [email protected] or
Dale Johnson on 0131 248 2941
or [email protected]
T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1 | 9
Vibrant
Vireya
Many of our Vireya Rhododendron flower during spring so, to see a
welcome splash of colour in these temperamental months, visit the
Montane Tropics in the Edinburgh Glasshouses. Here George Argent
offers some insight into the background of plants in this display.
Amongst the living material brought back
from the 2000 Kew/Indonesian Institute
of Sciences expedition to Mt. Jaya
in Indonesian New Guinea were several
Rhododendron that had not previously
been cultivated. Most of these were seen
flowering in the wild and have already
been described, but several were brought
back in a sterile condition and only slowly
have these plants grown to flowering
size. One such specimen has taken ten
years to mature and opened flowers for
the first time on 28 October 2010. It had
been collected with Rhododendron milleri
Argent and tentatively ascribed to this
species as vegetatively it was very similar,
having distinctive pale whitish-green stems
with a mealy waxy covering with small
brown scales. R. milleri had been seen
and collected flowering in the wild, with
its strange pale greenish-white flowers,
but there were numerous shrubs without
any flowers and cuttings were taken from
several of these non-flowering plants to
see if they were different.
The first flowers of R. carstensense
Wernham were pink, strongly fragrant,
and held more or less erect with the
sub-persistent collar of bracts holding
the corolla tubes tightly together in a
similar manner to that often seen in
R. goodenoughii Sleumer. At first it was
thought that this newly flowering plant
was R. syringoideum Sleumer, a species
from the same locality, which also has pink
fragrant flowers, is in many respects similar
and had been thought to be possibly even
synonymous. R. syringoideum had also
been collected on the expedition and
had flowered in the Royal Botanic Garden
Edinburgh with very much longer pink
flowers, some years previously.
R. carstensense was previously
only known from the single dried type
collection, deposited at the Natural
History Museum, London and described
by Herbert Wernham the Curator. This
original material had been collected by
Boden Kloss an English zoologist who
spent nearly 30 years in South-East Asia
early in the 20th Century. In January
1913 Kloss was on an expedition that
attempted to climb Mt. Carstensz (now
Mt. Jaya) the highest peak in New Guinea
at 4884 metres but the summit was
blocked by steep rocks and a wall of ice.
He nevertheless made several botanical
collections on this expedition amongst
which was R. carstensense.
R. carstensense has grown slowly,
nurtured at the Edinburgh Garden, and
is now a single very healthy plant, about
60 cm high with numerous flower buds.
It is potted in our standard acid bark
compost, which is very open and free
draining, and fed throughout the spring
and summer months. It is always difficult
to assess the horticultural potential of
a wild species on its first flowering in
cultivation but the powerful perfume and
delightfully coloured flowers make this
potentially a most attractive species.
Main: Rhododendron carstensense in bloom at the
Edinburgh Garden.
Inset: George Argent on a collecting trip in 1975.
1 0 | T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1
Main: A caricature of Patrick Geddes which first
appeared in his periodical The Evergreen in the 1890s.
Courtesy of the Sir Patrick Geddes Memorial Trust.
By leaves
we live
Visitors to the John Hope Gateway in the Royal Botanic Garden might
notice that it has a Patrick Geddes Room. But who was Patrick Geddes
and why commemorate him in this way? Walter Stephen explains the
relationship between this prominent scientist and the Garden.
Patrick Geddes was a figure of world
status who has been rediscovered in our
own time. Philip Boardman’s The Worlds
of Patrick Geddes lists the attributes
of Geddes as ‘Biologist, Town Planner,
Re-educator, Peace-warrior’, while
Lewis Mumford, the great American
planner of the 20th century, described
him as ‘a vigorous institution’. We can all
bring modern meaning to his mantra –
‘Think global. Act local.’ From 1880 to
1888 Geddes’s professional address was
Botanical Laboratory of the University
of Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Garden.
How did he get there? What did
he do there? Why did he leave?
Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) was born
in Ballater, grew up in Perth and had a
conventional schooling, then a period of
‘home studies’. He went on to the Royal
School of Mines, became a protégé of the
English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley,
spent time in Roscoff, at the Sorbonne
and in Naples, before being headhunted
to set up the Scottish Zoological Station
(the first in Britain) at Cowie, near
Stonehaven. A British Association grant
took him to Mexico where he collected
crayfish for Huxley, assorted reptiles
and crustaceans for the British Museum
and specimens of flora for himself.
In Mexico he fell seriously ill and was
totally blind for a time; on his return to
Britain it appeared that long hours at the
microscope were no longer possible. The
periods of idleness his blindness enforced
encouraged wide-ranging reflection
into broader concerns than biology.
His later marriage to the blue-stocking
Anna Morton reinforced his concerns
about society and his determination
to ‘make a difference’, as we now say.
In 1880 Professor Alexander Dickson
held the Regius Chair of Botany and was
also Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic
Garden, living in Inverleith House. Working
as Demonstrator, or Assistant, to the
Professor, Geddes’s duties were those
of lecturing and leading practical work
in the laboratory – with plant material
from the Garden – and outdoors in the
systematically organised collections. In the
1880s, Geddes also wrote voluminously,
partly to increase his income and partly
to establish himself professionally.
He published some 17 papers on topics
like cell theory, evergreens, thorns and
prickles. A Type Botanic Garden (1883)
described a garden he had planned and
constructed for an Edinburgh school. At
this time, Edinburgh was the home of two
great encyclopaedias, the Encyclopaedia
Britannica and Chambers’ Encyclopaedia.
For these, Geddes wrote over 30 entries.
A garden is more than an outdoors
laboratory, it is also a place for romance.
In the 1880’s the Royal Botanic Garden
was closed on the Sabbath but Geddes
was able to gain entry and take in with
him Anna Morton, to whom he proposed
T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1 | 1 1
Patrick Geddes – Polymath
and who accepted. Happening to
have in one pocket a mass of opal
‘the size of a large orange’ he had
brought back from Mexico, and in the
other a geological hammer, Geddes
split the opal. To seal their engagement,
Anna was given one piece while Patrick
retained the other matching piece.
(Later the pieces were made into rings,
which were more practical reminders
of their devotion to each other).
Professor Dickson died late in 1887
and Geddes applied for the vacant
post. His ‘Letter of 1888’ was a
Top: Geddes was involved in planning the city of Madura,
now Madurai, in India. His plan as compared to the
municipal plan (left) demonstrated his sensitivity to the
existing structure and focused on the planting of a single
tree in a public space. From Patrick Geddes in India,
published by Lund Humphries, London, 1947. Courtesy
of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland.
Bottom: A plan by Geddes for Grange House,
a school in Edinburgh, his first garden design.
Taken from The Transactions of the Botanical Society
Vol XVI, 1886, Plate No. VIII. Courtesy of the
Trustees of the National Library of Scotland.
100-page printed document packed
with support for his application –
but not enough to win selection for him.
Isaac Bayley Balfour had two degrees,
Geddes had none. Bayley Balfour
had followed Dickson to the Chair of
Botany at Glasgow and moved on to
the Sherardian Chair at Oxford in 1884.
Geddes did not have a Chair; he had
‘grown up in a garden’.
Geddes did not have much time to
lick his wounds; an old friend and fellowmember of the Perthshire Society of
Natural Science endowed the Martin
White Chair of Botany at University
College, Dundee. Geddes taught for
half the year for half a salary, for
31 years, which gave him enough security
to engage in an ever-widening series of
enterprises. Bayley Balfour for 34 years,
‘lived in and for the Garden and for the
University Department centred within it.’
While he was at RBGE Geddes also wrote on statistics,
economics, capital and labour, cooperation versus socialism
and John Ruskin. He and his new wife moved into a
near-slum off the Lawnmarket and began a long process
of community development and ‘conservative surgery’ –
taking over rundown properties and renovating them for
use as self-governing student hostels. Ramsay Garden was
developed to lure the middle classes back into the decayed
Old Town. Scraps of ‘idle’ land were turned into gardens.
As well as ‘greening the environment’ these gardens were a
focus for community action and a socially acceptable training
for empowerment. Geddes turned Short’s Observatory
into the Outlook Tower – ‘the first sociological laboratory in
the world’ – Geddes’s base, publishing house and refuge
for political and religious outcasts. He pioneered Summer
Schools with the motto ‘Vivendo Discimus’ (By Living
We Learn), which achieved an international reputation.
As a planner Geddes acquired world celebrity. He spent
six months in Cyprus working at regeneration; he planned
Tel Aviv. On retiring from Dundee, he was made the first
Professor of Civics and Sociology at Bombay (Mumbai) and
drew up regeneration plans for 50 Indian cities.
Below the surface Geddes remained a biologist and a
gardener. ‘By Leaves We Live’ is a Geddes mantra of
which Stephen Blackmore, Regius Keeper of RBGE says,
“These words contain a timeless and universal truth that
has even greater resonance in the early 21st century.
Every aspect of our existence depends upon plants.”
Every Geddes project began with sympathy (gathering
data with the aid of the participants) before moving on
to synthesis (putting together the plan) and synergy (all
working together). Wherever Geddes worked there were
gardens. From his first for a school in the Grange area of
Edinburgh, to teaching gardens at Dundee and Montpellier,
where he set up his Scots College at the age of 70.
1 2 | T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1
A Botanist,
a sculptor and
an anniversary
This year marks the 25th anniversary
of the inauguration of the programme
at Inverleith House which, since
1986, has pioneered the use of
temporary exhibitions in furthering
our understanding and appreciation
of the natural world. It has achieved
this by attracting external income
(notably from Creative Scotland) to
make possible exhibitions by invited,
internationally significant, contemporary
artists, whilst also presenting exhibitions
which extend botanical knowledge
using the Garden’s archives.
This spring we simultaneously
present new sculpture by the Los
Angeles-based artist Thomas Houseago
(born Leeds, 1972) and the exhibition
John Hope (1725-1786) – An
Enlightened Botanist. Seen together,
the exhibitions address the contrast
between a ‘rational’ view of the
natural world which developed rapidly
during the Scottish Enlightenment
(of which Hope was part), and the view
it replaced, based upon intuition and
wonder; qualities nevertheless present
in both exhibitions. Thomas Houseago’s
exhibition will be extended to include a
series of new works sited in the Garden
during 2011 and 2012.
John Hope (1725-1786) was the most
innovative botanical teacher in Britain in
the second half of the eighteenth century.
His lectures took place in the RBGE at
Leith Walk between May and July, and
formed a compulsory part of the medical
curriculum; more than 1,700 students
from as far afield as Virginia and
St Petersburg attended them between
1761 and 1786. The exhibition presents
some of the remarkable drawings with
which Hope illustrated these lectures,
arranged in the three parts of his course:
vegetation (including plant physiology);
classification; and drawings of some of the
living plants he demonstrated including the
sensational ‘moving plant’ from Bengal.
A book John Hope (1725-1786):
Alan G. Morton's Memoir of a
Scottish Botanist by Henry Noltie
will accompany the exhibition.
For details phone 0131 248 2819
or email [email protected]
Thomas Houseago – The Beat of the
Show and John Hope (1725-1786)
An Enlightened Botanist run from
15 May – 3 July.
Above: Bud scale of ash (Fraxinus excelsior)
drawn for John Hope.
Bottom left: Thomas Houseago Coins (Stacked)
2010, Aluminum. Photo: Thomas Mueller.
Courtesy Michael Werner Gallery New York.
Crowfoot,
arrow root,
knapweed…
quicken tree
Upcoming show at Edinburgh
The Quicken Tree (17 – 19 March)
was inspired by the second book
of Edmund Spenser’s epic romance
The Faerie Queene, first published in
1590. The text is uniquely suited to
dramatisation in a beautiful Garden.
To Spenser’s contemporaries,
the natural landscape was intimately
connected to the mind and plants
were thought to contain hot and
cold properties according to the
system of humours. Using the
names of plants drawn from
John Gerard’s The Herball or
Generall Historie of Plantes (1633),
The Quicken Tree hopes to capture
something of the transformative
beauty of the natural world which
so fascinated Spenser.
Tickets are available from
www.brownpapertickets.co.uk
T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1 | 1 3
Atomise!
This spring, Edinburgh International
Science Festival returns to the Botanics
for its biggest year ever, offering a varied
programme of events, talks, walks and
workshops. Together we are celebrating
the International Year of Chemistry
2011, highlighting achievements in
chemistry from across the globe and
underlining its vital contributions to
the wellbeing of mankind.
We’re delighted to present Atomise,
a state of the art exhibition space in the
John Hope Gateway, designed especially
for the Botanics. Young and old, boys
and girls alike will be dazzled by our
range of experiments, explosive gadgets
and hands-on workshops. Get ready to
play with bizarre and beautiful magnetic
‘nanosludge’, gaze in wonder at a forest
of crystalline creations and take in some
high octane demonstrations including
quantum levitation, pocket explosions
and instant foam.
Atomise will be open daily throughout
the Festival but for one night only, we’ll
also be offering adults the chance to
spend the evening at the exhibition for
Atomise Later… Explore the displays and
demonstrations with a glass of wine and
get your hands dirty in the workshops
without having to let any kids go first.
We'll also be hosting evening talks on
Photo: Jill Todd.
the science of wine and cocktails and
of cosmetics.
Also in the John Hope Gateway,
the Real Life Science Studio programme
asks important questions about the
chemistry of plants, disease and food.
Suitable for ages 5+, this series of handson, drop-in days will give visitors the
chance to meet scientists from RBGE,
the James Hutton Institute, the Moredun
Research Institute, the University of
Aberdeen Rowett Institute of Nutrition
and Health, Forest Research and the
BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre.
Did you know that smells are part
of plants’ hidden chemistry? Visitors
of all ages will enjoy Scents and
Sensitivity, a brand new trail through
our magnificent Glasshouses. Use your
nose to suck up some delightful and
disgusting smells and sniff out how
trees and plants use chemical scents to
attract, repel, seduce and sometimes
poison their neighbours.
Edinburgh International Science
Festival runs from 9 – 22 April.
The Atomise exhibition will
continue until Sunday 5 June
with workshops available at
weekends throughout this postFestival period. For details see
www.sciencefestival.co.uk
Above: Pauline Aitken, Fritillaria meleagris petal
transverse, SEM and colour.
Bottom: Fritillaria meleagris.
A closer
view
Artist Pauline Aitken creates work
using scanning electron micrographs
to investigate the structure of plant
forms, leading to reflections upon the
interdependence of life forms on our
planet. She has received funding both
from Arts Council England and from
The Wellcome Trust to further research
and develop her work in this area.
At the John Hope Gateway this spring,
she will be showing paintings, prints and
micrographs that invite us to look more
closely at one of our most precious and
captivating plants, Fritillaria meleagris,
snake’s-head fritillary. Her work reveals
strange and beautiful structures that are
only visible when we take an intimate,
closer view.
Taking a Closer View: Paintings, prints
and micrographs by Pauline Aitken
runs 12 March – 30 May 2011 in the
Gateway Gallery, John Hope Gateway.
1 4 | T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1
An enlightened
Victorian
Main: Benmore House with Duncan’s picture gallery
to the right, c. 1889–90. Courtesy of David
Younger. Below: James Duncan, c. 1900–1905.
Image taken from Mansfield House Magazine,
1905. Courtesy of Mansfield College, Oxford.
An exhibition exploring the life and legacy of James Duncan, Laird of Benmore
1870-1889, opens this spring in the Courtyard Gallery of the Benmore Garden.
Duncan was born in Springburn, near
Glasgow, and after making his fortune in
the sugar refining industry in Greenock
and London, acquired the 12,500 acre
Benmore estate. Under his ownership the estate was transformed.
He established various plantations on
the estate and between 1870 and 1880
was responsible for the planting of a
staggering 6.5 million trees. Glasshouses
were erected and alterations to Benmore
House arranged; he even established an
experimental sugar refinery on the estate.
Around 1874 he also commissioned a
fernery to be built, which was restored to
its original grandeur by RBGE in 2009.
Duncan’s immense wealth provided
him with the means to contribute to
several philanthropic projects as well
as indulging in his
passion of collecting
the decorative
arts.
By
the
late 1870s, Duncan had amassed a
collection by some of the world’s leading
artists including Corot, Delacroix, Renoir,
Raeburn and Doré, and space was
required to exhibit the pieces. In 1879
an enormous picture gallery was built
and the works displayed for the public
to visit. Delacroix’s epic The Death of
Sardanapalus and Makart’s impressive
The Triumph of Ariadne were just two
of the gems to be enjoyed. By the late
1880s however, Duncan’s fortune had
waned due to fluctuations in the sugar
market. By 1889 a large part of the
collection had been broken up and the
estate sold to the Younger family.
Visitors to the exhibition can
explore Duncan’s vast contribution
to the Benmore estate and learn
more about this remarkable man
who all but disappeared from history.
The author of Duncan’s biography:
James Duncan: An Enlightened Victorian
will be giving a talk followed by a
Duncan themed walk on 9 April as part
of the
exhibition.
James Duncan of Benmore:
An Enlightened Victorian runs
from 6 March – 22 May 2011 in
the Courtyard Gallery at Benmore
Botanic Garden, Garden admission
charge applies. For information see
the latest What’s On guide or visit
www.rbge.org.uk/whats-on
To celebrate the exhibition James
Duncan of Benmore: An Enlightened
Victorian, RBGE Publications are
offering the book James Duncan:
An Enlightened Victorian exclusive to
the Botanics readers for £7 including
p&p in the UK until 23 May 2011.
Contact [email protected] or phone
0131 248 2819 quoting 'Botanics
offer' to take advantage of this deal.
Offer only applies through the RBGE
Publications
Office.
s
•t
ers
tale
The focal point of this trip was the
three day International Conference on
Biodiversity, Livelihoods and Climate
Change in the Himalayas which attracted
more than 450 participants from
22 countries and was opened by Ram
Baran Yadav, the President of Nepal.
The presence of the President is a
measure of the importance placed on
the issues discussed at the conference;
the majority of Nepal’s 29 million people
live in rural, often very remote, areas and
their livelihoods depend on agriculture and
their local biodiversity. While the extent
of climate change is a matter for debate in
the UK, with scepticism reported to be on
the rise, it is an accepted fact here in Nepal
and a great cause for concern amongst
ordinary people. Rising temperatures,
melting glaciers and the increasingly
erratic monsoon are already causing
great concern. Predictions forecast even
larger effects on crops, wild species and
the people who depend on them.
The management of biodiversity
resources depends on accurate
knowledge of those resources, but this is
greatly hampered in Nepal by the lack of
a Flora. This was acknowledged in the
Government of Nepal’s 2002 National
Biodiversity Strategy, but the need for
Main: View from Swayambunath looking over the
Kathmandu Valley.
Inset: Colin Pendry studying specimens of
Lauraceae for this account in the Flora of Nepal.
Greetings from Kathmand
u,
where Stephen Blackmore,
Mark Watson and I have bee
n
attending an international
conference and working wit
h
our Nepalese and Japanese
partners finalising plans for
publication of the first volum
e
of the Flora of Nepal. It is a
pleasant 20oC in the winter
sun, but closer to 10oC in the
unheated and un-insulate
d
conference venue!
Colin Pendry,
Editor, Flora of NepaL
Postcard
T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1 | 1 5
Th
tuckede Buddhist stu
a
the maway in a coupa at Kathesim
in tour
r
ist areatyard near T bu,
ha
of Kath
mandumel,
.
Nepal
from
a Flora dates back much further than
that. The Department of Medicinal
Plants was set up in 1961 and soon
came up with an (over!) ambitious
plan to complete a Flora within five
years. It was quickly realised that many
more collections needed to be made
and foreign expertise recruited if the
plan was ever to come to fruition. This
phase resulted in the publication of the
Enumeration of the Flowering Plants
of Nepal, a landmark checklist of the
5,000 species then known from Nepal
which we still consult extensively in our
work. Impetus was then lost, and it
was only in 1999 that the current phase
of the Flora of Nepal was launched.
The first editorial meeting was held at
RBGE in 2002, when it was suggested
that Volume 3 (Magnoliaceae to
Rosaceae) should be the first of the
ten volumes to be published.
Volume 3 contains several large
families which have long been the
focus of study by our partners in Japan.
36 authors contributed to
accounts and managing all
their contributions has been a huge
task. Most of the accounts have now
been completed and uploaded in our
Padme database, along with all their
specimen information, and we were able
to present a 400 page draft volume to
the Editorial Meeting held during the
conference. We are working to have
the Volume published by mid-2011.
The need for the Flora is stronger
than ever, so we must find ways of
accelerating its production. In the end
it will of course come down to funding,
and another critical task on this trip has
been to develop new funding streams
to support an accelerated programme.
To this end, promising meetings
were held to develop applications to
organisations such as the UN’s Global
Environment Facility. Securing significant
funding will be a long process but we are
confident of success, particularly once
Volume 3 has been published.
1 6 | T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1
Plants and the weather
Do you listen to the weather
forecast in the morning?
And if it is going to rain do
you take an umbrella? Imagine
that you had to be outside all
day and you couldn’t dress for
the weather. That is what
it is like for plants, so they
have found ways to adapt.
The climate is the weather
in a region recorded over a
long time, 30 to 40 years.
The amount of rain, wind,
sunlight and the temperature
all make up the weather.
Plants need all of these things,
water, oxygen and sunlight,
to grow. Also, the temperature
of the air regulates most plant
processes – germination, flowering,
photo-synthesis, and respiration –
and each plant has its own ideal
temperature conditions for
growth and development.
Weather facts!
We have been recording the
weather at our Edinburgh Garden
for a long time, so we are able to
see trends and interesting facts.
Here are some:
n Longest periods without
sunshine - 8 days in Jan 1987
and Nov 1993
Have a look at the plants around
you, they have probably adapted
to the climate where you are.
At the Garden you can see
plants which come from different
parts of the world, with different
climates. Adapting to conditions
has made them all very
different to look at. Plants
from dry areas develop thick
waxy leaves to stop moisture
loss. Some plants grow tall to
seek out the light, like the palm
trees in our Glasshouses, and
others have foliage which allows
them to capture as much light as
possible, so they have big leaves.
Make a rain gauge
Save a see-through plastic drinks bottle
and get an adult to help you cut the top off
it. Turn this upside down and place it back
n Days with no sunshine - 17.1%
into the bottle; this acts as a funnel for
rain drops. Take a ruler and a permanent
n Longest period without rain pen and mark the centimetres up the side of the
bottle.
19 days in Oct 1997
Place
your
gauge
outside
somewhere
it
will
not
be
knocked
or
blown
n Days with no rain - 46.5%
over. Don’t put it too close to a building or trees as this might shelter it
(Based on period from 1 January 1976
to 31 March 2009)
from rain. Each day measure how much water
is in the gauge and tip
it out ready for the next reading.
Illustrations: Ryoko Tamura.
T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1 | 1 7
Weather
Word Search
Once you have found all of
the words, look for the hidden
message left in the puzzle!
BLUSTERY • CLIMATE • CLOUD • FOG • FREEZING
ICE • POURING • RAIN • SHOWER • SUNSHINE
www.WordSearchMaker.com
B
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U
S
T
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X
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I
Z
E
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R
F
T
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I
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The Beaufort scale
This scale is a way of measuring the wind and it uses plants to help measure
the strength of the wind on land, like this;
0
Calm
No movement
1
Light air
Slight movement of leaves
2
Light breeze
Leaves rustle
3
Gentle breeze
Leaves and small twigs are moving constantly
4
Moderate wind
Small branches move
5
Fresh wind
Small trees sway
6
Strong wind
Large branches move
7
High wind
Whole trees move
8
Gale
Some twigs break off trees
9
Strong gale
Branches break off trees and some small trees
blow over
10
Storm
Trees are broken off or uprooted
11
Violent storm
Widespread damage to trees
12
Hurricane
Very widespread damage to trees
Record the weather…
Why don’t you try recording the weather for a month?
WInD
RAIn
Sun
TempeRATuRe
What do you think the strength of the wind is (using the above scale)?
How much rain is there in your rain gauge?
Are you casting a shadow on the ground? Is it light, medium or dark?
Use an outdoor thermometer to take the daily temperature
Note down these recordings every day, then you can see any trends at the end of the month.
Is it getting warmer? Has the wind been strong? Can you see signs that the plants around
you have reacted to these changes?
Tip: Try to take your readings at the same time every day. You can download a weather
chart from our website at www.rbge.org.uk/about-us/publications/kids-zone
1 8 | T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1
Exclusive
Companion
event
On 10 December RBGE Companions were
amongst the lucky guests to be invited to
the launch of the new Gateway exhibition
Conserving Ecologies: Craft and Biodiversity –
a unique exhibition which explores
biodiversity through contemporary
Scottish craft. Delivered in partnership
by craftscotland and RBGE, it exhibits the
work of six Scottish craftmakers, in a range
of disciplines from ceramics to willow
weaving and successfully reinterprets and
combines traditional techniques to create
work that sensitively reflects our need
to conserve both our natural and craft
ecologies. RBGE Companions enjoyed
mince pies whilst hearing more about
the exhibition from the craftmakers
themselves and speakers from both
RBGE and craftscotland. Companions are
rewarded for their higher level of support
of RBGE with invitations to similar
exclusive events throughout the year.
They also receive two complimentary guest
passes for RBGE along with the standard
benefits enjoyed by all RBGE Friends.
The Conserving Ecologies: Craft and
Biodiversity exhibition is open to the
public, free of charge, until 20 March
2011 in the John Hope Gateway,
Edinburgh. To learn more about
becoming a Companion please
contact the Membership Office on
0131 552 5339 [email protected]
or visit www.rbge.org.uk/support-us/
join-us-as-a-member/benefits.
Below: The Conserving Ecologies launch.
Photo: Laura Anderson, craftscotland.
Above: Sunrise at The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah. Photo: Jaime Plaza.
Reciprocal agreement
RBGE has a reciprocal agreement with a
number of wonderful Botanic Gardens
worldwide, allowing RBGE Members
free entry when they display their
Membership card. The participating
gardens include Kew, Wakehurst Place,
New York, Missouri, University of British
Columbia and Westonbirt. Dedicated
Friend of RBGE and Member of the
Benmore Friends Committee and National
Membership Board, Marion Kinns tells us
how she takes advantage of this benefit.
“As our son lives in Sydney, we have
had many opportunities to be grateful for
the reciprocal membership arrangement
existing between RBGE and Sydney
Botanic Garden. The Royal Botanic Garden
Sydney has stunning views, situated beside
the Opera House, looking across the
water to the Harbour Bridge. Founded by
Governor Macquarie in 1816, there is a
superb collection of large trees dating from
these early plantings. I think particularly of
the vast Moreton Bay figs surrounded and
supported by palisades of their own aerial
roots. Many genera are unfamiliar to us in
the northern hemisphere and all plants are
well labelled. RBGE Members receive free
entry, where admission charges usually
apply, to the Tropical Centre with plants
from tropical regions of Australia and
other parts of the world. Be prepared
to cope with extreme humidity!
The first outpost, The Australian
Botanic Garden, Mount Annan,
45 minutes SW of Sydney, is planted
on 410 hectares and displays Australian
plants in related groupings. It is the
Right: The Palm Grove at The Royal Botanic Garden
Sydney. Photo: Jaime Plaza, courtesy of the
Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.
centre for horticultural research and
conservation and the landscaping here
is particularly impressive.
The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden,
Mount Tomah, the cool climate outpost,
is about two hours drive west from
the centre of Sydney, at an altitude
of 1,000 metres. The restaurant
has a wonderful view across the Blue
Mountains and the haze of oil that rises
from all the eucalyptus trees. Plants
are arranged according to geographical
origin with more than 5,000 species
from cooler areas of the world, with an
emphasis on the southern hemisphere.”
Marion urges all Members to take
advantage of the reciprocal free entry,
particularly when visiting Sydney,
promising “you won’t be disappointed!”
For a full list of participant Gardens
or to join as a Member, please pick
up a Membership leaflet from RBGE,
email [email protected] or visit
www.rbge.org.uk/support-us/
join-us-as-a-member/benefits.
T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1 | 1 9
The Friends
of RBGE
Sandy Laver, Convener of the Edinburgh Friends' Committee, describes
the work of the Friends in support of the Garden.
The Friends of RBGE are delighted to be
given a regular space within the Botanics
to keep Members informed about the
work of their Committees. Through
this feature we will provide information
and reports on events and activities in
the Membership Programme which the
Committees organise, explore new ideas
for development of the programme,
and get Members’ perspectives on their
involvement with these events.
All Members of RBGE are seen as
Friends of the Botanics, and the local
Committees for each Garden work on
behalf of all Friends in supporting the
work of the Garden. They do so by
organising and running a programme
of events and activities with three
main aims: to ensure the continuing
engagement of Friends with RBGE; to
generate income in support of the work
of RBGE; and to raise the profile of RBGE
and encourage increased recruitment.
Apart from Garden representatives,
all Committee members are volunteers
with a wide range of backgrounds and
experience. No special expertise is
required beyond an enthusiastic desire to
Top: Sandy Laver.
Middle and below: The annual plant sale is a big
event in the Friends’ calendar. Volunteer potters
help to prepare for the annual plant sale.
support RBGE and a willingness to devote
time and energy to attend meetings and
help organise and run events. The local
Committees vary in size and operate in
different ways to suit local needs and
conditions. Each has a Convener and
Secretary, but beyond that Edinburgh
has eight volunteer members, Dawyck
seven, and Benmore seven. Logan has no
formal Committee, apart from Convener
and Secretary, but puts on an impressive
array of events with a pool of Friends
available to assist.
The activities organised vary widely
and include: lectures and talks; coffee
mornings; guided garden walks; day visits
to interesting gardens; three or four-day
garden tours; plant sales and auctions;
photographic competitions; garden
openings; workshops; attendance at local
horticultural shows and social events.
Most events are self-financing, and all
profits go into the Small Projects Fund,
through which the Friends support the
work of RBGE.
Of course, the Committees do not
work alone, but rely on the guidance and
practical support of the Membership
Office and many other Garden staff.
There is also a hidden army of Friends
who volunteer their time to make events
happen – such as the Edinburgh ‘Potters’
who work throughout the year to develop
the plant stock for our annual plant sale.
To find out more about your local
Committee including relevant
contact details, go to ‘My Botanics’
www.rbge.org.uk/my-botanics
If you would like to become directly
involved we would be delighted to hear
from you; please contact your local
Convener, contact details available on
‘My Botanics’ or via the Membership
Office on 0131 552 5339.
2 0 | T H E B OTA N I C S 4 4 s p r i n g 2 0 1 1
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
d
WAY
ATE 9
PE GBER 200
O
H
N O
JOH OCT
NEWPENING
O
W
ne
d
An
e
AT
d
p
u
Open daily (except 25 December and 1 January)
Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR
Tel: 0131 552 7171 • Email: [email protected]
Admission to the Garden is free; charge applies to the Glasshouses.
Benmore Botanic Garden
ndrons | 17
A riot of rhodode
st
George Forre
ndrons
of rhodode
16 | A riot
endrons
od
A riot of rhod
plants
quiet and most
the Garden is
flower
rhododendrons
as February. When
It begins as early tight buds open and the early barbatum is among the
first
um
Rhododendron
subdued, the
cold, winter wind. g red. The tree-sized R. arborethe
to
defiantly in the
pompoms in startlin , when the Garden opens
large
with
first,
By March
of vivid pinks.
brings bursts
dendrons may
public, more rhodo in bloom.
already be
Open daily 1 March to 31 October
e
d for its extensiv a dazzle
is renowne
bring
Left: Benmore
ndrons, which
.
of rhodode
early summer
collection
spring and
m
of colour through Rhododendron atlanticu
to right:
Insets left
rinum.
and R. cinnaba
Dunoon, Argyll, PA23 8QU
Tel: 01369 706261 • Email: [email protected]
Admission charge applies.
Logan Botanic Garden
plants of around
than 3,000
With more
by botanical
s, arranged
300 specie
origin,
geographic
grouping or
ed as a “living
been describ
.”
Benmore has
Rhododendron
the genus
it feels more
textbook of
g
flowerin season which
But in the
tion in
– a celebra
bloom
like a party
ant plant group
this flamboy
their most
showing off
e scents.
in succession,
and delicat
decadent colours
reaches its
May, the party
and
are
re
April
In
slopes of Benmo
peak and the
purples,
t reds, rich
alive with brillian papery whites.
and
shocking pinks
dazzling, there
owers are
While the fl
endrons than
to rhodod
is much more
flowering
blossom. The
extravagant
s can be short
each specie
season for
t continues
interes
, but the
and intense
bark and varied
with striking
oloured
year round
has plum-c
barbatum
foliage. R.
hairs on the
and bristly
peeling bark
large-leaved
leaves. The
of
stalks of its
s, such as those
endron
rhodod
huge, glossy,
Grande, have
ii
subsection
R. schilppenbach its
leaves.
dark green
colour when
e autumn
turn to
brings surpris
shaped leaves
whorls of spoonand red.
l
rich yellow
are an integra
ns
Rhododendro
– the main
re’s history
part of Benmo
west coast
a
g
RBGE needin
reason for
centur y,
the early 20th
garden. In
George
ors such as
plant collect
Joseph Rock
Wilson and
plants
Forrest, Ernest
new
of
hundreds
species
brought back
many new
including
to Britain,
needed
endron. RBGE
of rhodod
h space and
with enoug
these
somewhere
ions to grow
the right condit
climate, high
with its mild
plants, and
an attack
his life from
Fleeing for
unity on
nary comm
e
on a missio
to China, Georg
his first visit
of the
took notes
Forrest still
rifle in
travelled,
plants as he
ice in
h snow and
nted,
hand, throug
ains. Undau
mount
en
the high
six times betwe
he returned
mountains
the
to
1931
1905 and
ower
ed as the “fl
he describ
He was
the world.”
garden of
by the
enchanted
particularly
in their
ons
dendr
ies
sight of rhodo
huge canop
habitat, the
native
colour
on the
of bright
of the forests
ains.
forming bands
tic colour
yas.
of the mount
ered drama
nds
of the Himala
on the slopes
Benmore off
new.
lower slopes
ht back thousa
acidic soil,
and
mingle with
rainfall and
Forrest broug
In the 1920s
is a
more than
Old stories
t habitat.
at Benmore
including
the perfec
endrons
of plants,
favourites
dendron.
ificent
ds of rhodod
One of the
y
s of rhodo
nde, a “magn
1930s, hundre
rgh Nurser
300 specie
transformed
mighty R. sinogra by Forrest in China
in the Edinbu
ions
wet
grown
ered
wild,
were
d
These collect
size,
rred to the
species” discov
s, and shape
to a stately
and then transfe
British garden on of RBGE’s
has grown
of
in Argyll.
in 1912. It
huge trusses
directi
d in their
mountainside
the future
ens of
flowing with
ions flourishe
its canopy
April. Among
Pressed specim
The collect
flowers in
ens grown
research.
ed were
are 28
creamy-yellow
Many specim
he collect
at Benmore
new home.
all the plants
the early plant
cation in RBGE’s d
the new arrivals sinogrande, collected
gathered by
from seed
of R.
sent for identifi
the garden
had worke
young plants
be seen in
mountains
where he
ong Shan
, the older
hunters can
Herbarium,
.
.
from the Gaolig
room to spread
and Burma
his travels
China
ed a true
of
today. With
before
achiev
s have
on the border
wild, these
rhododendron
possible in
rare in the
in the
Now very
not usually
a conservation
es flourishes
wild beauty
stature of
trusses
be part of
ndron semnoid
g the
plants will
The scale and
Top: Rhodode wooded garden, bearing
as
this
cultivation.
as well as formin be at least
in your tracks
in April.
shelter of
collection,
hite flowers
stops you
– it will
. Looking
of pinky-w
the plants
the future
h the Garden
Garden of
they flower.
you walk throug y behind Benmore
15 years before
canop
up into the
sense of the
can feel a
House, you
Enlarged with new photos
and information
Available now from all Botanics shops
Order through the RBGE Publications Office,
tel 0131 248 2819, email [email protected]
or buy online at www.rbge.org.uk/buy-online
Open Sundays only in February
Open daily 15 March to 31 October
price £6.00
Botanics Ad 110 x 77mm V2:RBGE Magazine Ad
26/10/09
11:22
Page 1
Port Logan, Dumfries and Galloway, DG9 9ND
Tel: 01776 860231 • Email: [email protected]
Admission charge applies.
Dawyck Botanic Garden
s
N d' d E N
Tl A AR
sCO sTAR G
5
T
fIRs
Open daily 1 February to 30 November
Stobo, Scottish Borders, EH45 9JU
Tel: 01721 760254 • Email: [email protected]
Admission charge applies.
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Afternoon Tea
• Sunday Lunch
Also available for
private dining, weddings,
meetings and events
For further information about the Gardens visit
www.rbge.org.uk
For a What’s on guide, contact Alice Jacobs
Tel: 0131 248 2991 • Email: [email protected]
Sign up for our e-newsletter at www.rbge.org.uk/e-news