Notes from the Cruickshank Botanic Garden

[Cruickshank Friend]

Employment Opportunity

• GARDENER UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN the Grade 3 scale (£17,678 - £20,374 per annum), Cruickshank Botanic Garden in Old Aberdeen
•   GARDENER UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN  Posted 10 February 2014 
   Location: Cruickshank Botanic Garden in Old Aberdeen
• Hours   Full Time
• Salary the Grade 3 scale (£17,678 - £20,374 per annum)  Apply now     http://www.abdn.ac.uk/jobs/  Further information  The successful candidate will join a team of skilled gardeners responsible for the upkeep of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden in Old Aberdeen. Duties will be determined by the Head Gardener and the post holder should have a broad range of experience over a number of seasons working in various garden environments. The successful candidate will also have an appreciation of the role of the Botanic Garden and will be able to contribute to the maintenance, development and use of the living collections. Post holder must also be able to interact positively with University staff, garden volunteers, students and visitors to the garden and have good communication skills, be reliable and conscientious.
  The successful candidate will also be expected to join an overtime rota to cover weekend working and public holidays for which overtime payments are made.
  The postholder should be qualified to SVQ/NVQ level 3 National Certificate/BTEC Level 3 in Horticulture or equivalent and have extensive horticultural experience.
  Salary will be at the appropriate point on the Grade 3 scale (£17,678 - £20,374 per annum), with placement according to qualifications and experience.
  Informal enquiries can be made to Richard Walker 01224 272704. (r.d.walker@abdn.ac.uk) or Duncan Wood 01224 272701 (dem.wood@abdn.ac.uk )
  This post is not on the current "shortage occupation" list and does not meet the minimum qualification requirements as issued by the Border and Immigration Agency therefore it will not qualify for a work permit.  Unfortunately we are unable to consider applications from candidates for this post who require a work permit to work in the UK.
  To apply online for this position visit www.abdn.ac.uk/jobs
  Job Reference Number: YBS627S.
  The closing date for the receipt of applications is 28 February 2014. 
  Promoting Diversity and Equal Opportunities throughout the University
    Apply now     
•     http://www.abdn.ac.uk/jobs/  UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN

[Maggi Young]

Next Friends of the CBG meeting is a joint one with the Aberdeen Rock Garden Club 9 Aberdeen SRGC) , with Stan da Prato.


Meanwhile, in Edinburgh a the RBGE , Mark Paterson, Curator of the  Cruickshank Botanic Garden gave atalk the other day..... "21st Century Gardening"
The 21st Century Garden with

[Maggi Young]

Next Friends of the CBG meeting is a joint one with the Aberdeen Rock Garden Club (Aberdeen SRGC), on
Tuesday 25th March.
 This evening  will see the return to Aberdeen of Dr Stan da Prato who will talk on “Birds in Gardens”. Stan is involved in a number of conservation, horticultural and ornithological organisations. He is Chairman of the Advisory Group for Aberlady Bay Nature Reserve. In addition to being a Council Member for the National Trust for Scotland, he is also Vice President of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society and edits its journal, the Caledonian Gardener. He has been closely involved in the construction of SRGC’s award winning stands at Gardening Scotland and with the pallet gardens displays there from local horticultural societies and is a Britain in Bloom Committee member. Stan is a past president of the SOC (Scottish Ornithologists' Club), editor of the journal Scottish Birds, and even finds time to serve on a golf club committee.  Quite how he ever had time for his career in education is a mystery - Stan is one of those folks whose day clearly consists of more than 24 hours!

This is a joint Meeting with the Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden and will be held on the 25th March 2014 at the University of Aberdeen Zoology Department Lecture Hall, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ.




Meanwhile, in Edinburgh a the RBGE , Mark Paterson, Curator of the  Cruickshank Botanic Garden gave a
talk the other day..... " The 21st Century Garden"

[Cruickshank Friend]

Cruickshank Garden Notes – Spring 2014
‘In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of twenty-four hours’ – Mark Twain.

This seems particularly appropriate as I sit at the computer glancing – well staring actually – out of the window at alternating periods of bright sunshine and brief blizzards.

As always the most surprising thing about our unpredictable weather is our continuing ability to be surprised by its unpredictability. This winter has been very mild indeed with no persistent frosts and very little snow at lower levels, while the higher ski resorts have been enjoying deep snow for several months. This combined with the warm summer last year means that the spring display has been early and rich. Crocuses ave been fully disporting themselves in the warmth, a profusion of snowdrops and early irises are being joined by narcissus and erythronium in cheery variety.

Thus the scene in the Cruickshank Garden when I visited is weeks in advance of the same time last year. In the wee patch of grass under the large beech tree by the Chanonry gate, the snowdrop ‘Fred’s Giant’ has long finished flowering and clumps of a pleasant bi-colour daff – invisible at this time last year – have taken over. On the other side of the pathway the recently emptied bed is being prepared for replanting, one of its few remaining denizens, a weeping ash, Fraxinus excelsior ‘Pendula’ looks well with its complex intertwining branches and swelling buds against the blue sky. The excellent flowering cherry, Prunus ‘Moerheimii’, by the Auris building, its wide-spreading branches hemmed in by by a tank of Argon and the demands of parking, is already wreathed in pale pink single flowers, soon to be joined by its neighbour, an unnamed cherry, with clusters of buds already showing colour along its stems. The cherry trio will be completed by the large double flowered gean, Prunus avium ‘Plena’ on the other side of the of the courtyard while nearby nestling in awarm, south-facing bed at the foot of the Cruickshank building, the winter flowering iris, Iris unguicularis  has a plethora of pale purple fragrant flowers. So warm was last summer that my specimen of this, also at the foot of a south wall has actually had three flowers this spring, making a grand total of some eleven flowers over twenty years, hmm. I have had more success with its close relative Iris lazica which flowers slightly later but much more regularly, likes more moisture and can stand light shade.

Various forms of polyanthus and primulas provide spring interest; there is a pleasant double burgundy-coloured one in the rebuilt former eat beds, and a good area full of Primula vulgaris ‘Quaker’s bonnet’ a pleasant lilac double in one of the beds by  the pathe to the weeping elm Ulmus glabra ‘Camperdownii’ which is itself already in flower with a profusion of purplish petal-less blooms. Passing by the bulb labyrinth, a profusion of crocus at the moment, my eye was caught by the bright yellow flowers of Mahonia x wagneri ‘Pinnacle’ thriving in the shade of deciduous trees in the shrub borader that leads down to St. Machar Drive.

On the west-facing side of this border at the north end a trio of viburnums are either flowering or about to, all with fragrant flowers ; Viburnum tinus, already flowering and waiting for its neighbours V. x burkwoodii ‘Anne Russell’ and ‘Pink Farm hybrid’.

A pleasant patch of dwarf daffodils, Narcissus minor (?) marks the way down to the sunken garden, where the bulb lawn is coming into its own, with patches of the dog’s tooth violet, Erythronium dens-canis particularly notable. A plant of Daphne bholua, a lovely early flowering evergreen for a sheltered spot, fills the air with the sweet scent off by its position in a blue sea of chionodoxa.

In the bed protected by the warm south-facing wall, the usually tender South African shrub Melianthus major hasn’t been cut down by the frost and its long grey pinnate leaves looks pleasingly exotic, while twenty plus buds on the Paeonia rockii, the sumptuous Chinese tree paeony, promise future delights.

The rock garden is full of delights at this time of year; as well as many patches of spring bulbs, snowdrops, dwarf daffodils, tulips etc, several early shrubs are spectacular. There is a fine Corylopsis spicata by the side of the stream. A relative of witch hazel, it sports racemes of of pendulous fragrant yellow flowers, but is currently failing to thrive at Craigievar. The dwarf forsythia, F. viridissima ‘Bronxensis’ (grown from seed in the New Yourk Botanic Garden in the Bronx) is covered in characteristic bright yellow flowers in the nearby island bed.  In the ‘Dawn Redwood’ bed, a group of the very hardy Cyclamen coum, with flowers from white to a fuchsia pink and pleasingly variable patterened leaves is thriving, as it the pink flowered crucifer, Cardamine pentaphylla, a gentle spreading early flowerer for a moist shady spot.

Finally, by the time you read this, the splendid large Rhododendron rex, the hardiest large leaved species should have opened its swelling flower buds. So let’s hope for another pleasant warm summer – and no disastrous late frosts.

David Atkinson

[Maggi Young]

Yesterday was the RCBG sale at the Garden - this message has arrived from  Dick Morris the RCBG Treasurer  about the  results of the day:
"On behalf of the Committee of the Friends, I would like to thank all those who contributed to the success of yesterday's sale, as providers of plants, table setters/attendants and as customers.  We raised well over £1600 from the sale of plants, which together with card sales and some generous donations, takes the total for the day to over £1700.  I am sure you will agree that this is a more than respectable total, especially given the threatening weather before the event.
Please pass on this good news to any Friends you know;  the final details of the sale and an appraisal of the other May Festival events which the Friends organised/sponsored will be given in the next newsletter.

If you are interested in the coach trip to Insch/Leith Hall on 31 May, there were still some spaces available yesterday, but the deadline for booking is next weekend.

Regards

Dick Morris
Hon Treasurer "


The Friends of Cruickshank Botanic Garden is a charity registered in Scotland No. SCO04350

[Roma]

I had a quick walk round the Cruickshank Garden on Friday afternoon after dropping off some plants for the sale.
Some of the Rhododendrons were looking good

I think this was a bit of a mystery when we got it.  As far as I remember it was a seed raised rhodie from Ian Christie and should have been similar to keiskii 'Yaku Fairy'
Update:  Ian tells me it is named 'Oban'

Rhododendron davidsonianum
Rhododendron luteum
Rhododendron yunnanense

[Roma]

Had a problem with the size of one file there.  I am using Microsoft Office Picture Manager and find compressing the pictures can make the rather small.  I have been having to crop some after resizing to get them under 200K and thought I had checked them all but missed one there.
More Rhodies
Rhododendron 'Elizabeth
Rhododendron labelled fortunei hybrid
Rhododendron fortunei
Rhododendron oreotrephes

[Roma]

Last two Rhodos
I think the first one is Rhododendron 'Peace'
The second is one of my favourites Rhododendron triflorum mahoganii, a Kingdon Ward collection.  Its greeny yellow and brown flowers are not spectacular but have a quiet charm  My taste in plants includes the subtle, the garish and everything in between

[Roma]

A few more
Rhododendron obtususm
Corokia cotoneaster  - the wire netting plant -  I love the feel of this plant.  It looks as if it would be quite stiff but it feels bouncy and rubbery.
Daphne retusa

[Roma]

Fritillaria meleagris
Fritillaria pyrenaica   These were in the same photo but I had to crop it twice to get two pics under 200kb
Geranium phaeum
Hylomecon japonica

[Yann]

One word : fantastic

[Roma]

Against a south facing wall
Paeonia rockii hybrid and
Melianthus major which must have enjoyed the mild winter

[Roma]

Last two
Ribes speciosum
Crinodendron hookerianum  -  I have never seen it with so many flowers

[ichristie]

Hello Roma, great pictures your Rhodo is Oban and it was given to me years ago as a seedling. I was at the Garden on Friday looked good was also involved with the May-Fest did a Meconopsis workshop and digital show thunder and lightning on the way up maybe telling me something? cheers Ian the Christie kind

[Roma]

Thanks, Ian.  I have 'Oban' at home, bought far more recently and thought it looked similar.