The Caley aka The Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society

[Maggi Young]

The Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, affectionately known as 'The Caley'   is a  venerable organisation, first formed in 1809.    Today the Caley continues its proud traditions with involvement in many many projects around the country, raising the profile oof horticulture and its many benefits.

 If proof were needed of the value of the Caley, one need only look at the journal of the society - 'The Caledonian Gardener' - edited by the seemingly indefatigable Dr Stan da Prato.  Stan is no stranger to these pages, as he has provided so many photographic reports of  SRGC shows  here, over the years.  (I must add the personal note that he is also a most enlightening aand entertaining speaker, amongst so much else.)

Back to the Caley journal - as an example of it  I submit a photo of the contents page  of the latest issue-



What a stellar range of articles  it displays - and by so many expert authors, so many of whom have SRGC connections!

I will pick out only two as examples - the article on "Starting again: a garden from scratch"  by Ian and Carole Bainbridge - both former presidents of the SRGC and  "Streptocarpus in Ayrshire" by Sue Simpson.

It is a delight, once more, to see the news from last year of the honours given to Beryl McNaughton and Ian Christie - so very well deserved.

 Here is the cover image of the  2024 journal -



Should you consider joining the Caley to support its work, you can find more about membership on this page: https://thecaley.org.uk/join/

[Maggi Young]

 Events from The Caley:

Winter Talks
16th January: Fiona Guest, Scotia Seeds.
"Join us for the first talk of 2024 where Fiona will about her work at Scotia Seeds.  Scotia Seeds was establised in 1995 and are the leading prodducersof wildflower seed in Scotland.  They are based at Mavisbank in Angus where that have around 40 acres of wildflower crops.  This is sure to be an interesting talk."

6th February: Tea growing in Scotland.

"This season our talks will take place in-person only as we do not have the facility to live-stream them.  Where possible, we will record the talks and the recording will be made available on the members' page of the website as soon after the talk as possible.

The talks will take place in the Lecture Theatre at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. All talks will begin at 7.30pm. Our talks are free and are open to non-members.  All we ask is that you make a small donation at the door or perhaps buy a raffle ticket if you can."  For those who have not attended a lecture at RBGE before, entry is via the main reception: 20a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR (not far from the East Gate).

NEW COURSE - THE EDIBLE GARDEN
We are very excited to bring you an exciting new set of workshops aimed at guiding you through the growing of edibles.

The series of 6 workshops will take you through everything you need to know about growing edibles, whether on an allotment plot, in you garden or even on your windowsill.  You can book to attend all of the workshops or just book the ones you are most interested in.

2024

    Saturday January 27th: Planning a planting layout for the edible garden
    Saturday February 10th: All about seeds
    Sunday March 3rd: Growing edibles in containers
    Sunday March 24th: Recycling Organic Matter
    Saturday April 13th: Weeds in theory and practice
    Saturday April 27th: Making more plants for free

You can find a more indepth description of each workshop on the 'What's On' page of our website.

Costs:
per workshop:
Caley Member - £25
Non-member - £30

Block Booking:
Caley Member - £135
Non-member - £162

To book, please email administrator@rchs.co.uk.