Club enjoy garden talk

Jun 5 2008

HAMILTON Rotary welcomed Jan Dorricot as guest speaker at their meeting last Tuesday.

Jan gave a talk on gardens. She was formerly a teacher and gardening has become almost a full-time hobby since her retiral.

Her theme was to emphasise the different kinds of garden that can be created, no matter the size or type of land that is available. She illustrated her theme by showing slides of National Trust properties, the Scottish Gardening Scheme and winners of the Hamilton District/South Lanarkshire Council’s garden competitions.

Jan’s slides illustrated the formal gardens with their underlying philosophy of order that presents a strong, simple statement of obvious control over nature. They also showed informal gardens with their flowering curves and gentle contours that offer a more relaxed ambience in contrast to the hard-edged geometry of the formal garden.

Jan concluded her talk by showing her audience different aspects of preparing and planting tubs. When preparing tubs, she emphasised the importance of colour and size when selecting plants. The finished tubs were then raffled, with the money raised going to charities.

Past president John Downie, a keen gardener himself, provided the vote of thanks.

Rotarians were pleased to meet many of their supporters when they held their charity book sale at Hamilton Top Cross on Saturday.