COMMUNITY GARDENING BESIDE THE SEA

Coastal wildflower bed in early July NORTH BERWICK IN BLOOM

2019 Twitter @NBinBloom

F’book @NorthBerwickinBloom www.northberwickinbloom.org.uk

INTRODUCTION

The Royal Burgh of North Berwick is a thriving coastal town with an increasing population, currently about 6,500, overlooking the Firth of Forth. It has a small harbour, sandy beaches and is a popular holiday destination for day trippers, golfers and nature lovers, and a great place to live. Since our beginnings in the early 1990s, North Berwick in Bloom has created thirty permanent beds, all maintained by our volunteers. We have responsibility for several distinct areas within the Lodge Grounds. Throughout North Berwick we maintain over one hundred planters along with ninety hanging baskets in summer in the town centre. We have an enthusiastic core group of twenty hands on gardening volunteers led by our committee, and many more from across the community who assist in other ways. Our job is made very much easier by the excellent relationship we have with East Lothian Council's groundcare team. Our aim has always been to make our town look good 365 days of the year, but along the way we have won the coastal category in Beautiful Scotland ten times, the Rosebowl four times and four Gold Medals in RHS Britain in Bloom including champions of champions.

Coastal themed planting at the station in June 2 THE NORTH BERWICK YEAR

The war memorial in September On 6 September 2018 NBIB provided a garden tour for participants attending the Beautiful Scotland awards ceremony in Haddington. North Berwick won another gold medal while our colleagues from East Lothian Council again received the Wright Sustainability Award. Our railway station was nominated for the national Station of the Year award. In September we potted up 2000 viola plugs for our winter/spring displays. North Berwick Garden Club started its programme in September. On 1st October we took down the hanging baskets - officially the end of summer! – cleared our planters and returned tender perennials to the council nursery. We held a Big Community Beach Clean with ELC Ranger Service and the Seabird Centre on 13 October. By mid-October we had planted our winter bedding. On 29 October we demolished 11 ageing planters in Quality Street to be replaced by a new design utilising recycled plastic.

The gardening Beatles The end of the baskets in October

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On 30 October we helped install a memorial planter for our much missed secretary Sheila Sinclair at NB railway station By November we had finished planting over 3000 tulip bulbs in our planters in among violas, polyanthus and wallflower. Dwarf narcissus bulbs were potted up with the children of Law Primary and Nursery Schools for the RCHS spring bulb show. Local rotarians planted 10,000 crocus Purple for Polio by a new housing development. We talked about children and pallet gardens at the Keep Scotland Beautiful Seminar in Stirling. At our AGM on 21 November we presented our retiring chairman Rosie Oberlander with a special ‘Rosie bowl’. North Berwick in Bloom volunteers enjoyed a social evening and much home baking on 26 November. Presentation and celebrations

Potting violas Our council colleagues planted a floral Christmas tree for us in the Lodge carpet bed and the community council put up Christmas lights on some of the real trees. We took two gardening Mondays off over Christmas. In January we started gardening again labelling spring bulbs as they appeared. North Berwick Gardening Club held its Spring Show in March. Also in March the primary and nursery schools won gold medals at the Caley children’s bulb show in RBGE. We visited Law PS to advise a Marie Curie volunteer on where to incorporate daffodils into the grounds. At the end of the month with our council colleagues we planted rare trees in the Lodge as part of the International Conifer Conservation Programme. In April we launched our ninth Tulip Festival, with a new 2019 leaflet and a fundraising Tulip Tea. On 6 April another big beach clean was held jointly with the Seabird Centre and our local ranger. On 11 may we joined NB gardening club for a plant sale. On 27 May we helped the day centre plant for the summer. In June at Gardening Scotland, NBIB won its thirteenth gold medal and the People’s Choice in the Pallet Garden Challenge with ‘Now the War is Over’ showing how wildflowers had colonised the battlefields by 1919. Law Primary School P4c with their High Notes Robert Burns musical garden also won a gold medal as well as a third prize; the nursey school took a silver-gilt. On 7 June Rosie Oberlander received the Station Adopter of the Year Award from Scotrail. Also in June local people could acquire our old tulip bulbs. We took part in Law PS climate conference on June 19. We prepared for a series of garden, coastal wild flower walks and a bat and moth evening in July and August. Christmas lights

4 ELC apprentice Rory and his Christmas tree The rare tree planting team in March

George Anderson presents Rosie’s Caley award

Planting 90 hanging baskets in May Summer bedding going out in June

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Tulips and pansies in April

HORTICULTURE

Seasonal displays of bedding are concentrated at a few key sites for maximum impact. Ninety hanging baskets are placed along the High Street to provide a colourful display. Over one hundred planters and tubs are planted twice a year, with spring bulbs and winter bedding in the autumn, and summer bedding in May/June. Bedding is grown on either in our own greenhouses or for us by ELC. Permanent Planting. The soil by the coast is exceptionally sandy while further inland it is heavier and more water retentive. These soil types determine the natural flora and which plants can be successfully cultivated. Our climate is dry by Scottish standards - annual rainfall of around 710mm. We have little frost but frequent exposure to wind, and permanent beds dry out easily. We have tried and tested planting schemes and use perennials and shrubs that can cope with these conditions. These plants provide colour and interest all year round. Spring bulbs are very important; there are more than a million planted around North Berwick. Recently 3,000 trees and shrubs have been planted to enhance new social housing and a school extension.

Crocus in February One of over 30 varieties of tulip in 2019

6 The daffodil display board in April Scilla and Muscari in the rockery in March The Lodge Grounds. ‘The Lodge’ is North Berwick's 11-hectare public park in the centre of the town. It had a £1 million historically accurate restoration in 2008. Our volunteers played a crucial part in the restoration, from initial surveys to hands-on work in the garden. NBIB worked closely with ELC, creating a series of gardens within a garden. The Edwardian rockery, reconstructed by our volunteers, consists of a series of compartments planted with different species. We believe this may be the only surviving example in the country. The Fernery is a shady area with twenty-two different types of fern. An arid bed has a collection of plants that can cope with dry and semi-desert conditions including cacti. In summer a sub-tropical bed is planted with exotic species, most of which are overwintered in the ELC nursery. Extensive perennial planting includes a bee friendly lavender garden, a Japanese bed commemorates the end of WWII, with plants popular in Japan such as hostas, azaleas and bamboos, the Stumpery, created with logs from a nearby beach, is planted with hellebores, ferns, meconopsis and primulas. A daffodil display has more than thirty different varieties of narcissus from each of the thirteen Daffodil Society divisions. A carpet bed is planted by ELC gardeners. This year's theme is golf’s Solheim Cup as the captain of the European team is from North Berwick. An orchard has a small demonstration collection of fruit trees and bushes that will grow in our coastal climate. Most recently we provided space for threatened conifers from Chile, Morocco and elsewhere as part of the International Conifer Conservation Programme and Arran whitebeams as part of the Scottish Native Plant Initiative at RBGE.

The edible boat planted up in May Banana planting in June

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Planting the carpet bed in June Modern shrub rose Princess Anne in June

Residential & Community Gardening We have close links with NB Gardening Club and provide advice to local gardeners while our ELC colleagues’ garden aid scheme helps elderly and disabled people. We help local schools with gardening projects. We provide displays at three churches including two beds showing plants of the Bible. We have organised a buddy system to help people who are referred by the local community liaison officer and GPs.

Business Areas All our baskets and many of our planters are in the main shopping area. Many local businesses have added planters or window boxes to their shop fronts and we have requests for more baskets from new businesses. We work with ELC to add perennials, shrubs and trees to car parks, some streets and the railway station. Floral baskets and bike in September

Open Spaces North Berwick has a range of extensive open spaces each managed in a different way. Along the coast the raised beach has two putting greens, two golf courses and a wildflower meadow. The Lodge Grounds has nine hectares of grass with many mature trees and is managed for informal recreation. The ten hectare Recreation Park has three grass sports pitches, a full size all-weather 3G pitch as well as a children’s play area with play equipment, a skateboard area with half-pike and an enclosed basketball court. The park is the location of our annual Highland Games in August, which attract over 10,000 visitors and over 50 pipe bands from across the world. The 613 ft Law covers 36.6 hectares of unimproved grassland and scrub of high conservation value, and attracts many walkers for its summit views of the Firth of Forth and East Lothian countryside. The wooded valley of the Glen with its burn is the largest area of woodland in the town. Comprising the Glen, Coos' Green, and Greenheads this area covers 14.8 ha.

8 Tern sculpture and the view to the Law ENVIRONMENT

Evidence based management plans are in place for all the significant open spaces in North Berwick. These plans stress the importance of co-operation between statutory and voluntary groups. NBIB is involved with or linked to them all. The coast comes under the Firth of Forth Special Protection Area as well as being a Ramsar site - internationally important wetland - and the islands of the Forth are all also SSSIs. On land the Law is an SSSI botanical site with considerable geological interest. To inform the management plans, monitoring is necessary; 1,200 species have been recorded in and around North Berwick. Gannets are counted using aerial surveys; other seabirds and seals are counted by volunteers from the Forth Seabird Group. Several members of NBIB take part in SOS Puffin to cut down non-native tree mallow on islands. Volunteers make monthly counts of shorebirds as part of the national Birds of the Estuaries enquiry. Along the coast breeding eider ducks are monitored by volunteers organised by the East Lothian ranger service. Bee and butterfly transects are carried out while volunteers also monitor breeding songbirds in the Lodge and Glen. The countryside ranger co-ordinates conservation tasks and feeds results into local authority management plans and the Lothians Wildlife Information Centre. The ranger-led volunteer group works once a month on the Law, Glen and Coos Green, assisted by NBIB volunteers. Tasks include removing ragwort to safeguard a group of Exmoor ponies which carry out conservation grazing; tree planting and protection, removing non-native plants. Reducing mowing to one cut each in autumn on part of Coos Green has created a c. 2 ha wildflower meadow with up to 30 species of flowering plants all of which were in the ground but suppressed. Wild orchids have increased in damper spots with over 600 spikes of Northern Marsh orchid and 45 spikes of Common Spotted orchid. Bat and bird boxes have been erected in the Glen and checked by appropriate licence holders. In one part of the town a pond is a breeding site for the specially protected

9 Puffin and tree mallow in May Exmoor ponies graze on the Law all year great crested newts and volunteers check nearby drains to rescue any trapped amphibians. In conjunction with the council’s arboriculture team non-native sycamore has been reduced to create a more diverse habit for birds and small mammals on the Greenheads bankings. Of the highest priority non-native plants listed in the Scottish native species website, no giant hogweed or Himalayan balsam occurs while Japanese knotweed has been virtually eliminated from its two sites in the town. Our local golf courses are managed on environmentally friendly principles. The aim is to maintain turf that is adapted to our relatively dry and windswept conditions. Irrigation and applications of fertilisers and chemicals are kept to a minimum. The path verges and rough at the edge of the fairways provides a habitat for a range of wild flowers, insects and birdlife. Experience gained by creating a native plants bed at the harbour, planted with wildflowers that flourish on local coasts, has helped to demonstrate the value of native plants. The award winning Scottish Seabird Centre attracts over 200,000 visitors to North Berwick annually and provides educational activities to thousands of visiting children, as well as running the weekly Wildlife Club for local pupils. The ranger also works with local schools taking groups into the local environment. Many of our NBIB volunteers work with the Seabird Centre clubs and groups and we have a joint bid for a variety of events in the ‘Year of coastal waters’ 2020. This would include more beds planted with coastal species, interpretation and guided walks.

Conservation volunteers at the Law Northern marsh orchids with buttercups on Coos Green in June

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A damp litter pick in March Junior wildlife club visit to the lobster hatchery We now use relatively little bagged compost: 30 bags for the baskets with another 20 to top up planters. This compares to at least 50 tons of recycled green waste mainly used on permanent beds. We re-use spent compost from our baskets and tubs as mulch on our beds. Between NBIB and ELC we use a maximum of 20,000 bedding plants for the whole town over summer and winter. Our hanging baskets are equivalent to an area of 12 sq. metres while our planters are equivalent to around 40 sq. metres in total approx. equivalent to one small and one of the larger 30 perennial beds. The range of plants we grow means there are nectar sources from February to October. Throughout the town weed killer use is now limited to glyphosate on pavements and gutters. Two small areas of high amenity grass in the Lodge receive selective weed killer treatment; all other permanent grass does not. Climate change has lengthened the growing season. No chemical treatments are used on any of the flower and shrub beds. Leaf mould from the Lodge is used when we make or replant our perennial beds. NBIB often makes use of recycled plants and plant donations. Locally plant sales and exchanges are held twice a year. Tulip bulbs from the tulip festival are offered at an ‘open morning ‘ with members of NBIB in attendance to meet interested supporters. A water butt collects water from the roof of the Seabird Centre and children attending the Friday club use this to water the tubs at the harbour. We are discussing with Scotrail and a church how we can collect rainwater from their roofs. We recently carried out a plastic audit and now our only plastic items can be used more than once, mainly pots and seed trays. Even old compost and gravel bags are regularly re - used when we weed and collect litter. All these policies contribute to reducing our use of carbon. We are currently investigating how we can quantify this in a carbon audit. NBIB has joined FIDRA, a new public body that works with local businesses to minimise plastic waste and encourage recycling. Major works recently took place to manage coastal erosion along the west golf course and beach. We use several different types of signage: individual plant names, small information notices and acknowledgements to donors. The traditional iron railings and chains around the town required expensive annual maintenance. These have been replaced with more sustainable galvanised materials. The slate wall celebrates our achievements.

Both of North Berwick's beaches again achieved a Seaside Award in 2019. With its weekly household rubbish and kerbside recycling collections in North Berwick, East Lothian Council is well on target to meet Scottish Government targets. ELC has installed two 'big belly' solar bins in the town centre and intends to place more when funding allows. NBIB has been invited to comment on East Lothian’s climate change strategy.

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Mini garden at the nursery Law Primary with the ranger at their SUDS pond in May

COMMUNITY AND EDUCATION

Litter picks are a regular feature of the NBIB calendar and litter prevention is heavily emphasised in our local schools. RSPB teams join NBIB volunteers on litter picks on the beaches and islands.

North Berwick Nursery School The nursery has been awarded its third Green Flag for the EcoSchools programme (the top level of award). The nursery playground is a wildlife garden, outdoor learning space and playground all in one. A bird-cam allows the children to follow the progress of their nesting box, and they feed the birds daily. Garden waste is composted whilst a wormery deals with food waste. The children plant, grow and tend their own fruit and vegetables. In their playground there is a native wildlife hedge, a wild corner, a water butt to collect rainwater and a log pile. NBIB volunteers join in with these activities and are available for encouragement and advice.

Law Primary School Many of the classes use the outdoors as a context for learning; the P5s have been climbing the Law with the Outdoor Learning Service. Every year the Primary 5 classes work towards their John Muir Award, which is an environmental award scheme focussed on wild spaces. They litter pick the beaches with the Countryside Ranger. NBIB gives both the primary and nursery schools 200 miniature daffodil bulbs to plant in pots and look after. The bulbs were shown at the NB Garden Club's Spring Show with six pots from each school selected to enter the RCHS children’s bulb competition at RBGE; both won gold medal cards. The bulbs were then planted out in the Lodge. With NBIB’s help the primary school has entered a pallet garden into the last eight Gardening Scotland shows, winning a Gold Medal each time. This year the nursery also entered, winning a silver gilt medal. This year the P6s held a climate change conference. NBIB were invited to join one of the groups to talk about trees. This has resulted in three of the pupils raising funds to buy some trees for the Lodge. They will help to plant and water them.

North Berwick High School was the first High School in East Lothian to achieve the Green Flag award. Duke of Edinburgh award candidates can choose a horticulture module. A NBIB volunteer attended the S6 leavers fare to promote volunteering opportunities for senior pupils with NBIB. The Cafe in the Lodge is a Social Enterprise run by twelve High School students along with a Team and Project Leader over the summer holidays. 12 NBIB partners the Seabird Centre with activities for children and ideas for the Friday afternoon club.

North Berwick Day Centre provides a safe environment for frail elderly people and those with dementia, and has an enclosed garden with raised planters where the clients enjoy caring for flowers and vegetables. NBIB maintains the garden on behalf of the centre, and helps the clients to plant out the beds with annuals.

Festival by the Sea in August. NBIB is one of the partners of the festival this year, featuring in the programme, and will provide a guided walk and planters in tubs outside the festival village by the harbour. We have had input to ensure that waste from the festival village will be recycled and there will be no plastic cutlery or straws. Pallet gardens move from Ingliston to the High Street for the summer

Garden club show in March Beach wheelchairs are available all summer

BBC Landward cooking local produce at the harbour Oor Wullie charity for summer 2019

13 ORGANISATION

North Berwick in Bloom celebrates its 26th anniversary this year. We have a committee of eight, one of whom has been involved since the start. At our monthly meetings we are joined by the local ELC Amenity Officer. Our volunteers carry out over 3,000 hours of unpaid work each year. We provide our volunteers with training; assist other Bloom groups through visits and talks, and have organised training days for Beautiful Scotland. We are planning even more diversity with bulbs, especially in autumn; vegetable gardens linked to the nursery and community centre, and are experimenting with bark composts.

@NBinBloom is an active Twitter account with over 1000 followers. The NBIB Facebook page has followers from across the globe. All our beds feature signs with our logo. We sell NB in Bloom bags and tea towels to raise funds. Our volunteers wear distinctive green hi-vis North Berwick in Bloom tabards. We produce our own posters for all our fundraising and other events. Our pallet gardens at Gardening Scotland every year generate national as well as local exposure. NBIB quiz sheets are popular with both residents and holidaymakers. We have twice featured on the Beechgrove Garden.

We contribute articles and photos to the local newspaper and beyond; the rare trees project was taken up by a Moroccan paper. Recent and forthcoming issues of the Caledonian Gardener have featured our tulip festival and the use of hardy perennials in the area.

Thank you to all of our sponsors, supporters and volunteers for their generosity and support. Without such a great team behind us, we could not do what we do!

East Lothian Council, particularly our local Landscape and Countryside team and ranger service North Berwick Community Council- North Berwick Nursery School- Law Primary School- North Berwick High School- Rotary Club of North Berwick- North Berwick & District Business Assoc- All the Quiz-selling and can- holding traders- John Skillen at Sweet News for compiling this year's Quiz- Scottish Seabird Centre- North Berwick Gardening Club- Scotrail - The Abbey Church, for use of tap and giving a home to pallet gardens over the summer- The Abbey Residential Home, for our greenhouses- Why Not? - for cups of coffee & bacon rolls for tired volunteers- Alastair the Carousel Man for watering duties- North Berwick Golf Club - sponsor- Tantallon Golf Club for use of their tap- NB Police Station for use of their tap- The Baptist Church for use of their tap- Zittos restaurant -sponsor- Cala Homes - sponsor- Craig at the station kiosk - tea and sympathy- North Berwick Dental Centre - sponsor- Merryhatton Garden Centre - sponsor- North Berwick Day Centre - sponsor- Dandara - sponsor- Bank of Scotland for providing a home for the edible boat- Marmion Bridge Club - donor- Co-op Funeral Care - sponsor- Jim's Taxis - judges' transport- Peter Leach, Abbie Marland, Sam Ranscombe, Magnus Sinclair, Mary Tebble, Katty Baird & Mike Thornton for additional wildlife records. Derek Braid for some of the photos.

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APPENDIX

North Berwick in Bloom Finances

Bank Balance at 31st October 2018 13852.94

Income

NB Trust 4242.00 NB Golf Club - Planting 500.00 Sponsorship 260.00 Lighthouse 181.36 Tulip Teas 522.30 Quiz 231.00 Donations 460.00 6396.66

Expenditure

Plants & Materials 1744.25 Plates & Plaques 192.00 ELC Rent 10.00 Borders Signs & Graphics 1956.00 Leaflets 157.69 Quiz 69.00 Water Barrels 3506.40 Keep Scotland Beautiful 150.00 Insurance 173.60 Flowers - Rosie & Ann 23.00 Groundcare Staff 200.00

8181.94

We try to tie in fundraising to events that also raise our profile. We receive sponsorship from a number of businesses. We apply for grants for major projects. Many local shops and businesses have a North Berwick in Bloom collecting can by the till. Our quiz sheets are provided by a local newsagent and are popular with visitors and locals alike. We hold coffee mornings and afternoon teas where volunteers serve refreshments and man stalls. The lighthouse at Quality Street has raised hundreds of pounds since it was installed. Scotrail support our many planters at the station. We plant up North Berwick Golf Club's displays twice a year in return for annual sponsorship of £500. A local garden centre sponsors a large planter for £50 annually. Housebuilders have sponsored planters for the last five years. The local Bridge Club donates the proceeds of their annual fundraising. Several local eateries sponsor planters outside their businesses. One of the town's dental practices sponsors three of our barrels.

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APPENDIX

East Lothian Council Amenity Services Sustainability and Carbon Reduction 2019

The Council’s Amenity Services Team is responsible for Grounds Maintenance, Street Sweeping, Burial and related front line services. The following summarises our progress in making East Lothian more environmentally friendly . 1. Annual Bedding Displays have been reduced by over 50% and replaced with perennial herbaceous and annual ‘wild flower’ displays, some of which are self-sustaining. 2. Sports Pitch dressings are now predominantly based on green waste recycled sources collected and processed locally. 3. Nine diesel vans consuming up to 120 litres of fuel per week have been replaced with Gator / Polaris type vehicles which consume only 20 litres per week. 4. Trials continue to replace our fleet of strimmers, hedge trimmers and mowers with rechargeable battery powered units. Approximately 10% of our fleet is now battery powered. 5. Overall waste recycling figures for the service now achieve 98% for mixed waste, 95% for mechanical sweeping and 100% for green and inert waste. Much of the inert waste is processed and reused in the construction of our developing network of core paths.

March 2019 Total Tonnage Recycled Tonnage % Recycled Mixed Waste 120 115 98.% Seaweed 1 1 100.% Roadsweepings 95 90 95% Green 80 80 100.% Inert 60 60 100.%

6. Nearly 1000 new trees have been planted on our open space estate in the last seven years all mulched with woodchip from the trees they replaced to eliminate the need for chemical weed control . 7. Mechanical Beach Cleaning has now all but ceased and the focus is now on more frequent hand picking of non-natural material, avoiding the previous situation of removing hundreds of tonnes of organic material from beaches every year along with a associated reduction in tractor fuel. 8. Use of weedkillers in our open space maintenance programme has been reduced significantly in favour of mulching with locally recycled material on most permanent beds. 9. We have developed the use of recycled plastic materials for construction of edge boards and hand rails on core paths eliminating the traditional 5-7 year replacement of wood materials used previously.

Andrew Hogarth Principal Amenity Officer June 2019

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PRESS & PUBLICATIONS: SOME EXAMPLES

The Coos Green Tale SNH Pollinator Blog April 2019

Encouraging wildflowers has become an aim for many Beautiful Scotland and It’s Your Neighbourhood groups who now set areas aside for native species. Often they presume this must mean planting or sowing, but as Stan da Prato explains ….

North Berwick’s festival of tulips. The Caledonian Gardener 2018: 18-24. –pdf attached .

2019 North Berwick tulip festival leaflet –pdfs attached

Rare trees in the Lodge covered by Moroccan media following RBGE press https://en.yabiladi.com/articles/details/79138/endangered-trees-from-morocco-find.html

East Lothian Courier –regular coverage –this is the most recent article about pallet gardens

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JUDGING ROUTE 2019

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