The festive season is receding in our memories as we hopefully notice an increase in the length of day and also the improved brightness, at least on some days. The welcome sight of faithful snowdrops, aconites and hellebores is uplifting. The witch hazel to the right of the path leading to the Botanics Tearooms has been stunning for several weeks.

Thank you to the staff

The Gardens staff deserve our admiration and thanks as yet again access to the facilities over the festive season has been outstanding with the Gardens open every day including the Kibble Palace. The Main Range was open every day bar Christmas Day. Many other publicly run facilities in the city were closed and unavailable for the public to enjoy.

Upcoming events

I would like to remind members of our final winter meeting run jointly with Glasgow Natural History Society and Glasgow Tree Lovers Society.

We will be hearing from Professor Rob Wilson of St Andrews University who is an Earth Biologist and Dendrochronologist. The title of his lecture is “The
Pines they are A-changing“. Whether you know little or a great deal about Dendrochronology the evening presents an interesting opportunity for those attending. The meeting is as usual open to our members and members of the public. You are encouraged to bring a friend. The venue is the Kelvin Hall Lecture Theatre at 7pm on Thursday 19th February.

As we look ahead I am delighted to inform members that Christine Nicholson will be conducting a tour of the orchid collection featuring the Dendrobium specimens. The date is March 11th. Christine will settle for one of those dates nearer the time to allow members to see the collections at their best. We will email members with the date and time when it is finalised. Numbers will by limited by space. Due to its popularity this event will only be open to members of Friends of GBG.

Tours and Tearoom

Our winter tours of Kibble Palace recommenced earlier in January and take place on Thursdays at 11 am and 2 pm as well as Saturdays ay 11am. Our guides are very experienced and enthusiastic. We are welcoming visitors from around the World as well as local visitors. Friends of GBG are of
course made very welcome. The Botanics Tearoom is open every day and compliments a trip round the Kibble and the Gardens.

Again looking ahead we are hoping to repeat a bat walk in the Gardens for members when the bats emerge from hibernation. Details will be published in future editions of the newsletter.

Flagpole and footpath

The David Douglas flagpole is nearing the end of its safe life and options are being looked at for a replacement. I have been asked by more than one member about the woodland footpath that runs up the side of the River
Kelvin from the humpbacked bridge on the south side of the river towards Kirklee Gate. This has been closed again and for similar reasons. Several large beech trees have been blown down in storms and are blocking the path. They are old specimens and show signs of disease. They will be difficult to extract and the path will be closed for some time. Many of the surrounding trees are equally old and may be diseased as well making them vulnerable to falling.