Time to grow

OVER the past four decades Donnie McBean and his deerstalker hat have become virtually synonymous with gardening in Moray.

Donnie's weekly Northern Scot column has now come to an end, but we caught up for a chat with the sprightly 77-year-old in the beautifully kept garden of his home in Forres.

We spoke about both himself and his ongoing passion for the subject.

Donnie recalled: "I've always loved gardening – I had an allotment while still at school."

At the age of 15 he began as a garden boy at Queen's Park in Glasgow and on his very first day met Duncan Macrae, the well-known film star whose many movies included the classic Whisky Galore!

The actor lived nearby and, as a keen gardener himself, had called to collect some spare compost from a pile that was kept in the park.

During his five-year apprenticeship Donnie received a solid grounding in both gardening and landscaping.

He was then stationed for another five years at Bellahouston, the council-run nursery which supplied Glasgow's parks and green spaces with flowers and plants.

Steadily rising up the steps of the council hierarchy he found himself, while still relatively young, in charge of a staff of 200 and bearing the responsibility for keeping Glasgow city's centre looking its best.

Donnie recalled: "You had a budget to do pretty much whatever you thought would like attractive, which was wonderful.

"But it wasn't always an easy time. There was a lot of industrial unrest in Glasgow back then.

"I remember one guy rang up once to say he couldn't come to work that day because he'd got dandruff.

"Another got in contact to say he'd have to stay home because he'd broken something. I was expecting him to say his arm or leg. It turned out it was his flask.

"You had to smile."

Donnie had moved to Glasgow aged 12 because his father worked on the railways.

However, he was born in Inverness and, as he puts it, his heart was always in the Highlands.

During a holiday he dropped in at Moray Council's offices and casually asked if there were any spare jobs.

It turned out there was.

Becoming Moray's horticultural officer in 1979 meant a considerable drop in wages and the loss of a free home provided by Glasgow Council. However, Donnie and his wife Eleanor decided it was worth it.

He began pouring his considerable energies into making the most of Moray.

Under his watch, and thanks to the additional efforts of many others, Moray won no fewer than 11 Scotland in Bloom titles, three Britain in Bloom titles plus a whole heap of other national awards.

The council also went from growing 43,000 plants and flowers to stock its towns and villages with more than 330,000.

However, as the years went on, the times began to change in local government.

Donnie said: "Belts were being tightened and you could see the way things were going financially. So I decided to take early retirement in 1997."

However, with his last major project at the council he left Moray with a lasting legacy – the Biblical Garden.

He recalled: "There was a spare piece of council land next to the cathedral which I thought could be put to good use.

"I was told that I could have the land but would have to get hold of the finances myself."

Donnie succeeded in raising £50,000 in less than a year by approaching business, groups, organisations and anyone else who might help.

Opened in 1996, the garden contains all 110 flowers and plants mentioned in the Bible and to this day remains one of the most popular visitor attractions in Moray.

Donnie was still just 55 years old when he left the council. The question of how he would fill his time only began to be answered when he was approached to write a gardening column shortly afterwards by the Northern Scot.

Radio Scotland also got in touch and he began appearing regularly on its garden phone-ins.

In addition, Moray College asked if he would lecture six hours a week to its horticulture students. He enjoyed it so much he ended up teaching there full-time for nine years.

Although Donnie will no longer be writing his column, he looks set to continue being a regular contributor to the letters page.

He said he has some strong views to share on the ongoing cutbacks to the council's lands and parks budget.

Donnie said: "In my opinion it's completely the wrong approach, especially when Moray depends so much on tourism.

"The council is now relying on people's goodwill to do what it should be doing itself – people such as John Sherry and the Friends of the Biblical Garden, the Forres in Bloom team, and all those who look after the villages.

"When you go somewhere in Scotland and say you come from Forres, people often respond, 'What, the nice place with all the flowers?'

"I'm proud of that. I want people to continue saying that for many years to come.

"I think the highlight of my horticultural life was the time back in the 1980s when Forres was involved in a pan-European competition called the Entente Florale.

"When the judges came to Moray we had prepared 12 flower beds to look like different flags. It wasn't easy but I managed to find some black pansies to represent the black stripes in the German and Belgian flags.

"And there were youngsters from Forres there too, dressed in all the various national costumes with a Highland Dancer in the middle of everyone.

"It had been a real effort by the whole community. It was a beautiful sight and a very emotional day."