My name is David Toyne

I am a Master of Horticulture of the Royal Horticultural Society - M.Hort(RHS) - and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Horticulture - F.C.I.Hort.

I originally come from Lincoln UK, the County Town of Lincolnshire in the East of England and currently live in Ruthin, a small Market Town in Denbighshire, North Wales

Hobbies: FAMILY, Plants, Botany, Horticulture, Gardening, Wildlife,Travel, Reading, Photography and Writing (I am currently on something over 70,000 words of my Family Autobiography)

Music: Jazz, Blues + Beethoven, Mozart and various other composers
Movies: The 'Running, Jumping & Standing Still' film, Wonderful Life, Harvey, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.
Languages: English, French, German 

My Mother was Rose (nee Fleetwood) and my Father, Richard - both born in 1899.

I was born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire on the 25th August 1942, (at 9.10pm) and spent the first 16 years in Geneva Avenue, in the St Giles district of that smallish town - followed by just a couple of years in Ingleby Crescent on the Ermine Estate. I had 8 bothers and sisters, 4 of each  - more of which later

In 1959 I left The Lincoln School (now Christ's Hospital School) on Wragby Road, at 17 years old, with just 3 'O' Levels (French, Englisn and Handicraft) and worked for a year in the City Engineer's Department, at their Stamp End Depot, with Liz and two delightful bosses whose names were Ted and Will.

However, I had always wanted to be a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm, and took the entry exam and the medical (both passed) but needed Maths. So I tried to get Maths at 'O' Level three more times before giving up and joining the Merchant Marine . . . as an Assistant Steward (a far cry from the aeroplane pilot I really wanted to be . . . )

My first Ship was the MV Gladys Bowater (of Bowater Scot - toilet tissue fame) where I 'worked by' for a weekend with a skeleton dockside crew before signing off, collecting my (free) Travel Warrant and travelling back home to Lincoln . . .

My next ship was the MV Clyde Sergeant on which I was destined to spend the next 10 months, traveling up to Aalborg and Fredericia in Denmark, then down to Ceuta in the, then, Spanish Morocco, across to Gibraltar and then on to  Malta and Cyprus before sailing through the Suez Canal to Arabia and India for the next 6 months. More of which I will recount in detail as part of my life story elsewhere in this  'document'. . . . 

To cut a long story short, for the time being, I spent almost three years travelling the world, becoming familiar with India, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and the East African coast before calling it a day and taking up a job in photography - for the next 13 years . . .Marcus who was born in Germany 1970, Simon, in 1973, while I was working at Baas Manor Farm - my first job in Horticulture - and Carla, in 1979, while i was working for Baby Bio (PBI) 

Horticulture has lasted me ever since - working, advising and teaching, for (at the moment) 44 years - which is how I arrived at those qualifications quoted at the top of this page!!

And that is where I am now - still a Horticulturist but officially retired for 11 years now, but casually working at what I love best, giving talks and advice on gardenng.

My motto:  Tomorrow is my favourite day . . .