In June 2002 Charlotte McEachran’s Edinburgh garden was at a low point. ‘It has hit rock bottom,’ she wrote in her journal. ‘This is my equivalent of the seven plagues of Egypt.

A hard winter suits Max and Sarah Ward’s garden at Stobshiel in East Lothian. When the herbaceous plants have disappeared and the leaves have fallen off the trees the yew hedges, box shapes, juniper and statuary that make up the bones of the walled garden come into their own, showing off their crisp outlines against a background of tall, feathery trees.

The gates to Stobo Estate in Peeblesshire open onto a drive lined with ancient lime trees, flanked by the Weston Burn, which meanders gently down the valley.

Gardening can sometimes be described as ‘painting with plants’ and many of the great garden designers started out studying art – Russell Page and Gertrude Jekyll spring instantly to mind.

When Neil and Betty Macdonald of Barguillean’s 28-year-old journalist son Angus was murdered by EOKA terrorists in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1958, the couple were devastated. Plunged into grief, Betty immersed herself in gardening where she found a degree of comfort.

The garden at Kirknewton House in West Lothian dates from the mid-17th century and has been developed by descendants of the same family who drained the surrounding moorland and turned the estate into agricultural land.

The Duchess of Roxburghe is standing in the Walled Garden at Floors Castle, a bunch of choco-late coloured sweet peas and black poppies in her hand.

When Charles and Minette Struthers inherited Ardmaddy Castle in Argyll from his parents the advice to Minette concerning the 1½ acre walled garden that lay below the castle was unanimous.

The garden behind the Georgian townhouse at number 46 South Street is one of St Andrews’ ancient, hidden gardens.