New opening under Scotland’s Garden Scheme

A new garden is to open for the first time under Scotland’s Garden Scheme this weekend. Johnnie and Mandy Readman’s one-acre garden built on a demolished farm steading near Dunblane will be shown this weekend. Hutcheson Farm will be open on Sunday, May 12, from 2-5pm. This young garden is slowly evolving. The initial plantings…

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A guide to one of the most important gardens

Regarded as one of the most important gardens in Britain, Little Sparta in the Pentland Hills has become renowned the world over. Ian Hamilton Finlay’s anarchic collection contains 300 artworks by himself and others, designed to evolve over time. This beautifully illustrated guide to the garden is the perfect companion for anyone visiting or interested…

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Five top tips for gardening kicks this spring

Spring to a gardener is like all your birthdays come at once, there’s so much anticipation and there’s lots to see, smell, touch and even taste. The idea of having an engaging outside space is to enjoy it, so here are some tricks of the trade to give you a head start on how to…

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Top tips for National Gardening Week

This week is National Gardening Week – and we’ve got some top tips to help nurture the Scotland’s gardening skills. Despite spring being in full bloom, a new study has revealed that many Brits lack even the basic gardening know-how. When asked about their green thumbs over half (57%) of UK adults admitted that they…

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Baby birds will soon be hatching in your garden

If you’re listening out for the chatter of springtime chicks you don’t have too long to wait with blue tits among the first garden bird species to lay and hatch eggs. As the nesting season gets underway, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is sharing what makes blue tits special and asking members of the public to…

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Gardening centre’s roots are in the community

The days are getting longer, the birds are sounding happier and at last we are seeing signs that Mother Nature is awakening from her drawn out winter slumber. As many of us consider planting a bulb or two and tending to the patchy lawn in the front garden, Ben Reid Garden Centre is busy preparing…

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Beechgrove Garden is back for the spring season

It’s a perennial favourite that always comes into bloom each year. The Beechgrove Garden is back, re-potted, with a new look in a new home on the new BBC Scotland channel, having marked its 40th birthday last year. Springing back onto our screens just in time for the Easter holiday gardening weekend, Beechgrove provides the…

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Enjoying natural highs at Wemyss Castle

When Charlotte Wemyss arrived at her husband Michael’s family home in Fife, its six-acre walled garden overlooking the Forth contained a few redcurrant bushes, five ancient apple trees and three geese. Twenty years on, and the gently sloping south-facing site at Wemyss Castle has been transformed into a striking garden, a skilful combination of traditional…

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Learn traditional skills of gardening in Scotland

Those interested in creating and maintaining a Scottish garden will be interested in a course taking place late next month. Gardening in Scotland: Principles and Practice of Establishment & Maintenance is being held at the National Trust for Scotland’s magnificent Pitmedden Garden, in Ellon, Aberdeenshire. The hands-on course is being run by The Scottish Traditional…

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10 Scots who were welcomed to the jungle

Scots get all over the world in the name of science. These heroic explorers risked life and limb to travel around the globe and discover the species of fl ora that make our gardens the beautiful places that they are today 1. Thomas Thomson (1817-1878) When he was only seventeen, Thomson discovered fossil mollusca on…

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