The nation’s great gardens are closed, but you can still visit them
From masterclasses to online tours, Scotland’s gardens are opening their doors for a virtual visit with the first Summer Garden Festival, writes Agnes Stevenson
When the roses are in bloom there’s no better place to be than in a garden, especially one that someone else has brought to the edge of perfection. Scotland is full of such places, from castles and great houses to cottages, roof gardens, woodlands composed of beautiful trees, exuberantly-planted back yards and botanical institutions filled with rare treasures.
At this time of year these would normally be filled with visitors, but while the Covid-19 crisis may have kept garden gates firmly locked, that doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy these wonderful spaces because many of them can still be explored, thanks to a raft of clever solutions that is set to bring the glory of Scotland’s gardens to a laptop near you.
Welcome to the world of virtual garden visiting, where you can enjoy the best bits, explore behind the scenes and share the secrets of some of the country’s top gardeners without jeopardising lockdown.
Amongst the digital delights is the first ever Scottish Summer Garden Festival, organised by Discover Scottish Gardens, a network that links more than 400 gardens, garden centres and nurseries.
Originally conceived as a way of encouraging more people to visit some of the country’s most remarkable gardens, it has been transformed into a virtual festival and from tomorrow until Saturday, 15 August there will be online workshops, practical advice sessions, inspirational ideas and activities for children as well as a chance to discover more about some of Scotland’s most amazing spaces.
Amongst the highlights will be Zara Gordon-lennox coming live from the walled garden at Gordon Castle in Moray. This vast space has been brought back to life with the input of renowned landscape designer Arne Maynard and on 4 July, in the first of several sessions, Zara will be showing off the cutting beds where flowers sold in the estate shop are grown.
Also on 4 July, Des Cotton, head gardener at Glamis Castle, will be running online workshops on summer pruning and training espalier apples trees as well as providing a guide to microirrigation, taking gardeners through the steps to setting up an irrigation system for their own pots and borders.
Meanwhile at New Hopetoun Gardens near Edinburgh, former Beechgrove presenter Lesley Watson will be introducing footage of the garden centre’s annual Art in the Garden event, looking back at some of the most notable installations and inspiring gardeners to think of ways that they can work with different materials to add art to their own spaces.
And as well as offering garden-related family activities to download from its website, Armadale Castle on Skye will be taking viewers walks around the garden and touring the estate’s remarkable trees, beginning on 16 July with a history of the gardens.
Catherine Erskine, chair of Discover Scottish Gardens, says: “This was to be our first Summer Garden Festival, celebrating the exuberance of Scotland’s gardens in full bloom. We want people to enjoy the wonders of Scottish gardens from the comfort of their own homes. The festival is about anything and everything that happens in gardens, not just the practical or aesthetic elements, and this way all that is fully accessible.”
All the events can be found at www.discover scottishgardens.org/ summer garden festival/
The gardens of the National Trust for Scotland may still be closed, but the Trust’s gardening teams have been hard at work, keeping the gardens in pristine condition in readiness for their re-opening. But that’s not all, some gardeners have been holding Q&A sessions on social media and others have been providing ‘howto’ advice in a series of short Youtube clips.
Ed Walling, head gardener at Brodie Castle in Moray has created films on growing brassicas (youtu.be/jnzo_ srfdme and creating hanging baskets (youtu.be/ AJZKNLKYWUS) while on the castle’s Facebook page he’s giving advice on earthing up potatoes. (www.facebook. com/brodiecastlents/ videos/2912062812245275/)
And Stuart Stockley, gardener at Fyvie Castle in Aberdeenshire has also found time to create Facebook posts, including top tips for growing tomatoes (www. facebook.com/fyviecastle/ videos/2723762141185547/).
Not every garden is as grand as Brodie or Fyvie, but many are still worth a visit and at this time of the year hundreds of private gardens should be receiving a final tweak in readiness for opening as part of Scotland’s Gardens Scheme, an organisation that raises money for a wide number of charities. This year many of these garden owners are creating virtual garden tours instead, taking
“We want people to enjoy the wonders of Scottish gardens from the comfort of their own homes”
viewers on guided walks and showing them what they are missing. Already there are almost 70 tours available and they can be found on the website, scotlandsgardens. org/whats-new/?tag_id=213 and onyoutube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/ Scotlandsgardensscheme
Viewers can discover the garden at Hunter’s Tryst, Edinburgh in the company of owner Jean Knox; explore the one and a half denselyplanted acres of Kirkmuir Cottage in Ayrshire and enjoy the beauty of Glenarn at Rhu.
Amongst the videos are tours by artist Ann Fraser of the garden at Shepherd
House in Musselburgh from where she finds inspiration for her sought-after botanical paintings.
Through lockdown the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has been posting footage from all four of its gardens and this will continue all summer.
The RBGE has also been releasing a series of short, behind-the-scenes films of the herbarium, research house, labs and other parts of the gardens that visitors don’t get to see. And on its website, Marley’s School of Garden Magic, led by the Botanics’ cat, has been keeping children entertained.
Meanwhile St Andrews Botanic Garden has been working on a Doorstep Botany project (standrewsbotanic.org/ doorstep-botany/) that is proving to be very popular. This encourages people to notice plants on their daily walk and is also allowing the garden to undertake research into botany in Fife.
The plan is, at the end of lockdown, to produce a publication about everything that’s been learnt about wild flowers in Fife and about the people who have contributed to the study.
And garden centre retailer, Dobbies Garden Centres, has recently launched a gardening podcast to encourage the nation to make the most of their outdoor space, from balconies and window sills to decking areas and sprawling lawns.
The series provides inspiration and handy tips for seasoned gardeners and novices alike with host Louise Midgely welcoming a guest to each episode.
Dobbies’ podcast can be found on itunes and Spotify. See www.dobbies. com/content/podcast.html for more details. Like all of the online resources, it is a great way to broaden your gardening horizons while gardens themselves remain closed.