Some pests should be encouraged...

Before it was cut a few days ago, our grass was studded with hundreds of wild violets. Some people consider these to be invasive weeds, but I’m not one of them and I’ve deliberately left one patch of grass uncut so at least some of the violets can grow and seed. Gardening has moved on from the days when every wild flower was obliterated by a dose of DDT. Today we’ve relaxed our ideas about what makes a weed and wildflowers are positively encouraged. Other things too are worth tolerating. If we didn’t have midges, then no bats would emerge to entertain us and the squirrels are only here because of our magnificent chestnut tree.

Some people consider children to be the equivalent of garden pests, wincing as footballs bounce off the greenhouse and boots trample through the borders, but falling off your bike into a holly hedge (my niece) and pulling the heads off your grandmother’s tulips (my son when he was three) are just others ways of engaging with the natural world when you are small. Scotland’s Gardens Scheme organises openings of some of Scotland’s finest gardens - not the sort of places you would imagine would be welcoming to children. But they are, and in order to encourage more young visitors, a number of them have been holding storytelling sessions, as part of the Year of Young People and the Scottish International Storytelling Festival. Expert storytellers have been recounting tales from the creation and history of the gardens involved, right down to the private lives of the animals and birds who call the garden home.

Venues including Dr Neil’s Garden in Duddingston and

Culzean Castle have already taken part, but if you’ve missed out don’t worry because more gardens will be participating in the autumn. Among them are Fingask Castle in Perth and Kinross, where Alice in Wonderland topiary staggers across the lawn and where both Bonny Prince Charlie and his father are said to have approached the castle from the longer yew parade aptly named the ‘King’s Walk’. It will be holding its storytelling event on October 11. Then on October 2, at Dalswinton in Dumfriesshire young visitors will be able to hear tales of the brave Red Comyn, who lived at Dalswinton and was killed by Robert the Bruce in 1306, or step back in time with tales about the Romans. Meanwhile many of the hundreds of gardens that will be opening for charity this year as part of Scotland’s Gardens Scheme are planning activities for children, ranging from treasure trails and quizzes to bouncy castles, duck races and mini football. So if you thought that garden visiting was off-limits when you had children or grandchildren in tow, then think again, many of the best gardens in Scotland will positively welcome them.