Autumnal gardens delight and inspire
AUTUMN chores in my garden are well underway now, but there’s still a lot to be done.
Yet I still like to make time now to visit other gardens to admire their stripped-down structure and to gain some ideas for my own plot.
November is a great time to be outdoors. Some days the air is dry and crisp, and on others soft mists hang in the trees, and you’d be surprised at how many of our great gardens are still open to visitors.
At Blair Castle, this is one of the best times to see Diana’s Grove.
This two-acre grove contains some of the earliest exotic conifers to be planted in Scotland and they’ve reached an exceptional height.
The tallest Japanese larch in the country grows here and, though much too large for anything but the grandest garden, it and its equally-impressive neighbours emphasise how important trees from overseas have been to our landscape.
You can find more exceptional trees at Scone Palace near Perth, including a Douglas fir, raised from the seed sent from America in 1826.
Head gardener, Brian Cunningham, says: “Scone is home to one of the finest collection of trees in the country, some of which are hundreds of years old including the King James VI Sycamore which is more than 400 years old.”
It would be a shame to leave Scone without losing yourself for a little while in the starshaped maze that has been formed from 2000 beech trees, both green and purple and from now until December 18, visitors can enjoy free access to the ground on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Even once the last of the leaves has fallen, there’s still plenty to enjoy at Dawyck Botanic Garden near Stobo. The dawn redwoods come into their own in late autumn and I can never resist touching their wonderful bark.
But it isn’t just the giants that fascinate at Dawyck. The garden is the world’s first reserve for mosses, lichens and fungi and with so much going on at ground level you realise that there’s a whole other world right beneath our feet.
If you want to find how to bring some of the beauty of the season into your own plot, then head for New Hopetoun Gardens by Newton Village, west of Edinburgh.
It is also a great spot to find good ideas because within the grounds there are 20 smallthemed gardens designed to inspire and entertain.
You can find details of all of these gardens and of others that are also open this season by visiting the website of Discover Scottish Gardens AT discoverscottishgardens.org
It’s a network of some of the best garden locations in Scotland including public gardens, private gardens and nurseries.
I use it a lot when I am travelling to find out if there is a garden worth visiting in the local area or a specialist nursery where I can stock up on new plants.