Rosemary’s potty about her garden

Front Garden of the Year winners use pots and tubs of all sizes to create marvellous multi-coloured display

Having criss-crossed the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeenshire, it was a garden closer to home that was Jim’s last port of call of his trip to visit all four winning entries in our Me and My Garden competition.

The destination was Bridge of Don in Aberdeen, and Morrisons Croft Crescent where James and Rosemary Splaine have literally gone “potty” creating a multi-coloured garden full of pots and tubs of all shapes and sizes.

On her entry form, Rosemary said her garden was special to her as she was born and brought up in Aberdeen’s Stewart Park where her dad was the head gardener.

As a result, she has lots of memories of a happy child spent surrounded by well-tended gardens.

She’s also a keen photographer and likes to get out the camera and capture pictures of the wildlife that regularly visit.

The couple bought the house from new 12 years ago, but instead of opting for a traditional-style garden, took a different route.

Now, the front garden of their corner plot is home to more than 40 containers brimming with colourful plants all summer.

It’s greatly admired by their neighbours and passers-by, who frequently stop to chat with them about the garden.

Rosemary grows a lot of the plants from seed and small plugs, and has two greenhouses that are choc-a-bloc with plants.

“Although I love begonias, I must say petunias are my favourite, as there are so many varieties and the colours are great and really look great in my hanging baskets or in a tub,” said Rosemary.

Having shown Jim around her garden, she was keen to pick his brains for ideas as to how she can better improve the garden.

Jim said: “There really is no answer to that, as she couldn’t make it any better.

“The variety of colour is fantastic and there’s been a lot of time and skill required to get this fabulous display looking so stunning.”

Rosemary spends anything from two hours a day and more working in the garden, depending on what needs to be done.

Having visited all four winning gardens, it’s very obvious that a great deal of love, care, attention and time has been lavished on the gardens, but in return the gardens become little havens of peace and tranquillity, are therapeutic and can help create many, happy memories.

Well done to the winners and all those who took the timetosendinpicturesof their lovely gardens.

Photograph by Colin Rennie James and Rosemary Splaine, of Bridge of Don, won Front Garden of the Year.

Rosemary Splaine with some of the stunning pots of flowers in her front garden