I've added below some photographs from mid-May that show the garden then and some new artworks by my grand-daughters

The new embankment on 23 June

2013 was a washout for me!  Early in the year I broke my arm and was unable to open the garden as usual in May.  It was a spiral fracture - rather nasty and it took nearly a year before I was able to fully garden again.  By way of reintegrating into looking after the garden I created a new area of flowers ("the embankment") suited to insect life, especially butterflies.  This has come into its own now in 2014 - the picture above shows how it looks today.

Now the blog is up and running again, I'll really try to keep it up to date.  So far this year I've had 30 visitors and I'm hoping for many more once the school holidays begin.

The squirrels

A friend and local wildlife film-maker, Bob Grove, visited the garden in the Spring to film the squirrels.  Here is a short clip of one visiting a squirrel feeder.  Bob makes videos of Argyll wildlife and can be contacted at robertgrove23@live.co.uk.  I am so lucky to have many squirrels visit every day and at nearly all times of the day.  Sometimes I can see six or seven at one time.

Stefan Buczacki recommends Oakbank garden!

Suddenly the end of the season is upon us - I close the garden next weekend - but I was pleased to get a mention in this week's "Garden News"(in Professor Stefan Buczacki's column) as "Stefan's Little Gem":

Flattered!!

Summer.............

At last Summer seems to have settled in.  Our warmest day was still 29 May when we reached 27 deg.C but now it seems to have settled into a pattern of reasonably warm with a reasonable amount of rain.  The girls have, as ever, been adding to the garden.  This is a new Saltire 

and the "welcome rock", both in the part of the garden nearest the sea.  

Here's a new area at the south end of the garden:

 

 

  

We've had some lovely sunsets recently.  Here's a picture of one taken from the front of the house and looking roughly East:

Flaming June!

Where much of the country has been inundated, I've had to water the garden nearly every evening in June and I've lost many plants (not that it's been warm - just very dry).  At last, today, the rain has come so no watering tonight!!  This is my favorite piece of hillside looking its best.

At last, it's getting warmer!

Its been a funny year.  March was really warm and April really cold with average temperature below that in March.  So far May has been rather wet but these past few days we've had a taste of summer coming and the garden is beginning to look its best.  Only a few visitors so far but I never get many in May.  I'm looking forward to a flaming June and lots of people coming to visit the garden. Here are some more pictures from today.

The garden on opening day - 1st May 2012

Opening again tomorrow

The bluebells are out and another season starts with the garden opening again tomorrow.  I had some wonderful visitors last year and, after the wettest Winter for years, I am looking forward to another busy year in 2012.  Here are some pictures of the garden today and I’ll update with news and new pictures as the season progresses.

Helga - Mouse Whisperer.MPG

It took me a long time to discover how to do this!

Closing Day

I'll be closing the garden later today until 2012. Things have been quite quiet for the last two weeks since the children returned to school. I was very flattered, though, to have a return visit from Kirsty who wrote the lovely note in my visitor's book in June (see below). I showed her a video I made of a wood mouse who lives on the steps to the bird and squirrel feeders. She liked it very much, which decided me I should add it to You Tube. I'll add it to this blog as well. One of the joys of this garden is the wildlife and we have many voles, shrews and wood mice, as well as all the birds, regular red squirrels and occasional visiting hedgehogs. This particular mouse, quickly christened "Minnie", took to coming to see me whenever I filled the squirrel and bird feeders and soon became a "regular". The whole video is 9½ minutes long but I don't suppose anyone will want to watch it all the way through.

Totem Pole

The girls have repainted the totem pole, formerly in the Secret Garden, and it has been repositioned nearer the Art Gallery at the South end of the garden.

Flaming June?

In these parts we expect our best weather in May and early June. This year, May was a desperate disappointment - cold and persistently wet but, despite this indifferent weather, I had the greatest number of May visitors ever. Let's hope the climate improves now that June is here.

I have many lovely comments from garden guests in my Visitor's Book but I thought these, from two young Edinburgh people - Kirsty & Gordon - who called in May, particularly special.


Kirsty - "All you need is time and pacience, and the life will come to you. In my case, a shrew bumped into my boot this is a trully magical place."
Gordon - "It is so good I don't have anything else to say."

and we know it's Spring when the hawthorns flower ....

Azalias

This has turned out to be one of the oddest starts to the Summer I have seen in over 35 years here. Late April was very dry and by the time I opened the garden on 1st May I was desperate for rain and fearful of losing plants on the steeper slopes. The rain started on 5th May and has barely stopped since! We expect May and early June to provide us with the best weather of each year: well, not this year! It really could stop raining now!! Nevertheless, the azalias on the driveway were a picture for a short while until the wind took its toll.

Sparkle Cafe has had something of a makeover for the new season:

.... and the wise old owl still overlooks and supervises everthing

The bunnies are still hopping about the place ....

The woodruff is in full flower