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."

Another summer ends

Well, here we are at the end of another Summer. I closed the garden last Monday (SGS insurance expires on 31st August) and have already started cutting back ready for the Spring. It's been a good year with many more visitors than last and a greater variety, too - young and older, experienced gardeners and casual passers by and from at least four continents. A generally rather good Summer ended with several weeks of heavy rain but all we can do now is look forward to the Spring. I have great hopes for next year. I will not be adding to this blog now until April 2010 (unless something really exciting happens) so here's one last picture of how things will be again when Spring returns in 2010.

Rain, rain and more rain ..............

When I wrote on 25 July that our weather had been rather good this Summer, I think I may have spoken too soon. Since August started it seems to have become wetter and wetter to the point where we have now reverted to swamp conditions - very dismal and not a little depressing. Despite this I've still had an odd visitor culminating in a family who came today and seemed to have a wonderful time despite teeming rain and the knowledge that it was the hottest day of the year at home in England! I believe we've had over 15 inches of rain already this month. Some people would be very glad of it but one can have too much of even a good thing ......... at least it does keep everything green!

Entry conditions

I've had an odd visitor who I've encountered wandering around the garden without my knowing they were here. The SGS sign mentions an entry fee only in tiny letters and some people think "open for charity" implies they are the charity so my husband has helped me by making a sign that clearly says "ENTRY £3" and I've put this in the 'Millenium Ruin', where I keep my Visitor's Book, garden guides and where visitors can sit and read or shelter from the rain or even eat their picnics, if they wish. He's also made me two small hand-outs that explain why I charge and where any money collected goes. Here they are:

Visitor's comments

I am certainly welcoming more visitors to Oakbank's garden this year than last, and from a wider geography too. Already this year there have been Australian, American and South African visitors as well as those from Scotland and England. Here are some of the recent comments from my comments book:

From a Scottish visitor: "Your garden is perfectly lovely - a joy to see."

From an English visitor: "A magic garden even in the rain. Thanks for a great visit."

and another English visitor: "Quite delightful. So natural but cared for so tenderly. Will be back soon!"

An Australian visitor wrote: "It is absolutely gorgeous. What an amazing effort - BEAUTIFUL!

and American visitors: "This garden is obviously filled with energy and love. A special place."