Spring at last!!

Well, at last Spring has arrived! What a Winter - it seems to have lasted for ever and I've lost quite a number of plants as a result, not so much of the cold, but from a spell of a few days of easterly wind during the long cold period. This burned even quite hardy plants like the bay trees and even killed rhodedendrons, as well as destrying at least one of my Dicksonia antartica - which rather belies the name.

The garden opened late this year because of weather, family health and several family celebrations. We opened on 16 May and have already had three visitors. Normally I don't see more than an odd visitor until the Scottish school holidays start in June.

There was an article about the garden in Gardens Monthly in April. I'll attach it after this post. I had several calls after its publication from people planning to visit later in the year so I'm looking forward to lots of new gardener interaction as the Summer progresses.

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.