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.