Halmyre Mains garden

It's Sunday and officially also summer and that's when we love to go for our garden visits. Today we knew we were going whatever the weather brought us as this garden is very close to us and we have met the owners many times during other garden visits. It must have been awful for them to see the rain lashing down this morning but come the afternoon the sun decided to put in an appearance accompanied however by dark clouds. It made for a beautiful spectacle in the sky just before we left our own garden (also my blip for today).

Their garden borders the hills at the back and thus has wonderful views, such as this picturesque shed which hasn't much life left but looks beautiful in its decay.

Red Dahlia

The garden brought back many memories. The first time we visited it was with John's mother and she was a rich source of information regarding the names of plants and how to grow them. I felt like she was there with us today and admiring what had been achieved in the intervening years (about 12 or so). There were new flowerbeds

 but the pond was there from the start and lots of greenery has softened the edges beautifully.

yellow scabious

The clouds continued to look ominous but never dropped their load and in the intermittent sunshine I felt really rather warm!

clematis

It was quite windy so I was lucky to have my trusty photographer's assistant with me to hold the stems of the flowers to stop them from moving so I could take my macro shots.

pinecone

And then we returned home (about 5 minutes) to have our tea there! It was so good to see that the garden was really well supported by lots of local visitors despite the weather.

I also took a picture of the old Newlands Hall next door to the garden (now no longer in use) and discovered I had captured myself as well so you will see that appearing as my profile in the next few minutes, rather typically with camera in front of face!